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February 2006

Dear Rivertown Customer,

Welcome to 2006. We hope you had a good holiday season and the new year has been good to you so far. This month in our newsletter we are taking a special look at podcasting and using Apple's new video iPod for delivering training video. Rivertown is always looking at ways that new technology can serve our clients' needs whether it's training or marketing or some other form of communication. We'll let you know what we think about podcasting and its prospects for use as a training medium. Also, this month at the next DLF (Digital Learning Forum) meeting Rivertown will give a presentation “Developing Accessible Training and Websites”. This presentation is aimed at anyone who is or should be designing accessible e-learning courses or informational websites.

Jothan Sargent

Rivertown Communications, Inc.

Table of Contents

1. Survival of the Smartest: Has the Technical Revolution Surpassed the Human Evolution?

2. Developing Accessible Training and Websites

3. Podcasting - It's Not Just For Entertainment Anymore

4. Rivertown Communications

1. Survival of the Smartest: Has the Technical Revolution
Surpassed the Human Evolution?

At our January 10th meeting, the Digital Learning Forum (DLF) was pleased to have guest speakers Craig Koehnen and Jim Rustad from Carlson Companies present “Survival of the Smartest: Has the Technical Revolution Surpassed the Human Evolution?” While the question posed was not fully answered, evidence was presented indicating that some technology is overwhelming for people and it takes great care and planning on the part of the learning professional to ensure that this does not happen.

After taking us on a brief tour of human brain evolution and science, Koehnen and Rustad gave us some concrete examples of how our brains can be overloaded. The following quote seems to sum up quite well how the brain works:

“The brain works best with activation of different, rather than identical brain areas.”

For example, in a learning scenario, an example of multitasking could be reading, doing a group exercise, or an individual activity while listening to Mozart, whereas meltdown might occur while listening to AC/DC while listening to a facilitator. It appears that when our brains try to process two identical tasks simultaneously we get overloaded, like listening to two different conversations at once. But if we perform two different tasks simultaneously, such as walking and talking with a friend our brains are more than happy to accommodate us.

Knowing this inherent limitation of the brain is helpful when developing learning opportunities - it reminds us to not overwhelm our learners. You may want to think twice about adding that cool Flash animation, presenting text, and playing audio or video all at the same time. Instead, think about breaking up the experience by playing the Flash animation, then presenting the text, then playing the audio or video in a sequence.

Some other helpful hints when dealing with the brain and learning tasks include:

Strong feelings create strong memory. Where were you and what were you doing when you heard about the attacks on September 11, 2001? Most people probably can recall all kinds of information about that day, but are hard pressed to recall what they ate for dinner a week ago.
Provide context. Most people have a hard time learning abstract concepts if they can’t visualize applying it in a real life situation. It helps to fabricate a scenario or situation where the learner has to solve a problem or make decisions.

2. Developing Accessible Training and Websites

If you are a professional (or student) involved with using digital technologies for training, you may be interested in attending the monthly “Digital Learning Forum” group meetings. Each meeting features a short networking period, followed by a formal presentation on a current topic related to current learning technologies.

Who, When and where:

At the Tuesday February 14th Digital Learning Forum meeting, Rivertown Communications will present “Developing Accessible Training and Websites”. This presentation is aimed at anyone who is or should be designing accessible e-learning courses or informational websites. We’ll cover the current legal requirements, how to design for accessibility, and a step-by-step guide to successful development. Examples of actual projects and tools will be included.

This topic is important if you are developing for a state or federal agency. Chances are projects must be designed to accommodate visually impaired, hearing impaired, or physically challenged people. There are a few relatively simple concepts that can help get you there. Even if you are not required to make your website or training accessible, you should probably consider the possibility that some of your audience may need a little help getting to the information you are presenting. We hope you can attend this meeting, as it should prove very insightful and helpful.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

University of St. Thomas – St. Paul Campus

O' Shaughnessy Educational Center (OEC 454)

5:45-6:15 Networking/Refreshments

6:15-6:30 Business Meeting/Organizational Discussion

6:30-7:30 Program

See map at www.stthomas.edu/maps/stpaul.htm

There is no charge for attending. I hope to see you there. For more information or directions call Sue Mehrkens at (763) 505-4131.

3. Podcasting - It's Not Just For Entertainment Anymore

Can podcasting be used for training? We think so, and so does the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The MN DNR recently released a podcast, “Minnesota ice fishing tips”, in December 2005. The podcast is a 30-minute interview with Terry Tuma, a Minnesota-based outdoor writer, fishing guru and instructor. Terry said “by putting fishing information in an easy-to-access format on the Web, we hope to not only encourage ice fishing, but also help anglers be successful and safe while they are on the ice.” 1

Rivertown contacted Tim Smalley, Boating Education Coordinator at the MN DNR, to answer some questions about their podcast product. Here's the Q & A:

Q: Do you have any idea about how many people have downloaded your podcast to date?

A: 2,500 downloads in December 2005, 3,500 in January 2006. Good numbers for a start.

Q: Have you had any technical problems, which have prevented you from delivering the podcast, or has your audience had problems accessing your podcast? If so, were you able to resolve them?

A: No problems.

Q: Do you plan to provide any other podcasts in the future on other topics?

A: Yes. We will try to post a new one at least once per month.

Q: Do you see podcasting as a valuable education tool?

A: Yes it's more - Edutainment. We have entertainment content to get the guys to listen (how to catch more fish) and then I sneak the educational safety messages in.

Rivertown participated in a formal panel discussion last month sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Human Services. A main topic of the discussion was the current state of technology-based training. One contribution Rivertown made was to convert a 10 minute segment of a video on working with an interpreter we just completed for them for playback on a video iPod. Playback quality of both the video and audio was excellent. One of the speakers used our demo to illustrate his talk on what the future possibilities are for the use of technology for training purposes. The MN DHS plans to distribute the interpreter video via DVD and VHS, and will probably offer it as a streaming video from their website.

With sales of Apple's video iPod rocketing up to over 1 million units in just 20 days (that's about 50,000 units per day), there does seem to be significant interest in this technology. 2 Whether or not the 2.5-inch 320x240 screen will be usable in all training scenarios that incorporate video remains to be seen, but it is certainly technology to keep an eye on. The nice thing about podcasting is that you are not limited to just one platform -- you can download podcasts and play them from your computer, or from your favorite portable device.

Does this mean we think it's time to begin developing e-learning courses for an iPod platform? No, we think it’s too soon for that. However, given that Apple sold 100 iPods a minute throughout the 4th quarter last year and when it’s possible that 10% of all music sales in the U.S. will go through Apple's iTunes music site this year, it’s time to pay attention. 3

Special Offer: If you feel you have an application that you would like to try as a podcast (either video or audio), give us a call. We may be able to partner on the development.

We're interested in your feedback on podcasting. Please take a moment to fill out our survey:

http://app1.intellicontact.com/icp/sub/survey/start?sid=5096

Notes:

1 - "Minnesota - DNR hosts first podcast show on ice fishing" -- Fishing World Network, 1/3/06. Article: http://www.fishing-world.net/postnuke/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9

2 - "Over 1 Million Video iPods Sold in 20 Days" -- Anders.com, 11/7/05. Article: http://www.anders.com/cms/130/Video.iPod/Apple/Sales

3. "Mastering the Art of Disruption" -- Fortune, 2/6/06.