Laugh, and your learners laugh with you. Maybe.

Are you brave? Try some humor and bond with your learners. Here are a few tips that might help.
Visual menus: structure with style

We expect learners to make complex decisions on the job. Then why don’t we let them decide how to use a simple course?
Novices need structure. But how should we show it?
New visual thinking conference planned for January
On January 27-29, VizThink 08 will bring visual thinkers to San Francisco to discuss “the power of visualization for learning and communication.” The planners say that most of the conference will focus on “small group discussion, practical experience, and, wherever possible, hands-on practice.”
You can see the full list of facilitators here, but for me the star attraction is Scott McCloud. He’s the author of Making Comics, which is an indispensable guide to graphic storytelling and a must-buy for any elearning developer who uses stories with pictures.
An early registration discount ends Sept. 28.
How could a mushroom keep your learners alert?
It was a Flash animation, an expensive one. The narrator’s voice was professional and smooth. The images slid by with liquid grace. The snippets of text faded in and out like cryptic messages from a dream. Beneath it all burbled a tranquil stream of melody-free music.
Within five seconds I was slack-jawed and stupefied. That probably wasn’t what the developers hoped to achieve with their animation about the new vendor vetting procedures.
High-end productions are supposed to be impressive and therefore compelling. Then why did I bomb the vendor vetting quiz?
I’M IN UR LMS TRACKIN MY COURSES
This post is a short online course created by lolcats. Note how they often use questions to engage the learner. If your feed reader strips out Flash, click the post title to see Wurld Dominayshun: Module 1 in all its glory.
Tool: Keynote



