SHIFT Share Continues To Grow

SHIFT Share is our innovative online community supporting the students in the global SHIFT Certification program. We welcome new students weekly and utilize SHIFT Share to communicate and collaborate with the over 100 independent instructional designers who are currently in the program.

To bring exposure to our talented SHIFT students, we will be introducing the SHIFTERS area in April. This area showcases the instructional designers who are going through the certification program and want to highlight their experience and expertise in the e-learning field. This added exposure will further enable learning, discussion and networking inside of SHIFT Share.

SHIFT is changing both the way e-learning is developed and managed; and professionals from the around the world are noticing and want to take part in this disruptive technology. As our award-winning e-learning authoring tool continues to grow, so does the global e-learning community around it.

 

A New SHIFT Demo!

 

Here is a fantastic new SHIFT demo that targets an interesting segment; the live lecturer/instructor.

This new template in SHIFT makes rapid authoring of interactive asynchronous lectures a reality!

Interest in this template is extremely high! Organizations like the University of Toronto, and a number of other colleges, are looking further into integrating their content and media into this template.

Key Points:

• This template easily creates interactive lectures from source videos.

• This template can be easily populated per video segment for a more interactive asynchronous learning experience.

• Making changes to animation or supporting text can be done within minutes and republished.

The flexibility within this template creates enormous opportunity for live lecturers and instructors! This demo is done entirely within SHIFT!

Have a look and let us know what you think! VIEW DEMO HERE

Want to learn more about this template?

Let us know and we’ll set up a live information webcast session to go over the ins and outs of this template and demo build.

JOIN US IN LONDON – LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES 2011


We are thrilled to be exhibiting at the upcoming Learning Technologies Conference next month in London! Learning Technologies is now the biggest exhibition and conference in the entire corporate learning sector.
We invite you to join us at booth #31 and learn how the latest updates to SHIFT can benefit you, demo new products, and course – meet the members of the SHIFT team!
Attendance is complimentary. Please register for free here.

WEBCAST – TUESDAY JANUARY 11, 2011. 2PM EST

Learn how to enhance any existing elearning course using simple SHIFT tips and visual tricks.
Join Brad Houle, MindMuze Vice President of Solutions Design, as he demonstrates how a client’s old flash course was quickly enhanced within the SHIFT environment. Hear how this course went from being flash designed with no editing capabilities, to becoming a fully editable, dynamic and engaging SHIFT course.

Key Learnings:


• Practical tips on integrating graphics
• Tricks on making engaging and dynamic introduction screens
• Capturing and editing video, audio and images
Discover how quickly and easily you can freshen and brighten up your existing elearning courses in SHIFT!

Register for the webcast today!


SHIFT December Release

The latest updates to SHIFT have been released and recorded for you to view on demand.

Hosted by Rick Beaudry, CEO of MindMuze Inc.

View The Latest Release Webcast

Support in Portuguese

SHIFT is now available in Portuguese as well as in English and Spanish.

This new improvement will help you develop your courses in Portuguese quicker and easier.

Select the language you want to use by clicking on the drop down menu called Interface’s Language in SHIFT’s main screen.

Doing so will change the course’s parameters, buttons, navbars and other elements to Portuguese.

Reports

Knowing the details of the courses created in your server will now be easier with SHIFT’s new reports.

To see your course’s details go to the Admin View (Only available for users with an Administrator profile) and click on either one of the reports available.

Current Courses (General)
Shows a list of all the courses created inside the server, their Code, Name, Screen Count, Creation Date and Weight.

Current Course (Detail)
Presents a detailed description of the courses, as well as their Code, Name, Screen Count and the date of the User’s Last Login.

Built Courses
The Built Courses report allows you to see courses that were built during a specific time period. You will see the courses that were built, their corresponding amount of screens and if they’re marked “For Reviewing” or not.

The report that shows if a course is marked “For Reviewing” or not is important when the user is being charged by published screen because it allows you to have a record of all the screens that were built.

WEBCAST FOLLOW UP – Recording and Notes

Thank you to everyone who joined our webcast yesterday! It was recorded and is now avaiable for you to view on demand.

View Recording here:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/470550298

View the AECL Demo here:
http://www.mindmuzedemo.com/aecl/demo/plainlaunch.htm

We had several comments and questions yesterday and have included them below for reference.

If you have additional comments or questions? Please comment on this blog post, or email us at info@shiftelearning.com.

Webcast Comments & Questions

- Love tip of creating effects in Powerpoint, then screencapture, then editing, then bringing into SHiFT! great tip!
- Using Captivate to create a .swf to capture an animation in an existing course is BRILLIANT! Thx for that idea.
- Thanks, good tips, specially the one on doing special effects for logos on powerpoint and importing them to further liven up information screens

Q: How can you tell if an image in Google Search is copyrighted?
A: If you’re concerned about copyright, it’s better to be safe and assume that something is copyrighted unless it is explicitly stated that the image is in the public domain

Latest SHIFT Release

RELEASE WEBCAST – WATCH ON DEMAND

The latest updates to SHIFT have been released and recorded for you to view on demand.

Hosted by Rick Beaudry, CEO of MindMuze Inc.

View The Latest Release Webcast

SHIFT RELEASE UPDATES

New Bullet Screens

Use the two new bullet screens located in the Informative category.

Shift Image 1

This screens are useful when adding shorter text that needs bullets such as, objectives, ideas, classifications, characteristics, etc.

Shift Image 2

These screens have 5 text boxes. We advise you to use a minimum of 3 so that it can work properly. Each box accepts up to 40 words.

Click here to see an example of these new interfaces.

Recording Alert in the Scenario Builder

Record your audio inside the Scenario Builder in a more precise way, thanks to the recording alert inside the screen which will pop up when you begin the recording process.

Shift Image 3

This will prevent characters from moving their mouths and lips before the audio starts or finishes.

TTS Engine

The TTS Engine will now be activated only by a user with an administrator profile.

Next to the Enable TTS field you will see a message which will indicate that this functionality has additional charges.

Shift Image 4

eLearning DemoFest Highlights Webinar Video

SHIFT took top honours at DemoFest in the Onboarding / Employee Orientation category. Rick Beaudry, CEO of Mindmuze, demonstrated the winning technology again during the “DemoFest Highlights Webinar”

See SHIFT and the rest of the DemoFest 2010 Winners in The DemoFest Highlights recorded webinar below.

SHIFT Wins Top Spot at eLearning Guild’s 2010 DemoFest

Nov 29, 2010, Toronto: SHIFT, a rapid eLearning authoring tool, won top award at DemoFest in the Onboarding / Employee Orientation category. Rick Beaudry, CEO of Mindmuze and Randolf Kissling, CEO of Aura Interactiva, demonstrated the winning technology to conference attendees during the two hour event.

SHIFT’s entry in the OnBoarding / Employee Orientation category was entitled Green Your Office, a web-based guide narrated by celebrated environmentalist Dr. Suzuki. The fully interactive eLearning module helps organizations see the benefits of going green at work and learn how to influence behaviour within the organization.

Rick Beaudry, co-presenter said “It was exciting to demonstrate how environmental content was transformed into a highly engaging and entertaining learning module. Attendees walked away with a clear understanding of how fast, flexible and powerful the SHIFT authoring tool is.”

The 90 minute course was built in 30 development hours in SHIFT. It is packed with a wealth of content and tools, as well as an avatar of Dr. Suzuki to help users navigate through the program.

“We are very pleased with this recognition by the eLearning Guild members” said Randolf Kissling, co-presenter at the DemoFest event. “But we’re most pleased of leveraging David Suzuki’s vast knowledge pool through SHIFT to reach thousands of users and really make a positive change.”

About the David Suzuki Foundation
The David Suzuki Foundation works with government, business and individuals to conserve our environment by providing science-based education, advocacy and policy work, and acting as a catalyst for the social change that today’s situation demands. Learn more about them at their website. http://www.davidsuzuki.org/

About SHIFT
SHIFT is an award winning authoring tool that is all about automating repetitive, non-value-adding steps involved in the development of eLearning. SH!FT is a complete eLearning factory in a box. It has the necessary elements to empower an instructional designer to create rich, interactive courses all by himself, with zero technical knowledge. By using SHIFT, the instructional designer has access to all the necessary elements to create an effective and great looking course. Automated smart interface interactions, games, simulations, media recording, scenario builders, everything at the tip of their fingers, all available in one integrated package. At the same time, it’s not unusual to save 50% on development hours and speed to market. Maintenance and update savings are even greater.

SHIFT is also used by large eLearning organizations that need to get more done, faster and more efficiently. SHIFT allows for specialization of labor, collaboration, review, update and content reutilization that will make large eLearning development teams dramatically more effective and more productive.

About DevLearn 2010
DevLearn 2010 Conference & Expo is, by far, North America’s leading eLearning event. This event caters to seasoned eLearning professionals who are out on the leading edge of the emerging technologies. Attracting between 1,600 and 1,800 participants, it is a highly technical audience of senior managers and practitioners who gather each year to explore the latest and greatest technologies for learning.

Building effective scenario-based learning in SHIFT

(With many thanks to Karl Kapp and Robin Yap for providing the inspiration for this article)

“No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”

John Donne, Meditation XVII
English clergyman & poet (1572 – 1631)

We know that scenarios and simulations have a powerful impact on modeling preferred behaviour.  For users of the new Scenario Engine, there’s a few things to consider to turn your scenario plans into an effective learning experience for your intended audience. Continue reading Building effective scenario-based learning in SHIFT