The Impact of the Client Experience

Online Learning Portal

So what is an online learning portal? Technically speaking, it’s basically a website that acts as a repository for your learning materials. You can store training documents, videos, animations, elearning, mlearning, etc. They can also include customized applications such as discussion forums, event calendars, social media or other ways for learners to interact with each other. Learning portals can become quite complex but the idea is to keep it simple to use and provide easy routes for learners to navigate. There are many aspects to consider when building you portal but here are a few key ones that you should keep in mind.

1. Accessibility – the whole idea of the learning portal is convenience and being able to learn on the go. The portal must be accessible and responsive across a range of devices, allowing the learner to start at their desk then pick up where they left off on their smart devices if necessary.
2. Content Curating – the portal must be flexible enough to allow learners to customize their learning journey by giving them access to small chunks of information that is relevant to them and their roles.
3. Discoverable Content – there should be more than one way to find relevant content, as well as a system that will recommend content that the learner might be interested in. All content should be tagged with keywords for “Google-like” searches and a “like/dislike” feature will allow learners to recommend content to their co-workers.

 

Here is an example of Pathways learning portal below.

 

 

Transforming Classroom training Into eLearning

As more and more companies migrate towards online learning, there is a temptation to simply digitize the training materials and put them into an elearning module. In classroom settings there are usually Power Point presentations and hard copy training manuals. Although they may work well in the traditional classroom, they won’t translate well into an elearning module unless you “transform” the content, rather than just “transfer” the content.

For example, when a facilitator is running an in-class session, they will most likely have a Power Point slideshow. They can stop and discuss each slide more deeply, and answer questions as well as encourage discussion within the class. In the elearning environment, these slides become a boring slideshow that learners will simply click through as quickly as possible.

A qualified Instructional Designer will be able to “transform” the content to make it interactive and engaging in an elearning environment. The content should be organized specifically for elearning purposes and broken into sections that will make sense to the flow of the module. eLearning works very well when broken into small chunks so keep this in mind when converting your content as well.

Another key aspect is to design some new activities that will keep the learner engaged, and think more than just, multiple choice questions. Rather than just quizzing learners at the end of the course, incorporate activities throughout the module so they can really explore the content. You should keep in mind that some people work well in a self-paced environment and take that into account when designing the content as well.

Cloud-Based Learning Management System

 

As internal corporate systems evolve, so too are the modalities and technologies that are used to deliver training content and report on learner activities. Traditionally, a company’s LMS is housed internally. Now we are seeing more and more companies opt for the cloud-based LMS platform for a faster, more flexible approach to managing and monitoring on-demand training online. Learners can log in to the LMS remotely and immediately have access to the learning that is specific to their job function, whenever and wherever they like. This could be pre- or post-learning.

Not only does this solution take less time to deploy, it is easier to maintain. Your vendor can provide you with administrative access to easily upload, modify or remove your training as necessary. With external hosting, you won’t have to worry about maintenance or upgrading the system and you can have all the secure storage space you require. Bottom-line, why not let someone else deal with the back end!

Cloud-based solutions myths:

1. Cloud cannot scale to large organizations – you can easily scale up/down without making expensive changes to your existing It systems, it doesn’t matter if you have 10 employees or 10,000, the cloud is built to scale quickly and efficiently.
2. Cloud is not secure – security in the cloud has increasingly become more sophisticated, most reputable vendors use hardware that resides in highly secure data centres. Security threats are no greater, and in many cases much less common, than those faced be on-site systems. Cloud-based vendors have to diligent in this aspect or they would go out of business!
3. Migrating to the cloud is a hassle – with an experienced vendor, it can happen seamlessly and quickly with minimal downtime. The short-term inconvenience doesn’t outweigh the long-term benefits of great efficiency, cost effectiveness and a solution that is ready for the future.
4. Low cost is the cloud’s main attraction – while low costs are definitely a big advantage of the cloud, for many organizations agility, scalability, quick access and high-quality infrastructure are more compelling benefits.

 

Keeping Learners Engaged

One of the key factors to the success in your elearning is keeping your learners engaged. Making sure you have high quality, meaningful content is one of the easiest ways to keep learners fully engaged and motivated to learn. The idea is to stray away from offering general “nice-to-know” information that doesn’t bring any added value to the course. Stick to “need-to-know” information that will help learners improve a skill-set and overall knowledge. If you’re not sure what this key information is, figure out a way to find out what content your learner will find valuable and develop your learning strategy around that. If your learner feels like the information they are getting will directly help them in their role, you will find a higher level of engagement and commitment.

Injecting creativity from a programmer perspective

When developing eLearning modules, developers often work with Instructional Designers. These experts ensure that the course content enforces the learning objectives in the most effective way. But sometimes the documents and storyboards provided to the programmers may not be the most creative, from a developer perspective. As a developer you have the power to supplement creativity to further enhance user engagement beyond what has been established in the instructional design.

Below are 5 steps that you can use to work collaboratively with Instructional Designers to create true masterpieces of eLearning.

Respect the Instructional Design

As developers its easy to get lost in creating interactions and design, but we need to remember that the learning comes first.  Which means 2 things. One: We need to respect the learning objectives and not add frivolous features that don’t enhance. And two: We need to respect the Instructional designer. In my experience a seasoned instructional designer has a thorough understanding of best practices, and when proposed a viable creative concept embraces it, but also knows when it will take away from the learning objectives.

Establish an effect and positive line of communication

Work collaboratively. While it is not quite possible at all stages of storyboard development, I find working with an instructional designer who keeps the developer in the loop, goes a long way. The same goes for the developer. Being able to have good rapport, bouncing new concepts and clarifying existing ones is the cornerstone of strong eLearning modules.

Work with visuals but also with audio

Once your creative ideas are aligned to the learning objectives and you create strong graphic designs, compositions, and animations you are sure to have an eLearning module that is an effective learning tool, and also keeps learning engaged using exciting graphics, and appealing graphic designs. But don’t forget about audio. The use of background music and sound effect can really set make an eLearning module a stand out piece of interactive media.

Ancillary tech

And lastly if it supports the project scope consider implementing ancillary technologies/talents. eLearning modules are quite flexible and can import various types of media, including video and flash files. In essence, this means that you can incorporate 2D animation, 3D animation, interactive flash games, flash based parallax effects, white board animation, as live action video to enhance your learning. This is easier said than done, as each of these require cutting edge software and talented artists and designers to utilize the tools to create good results. Thankfully we at Pathways have got you covered, as are known for creating cutting edge eLearning modules incorporating all facets of digital media to bolster our eLearning products.

 

If you would like to learn more about developing great eLearning modules please visit www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.ca

eLearning Developer Tip – Using New Authoring tools

As an eLearning developer who does work for a wide variety of clients, you can imagine that I am often forced to use a variety of authoring tools, despite Storyline 2 being the industry standard. While I definitely use Storyline 2 the most authoring tools such as Lectora and Adobe Captivate are a close 2^nd and 3^rd.

Transitioning to a new authoring tool for the first time is never a smooth process but here are a 3 simple tips that have allowed me to effectively jump into a new tool, and deliver on client expectations.

1. Using tooltips

This is a small item but it is usually something I do whenever I first sit down with a new tool. I find this explorative exercise helps with familiarizing yourself with the User Interface, but also from a software development perspective. Tools available on any sort of palette are generally going to be your bread and butter, and you usually only need to dig deeper into the software for more complex/obscure actions. This is logic behind UI design and holds true for pretty much any major software tool.

2. Read the documentation

This one is actually quite obvious but it is truly surprising how many people ignore the Help options that are integrated into the software. These tools explain exactly what these authoring tools are capable of and how to utilize them. Additionally, they also feature handy search fields which in most cases allow you to quickly find what you are looking for. However, if you still can’t bring yourself to read the documentation there is another option you can explore.

 

3. Utilize developer forums

 

Lastly developer forums are a wonderful place to find solutions, and even pose your own questions. (yes this involves making an account) It is well worth the time to setup and become familiar with these forums. They are full of professional who are friendly and supportive, and it is surprising how quickly people reply.

 

 

Hopefully these 3 simple tips will help you acclimate to any authoring tools transitions, and allow you to develop great elearning modules.

If you would like to learn more about gamification, graphic design, or eLearning development, please visit http://www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.ca

Critical Steps – Defining Functionality Requirements for an eLearning, Gamification or mLearning Project

Whenever you are setting up development on any software that requires functionality to be developed it is critical to outline what those functions are. This is particularly important when you are defining requirements for an eLearning, gamification or mLearning project. Typically, this is done in a list called the Functionality Requirements or Systems Requirements depending on the context of what is being developed.
The reason it is critical is because it outlines everything that has to be programmed, but this list is also used for tracking progress throughout development, and can also be used in the Beta Phase as a reference to QA against. This becomes particularly important if you have testers who are not a part of the project and who need to know how the eLearning or mLearning should work and track course completion on the learning management system (LMS) or how the game should render on each mobile device when mLearning is used. Functionality requirements then become a good way of ensuring the eLearning, mLearning or gamification product is working as it should, prior to the course launch.

The standard format that I use is batching selective items into groups under larger categories, the format that I find most useful to work with is Systemname: Description. See the example below.

Module Systems

Navigation Systems

PreviousNext: User shall be able to navigate to previous and next slides in eLearning or mLearning course.
Menu: User shall be able to navigate do different eLearning or mLearning slides using a menu containing all slides in the module
Lock: eLearning or mLeanring navigation shall be capable of being locked until decided by the user.

Activity Systems

Knowledge Check: User shall be able to perform a quiz at the end of the eLearning or mLeanring module that will test against the learning objectives.

After the functionality requirements of an eLearning, mLearning or gamified eLearning experience are outlined, reviewed, and then defined the terms can be moved into an excel spreadsheet or other tool for use in project management.
Happy Programming!

If you would like to learn more about gamification, eLearning or mLeanring development, please visit www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.ca

 

DEVELOPING GAMES FOR ELEARNING ROAD MAP – PART 3

This is the third entry in a 3 part series. Click here to read part 1.

This is the third entry in a 3 part series. Click here to read part 2.

 

Development Phase

1^st Playable

This stage is about programming the skeleton version of the game. At the end of this stage we have functioning versions of all of the games features. Graphics are being developed.

Programming

Program the game to meet the specifications detailed in the GDD.

• Program the functionality of all features.
• Use proxy or placeholder graphics for visual representations.
• Use test environment to develop basic functionality and features.

Art Development

Graphic artists and animators continue work on the visual aspects of the game as detailed in the GDD.

• Begin to create the levels, models, textures, animations, visual effects, and sprites required.
• Audio work can begin here as well.

 

Alpha

This stage is the longest aspect of development; it takes the most time as the game is piecing together. At the end of this stage we have a functional game, but some of the graphics and sounds are not polished yet. Also, the game may still have some bugs to work out.

Throughout the Alpha stage there are often Client/Publisher meetings to showcase and ensure development is on track and milestones are being met.

Programming and Art Development

All developers work on their assigned areas of development, as defined by the PM or as detailed by the GDD.

Beta

Nearly done. This stage is about polishing the game and fixing any outstanding bugs. The focus of this stage is testing, and making sure everything works as expected.

Debugging

It is important to make sure everything in the game works as expected. Debugging is of primary importance to deliver a functional product.

Improving Code / Optimization

• Improve the behaviour of user controls, character animation, game effects
• Optimize code, fool-proof. Cover every possibility of user input.

Focus on graphics

• Implement final graphics and animation for all elements.
• Polish, dazzle and jazz it up.

Testing

• Involve a group of Beta Testers who had no prior experience with the game and represent the first-time user.
• All bugs, comments and suggestions must be documented, submitted to the person in charge of testing who will sort, compile them and submit them to the programming team.

Gold Master

This stage is about delivering the product and distributing it to the required platforms. There may be some last-minute updates for any outstanding bugs.

• Deliver product on the specified platform (PC, Android, iOS)
• Port product to other platforms, if required. This process is similar to the Project Plan starting from Stage II (Alpha), with the benefit of already having all graphics, animations, sounds and other assets created. However, programming may have to be done from scratch.

The deliverables of this stage include the final, polished version of the game on all required platforms.

 

Economics: Cheaper always has a price

I was driving through our neighborhood recently  with my son on the way back from soccer practice.  It was one of the first really warm days of Spring, so many of the local shopkeepers were busy outside their stores cleaning windows, sweeping sidewalks and putting out colourful chalkboard signs that promised great deals and upcoming sales.  It was one of these signs that caught my son’s eye, outside the local Pet store.  The sign’s proclamation was simple, if not devastating.  Printed in a bold black font,

“Going out of Business Sale”

Reading the sign took only a second, but I knew the impact would last far longer.  Ask most parents in our neighbourhood (any neighbourhood I suppose) and they will say the same thing. The local pet store is more than just a place to buy food for their cherished family member…. it’s a mini zoo, where they can spend an hour on a Sunday afternoon… a place that in their children’s eyes, is filled with wondrous creatures great and small.

As a proud Canadian business owner myself, I am always saddened to see a local business fail, but this particular closing was especially troubling.

My son knows all too well, the sacrifices a family endures when they own their own business…. the weekends spent working…. the late nights… the endless “give me second” references, signalling that he should come back to talk to me later.  These are all too familiar, but made worthwhile when we succeed, which thankfully my company has been able to do.  But I do not think until that very moment, he had realized that sometimes a business can fail, even one as wonderful and joyous as our local pet store.

Naturally he asked ‘why’?

“Could be any number of reasons,” I said. “But, most likely, it’s because they couldn’t compete with the bigger pet stores”.

“What do you mean, they couldn’t compete; because they are small?” “Does that mean your company will go out of business too?”

“No, we’re just fine. What I mean by ‘compete’, is that some companies (large companies) can buy the things they sell to customers much cheaper than smaller stores can, because they paid less to get them. So their customers are happy, because they save money when they shop there.”

“Yes,” he said jumping in… “but the people working in the small companies aren’t happy, because now they don’t have a job.”

“Yah,” I sighed. “That’s economics; cheaper, always has a price.”

Naturally this conversation, got me thinking about my business. Pathways is a learning technology company. We are by all accounts successful. Growing, employing Canadians. But we don’t sell widgets. We sell services that become products. eLearning, gaming, animations, simulations etc. Our cheaper options would come in the form of people. We could outsource. Many in our industry do. It’s easy. In most cases, no one has to be the any the wiser. We could pass the savings on to our customers. Then everybody wins, right?

I know that ‘cheaper always has a price’. I know that local talent must be fostered and supported for our customers to really enjoy what we’re selling. I also know that you can outsource yourself right out of a job. It all comes around eventually.

Before writing this entry, I asked one of my colleagues what he believed our competitive advantage was. He paused for a moment and said, “We care. All of us. We all care. We may not always be perfect, but we care about what we do – because we see the direct impact of our work on our clients. If you don’t know your customers, how can you care about them?

He was right.

Small business owners know how much each and every client matters. They have to, because their livelihoods depend upon each and every one of them. People often talk about small business being the life-blood of our economy, but the real measure of those words comes when we make choices to buy our pet food somewhere cheaper.