SHIFT's eLearning Blog

Our blog provides the best practices, tips, and inspiration for corporate training, instructional design, eLearning and mLearning.

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    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.

    SHIFT Automates Scenario-Based Learning.

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Toronto, Canada , November 10, 2010 Scenario based learning allows educators to engage students in the eLearning environment creating an enriched and ingrained learning experience. Aura Interactiva and MindMuze announced the release of the Scenario Builder as part of their award-winning SHIFT eLearning authoring technology. Aura Interactiva, based in San Jose, Costa Rica and MindMuze, based in Toronto, Canada have partnered in the distribution of SHIFT in North America. "We continue to listen to global educators and instructional design professionals, so that we can help deliver unprecedented efficiencies in eLearning authoring. The Scenario Builder is a whole new way of creating eLearning that boosts engagement and retention with animation, image and sound", said Rick Beaudry, CEO, MindMuze. "Our goal is to provide corporations, governments and schools with the most efficient platform in the building of complex eLearning interactions", Beaudry added. Randolf Kissling, CEO, Aura Interactiva, commented, "With the Scenario Builder, trainers and educators with zero graphic design or programming skills can create complex learning scenarios that can be delivered to students in minutes". Traditionally, producing eLearning programs has been a time-consuming, expensive task that involves a team of instructional designers, graphic designers and developers. SHIFT has removed the need to be technical and transferred the power of creating rich eLearning content to the educator. Now, anyone is able create the ultimate eLearning environment. About SHIFT SHIFT (www.shiftelearning.com) is more than an eLearning authoring tool, it is an eLearning ecosystem. SHIFT allows you to create eLearning courses collaboratively. Browser-based, SHIFT's development team continues to work toward building optimum efficiency in the design and build of complex eLearning interactions for today's learner. In 2009, Aura Interactiva (www.aurainteractiva.com) formed a North American distribution partnership with MindMuze (www.mindmuze.com), one of the most innovative eLearning companies in the world. MindMuze used its own unique training processes to create the best of breed mentoring and training for SHIFT users. Together, Aura Interactiva and MindMuze are continuing to develop and improve SHIFT. Both feel that SHIFT is exactly what the market needs right now, and are thrilled to be a part of it. CONTACT: Rick Beaudry, CEO SHIFT Distibution North America Rick.beaudry@mindmuze.com 1.416.910.3457

    SHIFT eLearning Scenario Builder - On Demand Video Demo

    Narrated video demonstration of the creation of a scenario using SHIFT's new Scenario Builder. Click HERE to watch the video demonstration. For a more detailed look at the Scenario Builder please contact us at info@shiftelearning.com to schedule a personalized demonstration.

    Quick-change Navigation

    Following a recent update to the SHIFT platform, I wanted to share this quick tip for changing the default Navigation interface within SHIFT. As you know, right now, SHIFT loads a default navigation interface so that you can preview your course development efforts. However, you may wish to switch interfaces to match a corporate look and feel or to match the general aesthetic of your course. To change navigation interfaces, go to your Course parameters. Click the Select button to bring up the nav/menu gallery. Click the Navigation Bar tab. Simply click the Install link on your chosen interface. To ensure that the interface is populated properly, click the Build course button on the main toolbar (ensure that you select "Fill missing media" before doing so.) The new interface will be applied to your course and will pick up the title of your course at the top. If you need to have the default logo replaced, that will still have to be done in Flash then manually uploaded.

    SHIFT Release Updates-October

    Below are the release updates for October. If you have any questions regarding the new features please contact us for more information. info@shiftelearning.com New Preloaded Image Screens Use the 19 new preloaded image screens when you want to quickly create a course. An excellent fast and easy alternative to uploading pictures or images. P31_125 is a new interface that presents a calculator which will let the student calculate numbers inside a course without the need of external resources. Click here to see an example of these new interfaces. Navigation Bars Save even more time choosing your course's navigation bar. Simply select the navigation bar you want, click on the Install button, build your course and you're done! Keep in mind that the navigation bar will automatically add the course's name but you will have to load the logo separately. If you want to customize other items in the navigation bar you will have to download the file. Scenario Builder Moving Scenes Scenario Builder will now let you change the location of the scenes inside your scenario. You will be able to duplicate a scene and place it either forward or backward without having to create the scenes inside the scenario all over again. Loading a Character Customize your own avatar and load it into SHIFT. This will allow you to further customize your course to fit your company's branding. Loading a Backdrop Loading static and animated backgrounds and videos into the Scenario Builder is quick and simple using SHIFT. This will provide you with more possibilities of customization. Loading customized backgrounds and avatars will allow the students taking your course to relate to them in a greater way.

    SHIFT Release Updates - October Recorded Webcast

    Today we hosted our October SHIFT Release Webcast. Weren't able to tune in? No problem, we recorded it for you! View the recorded webcast here. If you didn't pre-register for today's release webcast, you will be asked to quickly register to view it. Please contact info@shiftelearning.com with any questions on today's webcast.

    Why is SHIFT easy to use? (2 of 4)

    SHIFT is easy to use because it automates most repetitive tasks associated with eLearning development. Through a single login screen, based on profile, the user will have access to only the courses and the roles within those courses assigned to him. No room for unauthorized people or unskilled people to change things. SHIFT allows users to create great content with no technical knowledge at all. No graphic design skills. A SHIFT user is able to create, for example, a great looking scenario, perhaps re-creating a sales-client interaction, consisting of several scenes, several dialogues and several characters, easily and with zero technical, flash or programming skills. Creativity is the only required ingredient. The smart templates (over 250) allow the writers to choose the best interaction for the content. It's as easy as clicking on a thumbnail. By filling in the preconfigured fields, the development environment will know what needs to be displayed on screen, what needs to be recorded, what needs to be uploaded as images, video or even what a specialized graphic designer or animator needs to do. There are no messy word files, PowerPoint or prototypes going back and forth among team members. SHIFTmanages everything. SHIFT will select those audios that are for a specific voice talent (for example, male voice #1) and then display only those audios to the male voice talent #1 for recording. Once each audio is recorded (by just clicking a button) the system crops, optimizes and uploads into the course. It's simple because there is no editing of lengthy audios, no manual optimization and no need to integrate into the course. Compliance to standards such as SCORM is simple. When you're ready to publish a course, clicking on the "generate course" will compile the course including all SCORM manifests, navigation, interface, automatically. Localization is also very simple and straightforward. Due do SHIFT's database architecture, exporting content, localizing and re-importing into a localized course is fast and straightforward. SHIFT has free, online, business hours (east coast) tech support, a built in, eLearning course on how to use SHIFT and a downloadable user manual.

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