The Case for Crappy eLearning

Let’s start with a definition

Too much content
American environmentalism dawned as a popular
movement on a mild spring afternoon in 1970.
Wednesday, April 22nd, brought blue skies, light
breezes, and temperatures in the 60s to New York City
and Washington, D.C. Much of the rest of the country
enjoyed similar conditions. On that day, the influence of
nature had particular meaning; the nation held a
celebration of clean air, land, and water.
Hazardous Waste Management
The History of the EPA, Page 1
The first Earth Day may have been prompted, in part, by
the recent moon landings. When the astronauts turned
their cameras homeward, capturing the image of a
delicate blue planet, the world looked upon itself with
fresh understanding. The context of Earth Day 1970,
however, was far from celestial, reflecting the
turbulence of the time.
Yet Earth Day, forged in an era of strife and change, had
its own personality; marijuana smoke may have hung in
wisps over some of the day's festivities, but violence
and confrontation were nowhere to be seen.
In America's largest city, Mayor John V. Lindsey decided
to commemorate the day in high style, closing traffic for
two hours on Fifth Avenue, from 14th Street to Central
Park.
Along its broad path, multitudes choked the streets and
sidewalks. Much of the crowd's interest centered on
Union Square, a crossroads of political ferment during
the 1930s. This day, "many more than" 100,000
onlookers saw teach-ins, lectures, and a non-stop
frisbee game at the famous intersection. An ecological
Mardi Gras lasting from noon to midnight sprang up
along 14th Street from Third to Seventh Avenues.
While folksinger Odetta sang "We Shall Overcome," a
rock band played the Beatles' anthem, "Power to the
People." In Washington, D.C., Congress suspended
business as most of its members, regardless of
ideology, felt compelled to appear before their
constituents. President Nixon kept a regular schedule at
the White House.
While Earth Day launched the idea of environmentalism
in its present sense, the realization of the value of
wilderness and an appreciation of the consequences of
its destruction dates back several centuries in America.
For example, as early as 1652, the city of Boston
established a public water supply, a step followed in the
next century by several towns in Pennsylvania.
By 1800, 17 municipalities had taken similar measures
to protect their citizens against unfit drinking sources.
Still, anyone living in the great cities of New York,
Philadelphia, Charleston, and Boston just after the
American revolution could not escape the ill-effects of
expanding urbanization: the stench of sewage in near-
by rivers; the unwholesome presence of animal and
human wastes underfoot; the odors of rotting food;
the jangling shouts of vendors in narrow lanes; and the
constant grinding of hooves and iron wagon wheels on
unpaved streets. Industrialism in the nineteenth century
widened the impact of environmental degradation.
Literary people were the first to sense the meaning of
this trend. Herman Melville's epic novel Moby Dick
(1851) and Henry David Thoreau's Walden, or Life in the
Woods (1854.
A second generation of writers, perhaps sobered by the
final settlement of the American West, wrote without
fictional guise. John Burroughs published 27 volumes of
intimate, experiential nature essays. John Muir, the
Scottish prophet of the rugged outdoors, set down his
observations in a series of books, beginning with The
Mountains of California in 1894.
President Theodore Roosevelt, who undertook a
western camping trip with Muir in 1903, came to
symbolize the campaign for conservation, which gained
steadily in political popularity. During and after his
Administration, the use and retention of natural
resources became a preoccupation of government.
President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal enacted a
number of natural resource measures. The Soil
Conservation Service, founded in 1935, applied
scientific practices to reduce the erosion of agricultural
land. The depletion of animal life received recognition
in the passage of the 1937 Pittman-Robertson Act,
establishing a fund for state fish and wildlife programs
from the proceeds of federal taxes on hunting.
Most ambitious of all, the Tennessee Valley Authority
erected nine dams and a string of massive generating
stations. The definition of wilderness as an immense
natural storehouse, subject to human management,
changed after the Second World War. Life on the battle
front, as well as the home front, curbed the country's
appetite for colossal federal projects.

Bad Questions
Disease-causing microorganisms are called ________.
a. paladins
b. pathogens
c. pandas
d. pantaloons
Do not smoke in a ________ atmosphere.
a. flammable
b. flamboyant
c. flaming
d. fusible
An effective safety session does which of the following? (Select all that apply.)
a. teaches or reviews basic safety concepts and practice
b. has doughnuts
c. shows gory accident pictures to scare people into being safe
d. is a waste of time

Reasons to Do It
TimeMoneyComparable to CompetitionTiming RequirementsRegulationsCustomer ExpectationsPeople hate it.

No Blocks of Text
People skim large blocks of text. As annoying as it might be
for someone designing a course, putting a large block of
text on the screen more or less ensures that it won’t be
read. Now, you can have it read to them to compensate, but
then we’re right back where we began. Instead, it’s better
to use smaller chunks, quick reads. This should be easier if
you’re able to design using scenarios and stories, but even if
you’re moving large blocks of text from a book to the
screen, you can summarize, place it over a series of slides,
or even use word balloons and scatter them over the
screen.

Do they need to know it to meet the objectives?
Get rid of content
American environmentalism dawned as a popular
movement on a mild spring afternoon in 1970.
Wednesday, April 22nd, brought blue skies, light
breezes, and temperatures in the 60s to New York City
and Washington, D.C. Much of the rest of the country
enjoyed similar conditions. On that day, the influence of
nature had particular meaning; the nation held a
celebration of clean air, land, and water.
The first Earth Day may have been prompted, in part, by
the recent moon landings. When the astronauts turned
their cameras homeward, capturing the image of a
delicate blue planet, the world looked upon itself with
fresh understanding. The context of Earth Day 1970,
however, was far from celestial, reflecting the
turbulence of the time.
Yet Earth Day, forged in an era of strife and change, had
its own personality; marijuana smoke may have hung in
wisps over some of the day's festivities, but violence
and confrontation were nowhere to be seen.
In America's largest city, Mayor John V. Lindsey decided
to commemorate the day in high style, closing traffic for
two hours on Fifth Avenue, from 14th Street to Central
Park.
Along its broad path, multitudes choked the streets and
sidewalks. Much of the crowd's interest centered on
Union Square, a crossroads of political ferment during
the 1930s. This day, "many more than" 100,000
onlookers saw teach-ins, lectures, and a non-stop
frisbee game at the famous intersection. An ecological
Mardi Gras lasting from noon to midnight sprang up
along 14th Street from Third to Seventh Avenues.
While folksinger Odetta sang "We Shall Overcome," a
rock band played the Beatles' anthem, "Power to the
People." In Washington, D.C., Congress suspended
business as most of its members, regardless of
ideology, felt compelled to appear before their
constituents. President Nixon kept a regular schedule at
the White House.
While Earth Day launched the idea of environmentalism
in its present sense, the realization of the value of
wilderness and an appreciation of the consequences of
its destruction dates back several centuries in America.
For example, as early as 1652, the city of Boston
established a public water supply, a step followed in the
next century by several towns in Pennsylvania.
By 1800, 17 municipalities had taken similar measures
to protect their citizens against unfit drinking sources.
Still, anyone living in the great cities of New York,
Philadelphia, Charleston, and Boston just after the
American revolution could not escape the ill-effects of
expanding urbanization: the stench of sewage in near-
by rivers; the unwholesome presence of animal and
human wastes underfoot; the odors of rotting food;
the jangling shouts of vendors in narrow lanes; and the
constant grinding of hooves and iron wagon wheels on
unpaved streets. Industrialism in the nineteenth century
widened the impact of environmental degradation.
Literary people were the first to sense the meaning of
this trend. Herman Melville's epic novel Moby Dick
(1851) and Henry David Thoreau's Walden, or Life in the
Woods (1854.
A second generation of writers, perhaps sobered by the
final settlement of the American West, wrote without
fictional guise. John Burroughs published 27 volumes of
intimate, experiential nature essays. John Muir, the
Scottish prophet of the rugged outdoors, set down his
observations in a series of books, beginning with The
Mountains of California in 1894.
President Theodore Roosevelt, who undertook a
western camping trip with Muir in 1903, came to
symbolize the campaign for conservation, which gained
steadily in political popularity. During and after his
Administration, the use and retention of natural
resources became a preoccupation of government.
President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal enacted a
number of natural resource measures. The Soil
Conservation Service, founded in 1935, applied
scientific practices to reduce the erosion of agricultural
land. The depletion of animal life received recognition
in the passage of the 1937 Pittman-Robertson Act,
establishing a fund for state fish and wildlife programs
from the proceeds of federal taxes on hunting.
Most ambitious of all, the Tennessee Valley Authority
erected nine dams and a string of massive generating
stations. The definition of wilderness as an immense
natural storehouse, subject to human management,
changed after the Second World War. Life on the battle
front, as well as the home front, curbed the country's
appetite for colossal federal projects.

Write good questions
When is “All of the above” the correct answer?
a. With alarming regularity
b. When we try to cover too much in one question
c. When we use a question to teach instead of assess
d. All of the above
http://blog.cathy-moore.com/2007/08/can-you-answer-these-6-
questions-about-multiple-choice-questions/
We can confuse learners when we:
a. fail to actually complete the sentence we started in the question.
b. inconsistent grammar in the options.
c. sometimes we veer off into another idea entirely.
d. wombats.

Let’s speed up development a bit…

Find common mistakes
Connie Malamed http://theelearningcoach.com/

Maybe we can even engage the
learner…

Information’s not always the point
!
! !
!P
P
P
Pi
i
i
i
i
Cathy Moore
http://blog.cathy-moore.com/2008/05/be-an-elearning-action-hero/

65% of deaths in confined spaces are
due to air quality problems.
Use stories give meaning to data

Stewart F. House/Special Contributor to Dallas Morning News
Use stories give meaning to data

Texas Engineering Extension Service
People share stories

Incorporate stories into learning

Use scenarios to put them in the story

The low air pressure warning light comes on and you hear a
warning buzz. One of the air pressure gauges reads 80 psi.
What do you do?
Pump the service brake to help stop the bus.
Press the service brake to stop the bus.
Tell me more about diagnosing
problems with air brakes.

The pressure gauge moves rapidly to 0. You have lost all air
pressure. You lose control and crash into the car ahead of
you.
Bus Crashes Into Car
Car Driver Dead, Four Students Injured.
Start Route Over

When you pressed the brakes, you heard the hissing noise
again. The light is still lit and the buzzer is still going. The
gauge now reads 40 psi.
If it’s the front brakes, you have time to find a good stopping
place. If it’s the rear, you need to pull over NOW.
The sound indicates a front brake problem.
The sound indicates a rear brake problem.

No, the sound is not indicative of a problem with the rear
brake.
You may wish to review the air brake diagnosis techniques in
the glove box.
Try again.

You’re right! You’re able to navigate safely to the side of the
road.
You call into dispatch, and another bus arrives to take the
students safely home.

But make sure they are relevant

But remember the power of limits

And always steal from the best
http://elearningmanifesto.org/trustees/

Phone: 512-794-8440
Email: kgumienny@microassist.com
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