More on tips and tricks that will help you get the most out of your iPad, digital story telling and the future of the tablet. Speaking of the iPad, the growth of mobile devices has led to an increase in social and informal learning. Know how you can evaluate this new form of learning effectively. Also, find interesting reads on eLearning and technology sprinkled finely throughout this post. Read it all here in our Weekly Digest – a collection of our top 16 links from the week gone by, each accompanied by a quick brief. Need to quench your thirst for the latest in learning, technology and media links further? You can dig into our previous lists here.

1. Buying an iPad 2
   What You Need to Know Are you interested in procuring an iPad 2 in its first few days of release? Whether online or in-line, here’s the necessary information.
2. Digital Storytelling With The iPad Digital Storytelling can transform your students’ writing into a visual masterpiece that is filled with voice and emotion, while enhancing critical thinking skills. The iPad takes digital storytelling to a new level by making the process easier and even more engaging for students of all grade levels as well as for their teachers. Know how.
3. 100 iPad Tips and Tricks–Free Download It seems with the release of the iPad2, the iPad mania is in full swing. Here are 100 iPad Tips and Tricks from iPad Video Converter that will help you get the most out of your tab.
4. The Future of the Tablet, and It Isn’t the iPad 2
   The iPad 2 is here. It will certainly dominate tablet sales this year, but it is not the future of the tablet. Then what is? Get the entire lowdown here.
5. Beginning Instructional Authoring: Get Clipped
   A series on rapid authoring, starting with the considerations to be adhered to while using clip art in a rapid eLearning authoring tool.
6. 25 Places To Find Instructional Videos
   From instructional and how-to videos to videos from more than 100 institutions of higher education around the US, this post lists 25 of the best places to scout for instructional videos.
7. How To Evaluate Social And Informal Learning In today’s scenario where learning is increasingly migrating from events (think “workshop”) to processes (think “social learning”), how can one evaluate social learning and informal learning? Is there another sluggish metrics as for the conventional forms? Know it all here.
8. Top 10 eLearning Mistakes Know some of the top 10 faux pas most likely to be committed in designing eLearning solutions. Lesson for us – avoid them!
9. 2020 Classrooms Will we still need classrooms by 2020? If so, what kind of learning environments will they be? Or will students learn on the move, in their workplaces, at home, and through the multiple connections facilitated by new communication technology? Know how the classrooms of 2020 will really look.
10. “I’m not an idiot!” – A Letter from an Agonized Adult Learner
    We are adults, literates, and professionals. We manage our finances, our investments, wealth and health with equal ease. We also manage our family, team, career, and social needs effortlessly. Then why can we not manage our learning and training sessions?
11. Smartphone Users Focus on Apps, Not Talking or Browsing
    The average smartphone owner spends 667 minutes a month using apps, more time than spent talking on a smartphone or using it to browse the Web.
12. Mobile Gaming Dominates Game Developers Conference
    With retail video game sales smacked down by the rough economy and ever-growing competition in the crowded social and mobile game marketplace, it seemed like attendees at this week’s annual Game Developers Conference were more frustrated than birds catapulted at pigs.
13. 12 Great Ways to Download and Convert YouTube Videos for Your Classroom There are many ways to download YouTube videos to your computer. Whether you use a Mac or a PC, here are 12 ways to download and convert YouTube videos for your classroom.
14. 5 Ways To Integrate Technology Into Your Child’s Education Technology can be an asset to the learning process, if used appropriately. Here are five tips for integrating technology into your child’s education.
15. 8 Must- Reads About Digital Distraction And Information Overload
    Digital overload caused by a deluge of information and frequent interruptions is a phenomenon that you cannot ignore. A recent spate of articles in the popular press highlight the impact of distractions on our lives. Here are just a few “must read” articles from the last several weeks.
16. Adobe Releases Flash-to-HTML5 Converter, Codenamed Wallaby Monday night, Adobe released a new, experimental Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool codenamed Wallaby. Wallaby is an AIR app that lets developers and designers quickly and simply convert Flash Professional files to HTML5. Know all about this new tool here.

The post 16 Top Learning, Technology & Media Links: Weekly Digest – 17 first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

– When do I use it?
– What do I like about it?
– What do I not like about it?

For many tools, the answers are as expected. Again, the fact surfaces that not all tools are perfect but each tends to be targeted for specific use cases. The mind map can help learning professionals choose the right authoring tool for  their requirements and expectations.

I’ve been  wandering around the web to find the right authoring tool for  specific use cases. While searching I realized that many learning professionals often confuse between their requirements and the specific features offered by the chosen tool. For example, a feature that lets users  “import” existing PowerPoint presentations into the authoring tool is different from authoring and publishing eLearning content from within  PowerPoint (using a plug-in toolbar). While some try doing freeform authoring through a template-based authoring tool. However, both methods have different workflows and properties.

Here are some features that eLearning professionals generally expect from authoring tools –

• They should have an intuitive interface – preferably WYSIWYG – allowing easy authoring and simple functionality.
• Should be easy to control and manage graphic styles across course to enforce style guidelines and branding.
• Localization processes using the tool should be easy and fast.
• Should be able to import/export content (like PPT, DOC, or simple HTML), and allow for edits after import.
• Should be able to import external Flash SWF as well as audio and video in variety of popular formats.
• Standard and customizable compliance. (SCORM 1.2, 2004, AICC)
• Should be able to publish course in various formats. (web, LMS, CD-ROM)
• Functionality of some kind for offline tracking if courses are not being delivered from any LMS.
• Ability to capture reviewer notes in context to the pages – one useful feature of collaborative authoring.

One more feature which is not required in most cases but would be much of help to advanced authors – is some way to extend/customize tool functionality through programming. For example, for a course published through Articulate, if I’d wanted SCORM tracking with a different behavior, I might be able to achieve that using the SDK provided by Articulate.

Please note, I haven’t considered full-fledged development tools like Adobe Flash, for which some amount of technical proficiency is required.

What other features/functions you would expect from the eLearning authoring tools you would be or are using?

The post Expectations From eLearning Authoring Tools first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.