In this Issue:

• What You Don’t Know About PowerPoint WBT: Using Triggers
• Discovering PowerPoint WBT Design
• Reserve Your Copy of PowerPoint For Web-Based Training

I have been using Microsoft Word for over 20 years. I can create documents with a variety of text styles and layouts, and even incorporate a table of contents. So I was surprised when received my diagnostic test results after taking an online Word tutorial. My score indicated I didn’t know anything about hundreds of powerful features. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Unfortunately, it’s human nature to learn only what we need to and then settle into a comfortable stasis. This monthly column is intended to help Microsoft PowerPoint users peel back the layers of functionality and take full advantage of PowerPoint to create interactive web-based training. One of my favorite interactive features of PowerPoint is a function called Triggers… Learn more

The ASK team worked day and night helping a Fortune 50 company publish over 40 two-hour courses addressing product knowledge training for their channel partners (resellers). The courseware was designed for over 1.6 million users working at 70,000 companies in 36 countries. The effort required six long months and a team of over 20 full-time instructional designers, graphic artists, managers and programmers. We used a programming language (HTML and JavaScript) to author the courses. With the project now complete, I decided to take a week to decompress. I cleared my calendar, told my staff I was out of the office, put my phone on “Do Not Disturb” and set down at my computer to write, think, and create anything that appealed to me. Most importantly, I did not want to think about the last six months. Yet, I could not get the project out of my mind; there were so many issues that were bothering me. Much of the source materials for the course design were taken from datasheets and PowerPoint files, which we converted into a PowerPoint template… Learn more

I am preparing a workbook for instructional designers, trainers, subject matter experts and developers interested in implementing PowerPoint for web-based training.  It will be available in PDF format and/or print in March 2007.  The 81/2" by 11" workbook will be approximately 250 pages long and provide ready to implement PowerPoint templates, including a wide range of games, role based simulations and interactive exercises.  I’m writing this workbook for two reasons: First, cycle time to design, develop, test and deploy online learning is too long for most organizations.  Most corporate web-based training projects take months, yet organizations need to publish learning content online in weeks.  Secondly, the cost of online learning is not concentrated in design and development, but in managing the life cycle (maintenance).  My experience with over 200 Fortune 1000 companies is that content updating impacts approximately 25% of published WBT pages.  In addition, content growth can be as much as 60% per year.  As a consequence, the cost of e-learning courses is hidden in the burden of updating and adding new content.  PowerPoint development for Web-Based Training makes this major challenge easier to manage.  Reserve your copy of the workbook and get 25% off the list price by emailing info@askintl.com and requesting to be placed on the reservation list… Learn more