SyberWorks e-Learning Podcast Series
SyberWorks e-Learning Podcast Transcript #21 10 Tips for Flash in e-Learning (Transcript)
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Announcer: SyberWorks Podcast. Learn any time, any place.
Mary Kay Lofurno: Welcome to the next edition of the SyberWorks e-Learning podcast series. My name is Mary Kay Lofurno, and I’m the marketing director here at SyberWorks and your host today. SyberWorks specializes in custom e-learning solutions, learning management systems, and custom e-learning development for corporations, governments, and non-profits.
In this edition we are going to be talking with Al Lemieux, senior designer here at SyberWorks. Al recently wrote an article, “10 Tips For Flash in E-Learning,” and I thought we might get some tips from him on the subject.
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Mary Kay: Hey Al, how have you been?
Al Lemieux: Great, how are you?
Mary Kay: Hey, I’m doing great. All right, let’s get to it. Flash can be a great medium in which to develop e-learning content. Al, you've been working in Flash a long time. Tell us a little about what you've seen happen over the course of the years with this course authoring tool, and some of your impressions.
Al: Well, when I first started fooling around with Flash I immediately saw it as an opportunity for interactive tutorials. So one of my first Flash projects was a tutorial for palm pilots.
I was working at a school and we were distributing Palm Pilots out to staff and faculty and I thought it would be great to teach them the basics with an online tool rather than train everyone face to face. The response was great and we used it again for another release of the Palm five when it came out.
Mary Kay: That sounds pretty cool. I’m sure it would have worked well. Can you tell us a little bit about your article, Al?
Al: Sure. The article focuses on the e-learning capabilities of Flash. Its built in templates that are SCORM and AICC compliant, and some basic tips for outputting Flash e-learning applications.
Mary Kay: All right. Out of all the tips you mentioned in your article, what are some of the ones — and I mean features and functionality, here — you find yourself using the most for typical e-learning content development? And also, can you tell us why?
Al: Well, Flash has grown so much in the advances and action script and video alone are a lot to chew on. There’s better component architecture, better event handling, and I can go on and on. What I use for e-learning most often is the built in publishing templates for SCORM output. Flash handles all the important communication with the LMS, so I don't even have to think about it.
Mary Kay: Well that makes a lot of sense. Can you talk about a few more tips that you mention in your article, maybe giving us a context in terms of how and where you use them, and why it’s beneficial?
Al: Well, Flash has the ability to load external assets. Those assets could be text, images, audio files, even video. The ability to do this allows me to make a template with all of the necessary action scripts that I can then refit for another purpose later. It’s really flexible.
Mary Kay: Well, Al, this is great information – but I’m going to stop here because I know you want people to read your article. Al’s original article can be found in the SyberWorks Media Center. Al is there anything else you’d like to share with our listeners about our topic today before we close our time together?
Al: One thing I will share with everyone is that in order to keep up with Flash you have to constantly stay on it. There’s always some great Flash interfaces and websites popping up all over the place. When I see them I say to myself, “Wow, how did they do that?” The only way to know is to keep playing with Flash.
Mary Kay: That’s true, and I see you diddling with it all the time. So anyway – Al, it's great to see you.
Al: All right, thanks. Thanks for listening to our podcast today on tips for using Flash and e-learning, with Al Lemieux, senior designer here at SyberWorks on our SyberWorks E-Learning podcast series. Have a great day!
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Announcer: SyberWorks Podcast. Learn anytime, anyplace.