Do you ever wish you had a technology guru sitting at your side? Atomic Learning is a fantastic website for teachers and trainers that serves this purpose beautifully.
What is Atomic Learning?
"Atomic Learning provides web-based software training and support for more than 110 applications," according to their website. Presented in short videos of 40" to several minutes in length, the training is clear, accessible, and perfect for those of us whose eyes glaze over at the idea of perusing the arcane language of a technical manual. The trainers, teachers themselves, patiently walk the viewer through each step in a given process. It's invaluable to actually see the cursor move across the screen as the steps are described. And of course, one can re-view steps as many times as necessary without annoying a tech support person. In addition, I picked up a number of shortcuts useful in a variety of settings, just from this aspect of the demonstrations.
How does it work?
The core of the training can be accessed through several different modes. On the homepage, clicking on Our Tutorials, brings up a comprehensive listing of software programs in PC and Mac formats. Selecting a topic, say, "PowerPoint" from this master list brings up a detailed list of videos pertaining to that topic. All the videos are quite short, making it easy to jump into and out of topics quickly and get directly to the topics you want to focus on.
Alternatively, you can type a specific query into the search bar on the home page and go directly to a list of videos related to your question. For example, if I type "Importing audio files" into the search bar, a list pops up that covers that topic in a range of different software programs.
What else does it do?
In addition to these master lists, Atomic Learning also provides a variety of resources especially for classroom teachers. Here are a few examples:
Lesson Accelerators provides specific lesson plans for teaching students that include software useage.
Teacher2Teacher focuses on professional development lesson plans aimed directly at teachers.
Workshops for teachers emphasize general communications using computer technology, including pod and vodcasting, mail merge and newsletter production, storyboarding, and more.
In addition, Atomic Training specifically targets the adult learner and corporate training. This appears to be a newer aspect of the site with less information readily available. Even so, most of the Atomic Learning videos would be perfectly suitable for learners of all ages, in all settings.
Great! How do I sign on?
Atomic Learning is a subscription service that is necessarily constantly revised and updated. A single user subscription is $99/year, with substantial discounts offered for bulk and institutional purchases. Even at the single user rate, Atomic Learner is a great investment.
How might I use this service in the classroom/training?
As a college teacher of music, career development, and communications, Atomic Learning will be a very useful tool both in the classroom (I'm adding Blogs to the list of assignments in my "Writing About Music" course this semester) and to get me up to speed in refining and expanding my use of PowerPoint, Audacity, and other software. I have even contacted the librarian at my college to inquire about an institutional subscription to this handy service.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
1/7/08
Prior to your blog I had never even heard of Atomic Learning, but now with your help I have experienced the website and its features for myself.
I first clicked on your link to 'Atomic Learning' and it brought me to the homepage, where I typed in Excel. From there I picked an application I wanted to learn more about like Toolbars and it provided a step by step audio video of each feature on the tool bar. VERY COOL!
Next, I used your 'Our Tutorial' hyperlink to bring to the page where I see a listing of all software programs as you indicated in your blog. Here I narrowed my search by clicking on PC and from there I went and picked the software; Office 2007 - Whats new.. Again, VERY COOL!
Thanks for helping me understand what Atomic Learning is and how I can use it to help me in my every day technology growth. You have provided me a tool that I will use in the future. Your blog was very Informational for the novice like me Janis! Thanks, charmweber
Hi Janis! Your blog looks really nice! :)
I have heard of Atomic Learning before, but never really explored the site. I was pleasantly surprised!
I think that this would not only be helpful to adults who are learning technology, but also for students as they begin to explore new programs. It's nice to have a tutorial like this online that students (people) can use when they are away from an instructor.
I agree, Sara. I've already spoken to the librarian at my school about getting Atomic Learning licensed for student as well as faculty use. My son, a freelance animator in LA, is interested in a single user license as a resource for a number of programs he uses everyday in his work.
Your entry is very helpful. I have heard of Atomic Learning before this but until this class (and your blog) I had not explored the site. You really went all out in explaining and reflecting on the tool. It was really interesting to read what you had written, then go on the site myself and see how it worked.
I feel you really explored the practicality and usefulness of this tool within the class. It was very interesting to hear how you as a teacher would use it. That was a new view that normally does not get discussed (how a current teacher would use it or like it).
I also felt like the links you provided were very useful and interesting. It allowed me to focus my exploring in a directed manner instead of wandering around on the site!
Atomic learning is "the bomb"... It is easy to use and seems to always have what you are looking for when you need. The tutorials are brief yet specific to teach or remind you of the steps needed to accomplish the task at hand. I'm not sure what our district pays to use this, but whatever it is I think it is worth every penny. I hope more teachers will use this worthwhile tool.
I have used this in my third grade classroom when teaching them how to do powerpoint presentations. We went right to atomic learning and watched a video on a specific step in creating a presentation. The kids enjoyed it and were able to later log in and watch other tutorials if they forgot any steps before they had to ask me.
I plan on spending some time with Lesson Accelerators to see if they can be a valuable piece to the teaching puzzle as well.
Post a Comment