What a busy day...

An interesting start to the day with a poorly dog to contend with. And before I hear "Aw! Poor doggy!" You should know it's entirely her own fault. She is a golden labrador retriever with a bad habit of eating any old rubbish. Yesterday it would appear that she raided one of my composting bins with devastating results on my office floor!

I have set up temporary office in the lounge while the office recovers.

Most of today has been devoted to advertising my fledgling company. So far I can check off LinkedIn profile page and Lookup Page information from my list of things to do. It took a lot longer to write than I thought and was more difficult. I can usually find plenty to say about other people or companies if asked, but writing about me and my company was more demanding.

To throw my brain into sharp relief, I fine-tuned the timings on the presentation I was working on yesterday.

It is amazing what you can do with PowerPoint if you know what all the buttons do. A previously dull PDF on security procedures for a company have been transformed into an animated, interactive presentation with small quizzes at the end of each section. The user must pass each quiz in order to unlock the rest of the presentation and procede to the next chapter.

The quiz questions are based on real-life situations and asks the learner to use the information contained in the section to answer the questions.

The quiz is generated using Articulate Quizmaker, which plugs into PowerPoint seamlessly.

You have a choice of outputs when publishing the presentation including

• SCORM compliant Flash output for LMS
  
• Flash output for web delivery
• Flash output for CD delivery.
• Word for those who like paper versions.

I have decided to add voice-over recordings to the presentation for extra panache. I just hope the phone doesn't ring half way through!

Must get a move on instead of writing about it... go do it!

I'll let you know how I get on... with a bit of luck I will have it published to my site over the weekend.

Wish me luck.

J x

There's a first time for everything...

After attending a web seminar with SumTotal yesterday evening, I was finally persuaded to start a blog. So here I am, creating my first ever blog.

I am currently working on a website for my final exam with Home Learning College. When I pass I will have a level 3 certificate in Dreamweaver CS3! Not bad for a former human biology graduate.

It has been a long process, particularly with Flash! What a nightmare of a programme. The end is in sight, produce a site with a minimum of ten pages to include every bell and whistle taught during the course. I'm supposed to include some element of Flash and sound and have a cunning plan to achieve both using an Articulate presentation I created... it's web output is Flash, and it has sounds included! I hope this works.

When I'm not web designing and writing e-learning materials, I'm knitting or crocheting.

The current knitting project is an Aran style sweater for hubby... it's a real tricky pattern, and the crochet project is a small bag - I'm just a beginner. I did manage a hat eventually (5 goes to get it right)... I'm pleased it no longer looks like a woolly frisbee.

The rest of my time is devoted to husband, children and my dog.

I'd better sign off now, otherwise I'll be late for the school run :-D

Jules x