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After choosing to complete an Articulate program, I have been in discussions with our Moodle developer who has since advised that Moodle has a lot of the capability that we need and it would be best to author content directly to Moodle. This will assist in version control and to make any changes to published content easier to manager.  I was annoyed that I did not choose a Moodle related course so that it will help me in getting our environment setup for work.  My initial motivation for completing the course has decreased a little.

But, I decided to push on with the Articulate course with Udemy. I figured it would be a useful skill to have, and I'm sure there may be limitations with Moodle so it was handy to build knowledge in other tools.

The course so far has been adequate, with clear instruction, but extremely basic in both the information provided, and the design.  The course is a basic screencast demonstration of functionality of Articulate. However, there is no opportunity to complete tasks or activities to reinforce or practice the learning.  Annoyingly, the 'Labs' highlighted at the end of each chapter, is not an opportunity to complete tasks, it is another screencast of completing all components of each individual topic within each module.  If this is where you are meant to go and attempt to create some content within Articulate, this is not highlighted or explained in any way by the instructor at the beginning of the 'Lab'.

I'm somewhat disappointed as I was hoping to be able to experience as a learner the type of interaction that can be created in Articulate.  This means that some of my needs have not been met, and my motivation levels dropped even further.

There is minimal interaction with content. There is a Q&A section within the Udemy platform - however, no one appears to enter questions into this section (not that I could find).  I added a question - but am yet to hear back a response.

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As is usually the case with me, I have 1001 things I want to learn, the most difficult aspect in selecting a suitable program is choosing something!

I have a greenfield opportunity at this point in time with work. We are just about to implement a learning management system and move to more flexible options for delivery of content to our members.  This means that I will be responsible for everything from strategy, program design through to creation and implementation. There are a number of things that I would like to learn and I have so many ideas and so many areas that I want to continue learning, or new skills to develop that the getting started part is often the most difficult for me.

I have decided there are a few key elements to help me narrow down my search for an appropriate program:

It needs to be flexible. I need to be able to complete this course anywhere, anytime - on either my laptop or a mobile device.

I need something that will not take too long to complete to make sure that I get through the content and it fits into a very full schedule

I need something that will provide me with learning that will support my work or study

There needs to be many different multi-media and design tools within the program so that I can experience these and gain ideas for my own instructional design.

It needs to be free or low cost

Program selection has come down to 2 options for me.  A program called 'e-Learning Ecologies: Innovative Approaches to Teaching and Learning for the Digital Age' offered via Coursera or 'Create eLearning Courses with Articulate Storyline 360 or 3' offered via Udemy.

I think the Coursera program is going to be a little to dense for me at this point in time (but will save it to complete another time) and will take approximately 20 hours to complete.

I'm going to go with the Articulate 360 program. The timing seems about right, and it looks like it will give me a thorough quick overview of the software.

Although I have used various content authoring tools in the past, it has been some time since I've had to do anything more complicated than video editing.   I have not used Articulate previously, so it will provide me with a good opportunity to refresh my skills, learn about new software and will make me use the free trial that I signed up for 3 weeks ago and haven't had a chance to play with - and will probably expire shortly.

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Hello! Welcome to my assignment 2 blog.

I have not had a chance to make it pretty or finish with the design so please bear with me while I gather my thoughts and get some time in my diary to get this started!