Where Do All Your Ideas Come From?

A couple of days ago, a colleague and I were discussing online learning, and I was coaching her on a few things. One of the questions she asked me was “Where do all your ideas come from?”.

This is a question I receive quite often.

To answer it, I think it’s necessary to break online learning down to its constituent parts. What makes up a training course? What things do you have to consider? Well, there is: Content, page layout, graphic design, training exercises, gaming, consistency, and knowing when online training can solve a problem (and when alternatives are better options).

Now, how can you come up with ideas for all that?

Short Answer
Whenever you do ANYTHING, keep your eyes open, take notes, and consider how your experiences can be translated into an online learning experience.

Ok! Ok! Here’s a Longer Answer…
Let me explain what I mean. I have found that much of my inspiration has come from seeing what other people have done… even when I’m in the most unexpected places (like waiting around in the woman’s store ‘Ulta’… more on this story later).

Remember: If you have a particularly good learning experience, there’s a good chance that it’ll probably translate well into an online learning course.

Over time, if you keep notes, you’ll build a portfolio of ideas that you can use when the next CBT comes up. And it’s GOOD to be proactive here, since you won’t be fumbling around for ideas at the last moment.

So, here are some of the concrete things I do:

Use the Web!
I scour the internet for websites that I think look good ascetically and present information well. I have a ‘Favorites’ folder of these sites that I keep and go back to often to get inspiration. I also take screen prints of particular things I like (such as a neat button, or layout), and paste them into a PowerPoint file I keep for such things.

Here’s an example of a graphic element that I found online that I really liked. It’s at the Food Network’s website, and was an animated menu showing off their TV personalities…

Using the above to spark some ideas, I created my own animated menu for a Privacy Compliance course I built…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I particularly find that websites that need to present a lot of information in an easy to digest format make for the best sites to do this with, since that’s what we’re often tasked with when building CBTs.

Some of my favorites are car manufactures and software development sites:
http://automobiles.honda.com/
http://www.adobe.com
http://www.microsoft.com

Use Experts!
In the realm of eLearning, you can’t throw a mouse without hitting a dozen people who think they are eLearning or graphic experts. Find ones you can trust! The best ones are also the ones that can turn theoretical ideas into actual courses. That’s why I’m such a fan of the “The Rapid E-Learning Blog” by Tom Kuhlmann. http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/

One of my other favorites is Robin Williams (no, not that Robin Williams). This Robin Williams is a professional graphic designer, and several of her books changed the way I approach design.

My favorites are:
The Non-Designer’s Type Book:
A book all about fonts and typography…how cool is that?
The Non-Designer’s Web Book:
The book describes web design principals and gives ample examples.
Design Workshop:
The book is designed to be an all-around course on design. While it’s mainly focused on print design, I still find it very excellent. It’s filled with oodles of graphic design examples.
Web Design Workshop:
Similar to the above, but more geared to web page layouts.

So, go out and find your team of experts!

Borrow from other people’s CBTs!
Every time you take a CBT (especially ones outside your organization), consider it an opportunity to get some ideas for your own courses. Was something done particularly well? Then use a similar idea yourself. Was something done particularly poorly? Ask yourself why it didn’t work, and then avoid that mistake yourself.

Most companies that sell eLearning software usually provide examples of that software on their website.

Captivate:
http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/?promoid=121DJGSO_P_US_FP2_CP4_MN&tt=P_US_FP2_CP4_MN(Scroll down a little to find the demos)

Presenter:
http://www.articulate.com/products/presenter-demos.php

Toolbook:
http://www.sumtotalsystems.com/resources/toolbook/learn_showcase.html?src=tbhome#22

Flash:
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/action/

Don’t Ignore Print and non-Computer Stuff
Don’t just limit your search to online content. Keep your eyes open when you watch TV, movies, or see print ads when you’re reading or out shopping. It’s not uncommon for me to use the camera in my phone to take photos of banners or posters that I think are well done when I’m out shopping (or even at Church!).

In fact, a couple of months ago, I was with my wife at her favorite store ‘Ulta’ (here’s that story I mentioned earlier). In between pestering her to go, I noticed that they had a series of posters in the store for some of their products. I thought the layout of the posters were very neat and elegant, and decided to use my camera phone to take pictures of them. I don’t know what the employees thought I was doing (one of them went out of their way to walk by me and give me a ‘hello’), but I ended up with some ideas for laying out a menu page in a forthcoming course.

I’ve also saved shows on my DVR because I liked a graphic in a TV commercial!

Now, It’s Your Turn
Ok, now that I’ve told you where I get my ideas, it’s time for you to chime in to say where you get yours. What methodology do you use to create online content? Are there any resources that you use? Any websites that you really like?

Let me know!

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