April 28th, 2009 by Robin Green

One major benefit of online training courses is the flexibility they allow you, the student. You can learn at home, at the library, or on the road. And with about 300 Municipal Wi-Fi projects in the making around the world, which will provide wireless access to entire cities, the possibilities are endless.

The flip side of elearning’s flexibility is the healthy dose of self-discipline it requires. In order to juggle all the activities in your busy schedule and create a stress-free elearning experience, some planning and strategizing are called for. Here are five tricks you can use.

First, develop a schedule. Set aside an hour or two every day to dedicate exclusively to your coursework. The key is to do it at the same time each day. In this way you train your brain to kick into “advanced chemistry mode” or “adaptive leadership mode” or whatever the subject might be, at the same time each day. 

But schedules should be created with the premise that they’re flexible. If studying your online training course at 10 pm hasn’t been working out after all–you get sleepy and zone out–then change the schedule. A schedule is meant to save you time, and you have the power of revision.

Second, practice distributed learning. Study habits are like exercising and eating habits. A healthy approach to exercise is to find ways to move your body constantly, rather than remaining stationary all day but at 9 pm squeezing in a trip to the gym. In the same vein, smaller, more frequent meals keep your metabolism stimulated and running smoothly.

Take a distributed learning approach, which means breaking learning up into small, more frequent elearning sessions. Just like the body’s metabolic response to food, the brain is stimulated by smaller installations of information. Your brain likes to recover and recharge between learning. In the periods between learning sessions, the brain rests and digests learning material. 

Even if you receive a large online training course activity to complete, try to break it up and focus on one piece at a time. This will help you avoid missing important information or forgetting to complete an assignment. Don’t rush through the work; take your time. Learning should be satisfying, like a good meal. 

Third, create your ideal circumstances. Find a quiet place to study, and a quiet place in your brain. Concentrate. Maybe you have a dentist appointment to cancel, a strange noise coming from your car engine that needs looking at, Swine Flu alerts sounding from the TV in the next room. Tune it all out. You need to be able to cut out all the distracting sounds–real and nagging mental ones. 

Everyone is different, and there’s no standard setting for successful learning. While studying an online training course, you might prefer a certain space. Some people need quiet and privacy. Some like to talk out loud to themselves (I know I do). Others prefer the gentle buzz of a library or cafe to study. Some people like to take short breaks, while others don’t require them. Everything from clothing, to lighting and background music, to having snacks or coffee are important considerations in creating YOUR perfect setting for elearning.

Fourth, be sensitive to your emotional status. As George-Louis Buffon said, “Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience.” In your pursuit of elearning course mastery, be patient with yourself. When you’re tired, distracted, or stressed out, your brain repels information rather than absorbs it. In the same way, when you get angry with yourself for forgetting information, or feel frustrated or self-critical, you waste incredible amounts of brain energy that could be spent digesting learning material.

Fifth, tackle the most challenging task first. Say you’ve got a list of household chores to do: rake leaves, scrub the kids’ bathroom, dust, call the chimney cleaner. In what order would you typically check them off? To make the rest of the morning’s chores more relaxed, a good strategy is to do the most tedious, difficult or generally undesirable task first. After scrubbing every porcelain nook and cranny in the bathroom, calling the chimney cleaner won’t even feel like a chore.

When checking off a list of online courseware assignments, go with the most challenging first. Maybe it’s an activity you just haven’t gotten the hang of yet, or don’t fully understand. Procrastination in your weak areas can even affect other strong ones, making you less sure about other assignments. On the other hand, completing the most daunting online training course assignments first will give you confidence to breeze through the rest. 

April 24th, 2009 by Robin Green

In both developing and developed countries, more organizations are adopting learning tools such as online courses and LMS service to benefit disadvantaged sectors of society. Take Project Rising Women in Argentina, or Project SITA in India, and UCLA Extension in the U.S.; three projects with altruistic and effective programs.

Rising Women is an Argentine nonprofit that works with a women’s shelter on the edge of the largest ghetto in Buenos Aires, providing a computer technology center to the women in the shelter. The project provides the women—often teenage, lower-class, under-educated, abused and/or homeless single mothers–with valuable computer skills that help them gain employment and provide resources to plan a life outside the shelter. 

Are you an educator with experience using an LMS service or other computer technology? You might consider donating a bit of time to instruct people who would benefit tremendously from your knowledge. Project Rising Women’s volunteers are computer skills teachers from high schools and universities. 

In India, computer skills training programs like the Project SITA enable the disadvantaged to create a better life. One of SITA’s tenets, increasingly understood by nonprofit organizations worldwide, is that marginalized groups do not want charity; they want an opportunity to learn and practice suitable skills.

The current discourse around the “digital divide” is often focused on technology rather than the human impact of the gap.  But as Lisa Servon argued in 2002, the digital divide is “a symptom of a larger and more complex problem–the problem of persistent poverty and inequality.”

And the digital divide isn’t only a global phenomenon, separating countries into technological haves and have-nots. The divide exists in the richest countries in the world–and it’s often a big gap. 

According to research firm Parks Associates, roughly 20% of Americans are disconnected from the internet and have never used e-mail.

LMS service educators working in free or low-cost computer learning systems act out of a deep conviction that better access to information and ICT skills, just like improved reading and writing skills, can enhance disadvantaged people’s ability to make strategic life choices and create the lifestyle they want for themselves. 

One computer skills initiative was made by UCLA Extension to reach Los Angeles residents, some of whom had never clicked a mouse or looked at a monitor. The Extension team set up a cyber café, with 16 computer stations and a small snack bar. The course fee was $95 and covered 36 hours of hands-on instruction over 12 weeks. Upon completion, students of the Extension program received a certificate of technical expertise and could choose electives in personal finance, advanced computer skills and resume writing. Job interviews and internships were also offered.

ICT learning systems have the potential to strengthen organizational skills, improve access to information and social services, and promote economic opportunities and political participation. That said, it’s essential to investigate and understand the communities you’re trying to help. This goes for educators all across the board and across national and financial sectors: understand your target learners, or accept that your efforts may fail.

If you’re establishing a nonprofit ICT program in an indigenous community in Bolivia, for example, you’ll need to find out everything there is to know about the context in which the training course will function. The same goes for an inner-city school setting, a rural immigrant community, and so on. Only when an ICT program is fully integrated into the broader community framework can marginalized groups reap meaningful benefits. 

Within school districts, elearning courses hosted via an LMS service can address all kinds of problems facing schools today: limited course offerings, teacher shortages in certain areas, the increase of home-schooling, absence of AP classes in some areas, lack of physical space, and lack of funding. 

April 21st, 2009 by Robin Green

Looking for more creative and effective tools for your LMS software training or elearning course? Capture and record your very own screen to include in your elearning course.

Blueberry Software has now released version 2.6 of its best-in-breed screen capture software, which integrates seamlessly with the Coggno LMS software.

Now anyone who uses BB FlashBack 2.6 to make screen recordings can integrate them with their curriculum, using Coggno’s simple course creation tools, then deliver their curriculum using the Coggno LMS. The combination of Coggno and Blueberry 2.6 provides an exciting and richer toolkit for courseware developers to work with.

The concept is simple. BB FlashBack allows you to record everything you see on your PC screen, whether it be a video, game, web page, or simulation. It also records your commentary, PC sounds and webcam as picture-in-picture video to give your course content a personal touch. 

Provide demos, training CDs, and visual tutorials to students. With BB FlashBack’s user-friendly design and quick, automated recording steps, users are able to transform course content into a richer, more dynamic experience and give your course a more professional touch. 

Why rely on stock simulations or outdated company demos? Using BB FlashBack and Coggno’s LMS software toolkit, you have total control over what students view. You yourself create, edit and apply it to your e-learning course. 

“BB FlashBack makes it easy for Coggno users to create and upload content that involves viewers with dynamic screen recordings instead of static screen captures.” Blueberry CTO Dave Francis said.

Using Coggno’s LMS software which includes a text editor, SCORM, question banking, and video, assessment, and quiz tools, organizations are able to provide feature rich training cost effectively. Add to those features the powerful tools offered by Coggno’s Application exchange partners such as Blueberry, and you have a robust and well-rounded course development toolkit.

BB FlashBack includes many exciting features that integrate seamlessly with Coggno’s LMS software. Why not make a personal appearance in your own course? Webcam Recording allows for the user to create his or her own webcam video. Sound recording allows users to read a commentary at the same time as the screen is being recorded, using a microphone, microphone headset or other inexpensive hardware. 

Recording videos and editing them is extremely simple using BB Flashback. Movies are able to be saved in all the major video formats, including Flash, QuickTime (H264), Windows Media Video (WMV), AVI, or EXE. You can easily add text, sound, images, and ‘zoom & pan’ effects. Also, you are able to edit multi track audio and video, side by side. 

BB FlashBack is able to record high frame rate, high quality movies without affecting PC performance–even on lower powered PCs. BB users have successfully recorded large animations with which other screen recorders experienced problems. And finally BB’s robust annotation, editing and effects features allow Coggno’s LMS software users to frame and fashion movies just the way they want them. 

April 17th, 2009 by Robin Green

Want to create a dynamic LMS learning system with an appeal to many different kinds of learners? Nurture the fun factor. The more exciting and interactive a learning system, the wider and more powerful its appeal. How can you bring your learning content to life? 

According to a survey by Pew Internet & American Life Project, 97% of all teenagers age 12 to 17 play video games of some sort, whether it’s on a console, a computer, or a cell phone. And recent AOL Games and the Association Press poll data suggests that 38% of adults play computer or video games in some capacity. 

But adult gaming shouldn’t be viewed in a negative light (unless gamers spend too much time playing). The generation of men and women in their 30’s grew up in the video game boom, and since then the industry has evolved with them. Grown adults aren’t playing Pong anymore on their Ataris. 

Today’s games are much more sophisticated and involved, and require thought, strategy, and decision making. They’re more like interactive movies than just games. They’re educational. They involve levels, points, and rewards. I think courseware system developers might stand to learn something from the gaming industry.

Why not design your course with an appeal to the ever-expanding gamer demographic?

It’s not difficult to develop courseware that takes after a video or computer game. Every game follows a similar pattern that can be emulated in your LMS learning system.

All games have an overriding goal and steps to reach it. The player’s challenge is to solve a series of problems, and complete the steps quickly and efficiently. Sort of like a regular course, right? Students who are asked to conquer levels and solve problems in a game-like format will be more engaged and interested in the course. 

But how does one actually go about creating an LMS learning system based on a game model? Start by developing a narrative. Create a story.

Most video games begin with some kind of back story or situation to get the player invested in the game. Present your courseware system learners with a dialogue between two people, or as a series of images that tell about a sequence of events.  

Creating a narrative helps to reel the learner into your LMS learning system. Be creative and let your learner indulge in the story. He or she is about to interact with the course, and you’re setting the tone for them to get started. Visuals and dialogue are a winning combination. 

Following the game model, guide your learners, setting clear instructions about how they are meant to interact with the course. Clarity is essential–there’s nothing more frustrating than clicking a mouse a dozen times when all you needed to do was press enter. Make the method of interaction simple and consistent.

Some games give instructions in written text, while others provide a guided tutorial where you play the first level of the game, or an introductory level, with assistance. Just remember–the student’s likeliness of becoming instantly engaged, as well as the danger of becoming immediately discouraged, depends largely on the first few moments with your courseware system. 

Just as all video and computer games become gradually more challenging as they go, so should your LMS learning system. Begin the course with basic tasks, and work upward from there. This is another reason to keep the method with which your learners interact consistent throughout your course–as levels become increasingly difficult, your learner won’t want to be hassled with learning new rules. 

An important game feature to include is the allowance for trial and error. If a student fails to successfully complete a level, he or she should be given another chance or multiple chances until it’s completed. If a student fails at the third level, allow him or her to start over at the third level. A student shouldn’t have to begin again at level one. 

Additionally, be sure to include rewards, feedback, and motivation for students. Most computer and video games have a system of points, lives, and boosters to provide the player with a sense of how they’re doing, as well as make them feel good if they’re performing well. Making it easy to score points or secure boosters or bonuses will encourage your learner to keep going, as well as make his or her LMS learning system experience more rewarding and fun.

April 14th, 2009 by Robin Green

Are some learners more important than others in LMS training and education programs? Most people would answer no. But they’d be mistaken. 

When adopting LMS training and teaching technologies, there is one special person whose mastery of the technology holds more consequence; whose profound understanding of the course content and its form is critical. This is, of course, the person who is delivering the material–the teacher or trainer him/herself.

“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn,” said John Cotton Dana. Good teachers and trainers–especially those who rely heavily on technology for their course content–are constantly learning new ideas and skills in order to evolve with changing times.

An LMS is a big, intricate tool, though the complexity varies from LMS to LMS. If your organization is planning to implement LMS training, you’ll want to consider LMS training courses for your staff.

Look for training classes designed to get technical staff up to speed with new technologies, as well as maintain their knowledge of system and software capabilities for their specific systems. Trainers will learn how to apply the software to tackle engineering problems in specific application areas. Some courses provide both LMS training classes and optional on-site training services. 

LMS use in both companies and schools is currently on the rise. However, though LMSs are commonly used in universities, the standardization of LMSs in high schools is relatively sluggish. Why is this the case?

Lack of school funding and proper LMS training for educators are two reasons. 

For many teachers, the span of time separating today from the day they completed their teaching degree is a long one. And though most teachers are constantly learning as they go, there are some new skills, like managing LMSs or online courses, that they might be lacking compared to teachers fresh out of college. 

This is one major obstacle to the implementation of an LMS in many schools–oftentimes, educators are not well-equipped to use the technology. Training is expensive and often outside the possibilities of a school budget. Many educators are plunged into the stormy waters of unfamiliar technology without a paddle.

And given the benefits that experience with LMS technology provides for learners, it’s paramount that more high schools adopt advanced technology and collaborative learning softwares. Doing so will prepare students not only for more education, but for an increasingly competitive job market that values ICT skills more every day.

In higher education, feedback for LMS use has been mildly positive, though not exactly radiant. This reflects a need for better integration into the classroom, blending with face-to-face instruction, and LMS training for professors. At the beginning of 2008, about 4 million students were taking online courses in universities and other higher education institutions, with many of those courses being hosted on LMSs. And according to the Sloan report, which is based on a poll of academic leaders, students generally appear at least equally satisfied with their online classes as they were with traditional ones. 

But with more educators able to instruct using LMSs in their courses, greater quality and accessibility in course content offered online, and increasingly computer-savvy educators, the feedback is bound to become more positive. 

The ideal is for teachers and trainers to become closely familiar with how LMS training or teaching works as quickly as possible. This involves understanding instructional design as a teaching strategy. Instructional design refers to the practice of creating instructional tools and content to instigate interactions and facilitate learning between students. To facilitate effective online interactions, it’s important to first analyze and understand the different forms of interaction and learning online. 

Capella University is one school that recognizes that teachers might not have the time or means to attend face-to-face workshops. Capella offers Masters, PhD and other graduate programs in teaching online, instructional design for online learning, and curriculum and instruction with a technology focus. The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. 

For a wealth of information on classroom technology topics, there are online sources for educators in the form of chatboards and discussion forums. Teachers.net is a great one for discussion boards, such as the Educational Software chatboard, as well as articles and resources related to integrating online courses in the classroom. Other sites offer tips on how to integrate online courseware into a course, and reports from educators who face challenges in their own blended learning environments. 

If you are a courseware system developer seeking a discussion forum to converse about the challenges and strategies involved in courseware creation, there are also many online resources. Some courseware system syndicators host forums where course developers can discuss their ideas, suggestions, etc. Coggno is one such platform, hosting an author-to-author discussion forum for anyone involved in the e-learning industry, or who wants to learn more about LMS training.

April 10th, 2009 by Robin Green

Experienced trainers and educators understand the secret of peer groups in LMS online courses. When learners collaborate in an engaging and satisfying way, they produce potent results.

It’s not only an effective business strategy, but in a training program it works wonders, fostering a spirit of community and a sense of common purpose. Why is a sense of community an important aspect of a learning experience? And how can you create efficient group formats in a learning environment?

Latané’s social impact theory describes how a person’s behavior tends to correlate with the behavior of a group of people, given that these people become important to that person. So if a group is working hard to achieve a common goal, individual members are more likely to feel more deeply invested in the cause.  Frequent interaction is a critical factor in the equation. 

Encourage learners to collaborate to achieve goals using group discussions, IMs, blogs, conferences, wikis, etc. The more interactions that take place, the closer the students’ sense of “us” will be. Belonging to a community of engaged learners increases the likelihood that each learner will become more deeply engaged with the learning material.

All too often in LMS online systems, a leader (teacher or trainer) fails to take advantage of peer groups. This may be partly due to challenges posed by peer group arrangements. For example, we’ve all had the experience of a team effort in which there were one or more participants didn’t–lightly speaking–give their all. For peer learning to be effective in LMS online learning, the trainer must create a system that insures that all learners are participating. Thus the importance of an efficient learning tool like an LMS.

Using a learning management system, trainers and educators are able to track both group and individual progress. An LMS includes critical tools such as online assessment, automatic marking, a resource organizer for project work, and progress tracking mechanisms. Trainers are able to track which employees have completed their course requirements and those whose obligations are unfulfilled, or who may require updates or “refresher” courses. 

LMS online learning experts strive to be trendsetters, not followers, in the industry. This requires not only thinking outside the box, but keeping in mind our societal need for technology as a collaborative tool. The possibilities are endless. Companies are reacting according to this basic human need, developing cutting-edge technology that provides new ways of interacting online. 

Cisco, for example, is working on unified communications that combine a virtual meeting space via TV, web conferencing and instant messaging. The idea of collaboration is at the heart of tools like LMS online training systems as well.

In designing and maintaining your organization’s LMS, keep in mind its community-building capacity. The more interactive and collaborative, the more effective your course will be. Synergy is the bread and butter of today’s globalizing economy.

Organizing a virtual team is a process made a great deal easier by a robust learning management system. Training for team members can be organized and performed internationally, linking LMS online training to its various human resources departments and ERP systems, to perform multi-locational, cost-effective and efficient training. 

These days, organizations are practically composed of a vast network of individuals and teams to meet all the goals and functions of an organization. An LMS can be not only a helpful way to organize employee training, but service teams can use them to keep track of customers and employee achievements. 

The benefits of peer groups outweigh any potentiality for disaster that prevents more people from tapping into them. These include not only professional benefits, within an organization, but personal ones as well: a sense of team-building and support systems, greater self-esteem, social competence, and better communication skills. Peer groups and virtual or face-to-face teams are a vital resource to any LMS online training program.

April 7th, 2009 by Robin Green

Have you ever thought about designing an LMS training course? Or do you already have your own learning material and brilliant course content prepared, just waiting to be released to the public? 

In the process of designing an online course, it’s essential to your keep learners in mind. How? By understanding multiple intelligences and using them to your course’s advantage.

Howard Gardner, whose multiple intelligence theory provided scholarly and scientific support for what many educators already believed to be true, created a small revolution in the educational community in the 1980’s with his book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Twenty-five years later, his theories have been widely discussed, criticized, discredited as unscientific, reinterpreted, and embraced–though not necessarily in that order.

“Instead of human beings possessing one generalized mental computer,” Gardner says, “human beings are better described as having a number of relatively autonomous computational devices.” In other words, we’re all programmed a little differently. 

According to Gardner there are eight intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. 

Despite controversy over Gardner’s findings, most experienced teachers and trainers possess an intuitive understanding that there exist more than one kind of intelligence. Even if you don’t buy his theory exactly, it’s hard to deny that everyone is differently gifted with assorted talents and personalities. And as Gardner insists, it’s true that we spend too much time testing learners in the U.S. when we should be dedicating time to helping them. 

Understanding the theory of multiple intelligences will aid in the creation of a more effective and robust LMS training course. 

Many educators and trainers find that responding to learners’ unique cultural backgrounds, interests, and world knowledge results in a more interactive and dynamic learning experience. An LMS can be an invaluable tool in not only tracking learners’ progress, but in providing an organizational and educational tool that caters to the needs of all learners.

Coggno is just one growing LMS training course platform that understands that all learners are distinct–and that this fact enriches, rather than detracts from, the quality and effectiveness of a learning system. Coggno’s suite of course development tools enables interactive learning that lends itself to differentiated instruction. 

It’s all about choices. Providing learners a choice is one way to take advantage of the spectrum of intelligences, creating a more vibrant and exciting learning experience.

An LMS training course can include assignments, quizzes, projects, activities and exams that cater to a wide spectrum of intelligences. Of course, this doesn’t mean that trainers or educators should assign different learners separate tasks. But within the same assignments or exams, learners can be given a choice. This means that within the same task, learners may choose which questions or exercises to answer. 

While any given group of learners will most likely constitute a motley batch of learning types, many are probably strong visual-spatial learners. As an LMS training course developer or a corporate trainer, you can make simple efforts to enrich your course and speak visually to these learners.

Visual-spatial learners process information better when reading, taking notes and making lists, and learning from books, videos, and demonstrations. They use mental imagery, associating colors and shapes with ideas. 

In your LMS training course, create videos and incorporate visual data into your students’ learning experience. Use graphic oragnizers. These include brainstorms and idea maps, webs, plots, and illustrations like stack plots and Venn plots. Showing the relationship between ideas and images, teachers can help all students–not only visually-gifted ones–digest information more quickly. 

The creative instructional tools offered by LMSs like Coggno can be wielded to effectively express information spatially and with images. Use Coggno’s Text Tool, Video Tool, Scorm Publisher, Template Tool, and Question Bank, engage your students in active, visually-interesting learning content.

Does more visual information actually improve learner performance? Absolutely. A study conducted by the Institute for the Advancement of Research in Education at AEL showed that visual learning improves student performance in four major ways: critical thinking, retention, comprehension, and organization. 

While listening to someone lecture for hours doesn’t suit many visual learners, watching a dynamic speaker demonstrate an idea will. Visual learners are sensitive to body language, and often have an advanced ability to “read” people. Include videos with demonstrations, simulations and screencasting.

The effectiveness of a course depends on the designer’s tapping into the right resources. These include not only the tools offered by the LMS, but the students themselves. By understanding learners’ needs and learning styles, designers are better equipped to create a more helpful, engaging, and successful LMS training course.

April 5th, 2009 by Robin Green

With more organizations adopting their own learning management system, the traditional style of creating and distributing knowledge is being redefined.

Whether it’s corporate training or classroom pedagogy, interactive tools like LMSs and Web 2.0 technologies are seeing an end to the days in which one person dominated the floor and simply dispensed information to an all-ears audience. Now learners’ ears can finally join forces with their eyes, mouths and hands.

This isn’t to say that instructional design–the curriculum-based pedagogy in which one person dispenses information and others receive it–has no rightful place in a learning system. While the shift from lectures to hands-on learning and collaboration opens new educational possibilities, straightforward lectures are a vital aspect of any educational format. Lectures lay the framework for students to work their own way through the course material.

In a training course hosted via a learning management system, lectures can be presented in a number of ways. Information can be laid out on a web page, in a downloadable packet, or presented via audio or video. Links to related resources and other websites can be inserted. Short, to-the-point lectures provided in the learning management system create a lesson that both informs learners about the key points, and aids them in finding related information.

Podcasts are one exciting format with an array of educational possibilities. Podcasts are convenient and optimally portable, and appeal to many learning styles. They can be used to supplement and reinforce course learning material, or renew learning activities. They can serve as announcements, reminders, and updates to be heard by everyone using the learning management system. 

Podcasts can be used to distribute interviews and discussions, or to inform learners what to expect in the next lesson or activity. They are easy to create, produce, and share, and listeners don’t need an iPod to listen to them. Podcasts are typically in the form of mp3 files, making them accessible to all learners.

What are the criteria for a good podcast? Topics depend on the learning content of your course or the functions you’ve assigned to the podcasts within your learning management system. 

Especially if the content is more technical or number-oriented, keep each podcast at 5 to 10 minutes. Many listeners who don’t have an excessive amount of time to spare generally avoid long texts, courses, etc. Small installments of learning content are ideal.

The content of a podcast depends on the course material. Providing intriguing material that piques listeners’ interest is essential to any podcast. Otherwise, your listeners’ attention will begin to slip. True, choosing material that’s interesting is a matter of taste and opinion, but the way in which you present the information can make or break your podcast’s effectiveness.

Remember that listeners respond well to audio information that varies in texture and tone. Interspersing music, pieces of interviews, sound bites, etc. throughout is a great way to lend texture and continuity to your podcast. Additionally, make sure the speaker doesn’t sound like he or she is reading from a script. The dialogue should sound conversational. The listener should feel like the podcaster is speaking directly to him or her.  

Interested in adding podcasts to your course material? Creating a podcast is easy using Apple’s Podcast Producer, a simple and automatic audio editing program. Using group communication such as Google groups, social networking sites and wikis, in combination with a learning management system, trainers have an array of tools at hand.