The Rapid Elearning Blog

The Rapid E-Learning Blog - 2010

It’s hard to believe that it’s almost 2010.  I think the emergency supplies in my Y2K kit have finally gone bad.  2009 zipped by so fast, that I’m still writing 2008 on my checks.  Do people still write checks?

It was a busy year.  Most of my highlights were from meeting blog readers at conferences.  It’s both a humbling and rewarding experience.  I especially love to learn what people are doing and the challenges they face building elearning courses.

Speaking of going to conferences, here are some things I learned this past year:

  • Johnny Cash says “don’t take your guns to town, leave them at home.”  That’s probably a good tip for guns, but not so good for socks.  Trust me on this one.  At 7:00 AM there aren’t too many places to find business socks in San Jose.  Business socks?  There’s a Flight of Conchords joke in there, but I’ll pass. 🙂
  • Be careful where you eat.  I won’t mention the restaurant in Boston, but there was a mouse running around under the tables.  While that was shocking enough, what shocked me more was the wait staff that seemed OK with it. The mouse must have been a regular.  Or he could have been the chef.
  • Sometimes it’s a good idea to wear a Speedo under your clothes.  This is especially true if you’re assaulted by a waitress who spills an entire glass of ice cold water in your lap.  With a Speedo on, you can quickly take off your pants and get back to enjoying the dinner.

…And Now for the Top 10 Posts for 2009

Here are your favorite posts of the year.  Check them out.  I’m sort of a goofball and enjoy the fun stuff, but my favorite didn’t make it.

  1. 9 Free Tools That Help Me Build Better E-Learning
  2. Here’s What You Need to Know About Mobile Learning
  3. 4 Simple Tips for Recording High-Quality Audio
  4. Now You Can Design E-Learning Courses Like a Pro
  5. Here’s Why You Need an E-Learning Portfolio
  6. Here’s a Free PowerPoint Template & How I Made It
  7. Here’s Why PowerPoint 2007 Helps You Build Better E-Learning
  8. How to Create a Visual Design for Your E-Learning Scenario
  9. Over 100 Free Handwritten Fonts
  10. How to Create Screencasts You Can Be Proud Of

Free Stuff!

Because we all like free stuff, here are the posts that had links to free software, assets, or PowerPoint templates.  Enjoy.

Bonus! Here’s another free PowerPoint template.  I used the PowerPoint 2007 color schemes so that you can easily edit it.  Here’s a quick tutorial that explains how.  You can download the template here.

The Rapid E-Learning Blog - template created in PowerPoint

The Rapid E-Learning Blog - template created in PowerPoint

Looking Forward to 2010

2010 is going to be a great year.  It’s an exciting time for our industry.  There’s a lot going on with the internet, social media, and other technologies.  And so much of it is rela
ted to learning.

I can’t think of a time in the past twenty years where those who are in the learning industry are so intertwined with what’s hot.  That’s pretty cool.

We’ll be doing some neat things this year.  So stay tuned to the blog.  I look forward to seeing many of you at other conferences and events.  Also, if you’re in the Seattle area, drop me a line.  I try to get out and meet people in the area as time permits.

Again, thanks for making the blog a success.  I hope you have a great 2010!

Events

Free E-Learning Resources

Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.

Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs

Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills

Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.

Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.

Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.



28 responses to “Your Favorite Rapid E-Learning Posts of 2009”

Hey Tom, there’s nothing wrong with white socks at a business conference – they show your geek cred. Business socks are overrated anyway. Steve Jobs wears Levis and running shoes everywhere he goes – seems to be working fine for him.

But I agree with the Speedo – I wear one everywhere I go. Because you just never know.

Happy 2010 to you and to all! Hopefully we’ll be seeing some new Articulate products this year?

December 29th, 2009

Tom, thanks a lot for this year plenty of good ideas and fine sense of humor; I have learnt a lot from both.

I’m still trying to figure out how the Speedo will deal with a hot soup instead of cold water. Maybe it will be better a frogman skin (I love Aqualung for that 🙂 ).

All the best along 2010 for you and all,

Alberto

Thanks for the posts and anotehr free template.

Speedo: Simply HILARIOUS!

Once again thank you for valuable info and presenting it in a fun way to read.

Thank you Tom for a lot of help and a happy 2010.

George

Tom, I look forward to your blog every week. You have been a great source of information. Met you at DevLearn 09 in San Jose. My only regret is that I didn’t get your autograph while I was there. Keep the blogs coming and thanks for sharing your expertise and knowledge.

Everyone in my office always gets a kick out of the Twitter Annual Review from Your Good Doctor “Because all employees really care about is whether or not they still work here and how much money they’ll be making.”

All I can say is … I [heart] you, Tom! Thanks for all your great blogs over the year. I’ve been an avid follower of yours for awhile, and I’m proud to say that several members of my team now read your blog every week.

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOURS, TOM!!!!!!!!!!!

I just want to say how much I appreciate your blogs, freebies, and tutorials. Thank you for all the work you do and share with others.

Thanks for the great tips!

Heeeelarious… I always look forward to opening Tuesdays e-mail – “What will Tom be blogging about today?” So nice to finally meet you at DevLearn this year. Happiest of holidays to you and the Articulate Community. What a wonderful and truly inspiring group you all are!

Hi Tom, thanks for the laugh about speedos.

Here in New Zealann we have a great advertisment on TV about speedos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Lx2ihpGbc. Enjoy!

Great blog as always. I can’t believe I actually missed a few posts with very valuable information. I always learn so much! Thanks for your knowledge, humor and creativity. Cheers to a great new year!

Thank you for your fantastic blogs! I can tell you put a lot of effort into making them so interesting and useful.

I really enjoy your blogs and have found the tips to be extremely useful.

Hi Tom, I look forward to your weekly blog more than any other.

Speedo is a fab idea and the lady’s version has an all-over-body slimming effect too.

You are a star.

Thanks for your help and good humour. Let’s hear more from the good Doctor W in 2010.

Happy New Year.

Tess

[…] Rapid E-Learning Blog as a great year end wrap.  There’s a list of the top posts for 2009.  With the list is a link to 13 posts on the blog that has free resources.  So if you […]

How did you get the cartoon of yourself? Don’t want one of me, just a drawing like that. Minute Menu teacher/trainer so to speak. Someone for our clients to relate to. Thank you,I love what you do.

@Chris: I had someone draw one for me. Here are a couple of inexpensive sites: MeCaricature and Iconize Me. I haven’t used either but they look like good quality. You can always use one of those free sites, as well.

Hope that helps.

You are amazing! : o)

Is it possible to design ebook covers using PowerPoint? I think it is possible for you! You can do everything..

Thank you very much.

In most cases. an ebook is just a .PDF. No reason why you couldn’t create an ecover in PowerPoint since it’s just a blank canvas to start. My ebook was created in Word and many of the graphics I created in PowerPoint.

It would be great if you could show us how you did it on Word!

Thank you!

All I did was created a Word doc and publish as PDF. Nothing fancy. Used footers for the stuff on the bottom.

July 18th, 2010

rapid-e.elearning Blog is very useful forme my further studies.thankyou.english language.i hope to continue myhigher education thatmean the Degree.

July 18th, 2010

rapid-e.elearning Blog is very useful forme my further studies.thankyou.

@Saroja: thanks for the kind words and good luck with your studies.