What’s In Your Course Design Toolkit? #35

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E-Learning Toolkit #35: Challenge | Recap

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In a recent workshop someone asked a question about my favorite tools and resources. I replied that I would pull some forum conversations together for her where folks shared their favorite tools. Easy, right?

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“What do you use, Mr. David?” she asked. Evidently this wasn’t going to be a simple handoff. She explained that what she wanted was a personal recommendation of tools from me. And I get that.

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As members of this community, you guys are looked at as trusted sources. You come together in this community but each of you has your own trusted network that you look to you as experts. Anyone can do a search for “Free design tools” or “free writing tools” and find thousands of recommendations. But to the person who looks to you as a trusted source, the only list that matters is the list you share.

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Curation is personal. And that’s what this week’s challenge is all about.

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Challenge of the week

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This week your challenge is to share your favorite, free tools that make your course design easier.

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Answer the following questions for each tool you share:

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What’s your favorite free tool?
Why is it your favorite?

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I know some of you will use this challenge to build out some really neat interactions and that’s great. But you don’t have to. You can skate through this challenge by sharing a short list of your favorite tools and how you use them.

\n

Use the comments below to include your tools or post the list on your own blog. If you post on your blog, be sure to include a link to your post in the comments below.

\n

Here are some ideas to get you started:

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Color pickers and schemes
Image editors (online or desktop)
Free storyboarding tools
Utilities and production tools
Lorem Ipsum text generators
Writing and editing tools

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Last week’s challenge

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Before you begin this week’s challenge, take a look at the instructional design activities your fellow community members shared in last week’s challenge:

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\nDianne Hope kicked off the challenge with an interactive overview of Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction. You can read more about Dianne’s creative project over at her blog.
\nMichael Fimian shared an interactive presentation on Bloom’s Taxonomy in this great use of Engage ‘09. Nice job, Michael!
\nMary Cropp shared a blooming example in this animated concept that combines poetry and Bloom’s Taxonomy. Great idea, Mary!
\nMatthew Mason shared a creative example in this interactive Bloom’s Taxonomy presentation.
\nMatthew Guyan introduced learners to some of the most influential learning researchers and theorists.
\nNick Russell shared binders full of learning theories in this accordion-style interaction. Nick also writes about his project in this blog post. Great work as always, Nick!
\nDan Sweigert shared an interactive presentation on Bloom’s Taxonomy that features a fun drag-and-drop activity. You can read more about Dan’s project over at his blog. Nice one, Dan!
\nAshley Chiasson took a break from her projects to put together an interactive tutorial on cognitive load theory. You can read more about this creative project in Ashley’s blog post.
\nMike Taylor shared his own crash course in the principles of learning design in this multimedia presentation.
\nRon Chow shared his own interactive presentation on Bloom’s Taxonomy in this engaging activity. Well done, Ron!
\nAllison Nederveld hopped back into the e-learning challenge saddle this week by reminding us of the basics in her interactive presentation on learning objectives. You’ll want to read more about this project on Allison’s blog.
\nJackie Van Nice took her favorite e-learning design model and used it to teach itself. You can read more about this novel approach in her blog post. Super demo, Jackie!
\nDana Dutiel shared a performance support idea in this creative concept for just-in-time learning theories. Great idea and starting point, Dana!
\nPaul Alders closed the gaps in this creative interaction based on a popular instructional design book.

\n

More about the e-learning challenges:

\n

The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. We’ll feature your work and provide feedback if you request it.

\n

Wishing you a productive week, E-Learning Heroes!

\n

Even if you’re using a trial version of Studio ’13 or Storyline, you can absolutely publish your challenge files. Just sign up for a fully functional, free 30-day trial, and have at it. And remember to post your questions and comments in the forums; we're here to help. For more e-learning tips, examples, and downloads, follow us on Twitter.

\n

E-Learning Toolkit #35: Challenge | Recap

\n

In a recent workshop someone asked a question about my favorite tools and resources. I replied that I would pull some forum conversations together for her where folks shared their favorite tools. Easy, right?

\n

“What do you use, Mr. David?” she asked. Evidently this wasn’t going to be a simple handoff. She explained that what she wanted was a personal recommendation of tools from me. And I get that.

\n

As members of this community, you guys are looked at as trusted sources. You come together in this community but each of you has your own trusted network that you look to you as experts. Anyone can do a search for “Free design tools” or “free writing tools” and find thousands of recommendations. But to the person who looks to you as a trusted source, the only list that matters is the list you share.

\n

Curation is personal. And that’s what this week’s challenge is all about.

\n

Challenge of the week

\n

This week your challenge is to share your favorite, free tools that make your course design easier.

\n

Answer the following questions for each tool you share:

\n

What’s your favorite free tool?
Why is it your favorite?

\n

I know some of you will use this challenge to build out some really neat interactions and that’s great. But you don’t have to. You can skate through this challenge by sharing a short list of your favorite tools and how you use them.

\n

Use the comments below to include your tools or post the list on your own blog. If you post on your blog, be sure to include a link to your post in the comments below.

\n

Here are some ideas to get you started:

\n

Color pickers and schemes
Image editors (online or desktop)
Free storyboarding tools
Utilities and production tools
Lorem Ipsum text generators
Writing and editing tools

\n

Last week’s challenge

\n

Before you begin this week’s challenge, take a look at the instructional design activities your fellow community members shared in last week’s challenge:

\n

\nDianne Hope kicked off the challenge with an interactive overview of Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction. You can read more about Dianne’s creative project over at her blog.
\nMichael Fimian shared an interactive presentation on Bloom’s Taxonomy in this great use of Engage ‘09. Nice job, Michael!
\nMary Cropp shared a blooming example in this animated concept that combines poetry and Bloom’s Taxonomy. Great idea, Mary!
\nMatthew Mason shared a creative example in this interactive Bloom’s Taxonomy presentation.
\nMatthew Guyan introduced learners to some of the most influential learning researchers and theorists.
\nNick Russell shared binders full of learning theories in this accordion-style interaction. Nick also writes about his project in this blog post. Great work as always, Nick!
\nDan Sweigert shared an interactive presentation on Bloom’s Taxonomy that features a fun drag-and-drop activity. You can read more about Dan’s project over at his blog. Nice one, Dan!
\nAshley Chiasson took a break from her projects to put together an interactive tutorial on cognitive load theory. You can read more about this creative project in Ashley’s blog post.
\nMike Taylor shared his own crash course in the principles of learning design in this multimedia presentation.
\nRon Chow shared his own interactive presentation on Bloom’s Taxonomy in this engaging activity. Well done, Ron!
\nAllison Nederveld hopped back into the e-learning challenge saddle this week by reminding us of the basics in her interactive presentation on learning objectives. You’ll want to read more about this project on Allison’s blog.
\nJackie Van Nice took her favorite e-learning design model and used it to teach itself. You can read more about this novel approach in her blog post. Super demo, Jackie!
\nDana Dutiel shared a performance support idea in this creative concept for just-in-time learning theories. Great idea and starting point, Dana!
\nPaul Alders closed the gaps in this creative interaction based on a popular instructional design book.

\n

More about the e-learning challenges:

\n

The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. We’ll feature your work and provide feedback if you request it.

\n

Wishing you a productive week, E-Learning Heroes!

\n

Even if you’re using a trial version of Studio ’13 or Storyline, you can absolutely publish your challenge files. Just sign up for a fully functional, free 30-day trial, and have at it. And remember to post your questions and comments in the forums; we're here to help. For more e-learning tips, examples, and downloads, follow us on Twitter.

One of my favorite free tools is Audacity. Whether I record audio in a studio (we have a facility on campus to do so) and get the files on a flash drive, or in my office, Audacity is great to cut and edit. I save the files then insert in storyline. audacity.sourceforge.net
I was also in an instructional design course a few weeks ago, and our instructor (Julie Dirksen) recommended some of these free tools/software:
- FreeMind -- a free mind-mapping tool that can be used for creating branching scenarios (I haven't tried it yet) sourceforge.net/.../freemind
- Half Baked Software - Quandry -- an application for creating Web-based Action Mazes. www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary.php
I'm excited to see what other people are using!

This thread is so timely for me. I am in a project with another ID to recommend new best practices and tools for the instructional Design process for our team. I am really looking forward to what others have to say as well.
I agree with Stephanie about Audacity. It's a quick and dirty audio tool that is easy to use and produces good results.
I will definitely look into FreeMind and Quandry.
Our company has a few licenses for a mind mapping tool called MindJet, and I'm interested in finding a similar free tool.
Cathy Moore had a great blog recently on Action Mapping using Compendium.
blog.cathy-moore.com/.../be-an-elearning-action-hero
I'm currently researching both the concept of Action Mapping and Compendium. Glad to hear from others who have successfully used either.

Also, I found this post from 2013 by Mike Taylor on how to share Storyline files for free using Google Drive - which was a major challenge I faced when first starting in Storyline, as I'm the only one with the software, and needed to share it with others: https://community.articulate.com/articles/how-to-share-your-e-learning-course-for-free-with-google-drive This was really easy to set up and share!

Another free site for creating a link to share projects is Articulate Tempshare (not supported by Articulate) but works pretty well too. I turned to Google Drive when one file was getting stuck at 99% uploading on Tempshare: http://tempshare.articulate.com/

I'm going to enjoy this challenge, see you in a few days all!

I like using the sites listed below for inspiration:
www.templatemonster.com - it is for website design but inspiring
Adobe Kuler Wheel kuler.adobe.com
I also visit: www.awwwards.com/95-inspiring-websites-of-web-design-agencies.html for inspiration about latest trends in graphic design and function
and Creative Bloq for graphic design inspiration: www.creativebloq.com/.../examples-712368
Can't wait to find out about what others are using. I will definitely be checking out Audacity and Freemind.

I am so glad to see this thread. I have been collecting a list of free or nearly free assets and tools for elearning. I have a spreadsheet going, which I will share. But some of my favorites so far:
Audacity
Freemake Audio Converter
Morgue File (hi res photos)
and my newest favorite: The Pattern Library (http://thepatternlibrary.com) Scroll through to see some of the clever background patterns. I can hardly wait to use the chicken and waffles one!

I like The Pattern Library, Mary!

K...made TOO many after 5\" so I'm stopping now. Not sure I could get anything \"pretty\" done, and wanted to share some of my favorites that really help my workflow, so here it is in all its \"unpretty\" form:

ORGANIZING
Evernote: https://evernote.com/
and/or
Google Drive
https://www.google.com/drive/index.html

How I use: Notebooks with text, images, links;
content is synced so always available

WRITING
http://thesaurus.com/
http://onelook.com/

How I use:
Thesaurus: as expected synonyms and antonyms
OneLook: type in a word and get links to a large number of dictionaries
Also use these to hear pronunciations

PROOFING
Free Natural Reader: http://www.naturalreaders.com/
In Microsoft Word the \"Speak selected text\" tool

How I use:
Listening to my written content (proofing with my ears) almost ALWAYS enables me to pick up mistakes I miss when proofing with my eyes

Natural Reader is awesome because it includes a floating bar that allows you to read selected text in any language

I've placed the Word \"Speak selected text\" tool on my Word Quick Access toolbar. Select text and click the button

PICKING COLORS
http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.php
Pick us any colors in any window (for when I can't use the Storyline color picker)

COPYRIGHT FREE IMAGES
http://pixabay.com/

There are many of these sites, but Pixabay is really awesome. Here's a quick excerpt from their FAQ
Can I use your images?

You can copy, modify, distribute and use the images, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission and without paying attribution. However, depicted content may still be protected by trademarks, publicity or privacy rights. Read more in our blog (http://tinyurl.com/plrvf92).

URL SHORTENERS
URL Shortening
http://tinyurl.com/

How I use it:
Added to Browser Bookmark Toolbar - when you're at a website, simply click this button and a Tiny URL is automatically created

NAME GENERATOR
http://uinames.com/

How I use it:
My mind can be a blank when I need to name characters in a scenario

AUDIO RECORDING AND EDITING
Yep...agree about audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

How I use it:
To record/edit my own audio; to edit \"raw\" audio from narrators

oooohhhhhh I am really looking forward to everyone's cool tools.
I just played around with the samples on Quandry for a ridiculous amount of time. And the Pattern Library is so cool!
Like several folks, I also love Audacity.
My newest fave site for color inspiration is Design Seeds (http://design-seeds.com)
My team has a subscription to eLearning Brothers, which is a great paid resource, but I also find myself using a lot of free resources for images and sounds to supplement that.
I wrote a blog post not long ago about copyright and had a great list of sites including:
creative commons (search.creativecommons.org)
wikimedia commons (commons.wikimedia.org/.../Main_Page)
the internet archive (https://archive.org/index.php)
There's also a little tip in there for using Google images.
abnederveld.com/.../dont-be-a-thieving-jerk

man oh man, so many great resources...loving Pixabay and the name generator - thanks Rebecca, and the pattern library is awesome - thanks Mary.

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What’s In Your Course Design Toolkit? #35

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