Explore the use of technology in education through Ititser!

The Ititser is an online journal about the efficient use of technology in education and learning.

The author and webmaster of this website is yours truly, Greten Vicke S. Estella. I have more than five years professional experience as instructional designer both in K-12 education setting and in professonal training.

In its earlier years, Ititser focused on the use of free and open source software (FOSS) programs. The upcoming changes in 2019 will focus on programs that are often used in industry as well as on learning theories. You will notice that I already changed the categories significantly. In the next few months, I will expand the posts to include other programs regardless of their copyright status.

What's new in Ititser?

Grouping objects in Adobe Captivate

Grouping objects is one of the most useful features of Captivate. You can group so the collection of objects can behave and can be adjusted as one object. You can group and ungroup objects, apply effects on groups, and configure the timeline of a group.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 19 Oct 2019 under Tools

Using emotions to make learning more efficient

Emotion is an important part of the learning process. Designing a learning experience that arouses emotions from the learners can help them learn faster and retain new knowledge in their memory.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 12 Oct 2019 under Theories

A sad demon and a smiling angel emoticons with a throwing dart between them.

Spreadsheet problem generator part IV: formatting date and time

Date and time are information that can appear in word problems but are not readily convertible to numerical data that we can subject in mathematical computation. Of course, we know how to do it. It is one of the daily life tasks that the students need to learn. Constructing a spreadsheet problem generator with date and clock time as given values are a little more complicated than the usual numerical data but very much feasible.

[ 2 Comments ] Posted by Greten on 20 Sep 2019 under Tools

Optimize learning with spacing

Spacing is one of the concepts under AGES model of learning. It includes the spacing effect, spaced repetition, and testing effect. Proper spacing improves learning while cramming is detrimental to its transition to the long-term memory.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 07 Sep 2019 under Theories

A woman accessing an LMS using a mobile phone, with a clock and a laptop on the desk where she is resting her arms.

How data science can be used in elearning?

Data science has a wide range of applications, and data scientists are everywhere. Data science can be very useful in the elearning process, and data scientists can provide new insights on how to deliver and improve lessons.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 26 Aug 2019 under Thoughts

A thumbnail image showing white spots on a part of a sphere inteconnected with white lines, on a black background with what looks like a meteor storm.

Design elearning to retain learner’s attention

One of the elements of AGES model of learning, attention is a very important part of the learning process. Develop your elearning module in a way that can get and retain the attention of learners.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 20 Aug 2019 under Theories

Brain diagram

Spreadsheet problem generator part III: concatenate cells with special number format

When you concatenate text and cell references to construct a spreadsheet word problem, the cell format from the cell source does not carry over to the concatenated text. You need to format the data from the cell references using the TEXT function.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 11 Aug 2019 under Tools

Spreadsheet floating on abyss of 1s and 0s with golden 20% and 1,000,000 pesos on top.

Applying learning breaks in elearning

Ample time for learning activities such as studying the elearning materials is essential to acquire new knowledge and skills. On the other hand, an adequate amount of time when no learning activity is done is just as important to provide rest for the brain and to allow the new knowledge to settle.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 03 Aug 2019 under Theories, Tips

A silhouette of a head, neck and nose, with white spots for eyes, three white cogs for brain, and a rewind key at the back of the head. This image is a representation of the need to take learning breaks.

Hide and lock: working on several slide objects in Captivate

Use the yellow dots on the left part of the timeline to make the objects locked or hidden. This will allow you to temporarily ignore the objects that are not your current concerns while you can focus on particular slide objects that you need to move or modify.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 28 Jul 2019 under Tools

Row of dots in timeline used to lock or hide objects.

How to use the Captivate timeline?

Use the timeline in Adobe Captivate to control how the slide objects will play-out as seen by the learners in a published learning module. Each slide object has a corresponding timeline bar that determines how long it stays on the slide and when it will appear or disappear. You can also use the timeline to control which objects will be on top and bottom of the others.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 20 Jul 2019 under Tools

Metaphorical representation of timeline, a 3D bar graph showing two bars, one on top of another, ends with a Captivate logo. The vertical axis has arrow and labelled as z-axis, while the arrow on the ground is labelled as t-axis,

Instructional design and educational technology for effective learning