Pinterest (7)

I really do not need any practice in learning how to effectively navigate Pinterest but others might. I remember when I first joined Pinterest I did not realize that the pictures were also links, I thought it was just an image collecting website. I still remember the feeling of awe I had when I realized it was more than just pictures (I realize I was being a little oblivious). Besides that little hiccup in the beginning, I found Pinterest to be a very user friendly website.
A lot of the users of Pinterest are teachers. All of my friends that are teachers actively use their Pinterest boards, and tell me of how amazing their classrooms look because of the ideas they got from other teachers. I happened to find this article online about ways teachers use Pinterest.
http://www.teachthought.com/social-media/37-ways-teachers-can-use-pinterest-in-the-classroom/

There are several methods of using Pinterest that are listed on this website that would be great for any training facilitator to use. One way is to use Pinterest to share successful lesson plans. If training developers have easier access to ideas for training strategies it might save them a lot of time when they are re-adjusting the training after conducting a formative evaluation (it would take a lot of the error out of trial and error). Also, using a pinboard to collect ideas could be a training activity that benefits highly visual learners. For those trainees that are not visual learners, Pinterest can also provide ideas for lessons that cater to auditory and kinesthetic learners. Training developers can also use Pinterest to find tutorials to add to their training modules. The Pinterest possibilities are almost endless.

Pinterest (6)

Pinterest is "pinboard-style photo sharing website." It allows its users to create and manage theme-based image collections that can then be browsed and used by other users of Pinterest. I would say that the majority of people think that Pinterest is a website to be used mostly by girls. I would somewhat agree with that. I am a girl and I am an avid pinterest user. In addition to sharing great style tips with the multitudes, Pinterest could also be used to facilitate learning. It may seem a little confusing if you have never used the website before. I will try to give a brief overview. 

This is an area of Pinterest that is commonly browsed. In this section you scroll through and it shows you the most popular photos that have been shared. Most pictures, if clicked, will take you to an outside website. The user may want to know more about the swimsuit in the picture or may want to know how to make a penguin ornament out of a light bulb. 

Although I don't think Pinterest is commonly used for training it could very easily be used to facilitate learning. An organization could start a Pinterest board with information their employees should know. Employees could also post useful information that they have found with other employees. It would be more of a knowledge sharing base instead of a developing tool. Any organization that used this would need to monitor the board to make sure that the information being shared is relevant and correct, but it would be a great way to encourage a work environment where learning and development is always occurring. 

(5) Captivate

 I needed more time to get comfortable with Captivate. We used Captivate a little bit more in class and now I feel very comfortable with it. I even discovered that you can upload a PowerPoint presentation into Captivate as a template for an eLearning module. I thought before that Captivate did not allow the designer to easily create aesthetically appealing learning modules, but using PowerPoint makes making pretty modules really easy for Captivate novices like me. 

Some of the buttons are still lost on me, but I can easily figure them out by trial and error or by simply hovering the arrow over it to get a general idea of its function.
This video shows a professional using Captivate to develop training.

It goes to show that a training developer of any skill level can use this program to create effective and interactive training modules.

Captivate (4)

When we first started using Captivate in class I was a little hesitant. I had never used it before and I was unsure as to whether I would be able to navigate through the interface comfortably. When trying anything new, of course its a little nerve wracking but I found Captivate to be pretty easy.
The interface reminds me of a mash-up of Photoshop and Avid. The properties panel is very similar to Photoshop and the timeline is very similar to Avid. I believe Photoshop also has a timeline feature but it has been a long time since I have used it. Anyway, with a little extra guidance from our professor I was able to navigate through it and create little mock training programs.
This program would be great for any novice developer to use to create training as well as for expert developers. You can even make your design process simpler by creating a design on PowerPoint and uploading it to Captivate. There you can add all of the interactivity your heart desires.