1. Open Source Tools for Highly Effective E-Learning Final Presentation Liz Savage and Susan Mileto
2. Summary We have been working with our client, Greg Walsh, to research open source tools for instructional designers. The eventual final product will be a resource book, itself open source, of tools for e-learning. The entire internship took place online, with most of our work shared through Google Docs. We summarized the features and uses for a variety of software tools, creating a few tutorials using the tool to create instructional media.
3. Proposal Our proposal stated that we would: Work with our client, Greg Walsh, to produce a handbook of open source tools Research open source tools for graphics, page layout, audio, video, course design/development, and LMS Write a description of each and create a text + picture tutorial using the tool to create a piece of instructional media Work together both in person and by collaborating via Google Docs Use email and Google Docs to collaborate, communicate, and submit all work to Greg Walsh
4. Personal goal Our goal for the internship was to: Broaden our personal knowledge of open source tools available Explore ways to enhance our own instructional practice
5. What did we do and how did we do it ? We worked independently, researching open-source tools for e-learning, based off of our client’s book outline We communicated via email to divide up tools. For each tool we wrote up: Major features Getting started with the software Instructional uses
6. Examples of tools explored Open Source Page layout tools: Scribus Open Source tools for graphics: GIMP, Inkscape, Scalable vector graphics versus bitmap Open Source tools for 3D: Blender, Pencil Open Source tools for Audio: Audacity
8. Communication cont. Besides posting work to Google Docs, we used the occasional e-mail and comment/discussion tools with Docs to share ideas
9. Results Our result was creating the very beginning of an eventual finished product, which will be an Open Source resource book The following slides show a few of our created pages.
15. Lessons Learned We have learned Open Source Software is freely available, and can cover almost any need for e-learning It is important to find the right tool to fit your training need, but it also needs to be a tool you are comfortable working with How easy it is to work with others remotely and collaborate using web-based tools
16. Next time? We’d seek out examples of desired end products Become comfortable working with the tools we’d create tutorials for in advance Have a regular check-in meeting to discuss what was accomplished that week as well as a plan for the upcoming week
