E-Learning Council

 YouTube and Facebook video will alert consumers about important housing issues

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that it has produced videos for YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/FHAHUD) and Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-DC/Federal-Housing-Administration-Department-of-Housing-and-Urban-Development/37437263955

designed to educate Deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers about their fair housing rights, housing counseling services, and loan programs offered by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page?_pageid=73,1&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

In one video, a HUD employee uses sign language to tell his story of refinancing his home through FHA, the largest government insurer on mortgages. In another video, he explains that it’s illegal to discriminate in housing based on race, religion, sex, national origin, disability or family status. All videos encourage viewers to contact HUD by visiting its website,

www.hud.gov

for help or more information.

 

Janet Clarey, an Analyst & Sr. Researcher from Brandon Hall, was kind enough to let me share this blog post that she wrote on a very popular question at E-Learning Council–Getting Started on E-Learning.  You can find more information at Janet’s blog at http://brandon-hall.com/janetclarey/.  As you likely know, Brandon Hall Research provides independent expert advice to help organizations develop successful e-learning solutions.

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ASTD’s Learning Circuits Blog has a monthly ‘Big Question.” This month it’s:

I’m interested in [the field of] eLearning. What should I do first?

I’m responding to this question from the perspective of a person looking to get a job in the field of e-learning vs. a person who knows little about the term.

I think one place to start is to look at the competencies and skills needed for various “e-learning” jobs. E-learning, of course, encompasses many areas – courseware designer, curriculum development, online trainer, blended learning specialist, Flash programmer, game designer, research, etc. Here’s a brief listing of some of the competencies I think newbies to e-learning should focus on:

• history, trends, and direction (history, evolution, impact of technology, etc.) Here is a presentation on learning and technology (historical) done by my colleague, Gary Woodill, some time ago for Operitel and a presentation on learning technology (LMS/LCMS/Talent Management that we, Brandon Hall Research, deliver in a “101″ webinar with Learn.com which should provide an overview. I also wrote  elearning 101 which provides an overview of e-learning
• adult learning and the foundation of human learning (theory, practice) If you like print books, one good one is Human Learning by Jeanne Ellis Ormrod.
• knowledge of evaluation
• Need identification, analysis, recommendation, solution
• Knowledge of instructional strategies (application of theories)
• Tools of e-learning – authoring tools, systems (LMS, LCMS, Live Online Learning, social media)
• Methods, processes, delivery channels for e-learning – synchronous, asynchronous, blended, distributed, performance support tools, etc.
• Course authoring – knowledge of software (simulation, game, rapid design tools, multimedia, etc.).
• Web interface design – my favorite books are The Non-Designers Web Book by Williams & Tollett and Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug.
• Online facilitation skills – Jennifer Hoffman has a great program with certification @ insynctraining
• Project management skills – there are books, programs, and experts specializing in project management. Here’s one by a colleague

So, here’s what I suggest:

• Find e-learning experts and follow their work
• Attend webinars
• Attend conferences
• Subscribe to blogs & start your own
• Read – trade journals, periodicals, books, presentations, white papers, research, etc.
• Join e-learning associations (local, national, global)
• Take a course, enroll in a degree program (ID, facilitation of online learning, curriculum development, project management, etc.)
• Attend conferences (online and face-to-face)
• Learn to use authoring and other software and platforms; HTML & other coding (w3schools is good)
• Visit the Learning Circuits blog and find others’ suggestions on this question.

As an aside, here’s my own e-learning journey so far:

• got a job in e-learning! Said ‘What do I do?’
• joined ASTD, ISPI, e-Learning Guild, went to Masie lab. Said ‘How do I do this?’
• started to read everything I could find on the topic – print, web. Annoyed the heck out of my co-workers and vendors with a sea of questions.
• tried everything
• subscribed to periodicals, email lists, listserv, read blogs. Had several aha moments.
• learned how to use authoring tools, created some asynch courses, developed curriculum, blended learning solutions for tech training. Felt like crying frequently due to some steep learning curves.
• learned how to train online by using an online learning platform (WebEx) by screwing up multiple times and attending a lot of other peoples training (started a best practice log)
• became a project manager for an LMS/LCMS/Talent Management implementation; learned about systems through Brandon Hall KnowledgeBase (this big implementation was the point in time where I knew I would stay in this field)
• joined social networks
• enrolled in a Master’s program at Capella University (Education – Instructional Design for Online Learning); learned theory, application, some tools, web design, project management, how to “do” research
• started working part time doing e-learning research for Brandon Hall even though I had zero time. Said, ‘What was I thinking? (Did I mention I had zero time)’
• left training job and joined Brandon Hall Research full-time. A huge step for me – working at home, etc.
• started a personal e-learning blog, joined the edublog community. Realized I was learning as much as I did in my Master’s program.
• joined online social networks, started using all the newest tools and technologies. Tweet!
• enrolled in Ph.D. program at Syracuse University (Education – Instructional Design, Development, and Evaluation) for a still unknown reason…perhaps status, earning right to be an expert, feeling that the future of education is online and that there will be a need for instructors with terminal degrees, unresolved middle child thing.
• Wrote this blog post and wondered if it contained too much info. Pushed “Publish” anyway.