****************************************************
WAVELENGTH – The ID Newsletter of India – May 2006
****************************************************

---------------------------------------------------------
Wavelength's IDCWC Course goes ONLINE!

(http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idcwc_online.htm)
---------------------------------------------------------

Hello Friends,

Welcome to this issue of Wavelength.

To beat the summer heat, Wavelength brings you a special
offering. This month, Wavelength transcends geographical
boundaries and brings the Instructional Design & Content
Writing course within your reach, wherever you may be.
You are right! The IDCWC course has gone ONLINE!
The course begins on July 01, 2006, and the registration
process begins rolling today! As promised, all those who
had written to Wavelength to enquire about the online
course will receive special intimation within a couple of
days. All who are interested in the course, and want
to enquire about it, are welcome to deluge me with their
queries at shafali@vibrantwavelength.com.

With this good news, let us begin our virtual get-together!

The mystery of the month that comes under the scanner of
Wavelength this May is the instructional design
reviewer's dilemma. Often the instructional design
reviewer finds that despite rigorous adherence to the
ID review checklist, client reverts with comments on the
instructional effectiveness of the course. It primarily
happens due to the ID checklist's focus on matters other
than those related to instructional design. How can we
identify a weak ID checklist and improve it to ensure that
ID reviews focus on ID; is the mystery of this month that
we set out to resolve.

This month, we also begin a new serial
"Managing the Ephemeral Time". Check out the article
"Time Management" by Mr. Mukul Saxena, CTO, NIS Sparta; to
read a seasoned eLearning professional's viewpoint on this
issue. This article will help you determine your reason
for managing time and equip you with certain tools that
will enable you to create time.

I also bring more news from Wavelength. This month,
Wavelength has scheduled a FREE Online Gaming workshop
in collaboration with Innoken Games
(http://www.innoken.com/games.htm.) This workshop
"Flash Online Gaming" will be held on May 14, 2006.
If you are interested, please read the details and
register at http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/ flash_online_gaming_workshop1.htm

The Instructional Design & Content Writing Certificate
(IDCWC-Contact Course) and the ActionScript Developer
Certificate (ASDC) course will both begin classes on
May 21, 2006. The next group of Effective Professional
Communication in English Certificate (EPCEC) course will
begin on May 20, 2006. Please check the May calendar for
the corresponding links.

Well, that's all for the updates. I leave you now with
your treasure chest of eLearning knowledge. I hope each one
of you will find a gem that will add sparkle to your
intellectual glamour.

Keep in touch!

Thanks and Warm Regards,
Shafali R. Anand

(Editor & Publisher, Wavelength)

******************
Table of contents
******************

Events Calendar for May 2006
From the Editor's Desk
Mystery of the Month
ID Section
Technology Section
Media Section
Serials::Managing the Ephemeral Time::Episode I
Site of the Month
Views
Surge Ahead
Laugh-a-little
Innoken Games
Signing Off...

---------------------------------------------------
EVENTS CALENDAR for May 2006:
--------------------------------------------------
1. NEW!!! ***Registration for Wavelength's
ONLINE Instructional Design & Content Writing Certificate
(IDCWC Online) course is NOW OPEN! Click on
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idcwc_online.htm to read
the details.

2. NEW!! ***The First FREE "Flash Online Gaming Workshop" is
being conducted by Innoken Online Games (http://www.innoken.com/games.htm)
and Wavelength, on May 14, 2006. Click on
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/flash_online_gaming_workshop1.htm
to register.

3. Wavelength's next course group for the Instructional Design
& Content Writing Certificate (IDCWC - Contact Course)
begins on May 21, 2006. Registrations are on for this group.
Click on http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idcwc_details.htm

4. Classes for the next Flash ActionScript Developer
Certificate (ASDC) course group begin on May 21, 2006.
Registrations on for this group. Click on
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/actionscript_certificate.htm

5. The next group of Effective Professional Communication in
English Certificate (EPCEC) course begins on May 20, 2006.
Click on http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/english_communication_certificate.htm
to read the details of this course.

6. The ActionScript 2.0 with Object-Oriented Programming Concepts
(AS2OOP) course begins on June 03, 2006. Registrations are
now open for this course group. Click on
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/actionscript2_oop_details.htm

8. Classes for the Object-Oriented Design in ActionScript 2.0
Certificate (OODAC) course begin on June 03, 2006.
Registrations are now open for this course group. Click on
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/oodac_details.htm

***********************
From the Editor's Desk
***********************

http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/editorial.htm

***********************
Mystery of the Month
***********************

ID Reviews...whoa!

***Have you checked all points in the checklist?
***Have you reviewed the formatting against the guidelines?
***Have you reviewed the course against the style guidelines?
***Are the objectives written?
***Is there an introduction?
***Is the expression clear?

...So where is instructional design?

This month we pull out our lens and telescope, roll up
the bottoms of our trousers, and wade through the marshes
of check-points, to find the real instructional
design review points!

Click on http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/instructional_design_review.htm
to read the Wavelength article on this subject.

**********
ID Section
**********

-------------------
ID Concepts
--------------------

1."A Pebble-in-the-Pont Model of Instructional Design" by
David Merrill, is a developmental model, which begins
when the pebble of the "task" or "problem" is cast.
Casting this pebble results into ripples that progress
outwards. These ripples comprise determination of
problems, the skills necessary to complete the tasks,
determination of instructional strategy for ensuring
learner's attention, and finally, the interface design.
The pdf of this model is available at:
http://www.clarktraining.com/content/articles/PebbleInThePond.pdf.

2."Reclaiming Instructional Design" by M. David Merrill,
Leston Drake, Mark J. Lacy, Jean Pratt, is a research paper
that focuses on instructional design's blurred role in
eLearning. The pdf of this paper is available at
http://cito.byuh.edu/merrill/text/papers/Reclaiming.PDF.

------------------------------
Language & Culture
------------------------------
1.If any of you is working on content for Singapore, the link
http://www.singaporeexpats.com/about-singapore/culture-and-language.htm
could introduce you to Singapore culture and language in a
jiffy. It will also provide an overview of Singapore English,
which, the web page says "grew out of the English of the
playground of these children of various linguistic
backgrounds who were learning English at school."

2.Though the article "Culture in Second Language Teaching" at
http://www.cal.org/resources/Digest/0309peterson.html is
about the relationship between culture and learning of language,
it provides us deeper insights into the impact of culture of
creation of content.

-----------------------
Writing Style
-----------------------

1.In the past, I've provided some links to the APA writing
style guidelines. Here's one for the MLA (No! not that
one!) writing style guidelines. Click on
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html
to get some tips. The hard copy edition of the guidelines
costs US$25.00. I think the citation guidelines provided on
this page are extremely helpful. You can find out more
about MLA at http://www.mla.org/

2."A woman without her man is nothing." / "A woman without
her man, is nothing" - What? Of course, it's not my
creativity. I am just quoting from
http://www.engl.niu.edu/comskills/students/editing/Joy.html
where it's been used to make a point about punctuation. The
point is made...and understood; yet punctuation is not.
Check out the link above to understand commas, semicolons,
colons, parenthesis, and dashes & hyphens!

**************************************************************
Serials::Managing the Ephemeral Time::Episode 1
**************************************************************
This month, we bring to you a new serial - "Managing the
Ephemeral Time." We introduce this serial with the
article, "Time Management," by Mr. Mukul Saxena,
CTO - NIS-Sparta, Ex-VP - Knowledge Solutions Business,
NIIT. The article "Time Management"
(http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/time_management.htm,)
begins with the paradoxical question, "What comes first,
time to be organized or organized to have time?" It then
reviews continuous improvement and selective work
delegation as tools that can be used to create time.

Also Check out http://www.alistapart.com/articles/pickle/
for the article "Time Management: The Pickle Jar Theory"
by Jeremy Wright. In this refreshingly simple and apt
article, the author uses the metaphor of rocks
(important tasks), pebbles (happy tasks), and water
(unwanted tasks), in a pickle jar (our 24 hour day)
to explain time-management.

For those who've just begun to experience the side effects
of time-mismanagement, I recommend the article
"Managing Time" at http://www.brookes.ac.uk/student/services/health/time.html.
This article provides some simple checklists to help you
curtail wastage of your time. It also lists the
stumbling blocks that most of us face when we begin
time-management.

*******************************
Technology Section
*******************************

------------------------------------------------------
Learning Content Creation Technologies
------------------------------------------------------
1.If you want some quick tips on uploading files through
Flash then you will find "A Programmer's Look at
Flash 8" by Danny Patterson at
http://www.communitymx.com/content/article.cfm?cid=513FF
useful. This article helps you apply simple concepts
such as file upload, loading of graphic files, etc.;
through ActionScript.

2.Another link that would interest the right-brained
programmers more is
http://www.informit.com/guides/content.asp?g=flash&seqNum=341&rl=1.
Here you can find ActionScript codelets that will help
you find your way through the maze of filters.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Learning Content Management Technologies
--------------------------------------------------------------

1.What is "Accessibility Compliance"? What is a
"Digital Asset"? What is "Synchronous Learning"? These
and almost all other eLearning terms that puzzle
eLearning professionals from time to time; are defined
at http://educ3.utsa.edu/pmcgee/nlii/glossary/. This
fantastic page is a must-add-to-favorites!

******************
Media Section
******************

Art Concepts
-----------------

If you often work on courses that require an understanding
of the historic art styles you should visit "Art History"
at http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks.html. This fantastic
collection of URLs, classified chronologically as well as
regionally, is designed and maintained by Dr. Christopher
L. C. E. Witcombe. I recommend that you bookmark this page.

Graphic Design Concepts
----------------------------------
If typography and page layout design defocuses you then
http://www.typography-1st.com/typo/txt-lay.htm is the
place for you . I especially like the bit about picas and
points. The historical information that helps us make sense
out of these alien-looking, strange-sounding words is cool!
This site also talks about typefaces, margins, proof-reading
and so on. I think this site should interest most eLearning
graphic designers.

Media Technologies:
----------------------------
For Photoshop lovers, http://www.freephotoshop.com/html/free_plugins.html
provides links to free brushes, shapes, and many other
plugins. Most of these free downloads are demo versions
so you will be able to use only a limited number of
plugins available in the library. For example, of the
10,000 royalty-free Photoshop brushes from GraphicXtras
you will be able to use only 26; but then 26 new brushes
for free isn't bad...and if they double your efficiency,
your organization may want to buy the whole bundle for you.

Flash Fans:
-----------
If you are itching to create character animations in Flash,
you may find this tutorial interesting. Click on
http://animation.about.com/od/flashanimationtutorials/ss/flashlesson5.htm
to learn how you can color and componentize a character
in Photoshop, import its different parts in Flash, and
animate the character.

Photoshop Pros:
---------------
I thought it was a good idea to shift the focus of this section
from portraits to buildings. Following are a couple of links
that will initiate you into some digital construction work.

1.http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/games/game.htm
provides you some clues for creating buildings
using Photoshop.
2.If you would like to add chrome effect to anything...check
out http://www.spoono.com/photoshop/tutorials/tutorial.php?id=21

3D Dons:
-------
Wonder at:
"Sangyeng" at http://www.creative-3d.net/GalleryDisplay.cfm?ID=16969
"Automaton" at http://www.creative-3d.net/GalleryDisplay.cfm?ID=18011
"Peace" at http://www.creative-3d.net/GalleryDisplay.cfm?ID=16494

******************
Site of the Month
******************

Your love for chocolates will resurface in another
dimension when you see the site of the month for the
Chocolate factory movie at
http://pdl.warnerbros.com/wbmovies/charlie/flashsite/index.html.
Ms. Poornima Murthy, Senior Consultant, NIIT; suggested
this wonderful, mouth-watering site. Thanks Poornima,
the site is truly scrumptious!

Why? Did you ask me "why"? If you did, you probably do not
like chocolates! Sigh! What we chocolate-unawares miss out
on...I realized when I clicked on the link above! Here's
what's "oh, so cool!" about this site.

1.The pre-loader - of course, it's a chocolate being
unwrapped!

2.The music is...well, I wish I could interpret it...but
it sounds weird...and different, and there are only two
ways to make it stop - click on the SOUND button at the
top right, or click on a character or one of the boards
that hang from the tree. I suggest the latter.

3.If you are more of a bookworm than a movie buff, you
would probably want to click on the toffee at the bottom
left to visit the Roald Dahl website.

4.Click on Johnny Depp to read about the character, Willy
Wonka. Check out the loading...Willy Wonka arrives
holding an umbrella that he uses as a parachute; then
transitions through stars into his bigger image. Don't
forget to look out for the details - the way he bounces
off the branch, the chocolate that announces his entry,
and so on.

5.I don't want to take away the element of surprise that
the loading of other six characters, holds for you.
Keep clicking. BTW, move your mouse over the fruits at
the bottom left and notice the change in your cursor...
haw, haw! What? You don't like it! Well, don't blame me
for the transformation! If you don't like it click the
fruits again, and you will have your good old,
traditional cursor back.

6.A little detail about the pink scrollbar...it moves on
a curve! What do our programmer brethren say about that?
Can we have such scrollbars in our eLearning lessons?
No, not in Director; in Flash:-)

7.While you are here, roll your mouse over the boards that
hang from the candy-stick poles at the top.

8.Click on the "Fun & Games" board to play some simple,
nothing-new, but funny games.

9.Check out "Media">Photo Gallery to see the visual
treatment given to the icons of the photographs. The
rollovers are fantastic.

Please continue to explore. I am sure you'll not miss me
on your excursion. Take care and don't take shortcuts.
If you are still here, click on
http://pdl.warnerbros.com/wbmovies/charlie/flashsite/index.html
now, and enjoy chocolate in a whole new manner!

**********
Views
**********

1. Reader's Views:
-------------------------
Click on http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/views.htm
to read what readers feel about Wavelength.

2. ActionScript Course Students Views:
-----------------------------------------------------
Click on http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/wavelengthians.htm#asdcstudentviews
to read what ours students feel about the ActionScript
course (ASDC) and Wavelength.

3. Instructional Design Course Students Views:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Click on http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/wavelengthians.htm#idcwcstudentviews
to read what ours students feel about the Instructional
Design course (IDCWC) and Wavelength.

************
Surge Ahead
************

I am sure you know of many job portals but have you
heard of one that is dedicated to eLearning?
Check out http://www.elearningcareers.com/

=============================
Instructional Design Jobs:
=============================

--------------
Mumbai
--------------
LIONBRIDGE:: Content Writers (Exp. Not mentioned)
http://www.lionbridge.com/careers/empdisplay.asp?intJobID=395

LIONBRIDGE::Technical Writers (Exp not mentioned)
http://www.lionbridge.com/careers/empdisplay.asp?intJobID=278

LIONBRIDGE:: Instructional Designers (Exp. Not mentioned)
http://www.lionbridge.com/careers/empdisplay.asp?intJobID=281

LEARNING MATE:: Instructional Designers (Exp:3 to 8 years)
http://www.learningmate.com/index.html

PRAXIS TECHNOLOGIES::Project Managers/Leaders(Content)
Exp 1 to 5 years
Team Leader(Writing and Instructional Design)
Exp 4 to 6 years
Instructional Designer (Exp 2 to 3 years)
Instructional Writers (Exp 1 to 2 years)
http://www.praxistechnologies.net/careers/careers.html

--------------
Chennai
--------------

LIONBRIDGE::Lead / Sr. Instructional Designer
(Exp 3 to 4 years)
http://www.lionbridge.com/careers/empdisplay.asp?intJobID=418

LIONBRIDGE::Project Director/Sr. Project Manager/
Project Manager(Exp 5 to 10 years)
http://www.lionbridge.com/careers/empdisplay.asp?intJobID=278

APTECH:: Instructional Designer (Exp:7 to 10 years)
::Also at Pune and Mumbai
http://www.aptech-worldwide.com/current_openings.htm

-------
PUNE
-------

BRAINVISA:: Project Manager (3 to 7 yrs pune)
http://www.brainvisa.com/opening3.html

BRAINVISA::Content developer / Content writer
(Exp 1 to 3 years, Delhi, Pune)
http://www.brainvisa.com/opening4.html

BRAINVISA::Instructional Design Project Lead
(2 to 8 years, Delhi, Pune)
http://www.brainvisa.com/opening5.html

-------
US
-------
NIIT:: Content Developers / Technical Writers
(Exp 1 to 3 years)
http://www.niit.com/Admin/ASP/Aboutus.asp?
Section=Global&L1=Employment&L2=Current%20Positions

-----------
DELHI NCR
-----------

NIIT:: Instructional Designers (2+ years) :: Also at Mumbai
NIIT:: Senior Project Managers (8+yrs (4-5 yrs in eLearning)
http://www.niit.com/Admin/ASP/Aboutus.asp?
Section=Global&L1=Employment&L2=Current%20Positions

INFOPRO:: Instructional Designers (Exp:1 to 3years)
http://learning.infoprocorp.com/careers/careers.html

===============================
Flash ActionScript Jobs
===============================

--------------
Mumbai
--------------
LEARNING MATE:: Flash Developer(Exp:1-3 years )
::Team Leader, Flash (Exp: 4 to 6 years)
http://www.learningmate.com/index.html -->careers

PRAXIS TECHNOLOGIES:: Flash Developersr (Exp: 1 to 2 years)
http://www.praxistechnologies.net/careers/careers.html

===============================
Media Jobs:
===============================
--------------
Mumbai
--------------
PRAXIS TECHNOLOGIES:: Graphic Designer
(Exp: 1 to 3 years experience in designing UI)
Team Leader (Graphics) (Exp: 4 to 6 years)
Graphic Visualizer (Exp 2 to 4 years)
http://www.praxistechnologies.net/careers/careers.html

LEARNING MATE: Graphics – Team Leader (Exp:6+ Years)
:: Graphics Illustrator (Exp:2 to 4 years )
:: Graphics Designer (Exp: 1 to 3 years )
:: Visualizer (Exp: 2 to 4 years )
http://www.learningmate.com/index.html ->Careers ->here

--------------
Delhi, NCR
--------------

MAGIC SOFTWARE:: User Experience Developer(Exp:1 to 3years)
:: Senior User Experience Developer(Exp:3 to 5years)
http://www.magicsw.com/careers.htm

--------------
Chennai
--------------
SIFY::
Senior Executive – Web Page Designer/Creative GUI,Portals
Exp 2 to 4 years
http://sifycorp.com/scripts/workcontents.asp?id=21

***************
Laugh-a-little
***************
Hiyeeeeee! My back is stiff; I've been sitting on this
chair for the last 20 hours; I haven't even been to...you
know! And you want me to laugh! Do you know, I am stuck
to my chair and if I laugh, the chair will rock with
me! Ouch! Ouch!

OUCH!

Among other things that an instructional designer receives
upon joining an organization, there is one that though
free is not welcome! It's a rack with many hats. There is
the SME hat, the PR hat, the course manager hat, the
writing style standards hat, and finally the editor's hat.
Whether or not these hats go with the instructional
designer's cerebral attire is not a question that is
discussed in the open. I present the following link to
those who are currently wearing the editor's hat!

Read "Writers' Humor" available at
http://www.cyberlepsy.com/Downloads/Writers%20Humor.pdf.
The "canonical list of oxymorons" as well as
"Rules for Writers" will rejuvenate you through your
editorial phase!

Have you ever been through the rigmarole of putting a
classified in a newspaper? If you have, you will
commiserate with Mr. Jones; if not, you will know what to
be careful of when you place a classified. Read
"Truth in Advertising?" at
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/6174/advertising_blunders.htm.

Ever given a thought to our closest friend? Oh yes! I
mean "our" closest friend...the computer! Click on
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/6174/com_movi.htm to read
about 24 things that you didn't know about your
closest pal! (Only the moviemakers did!)

If you are in love with instant messaging, I think
"AOL Online Messages" will make a lot of sense to you.
Here's the link:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/6174/AOL_MESSAGES.HTM

Keep laughing!

****************************
Innoken Online Games
****************************
The game that I suggest for this month is "Scare of the Spiders."
(http://www.innoken.com/UtopiaGames/SoS/ScareOfTheSpiders.htm)

If online games interest you and you want to figure
out what goes into their creation, find out at the
ONLINE GAMING WITH FLASH WORKSHOP, which Innoken
and Wavelength bring to you on May 14, 2005. You can register
for the workshop at
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/flash_online_gaming_workshop1.htm

Play Innoken Games at http://www.innoken.com/games.htm.

**************
Signing Off...
**************
I hope you enjoyed this issue of Wavelength.

As always, I shall look forward to our next meeting! Early
next month, Wavelength shall arrive in your mailbox,
inspired and enthusiastic --- with more information, news,
viewpoints, and humor!

Until then, goodbye!

Shafali

Shafali R. Anand
Editor & Publisher, Wavelength the ID Newsletter
Director, Wavelength eLearning Consulting & Training
shafali@vibrantwavelength.com
Wavelength, Link House, 2nd Floor,
C-4, Sector 10, Noida-201301, India.
Ph: 9810324284 / 9810412297 / 0120-4315505
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com

*************************************************************************
Feedback: Write to me with your views on Wavelength at shafali@vibrantwavelength[dot]com with "Wavelength Feedback" written in the subject.

Suggest Links or site for "Site of the Month": Publish an article in Wavelength or suggest links– Check out http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/contribute.htm

Subscribe/Gift Subscription/Unsubscribe - Click on http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/subscribe.htm
*************************************************************************