Articulate Conference May 12 - who we are & why we'll be in Leeds

Apr 25, 2012

Hi, folks

In parallel to this super funky thread started by Sam, I thought I'd start one for the conference participants to get to know each other better before we all meet up in Leeds on the 24th of May. I'm also going to post anonymised questions for everyone to think about, as well as updates on the conference. So far what we know is that we're full and that we'wishing a very safe and fun journey to Tom, Don, and everyone else travelling to sunny England, or more specifically to London in the first instance and/or Leeds afterwards :)

I am also going to start the list of introductions in my next post on this thread (if folks don't mind introducing themselves to others - it will definitely help get the day to a lively start; although there will be Danish pastries, too, I am assured ).

Until then, this is what folks would like from the day so far:

  1. Download Tom's brain (Matrix style or otherwise, I guess - the person asking hasn't expressed a preference)
  2. Win a Storyline license :) (I'll surely be using a hat-drawing application again :))
  3. As enthusiasts starting out, quite a few people are looking for practical tips they can put into practice
  4. Be inspired through creative examples
  5. Find out the extent to which designers take account of learning theories such as attentional theory or learning styles when designing resources for impact
  6. Network / Talk about / See what is available in the Health sector in terms of e-learning development with Articulate or otherwise.
  7. Network / Talk about / See what is available in the Client Delivery Services sector in terms of e-learning development with Articulate or otherwise.
  8. Ideas on how to get started efficiently in an institution - licensing and costs, discounts.
  9. Get as many tips on addressing accessibility issues with both Articulate Studio and Storyline 
  10. See a lot of Articulate Studio 09 funkiness and be surprised by new ideas
  11. Get tips on how to use quizzes to assess learning
  12. Talk about plans for the Articulate Studio update - how will it be positioned now that Storyline is (almost) here? 
  13. Tips on designing for tablet use
  14. See how Storyline can be used to create effective resources without dazzling the user with the multitude of possibilities Storyline functionalities open up

The programme is almost there - I will update it with the presenters' details and topics (and may I just say a big thank you to the presenters for volunteering to share their work with us) and will circulate (fingers crossed nothing happens in the meantime.

Until then, let's introduce ourselves and make some friends before the Leeds Articulate extravaganza next month :)

66 Replies
Dragos Ciobanu

My name is Dragos and I am an Academic Staff Development Officer at the University of Leeds. I have a background in languages, computer-assisted translation, and a PhD in Computer-Assisted Language Learning.

I do my best to seek out and use technology creatively to enhance our students' experience and help my colleagues get where they want to be in their teaching and research. I sometimes talk about the things I get involved in in more formal settings and I'm always keen to hear what's going on in the area of technology-enhanced learning.

I have been looking after the University of Leeds Articulate project (we have quite a lot of licenses) since the end of 2007 and I acquired such respect for the awesome Articulate community that in 2009 I organised and hosted the First European Articulate Conference. Things kept getting better and better, with more and more exciting participants keen to learn from all three E-Learning Heroes, as well as each other, so here we are four years later, at hopefully one of the most chilled-out and informative events you'll attend this year.

Despite my grown-up interests (technology-enhance learning and teaching, instructional design, interface and computer-human interaction design and more such stuff ), I have been known to come up with some outlandishly childish stuff, but it's always for a good cause: when people smile, they work better together.

Looking forward to seeing / meeting you all soon and I'll try and prepare some more examples to share in addition to the WASH trilingual resource I linked to from the conference webpage

chris  bancroft

Hi,

As you can see my name is Chris.

I am a newcomer to the world of articulate and E-Learning, but i am quickly picking things up.

So if you see someone walking around the conference looking a bit baffled, that'll be me.

So come over and say hi.

I'm probably jumping in the deep end coming to a Conference with little knowledge, but i have moved into a department of Developers, so i'm there to Gather information, Tips, Tricks and Hints off all of you so i can report back.

So on that note, i am really going to get alot out of the conference, and i'm looking forward to it.

Oh actually the one thing i do want out of it, is to know where i can attend a Part time College type course or open university in

Adult learning, E-learning development etc.

 

Dragos Ciobanu

Hi, Chris

Looking forward to seeing you and thanks for sharing. Quick note on the courses in the UK - there was a discussion yesterday on the ALT mailing list about teaching technology courses (which I realise are not exactly the same thing, but maybe there are some modules of interest somewhere in there). A few things that stood up were: 

  • Greenwich Uni: CeLTT (Certificate of e-Learning,Teaching and Training) programme at Level 5/6.
  • MA: Digital Technologies,Communication and Education running at Manchester, taking instudents both on-campus and online, part-time and full-time; See  http://MAdigitaltechnologies.wordpress.com.

More to what you're looking for may be some CIPD courses: http://www.cipd.co.uk/training/ELEDEEL, and I think were also couple of courses ran by JISC if I'm not mistaken (reference not to hand but will try and dig it up)... not done any of them personally, so couldn't say any more really...

Jane Brotchie

Hi Dragos and all conference people

I'm really looking forward to this event. I work freelance, mostly alone in my office (shed) at the bottom of my garden, so it's good to get out! I've been beta testing Storyline and feel I have found the tool that works for me. I'm comfortable with writing and designing learning programmes - have been in distance learning for more years than I like to think about - but have a huge amount to learn about graphic design and making courses look good. I've learnt a lot from the online Articulate community and hope to get lots of tips and ideas that I can apply and use in my next projects.

@Chris - jumping in the deep end is the only way.

Chris Fletcher

I'm another Chris (There seem to be quite a lot of us in the world!)

I've been an eLearning Specialist for quite a long time now, and been using Articulate for about 6 years. If I was to be big headed, I'd say that I know it all. If I were to listen to my master, Obi Wan, He would say I have much t olearn.

Anywho, I  dablle in the dark art of Captivate, and create intereactive flash elements that I embed int he Articulate projects I create. I also use elements of Articulate embeded in Moodle lessons as part of another role I have.

I haven't yet dabbled in the SDK, so I still use the standard templates, but that works well as its right for the business. I have however managed to edit the flashcommand.js file and create a .asp file so that I can report eLearning completion to a database (I'm quite proud of this fact as I worked it all out myself without the help of our technology team!) we dont have an LMS, and needed to be able to report on course completion which is why I did it.

I always like to challenge and better myself, and I fine Tom's blogs are great for throwing me inspiration. I guess that's my priority from the conference - meeting like minded people, and stealing their ideas to make them my own!

More of a brain dump than an introduction, but that's how I roll. Come and say hi at the conference, and I'll say Hi back! It's only polite!


C

Account 1

Hi All,

I am pretty new to the eLearning world - I started working in January. We use Articulate Studio '09, but I am beta testing Storyline and very excited about the additional possibilities! The company I work for is a training company that works mostly in the corporate and healthcare related fields.

This means that most of the courses I build are extremely content heavy and sensitive; the text and images must be approved by doctors, lawyers, content experts, etc before it is finally published.  They are often replacing 40-50 page booklets that employees used to be sent home to read. See this example.

I would like to explore ways to make these courses more creative and interactive. As I am the last step in the process and therefore don't have a lot creativity with content, it's been a struggle to pull our modules beyond the 'glorified PPT' level. Thankfully, we are currently working to 'close the feedback loop' so that I can have more input with the content experts/writers as they begin the creative process (often 3-6 months before I will start building modules). I need to develop examples, templates, and other useful resources/ways of dialoging to encourage writers to be more creative in how they present material.

Currently, I am exploring our capabilities with delivering mobile eLearning content - 90% of our clients have purchased iPads for their employees and are pushing us very hard to get our modules iPad compatible. (Hello Storyline!!)

Lastly, I work for a US company here in the UK, so I am pretty isolated. The only other modules I have seen have come from this community (thank you E-Learning Heroes!) - so I am very excited to learn from you veterans out there, especially those working in a similar field to myself.

Thanks Dragos for getting this started! See you all soon!

Cheers,

Joel

Dragos Ciobanu

Oh, that sounds so nice, Jane; dreaming of setting up my own shed, too (and have started doing something about it, too, which is a little scary, by mainly exciting from my point of view ). Looking forward to chatting about that

Chris, strong the power with you is, and .js and .asp files not everyone can tame - I myself such powers to acquire wish :) I'm with you on the SDK bit (although seeing what Jade - who will be there - and others have done, you do get itchy fingers trying to have a little go) and I quite like the additional skin control and customisation built into the Storyline skin. My understanding is that Storyline is very close to being released, so you may have time to play with it even before the conference.

Thank you so much for sharing the Oncology resource, Joel, (may I also link to it from the Examples page, please?), and for giving us such a complete picture of your work. There will be several specialists from the field of Healthcare on the day and I'm sure there will also be quite a few ideas flying around generally about scenario-based learning (lots of them started by Tom, Jeanette, David and lots more E-Learning Heroes way back), so I hope you (as everyone else) will enjoy the day and find it relevant and helpful. I am also a big fan of the Storyline iPad app (and the clever features Articulate built into it), but I must say what blew me over was the compression engine Articulate built into Storyline - I personally think whoever can take 900MB of .mp4 video that goes into an e-learning resource (let's just ignore the additional images) and produce a 73MB resource that works on an iPad, too, deserves a lot of chocolate and cakes :) 

See you soon, everyone :)

Bruce Graham

Hi,

My name is Bruce Graham, a fulltime UK-based freelance instructional designer. I am just about to purchase "Bruce's Garden Office of Creativity", and no-one I know closely is called "Chris".

I have a website, but as it's all built in Storyline (which seemed like a good idea...), I'm not allowed to show it until precisely 60-seconds after Storyline launches.

At the moment run my Global operations from my main office (the dining room), or my remote office (my sofa).

I've been creating eLearning for 12+ years, the last 4 of which I've been working for myself, as I figured it was much more fun, and had the same employment risks as working for someone else!

I will be giving a 10-minute "talkette" at Leeds about designing navigational controls in SL to meet the needs of linear and non-linear course requirements, (current working title - "Button-based Menus - Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy").

As I am on after the superstars Tom and Jade, I will be attempting to keep everyone's attention by something slightly "different". I can guarantee that no other presentation at Leeds (or London for that matter) will have the words "Cute Bunny Wunny" in it - mine will......

I'll be at London and Leeds, because I too need to download Tom's brain, because I LOVE this business, because I have a lot of fun with other Instructional Designers and my clients alike, but also because my accountant is always telling me to be more tax-efficient by increasing my business costs and expenses.

I have set up and run the UK Storyline User Group (SLUG) - so I hope for the product launch soon so that we have something to do

My motto - "Just because it is deadly serious it doesn't have to be deadly dull".

Bruce

PS - I will be dressed in black.

Mona Söderblom

Hi All

I'm Mona and works at a pharma company in Copenhagen, Denmark. I manage a small team of very enthusiastic learning professionals. Our main focus is to develop training for our internal and external partners in clinical development processes and systems. Much of our training has been classroom-based, but as many ohters, we see the opportunities with eLearning and blended learning. The experience of developing eLearning varies within the team. Articulate is pretty new for all and I believe, that I am the one in our team that have used Articulate most. However, it is a while ago since I worked with it hands on, so I see this conference as a great opportunity of getting tips and inspiration for the whole team.

See you!

Phil Mayor

Hi All

I work for the east Midlands cancer network in the UK.  I am the education lead and have a very small team (Steve and !).  I am really excited about the Leeds conference, I attended last year and Dragos has a lot to live up to

I am also attending London and looking forward to getting as many ideas from Tom as possible.  Hopefully enough to keep me going for a couple of years.

I have long term palns in place to go freelance and have a company elearning laboratory set up and ready to go, so exciting times.

I will aos be presenting for 10 minutes, as I said to Dragos

If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now!

Look forward to meeting everyone at London and Leeds.

Phil

Dragos Ciobanu

What Bruce is not giving away is that he has magic powers, too - there was a whole family of bunnies coming out my ears (quite literally) at the pre-conference dinner last year

Good to have you with us, Mona, and fingers crossed the conference will have everything (or most of the things :) ) you are looking for - I for one am really grateful that more and more examples of work with Storyline and Articulate are coming through to offer inspiration and talking points on the day. Looking forward to meeting you!

Thanks for the added pressure, Phil :) I think my main tasks this year are to make sure everyone is well-fed and hydrated, as well as reasonably amused and happy, and that the technology behaves (a bit like organising a wedding, I think :)). The rest will happen naturally because every year the participants have been just brilliant and that's what really makes the conference.

The other thing that Phil, being his usual modest self (seems to be quite a feature among Articulate users, actually), forgot to mention is that he in fact has two speaking slots: one for 10 min in the morning and another, longer one, in the afternoon, where he'll amaze us with his magic tricks which got him the Bronze medal in the Articulate Storyline Guru competition for his Table of Periodic Elements resource that he has kindly shared with us. Told you, modest! :) 

Sam Currie

Yay, my thread got called "Super Funky" 

OK well my name is Sam, I have worked at AstraZeneca for about 16 years wearing various hats (freelancer, outsourced to IBM, now outsourced to ComputaCenter)

I work in a small global team and we provide learning to end users, I have been creating eLearning for around 5 years using Articulate and Captivate 3 (steam powered)

The training I have created - which sadly I can't share due to privacy issues, has consisted of courses to help users get the most out of Microsoft products, and I have also created compliance course and quick screen capture clips.

I have also undertaken some freelance work for a private client. I am also available for voice over as well as full blown eLearning production.

My skills are pretty much self taught both software and theory wise, so I guess I am looking to see examples of others work to get inspiration. Of course I am very much looking forward to meeting Tom K (please restrain me from becoming his stalker or seeking an autograph!!!)

I am super excited to be atrtending the conference and meeting other Articulate and Storyline enthusiasts - can't wait !

Dragos Ciobanu

Looking forward to meeting you, too, Sam, and thank you for the intro. I'll think of some desirably-prized treasure hunts which I could announce whenever Tom looks like collapsing from fan attention - but he sounds like a strong bloke and genuinely looking forward to seeing us, so I don't really think there will be any problems there

Gareth Wellings

Hi all

Gareth here - I work for Deloitte, we're one of those so-called 'Big 4' professional services firms (not just accountants....).  Although based here in the UK, I work for our global organisation as part of a small team who oversee the design and development of learning curricula for our audit professionals around the world. 

We do a range of e-learning, some of it outsourced to vendors, and some of it developed in house - which is where Articulate comes in.  We have a global licensing arrangement with Articulate which enables anyone in our organisation to use the Articulate Studio tools to author content.    

I've been in learning and development at Deloitte for over 10 years now, and been involved in leading many e-learning content development projects, as our use of e-learning has gradually increased over the year.  Although I love technology and enjoy getting hands on with tools like Articulate, these days I don't get that much chance to do it myself, as we have an in-house digitisation team.  My role is more about overseeing e-learning development projects, appreciating what our content development tools are (and are not) capable of, and providing direction and guidance on instructional design and enabling our teams to get the most out of them.

When I'm not working my life involves my 4 kids (ages 5 up to 10), football (Brighton and Hove Albion), running and music.

I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone in Leeds and seeing what great things you're all doing with Articulate and learning more about how to push the boundaries!

Jade Kelsall

Bruce Graham said:

As I am on after the superstars Tom and Jade, I will be attempting to keep everyone's attention by something slightly "different". I can guarantee that no other presentation at Leeds (or London for that matter) will have the words "Cute Bunny Wunny" in it - mine will......

Hi, I'm Jade and I was also planning on using the words "Cute Bunny Wunny" in my presentation, but I shall have to rethink as I wouldn't want to steal Bruce's thunder
Carol Elston

Hi I’m Carol Elston from Skills@Library, University of Leeds. I work with Jade and I don’t think she will be talking about rabbits; possibly poets and literary archives. I bet you can’t wait! I used to be a doer and now all I seem to do is project manage so I’m interested to find out more about Storyline and what it can do. See you all next week!

Dragos Ciobanu

Really good to hear from you, Gareth and Carol , and looking forward to seeing you on the 24th. Storyline is indeed getting lots of people very excited, so I am hoping there will be lots to keep both Storyline and Studio fans at all levels of experience happy.

I am personally looking forward to Tom's and everyone else's ideas, tips and examples of engaging instructional design, as I am sure that if there is any magic button click that I miss in any of the demos, there will always be the E-learning Heroes to jump to the rescue (and make me wonder how I could teleport grateful cake (which comes in many forms; cheesecake is one of the most frequent ones :)) to the four corners of the world. :)

Chat54 .

Hi All

I am a training manager for a National Waste Management and Disposal company here in the UK leading a team of 7 full time trainers and support staff. I introduced and was very active developing e-learning in the organisation until I got diagnosed with Cancer about 14 months ago and as such everything stopped for obvious reasons. I am now back in circulation and getting my mojo back, having taken the magic C on and currently one of two tumours I had has been dealt with although I am still fighting the other one! I think the articulate community is special. I am looking forward to meeting you all and spending the day discussing better ways of delivering our learning!

Derek

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