[Xerte] non coders?

Thu Feb 18 10:28:51 GMT 2010

Hello Julian,

A few thoughts on this

The easiest E learning to produce is often text based with some pictures
and a few test questions. But it can be very tedious and tends to be
based on the learner reading information and then answering questions
about it. It also tends to be sequential.

Consideration needs to be given to more use of sound. Unless you are
presenting instructions that need to be followed, then for most people
it is easier to assimilate the spoken word than the written word. But
circumstances may make sound impractical e.g. use of Citrix, use in a
busy office. So ideally e-learning content should offer the option for
text or sound, or both (not generally found to be the best solution, but
it covers all preferences). So for example you could have a page with a
mind map on it and when you click or tab to a term on the mind map, you
either see some explanatory text, or you hear an audio commentary,
depending on your preference. Following on from this, any template that
provides for the presentation of large amounts of text should include an
option for the provision of audio commentary to replace the text and the
page design should work whether the full text is displayed or not.

Page designs need to make full use of tabbing and space key, as an
alternative to using the mouse. I am not sure if this is true of all the
current Page Templates, it certainly is not true for some of the page
wizards.

Additional examples of xerte coding might include how to implement
accessibility features.

I think one of the greatest challenges for e-learning is to move away
from an information giving and question asking paradigm to more of a
simulation / scenario based paradigm in which learners have to apply
learning in situations that mirror as far as is possible the environment
in which they will be required to apply their knowledge. This can be
very situation specific, making the design of generic templates to
support it difficult. However building in features that support the easy
configuration of non-sequential learning may help.

I have thought for a while about a template that might manage and
present the kind of information that you would need for a typical
adventure game e.g. locations, items that can be picked up and used,
exits that define links between locations. Actions that can be taken,
maybe even characters that can be asked questions. Whether Xerte 3 would
make that kind of template more achievable I am not sure.

The physics engine in flex 4 also sounds interesting. The ability to
control the movement of objects and test for collisions may open up some
potential for simulations or learning games.

It is also interesting how you can broaden the interaction between
people in e-learning. Stand alone e-learning packages can be solitary
experiences. The ability to link e-learning modules together so that
they could exchange data, would open up a variety of interesting
possibilities, from tutor support to learner - learner interactions.
Role play could become a possibility.

Kind regards

Johnathan

Johnathan Kemp
ICT Development Coordinator
Connexions Staffordshire
www.cxstaffs.co.uk <http://www.cxstaffs.co.uk/> 
01785 355714

________________________________

From: Julian Tenney [mailto:Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk] 
Sent: 18 February 2010 09:17
To: Xerte discussion list
Subject: RE: [Xerte] non coders?

I would love to see more discussion about design of content, what makes
good interactivity and all that stuff - there's too much terrible
elearning out there, and it's not to do with the coding. Good design and
a bit of coding makes much better content than lots of coding a bit of
design.

You can do quite a bit without writing a lot of code, particularly
around presenting media: text, sound, video and graphics, and create
some simple interactivity. If you work through the getting started
guide, I think you'll see what can be done without a lot of code.

Once you do start writing code, Xerte can do an awful lot for you. The
icons hide an awful lot of complexity that would otherwise be
time-consuming to create, and so development can be very fast, compared
to creating the equivalent content off the bat in Flash. Coding isn't so
hard - and when you master it, you can do anything you want.

From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
[mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of John
Doubleday
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 1:46 AM
To: xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
Subject: [Xerte] non coders?

Hi Everybody,

While watching this list I notice most of the communication is about
coding issues. Are their many no coders here. And is it realistic  to be
a non coder and use  Xerte?

Cheers

John D

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