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WAVELENGTH -- The ID Newsletter of India -- March 2010
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Hello Friends,

Welcome to this edition of Wavelength.

The big question bugging me right now is - why is it so hot
at this time of the year! It's March...not May, yet the
Sun forces me to find shade and the breeze doesn't soothe
anymore. What happened to that nice season we used
to call spring and which used to cusp the winter with the
summer? March was never this hot...or is it that God got
bored of running the world the same way every year?

Who says that God wanted to be creative only once, which
was when he created the universe and all the beings that
he (she?) placed in it? Could it be then, that recently
God has begun to experience a surge of creativity - and so
we've been seeing these unfathomable changes in the
climate? Of course, he programmed us, the humans to do
things that would bring about these changes. Little things
for the almighty, I'd say. But what's creativity for us,
the humans?

Read Wavelength's Mystery of the Month article,
"Are you Creative?" at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/articles/are_you_creative.htm
and discover if you have that mysterious trait called creativity.

Now about our Online and Contact Programs. The sessions for
the online programs are beginning tomorrow, that
is: April 01, 2010. Here are the details of the
next sessions for our dear future participants.

Please note that registrations for the next sessions
of Wavelength's Online Courses, will open in the first
week of April 2010.

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The IDCWC Online - Next Session begins: July 01, 2010
--------------------------------------------------------
The IDCWC (Instructional Design & Content Writing Certificate)
Online Course Details can be found at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idcwc_online.htm

If you are an instructional designer/content writer who
wants to do instructional design the right way, and who
wants to design and develop eLearning or training content
with confidence, this is the course for you.

NOTE:
If you stay in NCR (Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, or
nearby areas,) you should consider enrolling for
the IDCWC Contact program for which the next session is
scheduled to begin on May 02, 2010.
(details at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idcwc_details.htm).
This course is offered as a 2-month intensive contact program
with classes at Wavelength Noida. If interested, please
call us at: 9810324284/0120-4572760.

--------------------------------------------------------
The IDSP Online- Next Session begins: July 01, 2010
--------------------------------------------------------
The IDSP (Instructional Design for Senior Professionals)
Online Course Details are available at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idsp_online.htm
This online course addresses the ID learning needs of
those senior professionals who have more than four years
of experience, but who haven't learned Instructional Design
formally. As they would confirm, the knowledge of
instructional design helps tremendously in client interactions
and team-management.

In the past, this course has been taken by Senior Professionals
ranging from Instructional Analysts/Specialists to the
Content/Training Heads of different eLearning/Content
Organizations. This course requires at least 4 years of
experience in a learning related area.

--------------------------------------------------------
The CWWC Online - Next Session begins: July 01, 2010
--------------------------------------------------------
The CWWC (Content Writing for the Web Certificate)
Online Course Details are available at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/content_writing_for_web_online.htm

Are you someone who wants to write web-content that is
recognized by the search engines, the audience, and the
clients alike? If you would like to learn the nuances of
effective web-content writing through an enjoyable and
effective learning experience, you should apply for this course.

----------------------------------------------------
About Wavelength's Courses and Training Programs:
----------------------------------------------------

* The IDCWC contact course: May 03, 2010
* The ASDC contact course: April 25, 2010
* The FAADC contact course: May 01, 2010

Dear readers, I'd like to thank you for your continued interest
in the Wavelength Newsletter. I also thank our readers for their
support through word-of-mouth and references. I assure you that
you will always be proud of your recommendations.

I wish you all a productive, ennui-free, and happy summer!
(Sigh! I know it's early to be wishing you this but something
tells me that we are almost there.)

Warm Regards,
Shafali

******************
Table of contents
******************
From the Editor's Desk
Mystery of the Month
The Cognitive Excursion
Shafali's Blog - THE ZEN OF LEARNING (http://thezenoflearning.wordpress.com)
ID Section
Technology Section
Cognitive Footprints
Views
Laugh-a-little
Innoken Games
Signing Off...

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Events Calendar
*******************

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::: Online Course on Web Content Writing :::
-----------------------------------------------------

The next session of CWWC Online (Content Writing for the Web Certificate
Online) course begins on July 01, 2010.

Please read the details of this course at:
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/content_writing_for_web_online.htm

Please send queries at: cwwconline [at] vibrantwavelength [dot] com

(Registrations will begin in the first week of April 2010)

-----------------------------------------------------
::: Online Courses in Instructional Design :::
-----------------------------------------------------

1. IDCWC Online Course
----------------------------
The next session of IDCWC Online (Instructional Design &
Content Writing Certificate Online) course begins on
July 01, 2010. Read details at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idcwc_online.htm
Please send us your queries at idcwconline [at] vibrantwavelength [dot] com

(Registrations will begin in the first week of April 2010)

2. IDSP Online Course
----------------------------
The next session of IDSP Online (Instructional Design for
Senior Professionals Certificate Online) course, begins on
July 01, 2010. Read details at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idsp_online.htm
Please send us your inquiries at idsponline [at] vibrantwavelength [dot] com

(Registrations will begin in the first week of April 2010)

-------------------------------
::: Contact Courses :::
-------------------------------

A. Instructional Design Course
-------------------------------------------
1. The Instructional Design and Content Writing Certificate (IDCWC Contact) Course
begins its next session on May 02, 2010.
Find the details at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idcwc_details.htm

-------------------------------
::: Technology Courses :::
-------------------------------

1. ASDC (ActionScript) Course
-------------------------------------------
Classes for the ActionScript Developer Certificate (ASDC)
course begin on April 25, 2010.
Registrations are open for this course group. Click
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/actionscript_3_as3_certificate.htm

4. FAADC (FLEX) Course
-----------------------------------
Classes for the Flex 3.0 and ActionScript 3.0 Application Developer Certificate
(FADC) course begin on May 01, 2010.
Registrations are open for this course group. Click
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/flex_actionscript3_certificate.htm

3. AS3OOP (Object-Orientd Programming) Course
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Classes for the ActionScript 3.0 with Object-Oriented
Programming (AS3OOP) course begin on May 29, 2010.
Registrations are open for this course group. Click
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/actionscript3_oop_details.htm

4. PLFC Course
----------------------------
The Programming Logic Fundamentals Certificate (PLFC) course
begins its first session on May 29, 2010. Read the details at:
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/plfc_certificate.htm

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

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

***********************
Mystery of the Month
***********************
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Wavelength Article: Are you Creative?
---------------------------------------------------------------
Many of us have been forged into the practical, mature,
outwardly non-creative selves of today. Fortunately,
creativity though repressed doesn't die easily. This
month's Wavelength article helps you figure out whether
creativity still breathes within you. I hope to follow
this article up with another, which will enable you to
take the next step of rehabilitating creativity.

Read Wavelength's Mystery of the Month article,
"Are you Creative" at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/articles/are_you_creative.htm
and discover if you have that mysterious trait
called creativity.

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The Cognitive Excursion
****************************
Tired?
Refresh yourself.
Go for a cognitive excursion
at:http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/cog_ex/cognitive_excursion.htm

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THE ZEN OF LEARNING [ The March Posts on my Blog]
http://www.thezenoflearning.wordpress.com
**********************************************************

-----------------------------------------------------------
The Serial Position Effect and Its Use in Training/
Course Design
Posted: March 06, 2010
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<<<Quick Excerpt>>>
... The Serial Position effect (Ebbinghaus) combines
two effects:

* The Primacy Effect
(We remember what is at the beginning of a list.)
* The Recency Effect
(We also remember what is at the end of a list.)
...
Read the full post at http://thezenoflearning.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/the-serial-position-effect-and-it%e2%80%99s-use-in-training-course-design/

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The 5 Types of Dual-Tasking Audience - What Lurks Beneath?
Posted: March 16, 2010
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(This post was selected by the Wordpress editors and was
promoted on wordpress.com...an award of sorts - so you
might want to check it out:-))

<<<Quick Excerpt>>>
...
The Five Types of Dual-Tasking Audience
--------------------------------------------------------
When I look at a non-ideal, completely practical classroom
through the lens of the dual-tasking concept, I see five
kinds of learners. (Note that the dual-tasking concept
lens filters out the single-minded, single-task-oriented,
ideal learner.)

* The Doodlers
* The Movers & Shakers
* The Chompers
* The Dreamers
* The Texters
...
Read the full post at http://thezenoflearning.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/5-types-of-dual-tasking-audience-attention-hypthesis-of-learning/

**********
ID Section
**********
-------------------
ID Concepts
--------------------
Instructional Strategies are synthesized from the
ID principles, the content, and the audience's profile;
keeping in mind the learning medium. Thus, instructional
strategies are an output of a higher Bloom's level skill;
but once created they could be applied by others with
less effort (and of course, with significantly less
creative satisfaction.) However, they do speed up the
design process.

Here's an interesting link that lists some learning
strategies for the web-medium.
http://www.edtech.vt.edu/edtech/id/wbi/index.html

The strategies at the end of the list will help you
design interesting online activities for your
self-motivated learners. (I qualify the learners
deliberately - those strategies won't work for the
passive learners.)

----------------------------------
Language & Culture
------------------------------------
Does culture have a bearing on our perceptions? This article
begins by differentiating between the bottom-up and the
top-down processing of data in the mind. The bottom-up
processing uses objective perception methods such as
feature/pattern identification, while the top-down
processing tempers the perceptual output of the bottom-up
processing with affective components. In this article,
"Relativism and the Constructive Aspects of Perception" the
second processing method is discussed to review the impact
that culture has on perception.

Read it at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/supplement1.html

------------------------------
Writing Style
------------------------------
Even before you begin contemplating how you could establish
your writing style, you should reflect upon cultivating a
writing habit. So, the first question that you need to put
to yourself is, do I have the right kind of writing habit?
Remember, for everything that we do, we can have a good
habit or a bad habit - so review your writing habit.

At http://www.chrisbrogan.com/cultivating-a-writing-habit/
you'll find an interesting post by Chris Bogan, which
provides certain pointers to help you with your reflection.

Everybody who writes well, at some point wants to write
fiction:) For such hidden literary geniuses, "How to Grow
your Fiction Writing Skills" by Victoria Crayne, at
http://www.crayne.com/articles/How-to-Grow-Your-Fiction-Writing-Skills.pdf
could be an excellent starting point.

*******************************
Technology Section
*******************************
--------------------------------------------------------------
Learning Content Management Technologies
--------------------------------------------------------------
Technology-assisted learning is making inroads into
the Indian educational system, and some eLearning
organizations have teams of instructional designers
working on such projects.

Is it truly a great idea to use technology to assist
classroom-learning experiences? What are the pitfalls of
technology-assisted learning and how can they be avoided?

"Avoiding the pitfalls of technology-assisted learning"
at http://www.idea.org/page144.html is a thought-provoking
review of technology-assisted learning.

**************************
Cognitive Footprints
**************************
For the next few months, we'll give the stage
to the behaviorists.

This month, we remember Edward C. Tolman. Dr. Tolman
was born in Massachusetts, and he studied at MIT and
Harvard. Later he taught at UC, Berkeley. Tolman's
contribution to behaviorism came predominantly from his
observations of learning patterns in rats. He raised
the question, "Are theories of learning necessary" and
by doing so, he steered the psychologists of his time
towards a more behaviorist approach, where the focus of
research shifted to behavior instead of the causes of
that behavior.

Despite his overt inclination towards behaviorism Tolman
was interested in exploring other theories that explained
learning as a cognitive, even an intuitive phenomenon, such
as the Gestalt theory. Though Tolman's techniques were
behaviorist, his interpretations and assertions were not.
He believed that cognitive processing takes place in
the mind of the learner and that learning experiences
are shaped not only by external stimuli but also the
affective components that have shaped the learner's
personality.

An interesting point to note is the Tolman didn't accept
the SR (Stimulus-Response) theory, because he didn't
think that reinforcement is essential for learning to
take place. (Some of his experiments with rats resulted
in rats learning to navigate the mesh
"without reinforcements.")

The following links will help you explore the life and
works of this great psychologist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_C._Tolman
http://gestalttheory.net/info/tolman.html
http://www.a2zpsychology.com/great_psychologists/edward_c_tolman.php
http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/behaviorism/Tolman.html

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Our Readers and Course/Workshop Participants Views
********************************************************************
Read what the Course Participants feel about Wavelength's Courses:

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1. The Content Writing for the Web Certificate
Online Course (CWWC Online) Participants' Views:
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http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/trg_participants_views.htm#cwwconlineviews

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2. Instructional Design and Content Writing Certificate
Online Course (IDCWC Online) Participants' Views:
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/trg_participants_views.htm#idcwconlineviews

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3. Instructional Design for Senior Professionals Certificate
Online Course (IDSP Online) Participants' Views:
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/trg_participants_views.htm#idsponlineviews

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4. Wavelength Trainings/Workshops Participants' Views:
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/trg_participants_views.htm#trainingsworkshopsviews

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5. IDCWC (Contact) Course Participants' Views:
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http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/trg_participants_views.htm#idcwccontactviews

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6. ActionScript Developer Certificate Course
(ASDC) Participants' Views:
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/trg_participants_views.htm#asdcviews

-----------------------------------------
7. The ID Newsletter Readers' Views:
-----------------------------------------
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/views.htm

***************
Laugh-a-Little
***************
Who's wiser? The teacher or the student?
Who's smarter? The trainer or the audience?

No right or wrong answers here...right?
Wrong.

Check out the following links:

http://www.developingteachers.com/tips/jokes.htm
http://www.crummy.com/features/dada/

And some corporate jokes:
http://www.basicjokes.com/djoke.php?id=700

****************************
Innoken Online Games
****************************
http://www.innoken.com

**************
Signing Off...
**************
Wishing you a fruitful April.

Shafali

Shafali R. Anand
Editor & Publisher, Wavelength the ID Newsletter
Director & Chief Instructional Architect
Wavelength eLearning Consulting and Training Pvt. Ltd.

eMail: shafali [at] vibrantwavelength [dot] com
Blog: The Zen of Learning (http://thezenoflearning.wordpress.com)
Twitter: Follow Wavelength News (@wavelengthnews) at http://www.twitter.com/wavelengthnews

Wavelength eLearning Consulting and Training Pvt. Ltd.
A-84, 2nd Floor,
Sector 65, Noida-201301, India.
Phones: 9810324284 / 9810412297 / (0120)4572760
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com

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