Recent
Goings On
There's always something to engage my little gray cells (tempting me away from what I should actually be doing!). I think you'll find interesting some of the latest creative user experience, IA, and educational goings-on that occupy my time. Also, I have put some examples of my work on the Portfolio page, including an example of personas.
Publication
Cues, The Golden Retriever; How our natural responses to stimuli can inform the design process
Published at Boxes and Arrows
Our brains constantly process the stimuli in our environment and respond, consciously and unconsciously, to what is going on around us. Cues help us navigate this environment. Jamie Owen explores how memory, cognitive psychology, and multimedia research integrate to affect how information is encoded and retrieved as well as how we can best utilize cues in our work.
Professional
MedBiquitous Conference 2008
I attended the Medbiquitous conference held in Baltimore. MedBiquitous creates technology standards to advance healthcare education. These interoperable standards allow educators to exchange educational content, track learner activities and profiles, and improve healthcare education. I was surprised at the rabid passion for solid, meaningful education that these industry leaders in attendance embodied. The educational practices in place are progressive, indeed, but the practices yet-to-be-realized (the topics of the conference) were exciting and invigorating. The attendees were educators and practitioners. Both understand how every aspect of the learning is related to a host of others in context--like systems in the human body. The emerging technologies are built on this interoperability and context--the learning possibilities are inspired and evolving, though the well-grounded approaches are steadfast. What works today is great; what's coming tomorrow is greater.
Prototype teaching game was a big hit - Department of Veterans Affairs
Several members of our multimedia design team built a version of Jeopardy!™ in the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) environment. (I was art director and usability lead.) It was designed for instructors in a face-to-face setting for anticipatory activities or to be integrated as a review tool. The trial run went so well that the instructor came in first thing on a Monday morning talking loud and fast--recounting how her students had a blast competing for correct responses and the fun she had facilitating. She was pleased with how engaged and focused the learners were and how effectively she was able to reinforce the material. For us, this was a better boost than coffee.
Academic
New instructional design model - Kent State University: Chip Ingram
I was asked to provide feedback on an instructional design that Dr. Ingram is developing. Exciting stuff! It's based on problem solving, articulating the learning as a solution to a given goal. This makes it astoundingly scalable. And even though the phrase "problem solving" helps frame the model, it's also surprisingly applicable across disciplines. Ingram's model has shades of Reigeluth, Huitt, Knowles, Merrill, Ausubel, Dick, Carey, & Cary, and Schank. Depending on the practitioner(s), the model can range from organic to systematic: it's approachable by most instructional designers.
Personal
Section 508 Compliant Wine
As commoners, my wife and I are always on the lookout for good yet inexpensive wines. It wasn't until we got the bottle home that we realized the Chapoutier 2006 Cote-du-Rhone label "under-imposed" braille within the graphical layout! I'd like to know the story behind what has turned out to be an unexpected brush with usability and accessibility. There's bound to be a high conversion rate--persuasion experience at its keenest. Á votre santé!