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?

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, Tips

Brain diagram

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,

Formatting the spreadsheet problem generator

In my previous post, I discussed how to make problem generators using spreadsheet software but did not discuss special formatting requirements such as percentage, currency and units, and other conventions that while easy to write in paper, can be difficult to format in a spreadsheet-based problem generator. While not all mathematical conventions can be readily implemented in a spreadsheet, I discuss in this post how to come close as possible.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 06 Jul 2019 under Tools

ss-problem-generator-icon

Four stages of learning skills

There are four stages of learning new skills: unconsciously unskilled, consciously unskilled, consciously skilled, and unconsciously skilled. You can develop your training and elearning to optimize the transition from one stage to the next.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 22 Jun 2019 under Theories

A useful mnemonic of the stages of learning skills. It's a table with four cells. The two headers are unconscious (left) and conscious right. The rows are labeled as skilled (top) and unskilled (bottom). A circular arrow goes counterclockwise passing through the bottom left cell, bottom right cell, top right cell, and top left cell.

Learning modalities in elearning

Develop your elearning lessons to include different learning modalities, not because students learn in different ways, but because presenting the same lesson in different ways reinforces learning and helps in better knowledge retrieval.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 05 Jun 2019 under Theories

Light bulb with brain surrounded by ear, eye, and hand

How to use highlight box in Captivate?

The highlight box is a rectangle that can draw the learners’ attention to a part of a static image on the slide, such as pictures, illustrations, and diagram. The highlight box is very similar to the rectangle under smart shapes except that you can configure it to darken everything outside while remaining clear inside.

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

A highlighter drawing a yellow rectangle around the Captivate's CP logo.

Spreadsheet problem generator: creating a basic word problem generator

Use spreadsheet applications to create a word problem for science, mathematics, economics or any other subject that uses word problems in some of its lessons. Then, create similar problems by simply altering certain cells in the spreadsheet without solving the new similar problem from scratch.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 10 May 2019 under Tips

How to insert and customize shapes in Captivate

Shapes are among the useful features of Captivate. Put them on your slides to create charts, diagrams, and other visual elements that can help in your elearning. You can customize them in several different ways to suit your instructional design.

[ No Comments ] Posted by Greten on 03 May 2019 under Tools

Superimposed imitations of shapes in the Captivate shapes button,

Instructional design and educational technology for effective learning