What's the BEST elearning advice you ever received?

Aw shucks! I always thought it had something to do with the planning phase. Or was it planting maize? 

I'm amaized you don't know!

Always a great reminder, Elizabeth! 

I just saw, and retweeted, this one that struck home, as I meet quite a few people that ask me how I got to where I am today: 

Here's how to get lucky:

1 work hard

2 teach others

3 complain less 

4 be kind and humble 

5 show up on time

6 be generous

7 stay teachable

One well designed picture / info-graphic is saying more than many pages of plain text.

Many rules for a good presentation will fit when it comes to elearning.

Safe a learner's life by removing unnecessary content. Ask yourself again an again: is this part content important for the lerner or for one woman or one man who wants to have built this elearning course?

"Kill your darlings": sometimes you have got a very good, a very nice idea you want to include into your next course. Do not try to include it with a crowbar ;-) If it does not fit seemlessly it will not fit at all... so forget it - even if it is hard for you.

Never be afraid of white space.  If your content does not take up your entire screen, that's a good thing!  Keep your concept visuals simple and they'll actually listen to what you have to say. What you see on screen should be supportive of the material, not its own wild animal.

Simply put, less is more.

Especially when talking about visual design/layout. After gaining that bit of insight, my whole approach changed for the better.

Always go to the toilet before presenting an online seminar.

@George. Just laughed out loud.  That's great advice.

Good piece of advice from our forum in Dublin today,

Always come back to the question - what do I want the learner to do?

Thanks to Graeme Young for that one.

Probably the best e-learning advice I've received is from right here within the Articulate community! Clergy have a tendency to be late comers when it comes to technology and teaching. That's a real problem since that is our bread and butter. I am really trying to pass on what I've learned in this community to others in my field to spark real learning that goes beyond boring audiences with lots of words.

But the best advice I've gotten is to learn the power of PowerPoint and use it to it's full potential, instead of killing audiences with bullets.

"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

--Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Graeme was spot on! Glad you could make it to the forum, Carmel!

The best advice I´ve ever received is:  Technology alwas comes in second place, first are customer needs. 

I've heard and received many great tips and advice over the years. Some unwanted, but needed.

Some of my favorites:

• Build it right the first time or plan on building it again.
• There are two parts to designing elearning: Instructional Design and Visual Design. Prototype both.
• You're not just building a course; you're building an experience.

My all time fav is: "Design without a Next button."

I like that one Tristan - A good boss will also insist that you provide solutions and not just problems. Things I've learnt;

• Proof read, test it and then proof read it again and then get someone else to do it. Nothing puts a learner off more than errors in content or triggers which don't work.
• Never assume you know it all, involve your stakeholders from the beginning.
• Enjoy the process of bring it all together, it will always show in the end result.

You've given me the best advice, so I rather mark you comment as helpful! :-)

btw: I'm back... So lucky!

Think about what you are going to measure and evaluate BEFORE you start outlining the content.

Well, something to add... Get rid of bullets!

(by Tom, of course).

Practice, practice and practice some more by actually creating courses. Also make sure you understand what your customers want to change or see happen before you start designing a course.

Bruce hit the nail on the head with this one. Put another way, "Be a consultant, not an order-taker."

So that you have a fresh eye, complete your final review after stepping away from it for a while.

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning (Ecclesiastes 7:8)

I used to be a professional artist-blacksmith. My rule for ironwork was "ugly lasts forever". Every piece I sent out I had to be proud of. Of course over time my standards got higher and things I let through at the beginning of my career I was embarrassed to see later. The same can be said for eLearning projects. If you are not proud of your work, change it.