THE LIMITS OF STORYLINE, OR WHY WE CAN’T USE IT FOR LEARNING GAMES

WHAT CAN STORYLINE ACCOMPLISH?

The short answer to the question of Storyline’s capabilities as they relate to anything outside of pre-packaged eLearning, is… not much. A bold statement, to some, but as an experienced gamer, programmer, and eLearning developer it’s a hard truth. With that said, I’ll give more detail as to why exactly that is, and shed some light on the issue.

Regardless of industry, we all want to promote our skills, and really flex the muscles of our software. To that end, I’ll begin with what’s possible in the Storyline sandbox and give credit where it’s due. A good starting point is that if you want a templated eLearning module, or a series of them, there’s really no substitute for Articulate Storyline. With it, you’re able to create a template and package any number of effects in the program. Storyline seems to me like someone took PowerPoint’s user interface and was told to keep adding features until they ran out of ideas. Seriously, compare the two. It’s shocking. Here are a few pros to Storyline:

• Pre-packaged
• Quick
• More powerful then PowerPoint
• Comes with SCORM on export

WHAT STORYLINE CAN’T ACCOMPLISH

 

Now that we’re done with our praises, we’ll review the other side of things. Earlier I compared Storyline to PowerPoint, which is a more important comparison than you may think. It’s due to the fact that you have the ability to make a functional learning program, but without the ability to do much more. It’s like having PowerPoint with a few more effects (on a timeline), a flash player, and a functional question bank feature for quizzing that simplifies the whole process. With that being said, once you cross the realm of a sequential learning program, all you’re left with is a web of slide linkages if you want to produce anything more exciting, such as a Jeopardy program. A program that, with time and preparation, on another platform such as Flash would give you much more flexibility. Here are a few cons to Storyline:

• Pre-packaged (this also works against it for those who want more customization)
• Too much like PowerPoint
• Customization is possible, but it takes time and often requires more complex programming (individuals who are not programmers, may find it difficult to customize eLearning beyond what is offered in Storyline)
• External calls (outside of the pre-packaged ones) require JavaScript
• Lacks functionality for more engaging programs (i.e. mobile learning games, virtual simulations or gamification in eLearning courses).

WRAPPING UP

 

Having said what I have about Powerpoint err… Storyline, I’ve seen many people out there trying to create eLearning programs that seem to have more complex logic with Storyline, but simply do not. To create the most engaging eLearning courses or mobile learning games, Storyline does not have the capabilities in most cases, to do what we need it to do. Custom programming is required to create truly engaging on-line experience.

If you would like to explore more about gamification, mobile learning and eLearning, take a peek at our company website: Pathways Training and eLearning, at http://www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.com/ . We always look for fresh ways to engage learners and to make the learning experience as fun as possible!

REPLAY VALUE IN GAMES

By: Paolo Faieta

Generally, when we buy a game, we aren’t really thinking about the second or third time we’ll play it. We’re focused on the immediate goals of exploring our environment and seeing what things are available to us. We like to test out controls and get a sense for how difficult the game may be. What I’ll be focusing on is the time you spend in the end-game. While focusing on the end-game certainly eliminates some types of games from our scope, it’s still a vast subject. To that end, we’ll be looking at anything with a main storyline (or objective) that allows you to continue playing after that.

A lot of popular games today combine a few ideas into their gameplay, but we’ll look at a couple of the broader ones. Firstly, there will be some sort of character that’s guided on a (mostly) linear quest, story, mission, or however you’d like to refer to it. Secondly, there will be content following the conclusion of that story meant to keep the user occupied. Either of these things can be used as a hook to bring a user back to play anything repeatedly, and how that’s accomplished greatly affects how a game ends up being received.

Storytelling

Storytelling has been an increasingly bigger part of what games are over time. It started out being a very minor (and usually non-existent) component. A good example is something like Pac Man. The player knew what role was theirs, and who were the ‘bad guys’ but nothing more than that. Now we’re seeing stories that carry the player through their entire experience and shape how the game is carried out. An example where the story was the main driver is a series like BioShock. These games take the user through an immersive city with a clearly explained history. This process has been compared to making a movie, but with much more immersion because the user is allowed to decide the outcome. Despite these two vastly different games, there’s a key difference in their end-game.

With Pac Man, the user experiences the chain of levels and can immediately repeat the experience with tiered difficulty. Inversely, with the more story-driven games in the BioShock series, only the most committed fans would go through the same sequence of events again.

End-Game Content

With the above in mind for storylines, we get to the point where the user usually asks themselves: Now What? In most cases, this question was answered with an underwhelming “Nothing, really”. The rest of the time, the extremes exist where there’s little emphasis on end-game or high emphasis. The examples in this case are too lengthy to list, and there’s many ways that end-game content is utilized. The most common of those, however, are as follows:

• Micro-transactions
• Achievements
• Leaderboards
• Multiplayer
• Downloadable Content (DLC)
  • More playable characters
  • Extra missions

 

Wrapping Up

The replay value of games is an effect I’ve had the pleasure of studying myself in the past with the accompaniment of a Blog. Through that time, I chronicled my progress and thoughts on Call of Duty and EVE Online for a period of two weeks. It’s always interesting to see what features keep your attention and what others may have adverse effects on your desire to continue playing.

If you would like to learn more about Pathways and our continued commitment to gaming and eLearning, feel free to check out our website at http://www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.com/ . We are always looking for innovative ways to combine the excitement of games with the satisfaction of learning!

FIVE WAYS TO MAKE GAMES EDUCATIONAL

After a long absence, I am happy to bring you a new article on the topic of educational gaming. I apologize for the delay, but in my defense I must say that our company was busy creating new educational games, and as a result I have gained new experience to share with our valued readers.

Today’s topic is about how to best put the “educational” into “gaming” without ruining the fun of it. As I often stated before, educational games have a sour reputation of being utterly boring! A learner retains best the information and experience which they find exciting and interesting. Therefore, it is worth the effort to look at ways of injecting the education into games in ways which do not ruin the experience for the learner.

Without further delay, I present to you five effective ways – in no particular order – of making games educational.

1.    Trivia

Trivia games present questions to the player either as the main aspect of the game, or as a way to gain extra points or bonuses. Trivia questions are often in the format of multiple choice, and pertain to the curriculum studied in the course. An effective use of trivia is to combine it with mini-games. For example, let’s consider a game such as “Candy Crush Saga” or “Bejeweled”. Trivia questions might pop up after completing a level, or when a special (rare) tile is matched. Correct answers might award a player with a point bonus, or give a special “power-up” which can be used in the game.

Be careful not to spam trivia questions too frequently, or the game will turn into a quiz. Trivia is a good way to reinforce material learned in a course through repetition in a fun way!

Pros:   Easy to program, can address any content, easy to combine as a bonus activity in various games.

Cons:   Overuse can quickly sour a fun game.

2.    Simulation

A simulation game involves creating scenarios or situations which simulate the activity you wish to train, often in a simplified manner. Many simulation games have a wide appeal among players. Some simulate the running of a business, such as a diner, a train company, or a zoo. Others simulate an activity, such as making sushi or fishing. If the material that you want to train can be presented as an activity, this kind of “hands-on” approach goes miles in helping the player familiarize and retain the information presented.

Pros:    Fun, can simplify a complex activity, hands-on approach aids retention.

Cons:   Must be designed carefully, can be difficult and/or time-consuming to program.

3.    Mission/Quest

A mission or a quest game involves getting the player to complete a variety of tasks. Usually, there is a reward for each completed quest or mission. Sometimes the reward involves improving the player character through accumulation of coins or experience (which can be used to improve various skills), or items which can be used in the game.

From an educational perspective, the quests or missions may involve course material, presented in a fun way. For example, to learn about the Periodic Table of Elements, the missions could require the player to travel to various places across the game world in search of each element. As each element is found, information about it could be presented and the element could be “collected”. This type of game coincides with the “Collecting” game described below in point 5. The same game mechanic could be used to learn about a variety of subjects, from geography to history, astronomy, physics, or material specific to your curriculum.

Pros:    Immersive, fun, excellent for retaining information in an interactive way.

Cons:   One of the most difficult and costly game types to program, especially if the world is a massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG).

4.    Detective

A detective game involves the player finding and evaluating information to arrive at the correct conclusion. Some of us from the older generation may remember a game named “Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?” in which the player had to catch a thief who travelled around the world. Educationally, this game was a great way to learn about geography, as well as some interesting facts about various countries and cultures. A few years ago, a colleague and I made a modified version of this game for an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) module, in which the player attempts to track down a money launderer based on clues gathered at various locations. A similar game can be made in the style of Scotland Yard, or even as a “found object” game in which you search for items or clues in a picture. Your imagination is the key!

Pros:    Interactive, moderately easy to program, can be combined with puzzles and mini-games.

Cons:   This type of game may not fit every learning curriculum.

5.    Collecting

Collecting games rely on the player’s desire to collect beautiful or rare items, complete equipment sets, and decorate or personalize their virtual character, pets, or surroundings. Collecting games are often highly addictive, banking on the player’s desire to collect more, or to complete a collection set. Some games involve a virtual character or pet which you can outfit, buy a home for, decorate with furniture or wardrobe, and groom. Other games may involve outfitting a character with powerful items (such as weapons and armour), which have an effect on gameplay. However, often it is not necessary for collected items to be powerful or useable, as players love to decorate and personalize even if the item has no further use beyond the aesthetic. Making a collecting game multiplayer is additionally beneficial, as players love to show off their character and possessions to other players.

Involving curriculum into collecting games is very easy, as collectible items serve as a perfect reward system for passing quizzes and other course requirements.

Pros:    Addictive, implementable on a mobile platform, provides expandable reward system.

Cons:   Can be time-consuming to implement, especially as an online multi-player game.

In Summary

The above are only five ways to add educational value to games. If you use your imagination, you will discover many more. I would recommend combining various aspects together, for example you could make a Quest game with aspects of Collecting and Trivia. I hope that these ideas serve as an inspiration to you, and I am looking forward to a new generation of exciting and effective educational games. We have an opportunity to make an “Education Revolution” by introducing the medium of gaming into the equation. With a bit of imagination and a lot of hard work, we can make gaming a powerful and effective tool for education and training, for the young and old alike.

 

If you would like to explore more about gamification and eLearning, please look at our company website: Pathways Training and eLearning, at http://www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.com/ . We always look for fresh ways to engage the learner and to make the experience as fun as possible!

Elearning and the Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Traditionally, a person’s intelligence was measured by a standardized IQ test which was heavy on questions addressing logical thinking, mathematical ability, pattern recognition, grammar competence, and deductive reasoning. This kind of testing is biased because it caters to a particular type of person while neglecting the skills and abilities of others.

In 1983, Dr. Howard Gardner introduced the idea of multiple intelligences in his book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. The idea is that individuals possess a blend of various intelligences, and should not be restricted to just one modality of learning. The types of intelligences included in the theory sometimes vary, but generally consist of the following: Logical-Mathematical, Musical, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, and Intrapersonal.

Traditional education caters to a narrow spectrum of intelligence, often punishing or ostracising students who are unable to adapt. A more effective form of education might dynamically adapt to a student’s strengths, taking advantage of the types of intelligence they excel in to help them learn material in a fun and positive way.

The Advantage of Gaming
The gaming industry has already found ways to include activities that cater to multiple intelligences in many successful titles. MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) such as World of Warcraft and Guild Wars include events in which a group of players cooperate to achieve a common goal – to slay a dragon, for example. The group often consists of highly specialized characters with distinct roles and purposes, skill sets and abilities. Some characters known as “tanks” face the enemies head on, and are able to absorb a great deal of damage. Other characters act as healers, spell casters, trap finders or other various skill sets that are needed for the party to survive. These activities cater to the interpersonal type of intelligence.

Other games, especially ones that involve building (such as Minecraft) might cater to spatial intelligence, while game systems such as the Nintendo Wii involve the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence in many of their games. The multi-billion dollar gaming industry is expert at engaging the widest demographic of users in their products.

eLearning Revolution
If you ask most people for their opinion on educational games, you may find that the overall response is not very positive. Often, educational games are perceived as boring compared to games created purely for entertainment. However, this doesn’t have to be! With creative design and clever execution, educational games can be just as much fun as other games. The educational aspect must be presented to the user in a tactful and interesting manner, not in a forceful and mandatory way. The user must be coaxed to want to learn. One powerful tool to bring this about is to widen the spectrum of intelligences targeted by activities within the game or eLearning module.

One popular game style requires the player to complete various missions, earning rewards for being successful. These rewards can then be used to develop their game character, such as increasing their statistics, getting better equipment, and so on. Players feel a sense of achievement from completing missions.

Instead of the ordinary “go there – fetch this – kill that” type of mission, an educational game could involve missions that involve various activities catering to the different intelligences. For example, if the subject is chemistry and the goal is to familiarize the player with the Periodic Table of Elements, the missions could involve traveling to various parts of the game world to fetch different elements. To get each element, the player may need to overcome obstacles that target a particular type of intelligence. Good eye-to-hand coordination may be needed for one quest. Cooperation with other players may be needed for another. Throughout the mission, the player may learn interesting facts about the element, and in that way, learn in a fun and unobtrusive manner.

Gaming vs. Attention Deficit
It is remarkable that many students who suffer from ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) are able to focus and learn from games, even for long periods of time.

Some games such as Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic: The Gathering require players to memorize the effects of many cards, the effects of their combination with other cards, and develop complex winning strategies to beat opponents.

I have witnessed children who have problems with attention at school excel at these kind of games, although the games require a great deal of focus and attention. It is clear that there is something about the games that is successful at retaining attention and interest, which is lacking in formal education. If we can find a way to harness this ability, perhaps we can improve the quality of education that we provide to these students.

Putting it All Together
To create a successful and engaging educational game, we must learn from the success of the gaming industry and be clever and creative in presenting useful educational material to our target audience in a truly fun way. One powerful tool available to us is to take advantage of a wider spectrum of intelligences to engage the audience. Dr. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences can serve as a spring board for different types of activities which can be presented with the aid of modern technology to make learning enjoyable, fun, and perhaps even addictive!

If you would like to explore more about gamification and eLearning, take a peek at our company website: Pathways Training and eLearning, at http://www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.ca/ . We always look for fresh ways to engage the learner and to make the experience as fun as possible!

Canadian Anti-Spam Law (CASL) – The Great Mystery

For many people the new Canadian Anti-Spam Law (CASL) is a little bit of a mystery.
Can you still send newsletters to clients and how about emails that are sent to distributions lists? If you have an “opt out clause” at the bottom of the email does that mean you can send out mass emails and that you are in compliance with CASL? How about American firms – are they exempt from the CASL laws?

Many of us are watching U.S competitors spam ‘our’ Canadian clients – leaving us to believe that this law is creating an unfair competitive advantage. One thing that seems to be clear is that most Canadians do not understand CASL and how it applies to them.

To make things even more interesting, the first CASL penalty was handed down this week to a small training company in the amount of $1.1 million dollars (see the following articles for more details):

http://www.thestar.com/business/tech_news/2015/03/05/crtc-issues-11-million-anti-spam-fine.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/crtc-issuing-first-fine-under-anti-spam-law/article23305666/

So how can we help?

Pathways has partnered with Privatech to demystify what CASL means for Canadian organizations. We have created a short eLearning module that explains the most important and impactful aspects of this new law.

For more details, or to learn more about this course, please click here: 2015 PrivaTech Pathways CASL E-Learning Course Framework.

 

MLEARNING AND GAME CREATION

In earlier articles, I emphasize the subject of gamification and the importance of making learning fun. Today, it’s time to take a look at the process of developing an actual mLearning game, from the idea to execution.

The Game Plan
To realize your idea of making a game, you must have a plan – a clear vision of how to get from start to finish. For my game plan, I decided to break the process down into four stages:

1. Proposal/Game Design
2. Alpha/Game Functionality
3. Beta/Game Polish
4. Delivery/Distribution

The Proposal
If you are working for a client, your project must first be approved before you can count on funding it. The proposal is a game idea pitch, an opportunity for you to share your concept of the game with the clients and discuss any modifications to the look or function. Often, we present three ideas for games to a client, and let them select one.

Game Design Document and Storyboards
Once the game is selected, it must be documented in a Game Design Document. This is the game Bible, the script detailing every aspect of the game. It is the vehicle of communication for all team members working on the game.

There are free templates for game design documents on the internet. Some of the contents are specific to a particular game type, while others are more general. Some items that should be found in a game design document include:

• A game overview, answering questions like what is the game about, what do you control, what is the style of the game, and what is the objective/winning condition.
• A list of all screens, detailing all functions that can be performed on each screen.
• Description of features and game play.
• If appropriate, world layout, game characters, storyline.
• Guideline to UI (User Interface), art direction, sound/music direction.
• Appendices to character sketches, scenery/set design, monsters/villains, vehicles, architecture and objects found in the game.

Based on the Game Design Document, the next step is to create Storyboards for every screen in the game, providing a concrete visual guide to the 2D and 3D artists working on the game.

The Alpha Stage
During the Alpha stage, the focus is on game functionality. The appropriate IDE / programming language / development kit must be selected to code the game, depending on game type and target platform. If the game uses a 3D engine, the appropriate engine must be chosen.

The goal of the Alpha stage is to create a functional game, albeit some of the graphics and sound are not polished yet, and some of the functionality may need to be refined. However, all-in-all, by the end of the Alpha stage, the game should be playable. The deliverable at the end of the Alpha stage is a straw-man version of the game, which means the skeleton/back bone is there but still needs to be fleshed out.

At the end of the Alpha stage follows a period of Alpha testing and debugging. The Alpha testing can be done internally (by the people working on the game), and reporting should be coordinated by someone who will sort the bug reports by priority and eliminate duplicate reports.

On to Beta
During the Beta phase, the focus is on polishing the game. This is the time to focus on graphics, animation, sound and music, and really dazzle and jazz it up. The programming team must also work out all the problems encountered during Alpha testing.

It is not enough for the game to be playable. The game should be beautiful! For example, when the player gets points for some action, the points should not just appear. They should pop up with some visual and sound effect. The controls should be refined – when the character comes to a stop, there should be a slow-down or deceleration. The character should not go from a full run to a full stop with no transition.

There are more things to polish in a game than I can describe. If you are a careful observer, try to pay attention to all the little special effects and animations that occur when you’re playing a well-designed game. Often, you won’t even notice the little fading effects, or the movement of animated backgrounds, the mouse-over effects of buttons, and all the little intricacies that go into making a game polished.

The famous Beta Test
Beta testing is famous because this is usually the first chance the community has the opportunity to try out the game. By this point, the game should be polished. The reason to open the test up to people other than those working on the game is to get input from the experience of a user who has never played the game before. Is the game too hard? Too easy? Is it boring? Is it well balanced?

Beta testers should be encouraged to find every possible way to “break the game”, or any game mechanics. Again, reporting should be coordinated by someone who will prioritize the bugs and eliminate duplicate reports. After Beta testing and fixing of the problems found, the game is essentially ready for the market.

Delivery and Distribution
Often, the delivery requires multiple platforms (PC, Android, iOS, etc.) and porting the code must be taken care of. Other requirements may be translating the game into multiple languages. These considerations should be known from the onset, and appropriate planning put in place so that the porting and translations will occur smoothly.

Bringing eLearning into Gaming
The process I described above applies to creating any sort of game. At my company, we focus on creating games with an eLearning element. Sometimes it can be as simple as asking a multiple choice question at certain points during the game. Other times, the eLearning is much more integrated into the storyline and character advancement.

If you would like to explore more about gamification and eLearning, take a peek at our company website: Pathways Training and eLearning, at http://www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.ca/ . We always look for fresh ways to engage the learner and to make the experience as fun as possible!

MLEARNING AND MOBILE APPS

We live in a time of radical change. The way and the speed at which we receive information has changed dramatically. Traditionally information was shared via the medium of books. The time it took to publish a book combined with its limited distribution imposed bounds on who the information was available to, and how fast it was available. With the advent of journals, newspapers, radio and television, access to information became faster and wider spread. The personal computer together with the internet made a vast amount of information available to a vast number of people, almost instantaneously. With smartphones, tablets and other portable devices, we have the “knowledge of humankind” available to us virtually anywhere we go. I often laugh when my knowledge-savvy colleague looks up information on a topic that I’m talking about before I can even finish my sentence.

Short Attention Span

The mobile media revolution affects not only how we receive our information, but also how we learn in general. Compared to the past, we often do things “on the go”. This applies to everything from eating to reading, playing to learning. We have become a species of short attention spans, constantly demanding to be entertained. Mobile devices and computers in general are making the leap from gaming to mLearning very slowly and unsteadily. Although computer games have been known for decades to be highly addictive, educational gaming always had a reputation of being boring and uninspiring. I’ve seen young children spend many hours playing computer games in which they need to memorize dozens of combinations, card effects, powers, sequences or abilities. I have wondered, how difficult would it be to modify the game so that the children memorize or learn something more useful – the periodic table of elements, geography, astronomy, or math? Is it possible to make an educational game fun and addictive, just as non-educational games often are?

Compete and Collect

The reward system in many of the highly successful games often involves elements of competition, advancement and collection of various items or trophies. These same reward elements can be incorporated into an educational game. Being able to log in through your Facebook or Google account and compare your rankings with your friends is one way to foster competition. A game based on quests or missions with rewards and achievements would further advance the desire to compete. Customizable player characters who can progress in skills or levels would facilitate advancement. A reward system which allows for acquisition of items, trophies, pets or custom wardrobe would address the desire to “collect them all”. All that remains is to make it fun! The educational aspect must be cleverly wrapped in a fun game that is well made, interesting and beautiful. It is this part that requires intelligent and creative game design, something that is often lacking in educational games.

Mobile Apps to the Rescue

Mobile devices are an ideal platform for educational games which can be played “anytime, anywhere” and include the elements of competition, advancement and collection. An ideal mobile game is such that it can be started and stopped at any time, saving the progress seamlessly. The interface must be intuitive and easy to control, the text and buttons must be large enough. The game itself should be simple enough to retain the new user, with enough complexity or advancement rewards to keep them coming back for the long haul. Without the ability to advance, a player is likely to get quickly bored and move on to another game. There are many game engines available to create such games. We chose to use PlayCanvas (https://playcanvas.com) which is free, open source, and has tools and features such as physics and collisions, lighting and shadows, vehicles and joint systems. We chose this game engine in part because it allows us to create games for the browser and for mobile devices, both Android and iOS. Furthermore, we can use a SCORM wrapper to make the game SCORM compliant and keep track of various scores for eLearning purposes.

How can I make it good?

A successful mLearning app will be as fun to play or use as any other addictive game. To bridge this elusive gap, the game designer must first know the audience. What kind of games are interesting to the user, and why? How can we substitute useless information in the game with information that pertains to the required material, and still keep the game fun and interesting? Use the natural instinct of people to compete, collect and desire to advance by creating a game that rewards these desires. Do not shove the eLearning material down their throats, don’t make it inconvenient or unpleasant, or excessively focused on learning. Don’t make it a chore, make it a quest! Allow the user to create and grow their game character, and advance through completing missions and earning rewards. Make the process cumulative, keep track of their achievement. And tactfully, in an unobtrusive way, blend in the material they are required to learn into the game. If you make it fun, the learning will be easy! If you would like to explore more topics in mLearning, take a peek at our company website: Pathways Training and eLearning, at http://www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.ca/ .  We always look for fresh ways to engage the learner and to make the experience as fun as possible!

Customer Service Is What Sets Us Apart

Members of my team and I recently sat through a client ‘pitch’ that was both enjoyable and noteworthy.

Like any business, we are often asked to recite our ‘Elevator Pitch’ – that 45 second (or so) explanation about our service offerings, our value-add and most importantly what sets us apart from the competition. This is ‘sales 101’ stuff… so why I am bringing it up?

A funny thing happened as we began walking through our core differentiators – I changed the talk track. I wanted the focus to be on the team.

Yes, that included the amazing skills they brought to the table (graphic design, 3D animation, programming, curriculum development, facilitation etc. etc. etc.) but this time, the message was about how they could parlay those incredible skillsets into a client experience that is unique, focused and unwavering.

I believe we are better at what we do than anyone else in the market; but shouldn’t I? It is my company after all. I am also experienced enough to know that my competitors will all claim the same thing – and so begins the stalemate.

 

Not so fast.

We believe as an organization that customer service trumps all. Our ability to showcase our amazing work products ‘gets us in the door’, but our capacity to service our clients lets them see just how important they are to us.

If you work with Pathways, you have to care about service, because our value proposition is wholly focused on the client. They are the reason for our work… never an interruption from it.  My team understands the difference.

Anyone joining our organization will understand the difference quickly too, because the expectations I place on our team are built on this foundation of customer service.

“Without them – there is no us,” is how I concluded my ‘elevator pitch’ on this day.

I don’t think it’s what the client expected to hear – and that was fine by them.

After all, you can’t fake service. At least not for long…

eLearning Gets Animated

Every time I program an eLearning module, I am always concerned about how to present the content in an interesting way. I want to retain the attention of the viewer who may be required to complete the module at the behest of their employer and is not always enthusiastic about doing so.

Articulate Storyline includes a number of fun activities which can liven up your presentation and add interest through the use of interaction and gamification. Even static content such as text or bulleted lists can be livened up by using various transitions and entry/exit animations. However, the list of tricks gets quickly exhausted. There are only so many ways a text can fly in before it starts getting annoying rather than interesting. What do you do then?

Although Storyline is not exactly an animation software, it allows you to import Flash movies. Flash is a decent animation software, in my opinion, but I rarely use it by itself. For me, Flash is a bridge to even greater things! Flash allows me to import an image sequence and assemble it into a Flash movie, which can then be imported into Storyline.

So, what kind of image sequences are we talking about? And why is this so important to our eLearning modules? It’s all about 3D animation! Whereas 2D animated effects, transitions and motion paths add some interest to the eLearning module, a 3D animated effect blows it right out of the water!

Let’s consider, for example, a click-and-reveal activity. The viewer sees a number of face-down cards, and clicking on them reveals what’s on the other side. A simple cut to the content doesn’t look very interesting. There are some page-flip scripts for Flash which “fake” the turning of the card in 2D, but none of them look too impressive. I wanted the card to bend, to cast a shadow, to really pop out of the page!

 

 

I created my card flip animation in Maya, a top-notch 3D animation software. I rendered out the animation as a sequence of images which I then imported into Flash and compiled into a Flash movie. Said movie was imported into Storyline, and the click-and-reveal activity suddenly gained a whole new dimension!

It is easy to change the size and material of the front and back faces of the card. The animation became so popular that our team continues to use the flip-card in almost every eLearning module since. The flip-card was just the beginning! Since then we added a number of other 3D animations to our bag of tricks to entice the viewer. For example, we have a jigsaw puzzle that assembles itself, presenting any image we want in the completed form.

With the ability to bring in 3D animated content into Storyline, our Pathways Training and eLearning team has opened up endless possibilities. We have increased the dimension of eLearning modules to include content that is interesting, attention catching, and different. With a bit of imagination, lots of dedication and plenty of extra effort, we make the eLearning experience more exciting and content easier to digest – even for the least interested user.

To SCORM or not to SCORM

On a previous post (‘e’ for Experience), I stated that there are different ways to bring knowledge to users, like interactive modules, videos, infographics, etc., and that they should be used in conjunction and not as isolated products, in order to improve the learning experience on the users.

Let’s say you have to put together a product for a client, a video, an interactive module or an infographic. After days, nights and weeks of graphic design, architecture, programming, testing and fixing, you have the final files to deliver to your client, but then you start wondering if the outcome of the software you used to create and publish the product, will accommodate to the client’s platform.

Well, in the e-learning field there is a question you have to ask yourself (and the client) at the beginning of each project: is it going to be deployed to a LMS and does it have to be marked as “completed” after the user has gone through it? If the answer is yes, have a list of available SCORM wrappers at hand. Remember that, most of the time, you can deploy different types of files to a LMS, but they won’t necessarily have to be marked complete after the user has viewed them.

From my experience, authoring tools such as Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate and Trivantis Lectora, can provide you with the functionality to make your product SCORM-compliant, not just because you can actually create interactions and basic animations with them but because you can import a wide variety of files that you may have produced for your client and “wrap” them with the SCORM API. This process of importing videos, images and interactions created in other authoring tools, can be as easy as clicking on a button and selecting the file.

In addition to the aforementioned authoring tools, there are also stand-alone SCORM wrappers that you can use for your projects, usually developed using JavaScript or Action Script 3(like this one: http://pipwerks.com/tag/scorm-wrapper/). Yes, you may have to work alongside a programmer but it’s worth the time, because at the end of the day, you will have your engaging product compatible with the LMS of your choice, but don’t let SCORM limit your creativity when developing an e-learning product.