August 2016 – The Logical Blog

August 31, 2016

Social Media: Searching for Work on LinkedIn, Part 2

by Sally Cox

We have previously explored the importance of having a strong LinkedIn profile. Your profile is really the key here so if you haven't yet updated and beefed up your LinkedIn profile, I suggest you go back and read through the article before moving forward.

A Word about Recruiters

I always preach to my colleagues who are seeking work, and I believe this: the best way to find work is to have the work find you. The strong LinkedIn profile is twofold–prospective employers can see your work history at a glance, but it's also helpful for recruiters to find you. They use keyword searches to help narrow the field, and I can tell you from experience: recruiters are the best way to find and keep steady work.

That being said, there are two types of recruiters: the ones who make blind calls or send blind emails–with no idea of whether you are the suited for the job, and the ones who work closely with you and know your skillset and work ethics. The second is obviously the one I recommend. A strong profile and a few tips to get you noticed by recruiters can go a long way.

I have a handful of recruiters who have taken the time to view my portfolio, talk to me about my goals and future plans, and learn my skill set. Those are the ones who think "Sally would be perfect for this role!" That's what I want for you so let's explore how to get there.

Get the free LinkedIn Jobs App

This is a great way to keep up with jobs on LinkedIn. It's easy to browse and search for jobs, and in many cases, you can apply with your LinkedIn profile right from your mobile device.

Below is an overview of the LinkedIn Jobs App. Enter keywords, location if desired and tap Search. Apply for some jobs directly through the app with your profile or save jobs in the app, to complete on the company's website later.

LinkedIn App 2

A few tips to help you with your search:

Try variations of your keywords. I search for "Instructional Designer" but I also search for "Instructional Design" or "eLearning Developer," for example.
Set up notifications within the app to alert you when a job matching your description gets posted.
Many jobs can be applied for right from within the app–in your pajamas, while in bed! The LinkedIn jobs app keeps track of the ones you've applied for that way, which is quite helpful.
If you're having trouble finding work in your field, consider expanding your skillset. A photo retoucher who does nothing but retouch photos will have a harder time finding work than one who has other skills.
I always recommend you stay active in the newsfeed, for maximum exposure. "Like" relevant articles, share insights, etc., to get yourself noticed. This is especially helpful when you are job hunting.

Here is an infographic I put together on the LinkedIn Jobs App. You can click the image to download a copy for yourself.

Next Time: I'll share more tips about maintaining a strong LinkedIn profile.

August 24, 2016

Social Media: Searching for Work on LinkedIn

by Sally Cox

As a freelancer, people are always asking me how I find work. The answer for me has two parts:

I have a strong LinkedIn profile
I have a small pool of recruiters who know my skill set and find work FOR me. That is where you want to be: having people looking for work FOR you.

In this series of articles, I'm going to share some of my LinkedIn job-hunting tips with you. This week you'll get some tips on writing your headline and summary, choosing a profile photo, and how to garner recommendations.

Strong LinkedIn Profile

There is no way around it. You must have a strong LinkedIn profile. Most companies use LinkedIn to check out applicants. And recruiters are actively searching on LinkedIn for the best candidates. If you want to compete today, you simply have to have a strong online presence, and it all starts with LinkedIn.

I'll use mine as an example:

I created a custom URL for myself, as shown in the lower left corner of the image above (and there's a close-up below). When you are signed in and choose Edit My Profile, a gear will appear to the right of your current URL. Tap the gear and create a new custom URL for yourself. It looks professional and sets you apart.

Notice that in my profile (the first image above), I listed previous companies I have done work for. Although you cannot tell in the photo, I linked to their business pages, if they have one. If you have your own business, create a LinkedIn page and link to it.

Writing your Headline and Summary

You have only seconds to impress someone who is looking at your profile. Make it count. Here are some tips:

Don't list "Looking for Work" as your headline. You're wasting valuable space to talk about yourself, and research shows recruiters react negatively to it.
Use keywords and key terms. LinkedIn searches are based on keywords and key terms, so make it count. Use LinkedIn's search features to explore other profiles like yours and see what terms the professionals are using.
Headline: distill your career to one sentence. It's a challenge but it forces you to decide what is important and get rid of the rest.
I list my skills on my profile, usually wrapped into my summary. For example, I'm very good in Articulate Storyline. If someone searches for "storyline," I want them to find me!
Use the "pipe" character as a separator in your text (it's a vertical line (|) and can be created by pressing [SHIFT] and the key directly above ENTER/RETURN. The pipe gives your profile a fresh look and is a nice alternative to bullets.

I'm not saying that my summary is perfect, but here it is in all of its glory:

I used the "pipe" character to separate my roles. I used several keywords and even added a personal touch with my Mr. Rogers story. I typically use the 80/20 rule in social media (80% business, 20% personal). However, on LinkedIn I usually do 90% business. It's nice to offer recruiters a glimpse at your personality, but I recommend that you keep personal content to a minimum.

Professional Photo

As a creative, I can get away with some things on my LinkedIn profile that a lawyer might not. For example, my profile pic is not a professional headshot. It's simply an outdoor shot that I like and so I use it. That being said, follow these guidelines for your LinkedIn photo:

Don't cut yourself out of a group shot and expect that to be sufficient.
Spend the money for a professional shot, or trade services with a photographer. Perhaps you can design their business card in exchange for a handful of head shots?
Try to find a way to show your personality, even with a formal portrait. Wear a polka dot dress (like me!), or a colorful pocket handkerchief – just something that helps set you apart.

Recommendations vs. Endorsements

Don't waste a minute on LinkedIn Endorsements. When you add skills to your profile, those skills are seen by your connections. They are then asked to click a button to endorse you for that skill. It's a total waste of time and doesn't hold any weight in the eyes of a recruiter.

Recommendations, on the other hand, hold tremendous weight on your profile. Recruiters look for recommendations. They give the recommender a chance to talk about your skills, your strengths and add personal interest. Here are some tips to getting recommendations:

Don't ask for 100 in one day. I always tell people to ask for two a week. Pick two of your connections who would be strong references for you, and ask them to write a recommendation. Each recommendation has a timestamp, so 100 in one day would be painfully obvious.
Although it's customary to recommend someone who recommended you, don't recommend someone you would not hire. It's your reputation on the line – don't risk it over hurting someone's feelings because you refuse to recommend them.
It's ok to ask for a recommendation and it's perfectly ok to direct them. I once had some write "Sally is so funny and kind." That's nice to hear but doesn't show my business skills. So I wrote to the person, thanked them and explained I was trying to play up my project management skills. Most people will respond well if you give them specifics on what you want them to emphasize.

Recommendations are mentioned right at the top of your profile, when viewed by the public. I have 41 recommendations (I have built that list over time). You need to do the same. Make your profile a work in progress and keep it updated so it's ready when you need it.

Next time: We'll explore how to actually look for work using LinkedIn, including the LinkedIn jobs app.

August 22, 2016

eLearning: Is it Time to Jump on the xAPI Bandwagon?

by Megan Torrance

xAPI and the Tin Can Project… it's possible that you've been hearing about these terms for years. Or maybe someone just dropped one or both terms into a conversation and you're feeling left out. It's okay. Few eLearning developers have ever developed or seen an eLearning project that uses xAPI. However, given the fact that eLearning development tools and learning platforms now support xAPI, it may be the time to jump on the xAPI bandwagon.

What is xAPI?

Many people say that xAPI is the next version of SCORM. While xAPI will replace SCORM, to say it's the "next version of SCORM" is like saying my smartphone is the next version of the rotary dial phone. SCORM is the technology standard that means any eLearning course can work in any learning management system. Not to put too much of a fine point on it, but it's the standard that has allowed for the growth and variety that you see in the eLearning world today. When we no longer have to worry about whether our course can talk to our learning system, we can then focus on the instruction. Clients can change vendors without fear because as long as we're all using SCORM the course should work.

However, SCORM is outdated. It doesn't like to be disconnected from the internet. It only tracks what happens when you're logged into the LMS. And it only tracks a few shallow, boring metrics about what happens in an eLearning course.

Let's face it, the vast majority of what people learn doesn't happen in the LMS. And that means it doesn't get tracked. You can't see it. You can't measure it. You can't report on it. At least not with much depth. And if you are tracking, you can't switch vendors. Along comes xAPI.

So, really, what is xAPI?

xAPI is a simple, lightweight way to send, store, and retrieve data about learning experiences and to share that data across platforms. This data is formatted and sent via structured activity statements by activity providers (like an eLearning course or performance support system) and stored in a learning record store (LRS). The LRS is analogous to the SCORM database in an LMS, but it is not required to handle all the learning management functions that your current platforms likely do.

Here's the magic. This isn't "LAPI" it's "xAPI" and that signals a huge difference in direction. The x in xAPI stands for "experience," not just the "learning" part of things. While an eLearning course can be an activity provider, and for many people that will be the primary source of learning data (at least for a while), xAPI takes us far beyond SCORM. With xAPI you can track activity in performance support tools, participation in online discussions, mentoring conversations, performance assessments, and actual business results. Now we can see a full picture of an individual's learning experience and how that relates to his/her performance.

The API in xAPI stands for Application Programming Interface: it's the way that software systems interact and share data. xAPI activity statements can be generated by activity providers and sent to the LRS, or they can be sent from the LRS to other systems, or from LRS to LRS. The point here is the interoperability. When we're all using the same standard–moving from SCORM to xAPI–tools and content from different vendors can all work together, paving the way to a smoother experience for the organizations we serve and the growth of the industry.

An xAPI activity statement records experiences in an "I did this" format. The activity statement specifies the actor (who did it), a verb (what was done), a direct object (what it was done to) and a variety of contextual data, including score, rating, language, browser and platform, results, intersections with curricula standards, and almost anything else you want to track.

Is xAPI here to stay?

This is the billion dollar question. With any new technology, there is a small set of leading edge and early adopters who take the plunge, struggle through the kinks of working with something new and forge the way while others wait in the wings to see if this thing is really going to stick. A lot of new ideas fail. And when you're responsible for the learning and development of a large organization with millions of dollars on the line, it's wise to wait and see if this is going to get traction or if it's just a well-hyped flash in the pan.

Until recently, using xAPI meant a lot of custom programming, close work with your LRS provider, and custom reporting tools. Everything was geeky and custom. It just wasn't scalable for enterprise-wide adoption. Today, xAPI is ready for wider adoption. Major courseware development tools have varying degrees of basic conformance with xAPI and can send statements to an LRS. Several LRSs are commercially available to choose from, and LMS providers are adding an LRS to their suites, either natively or in partnership with LRS providers. Their capabilities are improving all the time. If your current course development tools don't create the activity statements you need, keep in mind that sending xAPI statements requires only simple JavaScript. (If that seems daunting to you, rest assured it is not a big hurdle for your friendly neighborhood software developer.) xAPI is emerging as a geek-free option for the L&D industry. The DISC (Data Interoperability Standards Consortium) has begun the process of developing conformance testing so that tools and products across the industry can be certified.

Should I use xAPI?

Yes. If you have something to track that cannot be handled by SCORM, xAPI is a viable option for you and it's not difficult to get started. For initial experimentation and testing, most commercial LRS products offer a free trial option.

Want to learn more about xAPI? Check out xAPI Camp or the xAPI Learning Cohort.

August 11, 2016

Articulate Storyline: LMS Tracking and Reporting

by Kal Hadi

When publishing to LMS from Storyline, you will need to pay close attention to the "REPORTING AND TRACKING" options available to you as part of the "Publish" settings. These options could impact whether or not your LMS can successfully and completely track the published output and report relevant data.

In the Output Options area of the LMS, select the SCORM version compatible with your LMS. It's likely that your LMS supports more than one specification standard. For example, your LMS may support SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004. If you have the choice between SCORM 1.2, and SCORM 2004 I recommend using SCORM 2004. If you are not sure what your LMS is capable of supporting, check with your LMS support team before publishing.

Click the Reporting and Tracking button and you will find additional LMS settings. Storyline supports SCORM 2004 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Edition (the 4th Edition has greater support for tracking and reporting than previous editions).

From the LMS Reporting: Report Status to LMS as area there are four choices (shown below).

The choice you need to select here varies from one LMS to another. I suggest you run some tests to see which ones work best for your LMS.

Finally, it's in the Tracking area where Storyline determines what constitutes course completion and where Storyline knows where to report results.

If you have a knowledge check/quiz as part of your lesson, it's likely that you want to select Track using quiz result. If you happen to have multiple result slides (perhaps pre-test, survey, and post-test result slides) it's critical that you choose the Result slide that is the aggregated results slide of other results.

Don't forget to talk to your LMS support team and run some tests before publishing and sharing with your learners.

Looking for training or help with Articulate Storyline or Studio? Check out these awesome live, online Articulate classes.

August 8, 2016

TechSmith Camtasia: Backing Up and Sharing Projects

by Kevin Siegel

While producing a Camtasia project, assets such as videos, images, and audio clips can be imported from your hard drive, a network drive, or other external resource.

During the development process, I always encourage my students to backup the project as often as possible (I backup at least once a day). Backing up a project can be as simple as dragging the project folder from your local drive to a network drive. However, if the assets you imported into the project are not in the project folder at the time you back up the project, those assets are not backed up and will be missing. If there are missing, moved, or renamed assets you'll get an alert box asking you to locate them when you attempt to open the backup project.

If you cannot locate (or update) the assets from other sources, you're in a heap of trouble because missing assets won't appear on the Clip Bin or the Timeline–nor will they preview or publish.

To ensure that all of the project assets are backed up (therefore avoiding the missing assets alert), you can create a zipped version of the project that contains everything (even linked assets).

The zipping process is simple: choose File > Export project as zip. Ensure you select Include all files from Clip Bin in zip. (This option is selected by default.) Select a network drive as your save destination. When backing up your project, a network drive would be preferable to a local drive… if your local drive goes down you've lost both your project and the zipped backup.

Down the road, if you need to access the backup project simply create a new, blank project and choose File > Import zipped project.

All of the Clip Bin assets will be imported and those assets automatically added to the Timeline.

Looking for eLearning training? Check out these live, online classes.

August 4, 2016

Around the Block with Piktochart

by Karin Rex

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

How do you build an infographic in Piktochart?

One block at a time.

The infographic below consists of five blocks (numbered to help you see them).

Blocks can contain any element Piktochart accepts:

Text
Graphics (icons, pictures)
Shapes
Lines
YouTube or Vimeo video
Charts
Maps

For infographics, blocks can be any height you wish and up to 1980 pixels wide. Each block can have a unique background and its own look and feel. Blocks can be cloned or deleted with a single click.

Blocks not only allow you to split your infographic into sections, but also give you the flexibility to rearrange sections after you've completed your design. For example, in the infographic above, you can easily move any section above or below any other section.

To add a new blank block, select the block you want the new block to be positioned under and click the Plus sign button. A new block the same size and background color as the selected block will appear.
To move a block UP in the flow, click the Up Arrow icon. To move a block DOWN in the flow, click the Down Arrow icon.
To clone an existing block, select it and click the Clone button. All of the elements of the selected block will be copied to the new block.
To delete a block, select it and then click the Delete button.
To modify block height and width, click on the Gear icon. You can choose one of the pre-set sizes (600, 800, 1200 pixels) for width or type your own (up to 2980). Blocks can be any height you wish (which is why you see so many very tall infographics!).
You can modify block height by dragging on the bar handle between blocks. Drag up to decrease block height or drag down to increase block height.

Chip Off the Old Block

Currently, Piktochart does not have a way for you to copy blocks between infographics. However, you can select all of the elements in a block and copy them. Then, simply paste those copied blocks into your new infographic.

For more information about Piktochart, visit the Piktochart website.

If you are interested in learning how to create creative and intriguing infographics, sign up for my three-hour live, online mini course: Infographics with Piktochart: Quick Start.

August 2, 2016

PDF Forms: Part 3

by Sally Cox

During the first article in this series, I covered the process of creating a PDF. In the second article you learned how to add text fields to a postcard PDF. (You can download the PDF from that article if you want to follow along.)

This time I'd like to show you how to add a drop-down menu to the PDF form.

Below is an image of the postcard you learned to modify last time. There are three text fields and I've named them: "Date," "Name," and "City."

When the user submits the form, the data you get back is "Name=Value." If you leave fields unnamed and the user enters "Reno" as their city, you will receive "Text Field 3=Reno." It would make sense to receive "City=Reno." So please, name those text fields!

Adding a Dropdown Menu

I need a drop-down menu for the user to pick their state. In this example, I will just include a few states, but you will get the idea.

Note: Because I already turned the PDF into a form and I am just editing it, I chose Prepare Form and was taken directly to the form tools.

I clicked the Dropdown List tool from the Forms toolbar (6th from the left–blue when it's selected).

Click and drag to positon the drop-down object.

Editing the Properties

Double-click or right-click the object to edit its Properties.

On the General tab, name the drop-down list and add a Tooltip.

Tooltips are helpful in two key scenarios:

If the user is disabled and is using a screen reader to read the content. The screen reader cannot read images but the tooltip will be read, so the user can know what content is intended there. You want your content to be accessible to everyone, don't you?
If images are disabled by the user (some people do it for speed, although images are important to me!)

From the Appearance tab, choose a Fill and Stroke. I reduced the text size a bit, too (the default is 12, which is gigantic). You can preview the form and make changes as needed.

I usually skip the Position tab, but you can use this section to accurately pinpoint the drop-down's location on the page.

I added my responses via the the Options tab. (I tend to make Item and Export Value the same but you can name the Item differently if you wish.)

Tip: I typically add a final response called "Select One." It appears at the bottom of the list and I want it to be the default, so I move it up the list by selecting it and tapping the "Up" button.

The response that is highlighted will be the default–in the example above, the user will see Select One as the default.

Here is the Final drop-down List

Final card

Here is the postcard with the drop-down list added.

Drop-down menu

Next time: Submit buttons.