Category: training

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Don’t Write Trick Quiz Questions!

Have you ever written a quiz only to have some of your students come back and say the quiz wasn’t fair? Or that Number 5 was a trick question?

 Here is a quiz scene from the classic movie My Cousin Vinnie, which contains a classic “trick” question. The District Attorney is trying to prove that the witness, Mona Lisa Vito, is not a qualified automobile expert. 
 
D.A. Jim Trotter: Now, uh, Ms. Vito, being an expert on general automotive knowledge, can you tell me… what would the correct ignition timing be on a 1955 Bel Air Chevrolet, with a 327 cubic-inch engine and a four-barrel carburetor?
 
Mona Lisa Vito: It’s a bull**** question, it’s impossible to answer.
 
D.A. Jim Trotter: Impossible because you don’t know the answer!
 
Mona Lisa Vito: No, it is a trick question!
 
Judge Chamberlain Haller: Why is it a trick question?
 
Vinny Gambini: [to Bill] Watch this.
 
Mona Lisa Vito: ‘Cause Chevy didn’t make a 327 in ’55, the 327 didn’t come out till ’62. And it wasn’t offered in the Bel Air with a four-barrel carb till ’64. However, in 1964, the correct ignition timing would be four degrees before top-dead-center.
 
D.A. Jim Trotter: Well… um… she’s acceptable, Your Honor.
 
Here’s some advice on how to avoid writing any bull****—oops, I mean “trick” questions.

Realistic

Make sure the question is realistic—that it would actually come up or happen in the workplace. Don’t fall into Trotter’s mistake: asking about something where there is no such thing. That may sound obvious, but it is worth having a colleague look over your questions to make sure.

Meaningful

If you write up your quiz at the end of a course development project when you are tired and in a hurry, you are at risk for cherry-picking trivial facts that are easy to write questions about. For example: How many commands are on the Themes menu in Adobe Captivate Classic?

The correct answer to that is, “Who cares?”
 
Knowing how many items are on a software menu is meaningless regarding whether you can use the software successfully. Your learners know it’s pointless. So steer away from trivia and ask relevant, meaningful questions.

Fair

Another question that gets students’ hackles up is an unfair question. What makes a question unfair? First and foremost, it was not actually covered in the class. Sure, it may be some kind of common knowledge that relates to the class, but if it was not explicitly covered, steer clear.

No Double-Talk

Don’t use double-negatives in your quiz questions. Here’s an example of a double-negative: Which of these file formats is not acceptable when importing images?
 
Your learners will certainly not fail to feel like you are just messing with them, to see if you can trick them into not necessarily failing to read it incorrectly. See what I mean?
 
Take care in writing your quiz, and you can avoid any accusation that your quiz was unrealistic, meaningless, trivial, unfair, or unclear. And that’s a good thing!

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TEACHING ONLINE: Instructors Take Note!

by Jennie Ruby, COTP

That’s right: note taking. It’s not just for students, anymore! 
 
Of course we are used to thinking of note-taking as a student activity. And it certainly still is. In one of my online classes just this week, one of my students said, “Hold on, hold on! I’ve got to get this down!” before she would go on with answering a question I had asked her. Then she answered my question, and no doubt wrote that down as well! But she and the other participants were not the only ones taking notes in my class. I was taking notes, too.
 
Starting during the participant introductions at the beginning of my online classes, I begin to take hand-written notes. I make sure to have a well-spaced roster of my participants, with plenty of room to write. During their introductions, I note key facts about them, such as where they are calling in from, what kinds of topics they work with, and what organization they work for. 
 
Taking these notes by hand helps me learn about my students. My goal in online classes is to get to know my students at least as well as I get to know participants in face-to-face classrooms—or maybe even better!
 
Recent research by Pam Mueller of Princeton University, along with Daniel Oppenheimer now at UCLA, shows that hand-written notes may help us learn things better. That’s important for students, and in my classes I sometimes mention this fact to learners. Now, the type of information that hand-written notes helps the most with is conceptual knowledge, rather than just plain facts. Notes typed on a laptop seem to be just as effective for learning rote facts and details. 
 
But I hand write my “class” notes anyway—notes about my class participants, not about my content—and I notice a dramatic improvement in my ability to remember who my students are and where they are coming from. I feel like I truly get to know them.
 
Once I know my students, I can help them with learning the content of the class by actively using examples that relate to their experience. For example, if I know one of my learners for eLearning software is going to be creating training videos for active-duty nurses, I might mention a few ways to engage learners without audio voiceover. Why? Because the nurses may be trying to absorb the eLearning while working at a station in a busy ward, where they can’t use earphones!
 
I teach online courses by myself in a room full of computers, monitors, and microphones. I may not see another human being all day. But at the end of the day, I do not feel as if I spent the day alone. I feel the same as if I had spent the day getting to know, and then working with, a room full of people.
 
Here are some of the things I take notes about:
  • Where participants are calling in from
  • What topics they work with (finance, healthcare, manufacturing, etc.)
  • What role they play (instructional designer, training manager, instructor)
  • Contributions/comments they make about the class
  • Questions they ask that I promised to cover later
And in my software classes, I create a column for checkmarks, where I note whether each student has had a turn to share their computer screen. 
 
In the online classroom, we need every possible tool we can use to get to know, engage with, and create learning experiences with our participants. Try note-taking in your next online class!
 
Join me in July when I team with Kevin Siegel and AJ Walther for ICCOTP's Online Training Professional certification course.
 
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Jennie Ruby, CTT, COTP, is a veteran eLearning developer, trainer, and author. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer and Certified Online Training Professional. She teaches both classroom and online courses, and has authored courseware, published training books, and developed content for countless eLearning projects. She is also a publishing professional with more than 30 years of experience in writing, editing, print publishing, and eLearning.
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TEACHING LIVE, ONLINE CLASSES: Engagement Is Not Enough

by Jennie Ruby, COTP

We hear it all the time: engage your learners, create e-learning that is engaging, make sure the students are engaged.
 
And so we create interactive eLearning. In our classrooms we call students by name and discuss things with them face to face. We ask them to raise their hands. In our online classrooms we have them click something, drag something, or move something every few moments. But does all this engagement automatically create learning? No.
 
Don’t get me wrong, engagement is very important. In fact, it is a prerequisite to learning. If the student is not paying attention, not attending, then learning is impossible. But engagement alone is not enough.
 
In computer training—training that teaches people how to use software, websites, apps, or online forms—we have known since the 1980s that hands-on training is essential. The experiment was run: merely demonstrate how the software works? The viewers learn nearly nothing. Have the learners try it with their own hands controlling the computer? Learning is greatly increased.
 
The key to learning is that the learner has to apply effort. And as instructors, we have to act as learning facilitators. We have to create opportunities for our learners to apply effort, and then we have to supervise and guide their efforts.
 
How can we do that in our online classes? Here are some methods to try:
 
  • Have the students work along with you as you complete a software activity—they are applying hands-on effort.
  • Ask them to show you how they did it—you are assessing their efforts.
  • If you are using Adobe Connect, upload an interactive eLearning software simulation. Each student works through the simulation and gets a grade—again, the learners apply effort, and you assess their efforts.
  • In GoToTraining, you can give a student control over the mouse and keyboard of your computer. Use that technique to allow a student to try out a software technique, even if they don’t have the software on their own computer. They are applying effort, and you are either guiding, or supplying feedback, on their efforts.
  • Adobe Connect and GoToTraining allow you to set up a scorable quiz for your participants right in your online classroom. The learners apply effort in trying to answer the quiz questions. Then you can review the answers and reinforce their efforts.
 
 
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Join me early next month when I join Kevin Siegel and AJ Walther for the May edition of ICCOTP's Online Training Professional certification course. There are only a few seats left so don't delay.
 

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Jennie Ruby, CTT, COTP, is a veteran eLearning developer, trainer, and author. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer and Certified Online Training Professional. She teaches both classroom and online courses, and has authored courseware, published training books, and developed content for countless eLearning projects. She is also a publishing professional with more than 30 years of experience in writing, editing, print publishing, and eLearning.
 
 
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TEACHING ONLINE: True eLearning Integration via Adobe Connect

by Kevin Siegel, CTT+, COTP

When I teach my live, online Certified Online Training Professional course, one of the core concepts I encourage is blended learning (combining online digital media with traditional classroom teaching concepts). Specifically, there's great value in integrating eLearning (asynchronous training) with live (synchronous) training by providing access to eLearning content from within the virtual training space.
 
Published eLearning content can typically be provided to online students via a Materials pod or direct link (URL) you type into the Chat pod. All of the main training platforms (WebEx, GoToTraining, Adobe Connect) provide Chat and Materials pods, although they might give the pods different names.
 
The problem with sending students outside of the training space to engage with eLearning content is that the student leaves the virtual classroom. Once your learners are outside, good luck getting them back.
 
In my experience using many of the online training platforms, only one of the vendors offers a truly integrated blended-learning experience and allows you to share eLearning content directly from within the training room, and that’s Adobe with its virtual training platform Connect.
 
Here’s how you can share eLearning courses from within Connect. First, create the eLearning content in Adobe Captivate, and then publish as an SWF.
 
From within Adobe Connect, choose Share Document.
 
 
Click the Browse My Computer button and upload the SWF you published with Captivate. In the image below, I’ve already uploaded a SWF I created with Captivate called UsingNotepad. Once you’ve uploaded content, it stays in the Select Document to Share area so you don’t have to upload content again and again and again.
 
 
All you need to do now is click the OK button and everyone in the virtual room will not only see the eLearning, they’ll be able to interact with it independent of the other attendees.
 
 
The ability of virtual attendees to work through the eLearning content independently is so cool, it's the one feature that might encourage you to select Adobe Connect as your training platform above others… and Adobe Captivate as your eLearning tool. If you’re thinking about going the Connect route, head on over to Engage Systems, tell them your friends at IconLogic said hello, and then ask for a demo of Adobe Connect.
 
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If you'd like to learn how to learn how to teach live, online classes, check out ICCOTP's certification course.
 
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Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP, is the founder and president of IconLogic. Following a career in Public Affairs with the U.S. Coast Guard and in private industry, Kevin has spent decades as a technical communicator, classroom and online trainer, public speaker, and has written hundreds of computer training books for adult learners. He has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.
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LIVE, ONLINE TRAINING TIP: Highlight Your Mouse Pointer

by Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP
 
During a recent Certified Online Traning Professional certification course, I was showing my screen and telling class attendees about a cool technique I use when I want to ensure learners can see my mouse pointer.

In the animated gif image below, check out the circle that appears around my mouse. Pretty nifty, eh?

 
 
I am able to make my mouse pointer perform this little trick by simply pressing the [ctrl] key on my keyboard. Of course, this behavior isn't enabled in Windows by default. If you'd like to play along, bring up your computer's Control Panel > Change Mouse Settings (you can search mouse settings on your PC if you cannot find it right away).

On the Mouse Properties dialog box, Pointer Options tab, select Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key. Click the OK button and you're done.

 
 
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Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP, is the founder and president of IconLogic. Following a career in Public Affairs with the U.S. Coast Guard and in private industry, Kevin has spent decades as a technical communicator, classroom and online trainer, public speaker, and has written hundreds of computer training books for adult learners. He has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.
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ONLINE TRAINING & ELEARNING: Are You Helping to Save the World?

by AJ Walther, COTP

If you're using eLearning or attending your classes online, you just might be helping to save the world… without even thinking about it. How? Believe it or not, you are drastically helping to reduce CO2 emissions by not traveling to an onsite class.

"My youngest daughter asked me what a ton of carbon dioxide looks like," said high school science teacher Dave Ames. "It was a great question–and one for which I had no immediate answer. All I could tell her was that CO2 is odorless and colorless–but this reply wasn’t particularly useful for a seven-year-old looking to visualize a ton of gas. So I did what I do best: research! Fifteen minutes later I had discovered this great image, which helped both of us enormously."

Photo source: http://www.sustainablemilton.org 

How many of these cubes of CO2 can be saved just by not traveling to receive training? Let's compare a 17-person onsite class with a 17-person online class. The onsite class will be held in a centrally-located city in the U.S.: Topeka, Kansas.

To attend the onsite class, all 17 people will have to fly in from cities all across the country (and a few from outside the country). The instructor, who lives locally, will drive to the training facility.

So let's start with the instructor. She lives 35 miles away from the training facility and drives a 2004 Toyota Camry. Her roundtrip travel carbon emission for the day: .03 metric tons of CO2.

Now let's talk about the students. There's someone from Maryland, California, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, and North Carolina. There are two people from New York and from Colorado. Additionally there are three people from Minnesota. But that's just the United States. There are also students from the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico and Quebec. The roundtrip Domestic travel carbon emission: 7.12 metric tons of CO2. The roundtrip International travel carbon emission: 4.9 metric tons of CO2. Total: 12.05 metric tons of CO2 (or 26,565.43 pounds). That's 12 of those cubes pictured above. And that's not including travel incurred by students to get to their respective airports and from the airport to the training location. 

I've just added up the CO2 requirement for one hypothetical onsite class. A training company can easily run 15 classes each month (we do… and that's 180 classes a year). Given the fact that many students will take the courses from home (the rest will attend from the office), it doesn't take a math wizard to see the dramatic CO2 savings online classes can provide each day and each year.

Want to help save the world? Consider teaching your classes online! Not sure you're ready? There's no better way to prepare than getting certified as the best in the field. Join a session with the International Council for Certified Online Training Professionals and get certified in two days (and, of course, it's all online!). Click here to learn more about ICCOTP and register to get certified. 

Carbon footprint calculated using: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/

AJ Walther, COTP, is IconLogic's Chief Creative Officer (CCO), a seasoned online trainer, eLearning graphic designer, and author of both "PowerPoint 2007: The Essentials" and "PowerPoint 2008 for the Macintosh: The Essentials." AJ made her own interdisciplinary studies major, focusing on writing and art. Her combined expertise in PowerPoint, graphic design, and writing allows her to bring a unique skillset to the eLearning community.

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LIVE, ONLINE TRAINING: Stop Wasting Your Potential

by Jennie Ruby, COTP

We’ve all been to webinars: you sign up or register, then you log in to the webinar site a little before the scheduled time. Then you sit there. The screen displays a generic background, and the text says something like “The webinar will begin at 12:30.” And you sit. Your watch says 12:28. You see nothing new. You hear nothing new. So you leave to check your email or to watch the latest Cats versus Cucumbers video. Then, finally, you hear the webinar start.

Those minutes between the time when a student logs in and the time when the event actually starts are wasted potential. For live, instructor-led, online training we can do better than that typical webinar tradition.

When participants arrive at your classroom, instead of having them stare at a still screen with the start time plastered on it, use a real timer that is counting down to class time. Since the first space launch, a countdown has always generated excitement. Today, on a hot, summer day, in my classroom, at the end of a timer countdown, one of my participants typed in the chat window: “Happy New Year!” A countdown is fun, positive, and in some small way, exciting.

 
 
Now let’s think about that generic screen background. Sure, you can display your logo and the name of the class. But what about this? Instead of still imagery, you could have a looping slide show providing crucial information to your participants, even as they log in. One slide says “Welcome to the training on Topic X”; another shows a screenshot and says “Here is where you can find your chat window”; another says “Have you downloaded everything you need for the class?” Of course, not all of your participants will log in early, but those who do, will be well prepared for the class.

And what about that silent audio time? By the time students start arriving, you should be there to greet them on the audio. But for the really early students? How about a little background music, so that they can tell that their audio is working.

Soon, I’m planning on using an animated video to welcome my early arrivers. Previews of coming attractions, anyone? Because having students arrive early is to everyone’s benefit, let’s reward those who log in early with additional information, entertainment, and engagement. 

 
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Do you deliver live, online training? Are you using the up-to-the-minute best techniques in your online classroom? Join an upcoming Certification Program with ICCOTP and become a Certified Online Training Professional. 
 
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Jennie Ruby, COTP, has more than 20 years of experience in training delivery, and is much loved for her enthusiasm and energy in the classroom setting, whether online or in person. She is a published author and co-author of numerous training books, including Essentials of Adobe Presenter, Editing with Microsoft Word, and Writing for Curriculum Development. 
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LIVE, ONLINE TRAINING: Brainstorming Techniques

by Jennie Ruby, COTP

Years ago, as a new classroom instructor, I used to wonder why some of my colleagues used brainstorming techniques in the classroom. After all, as the instructor, I knew the content I wanted to see brought forward, and the students were there to learn from me, right? So why would I ask the students to brainstorm? Why shouldn’t I just list the important items on the whiteboard or on a bulleted slide and be done?

The answer, of course, is engagement. Presenting participants with data is not the same as teaching. By asking participants to come up with ideas, answers, or examples, you encourage them to engage with the content. And engagement is a precursor of learning.

So, marker in hand, you stand before the classroom and start writing things down as the class participants call them out. No judging. You write all ideas down. You maybe even learn new ideas you hadn’t thought about before, by listening to your students. Adult learning, after all, is not a one-way street. Often, your learners are themselves experienced professionals, and they make important contributions to your course content.

What do you do if the student brainstorm does not produce some of the ideas or examples you think are important? Ask follow-up questions. What about this? What about that? These follow-ups help guide the participants to the additional items you think are important. Soon, the class has created a better list than your slide alone could have contained, and participants are focused and thinking about the content instead of struggling to absorb static data.

 
 

Now transfer this concept to online teaching. Many online platforms have a built-in “whiteboard”—a shared screen that you can draw on or type on. If your online platform does not have a whiteboard, you can open a word processor instead (such as Microsoft Word or, even simpler, Notepad for Windows users; TextEdit for Mac users). Although you cannot just allow people to shout out ideas as you would in a face-to-face class, you can ask your participants to type their ideas into a chat window. Then you can transfer the items to the shared whiteboard or word processor screen. On some platforms, you can even allow the participants themselves to type or draw on the shared whiteboard.

Just as with an in-person class, you can guide the discussion by asking follow-up questions, and at the end, you have a more complete list than you could have presented on a slide. And, bonus! Some platforms allow you to save the finished whiteboard list and email it to your participants.

Learning to be an effective instructor is not easy, and knowing how to transfer classroom techniques, such as brainstorming, to the online space is not a given. You can improve your online teaching, and get a formal certification credential, at ICCOTP. Check the website for upcoming sessions of the online training certification program.
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Jennie Ruby, COTP, has more than 20 years of experience in training delivery, and is much loved for her enthusiasm and energy in the classroom setting, whether online or in person. She is a published author and co-author of numerous training books, including Essentials of Adobe Presenter, Editing with Microsoft Word, and Writing for Curriculum Development.

 

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Training: Give Me a Break!

by Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn View our videos on YouTube
 
I've written several articles about adult learners and attention spans. For instance, there was the article titled "How Long is Too Long?" where you learned that students can keep tuned in to a lecture for no more than 15 to 20 minutes at a time. During that same article I compared the attention spans in humans to the attention spans of the common goldfish (7 seconds for the goldfish; 15 seconds for a human). Then there was my follow-up piece earlier this year (Attention! Attention!) where I provided updated research from Microsoft that suggests the goldfish was short-changed and may actually have an attention span of 9 seconds while the attention span for humans may have gotten worse (down to 8 or 9 seconds).

Each of my attention span articles focused on attention spans of adults and eLearning (asynchronous training where there is no live interaction between a trainer and the learner). In those articles, I recommend that no individual eLearning lesson (or module) play for longer than approximately 5 minutes. (Anything longer than 5 minutes and you're inviting your learner to tune out and drift off to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or some other site.

What about learner attention spans in live, instructor-led classes (synchronous training)? While 5 minutes is an ideal playtime for eLearning (mainly because there isn't any human interaction), with live training (be it an online class or onsite), my experience has shown that you can keep a learner's attention far longer. In fact, 75-90 minutes is reasonable assuming you are engaging your learner and not simply lecturing. Nevertheless, even if your teaching style and course content are the best of the best, there is a limit to how long you can go before even an engaged student will cease to absorb your teachings. With that in mind, here is a typical schedule that IconLogic follows for all of its full-day classes (each of our full-day classes start at 10 a.m. Eastern):
  • 10 a.m.: Class Start
  • 11:30 a.m.: Break (15 minutes)
  • 11:45 a.m.: Class resumes
  • 1:00 p.m. Lunch (60 minutes)
  • 2:00 p.m.: Class resumes
  • 3:30 p.m.: Break (15 minutes)
  • 5:00 p.m.: Class ends for the day
The schedule above is based on a 90-minute rotation of actual class time versus breaks (notwithstanding the 60 minutes for lunch). If your schedule is based on a 75-minute rotation, your first break would be at 11:15 a.m. and so on. And while we do end our classes promptly at 5:00 p.m. each day, we usually begin to wind things down at approximately 4:45 each day to leave time for learner questions. I've found that the 15 minutes gives everyone a chance to breath and decompress (our classes are typically jammed full of great content and hands-on activities so the wind-down period is helpful).
 
What's your take on the training to break ratio for live training? Do you think 90 minutes is best? Is 75 minutes better? Or perhaps you've got some other ratios in mind that you'd like to share? Feel free to comment below. 
 
If you've been tasked with teaching live, online classes and it's something you're just not comfortable with, I'd suggest checking out the live, online certification course offered by the International Council for Certified Online Training Professionals. They've got a class coming up in December and I'm part of a team of certified trainers who will teach the 2-day session. You'll learn everything you need to know to successfully lead a live online class from the hardware you'll need, the software, techniques for engaging the learner, how to prepare your materials, and even how to create compelling onscreen presentations. Come join me, Jennie Ruby, and AJ Walther for an awesome certification event!