Effective Use of a Storyboard

Content these days is usually communicated in a quick, concise and effective manner.  So why not organize, properly format and chunk content in a Storyboard to help your learners better retain knowledge.

We all know that organizing piles of information helps learners read in a structured format.  The days of having them read through paragraphs and paragraphs of content are long gone.  Learners just don’t have the time and patience to scroll through endless information which will not only cause increased eye strain, but also be a deterrent to their learning experience.

Let’s take a look at 3 ways you can better display the course content within a Storyboard:

1. Figure out the layout of the screen

This will help you determine the maximum amount of content that can be displayed to the learners and will give you an idea of the types of fonts and text sizes that are easily readable.

2. Chunking content

Organizing information in structured, bite-sized amounts will allow your learners to easily digest the content and focus on the main points of each concept.  Remember to think of “chunks”, so keep sentences short and paragraphs to a minimum.  The idea here is to “say it”, not “spray it”.  Another effective way to “chunk” content is to represent the information via a visual graphic.  Instead of displaying words, communicate to your learner by showing an image that best represents the content.

3. Structure, Structure, Structure

We all are creatures of habit.  Well at least some of us are.  So when developing your storyboard, keep in mind that learners like to see an easy flow within their module and not something that is overly complex for navigation or confusing.  Keep it simple.  The sequence of displaying content should be relatively similar to previous sections of the course.  It is important that the learners be comfortable with the content they see and how they have to navigate.  Learners retain knowledge more effectively through a consistent approach!

Adding Depth to Your Graphics in ELearning or Mobile Learning

When making graphics for your elearning or mobile learning module, adding 3-dimensional effects to your graphics can really help things pop off the page. This sort of design aesthetic can be found everywhere, even if it doesn’t call attention to itself right away. Drop shadows, gradient shading and textures all add an element of realism that will help your learner feel like there is physically a photo, a button or some other object in front of them, or that they are part of a real vignette. You can also use these techniques to call attention to specific parts of your image.

Drop Shadows

Adding drop shadows to objects in Illustrator is a pre-set effect you can apply to any shape. This gives the impression that your picture has a ‘thickness’ to it and is floating just a little above your page, depending on how far away you set the shadow.

Simply select the object you want to apply a drop shadow to, then select Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow and it will give you a pop-up that lets you adjust and customize the direction, size, blur and colour of the drop shadow. However, if you are starting with a raster image, you’ll have to make an identically shaped vector object underneath the layer your raster image is on to apply the drop shadow to.

Another way to make a drop shadow is to use the above method of making a similar shaped object and giving it a stroke with a gradient fill across the stroke. In the Swatches panel, select the Stroke, and then select the White, Black gradient from the Gradient panel. Set the white option to 0% opacity. Also in the Gradient panel, select the Apply Gradient Across Stroke option. This gives your shape a soft edge.

Cast Shadows

If you use the last option to create a shadow, you can take the spatial illusion a step farther by making the separate shadow object look like a shadow cast on the ‘ground’ away from the object.

Select the shadow object and select Free Transform from the Tools menu. Click and hold on the handle in the middle of the top of the shape to drag it around. On the left side you can also select the Perspective Distort, which will give you the option to shrink parts of the object that are ‘farther’ away from you. Then add the original object back in on top of the shadow.

If you’re not familiar with Illustrator, you can get started with our previous post on using the program – A Beginner’s Guide to Working With Vector Graphics for eLearning Modules

INCENTIVIZATION

WHAT IS IT?

Whenever you’re engaged in an activity, there’s always that one factor that brought you there and the one(s) that bring you back may be the same, or things that came out of the activity after you did it. What we aim for in any learning module or gamified example, is to balance those factors to create the ideal incentives for users. Those little things that capture their interest, cause them to learn something new, or even build on the knowledge they’ve gained from doing the lesson. There is a threshold, however, that we need to be mindful of.

WHY NOT?

Whenever there’s an incentive applied to something, it’s worth investigating the outcome of that to see whether the users are getting too much of a good thing. A popular incentive, in the context of games, is leaderboards. A place where the highest scores are put on display.

Looking to the positive side of this incentive is that users are encouraged to do their best to be at the top for bragging rights amongst their peers. This is something that can also produce the unintended effects of cheating, or focusing more on the performance of that particular session as opposed to learning any lessons.

WRAPPING UP

In most cases, however, users are presented with proper incentives because they’ve been proven to be effective. There are also many other examples of how you can give incentives that you can explore on your own and see their impacts.

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!

Mobile Learning – What Works and What Doesn’t!

3 Tips for Designing it Right and 3 Traps to Avoid

Mobile learning is the new buzz-word and although there seems to be a lot of talk about this new trend, few companies are actually doing it. As mobile learning is so new, there are a few things you need to consider in order to effectively instructional design for a mobile learning experience.  For those of you who are considering this new medium, here are some tips you need to consider when designing learning for mobile.

1. Design for touch and forget about the mouse – When you are designing for mobile devices, there can be no more hovering mouse overs for your learning activity. Design your learning activities with “tap” and “swipe” in mind and ensure your instructions for activities reflect this language also.
2. Think about finger size – Learning activities must consider finger size and activities must be designed accordingly (e.g. if you are doing a drag and drop activity, are the boxes big enough for a learner to actually touch and drag? If not, the activity won’t work).
3. Think about screen size – Less text is definitely better when you are creating learning for mobile. Due to the small screen, it is just not possible to have heavy text on the screen, like in some eLearning courses. Things that look great on a desktop eLearning course can look terrible when shrunk down on a mobile device.

Traps to Avoid

Here are some common traps you should avoid when designing for mobile learning.

1. Don’t use the same font for all devices! – Our experience has been that 4-5 point font works well on small phones, 5-6 on a large mobile device and 7-8 point font for a tablet works best.
2. Don’t publish for a universal experience. Publish eLearning courses to work with specific mobile operating systems. Publish specifically for the device the learner is on (e.g. iOS, Android, Windows, etc.) If you are not publishing the learning specifically for the device, it becomes very confusing to the learner as they are expecting to be able to use the same navigation as they normally would on their own mobile. A course that works the same on all platforms can often be very confusing for the learner as it may require different interactions and navigation then what the learner is use to doing on their own mobile device.
3. Use standard navigation that is intuitive when designing eLearning for mobile devices – You know how most eLearning has the language “click the next button to advance the screen or click the previous button to go back. Remember to change the language for advancing the course such as “Swipe your mobile device from right to left to advance the course”. Make the language match the medium.

Mobile learning is an innovative way of increasing learner’s access to training.  Keep these tips in mind and avoid the common traps to ensure a successful mobile learning launch!

If you want to know more about Mobile Learning, please visit us at http://www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.ca or contact us at info@pathwaysinc.ca.

 

New Trend – Learning Portals with Social Media Elements

One of the interesting things about being a vendor, is trends in the marketplace become evident quickly.  Over the last 6 months, we have had multiple requests from clients to develop learning portals.

Just like the google interface, a learning portal can be used to access all of a company’s training information.  It can be cloud-based or can be attached to a company’s learning management system (LMS). With learning portals, when you do a search, bite sized training information will appear in order of relevance based on key words in the search field.  Gone are the days of 50 page participant guides or long eLearning courses. The most effective learning portals, will show short infographics, videos or eLearning modules that will take only minutes to read or take.  Everything from videos, job aids, to on the job training will be accessed in bite-sized chunks that can be read and easily understood before being applied on the job.

We are seeing an increasing request for learning portals that also have social media and community of practice elements (COP). What I mean by this is that learners will be able to add comments, or will be able to “like” (think Facebook) any training informationwhich they find helpful. Interfaces will also be able to show which information is “trending” at any time (meaning a high-volume of users are looking for the same training information in a given period).

We are also getting requests for portal customization.  More and more corporate clients are asking for the ability to have learners login to a learning portal and to see information customized to their training needs.

I remember attending a session at the Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTSD) annual conference 12 years ago, where a professor from York  University was talking about how learning on demand, would be the latest trends – 12 years later,  I think this trend is finally here!

 

To know more about Learning Portals, please visit us at http://www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.ca!

Advantages of HTML5 for eLearning, Mobile Learning (m-Learning) and Gamification

It is not new news that web technologies have been changing at a fast pace for the last 5 to 10 years, improving user experience and interactivities that probably 10 years ago were unimaginable. But as with everything (and that’s the beauty of research), we have already passed the testing phase of these technologies and now we are at the phase in which we can apply them to almost everything.

These technologies can be applied to eLearning also, and even more now that everything is moving to cross-platform (not just PCs but mobile devices as well).

Leaving your comfort zone behind

We all dream of eLearning authoring tools that will do everything we want by just pressing a button, saving us tons of time and headaches, and believe me when I say we are almost there! Unfortunately, we are not there yet! Current authoring eLearning software is not good at anticipating issues that occur when the output files are integrated into different platforms.

Even though we can get cross-platform products from these authoring tools, there is always something extra we have to do to make it work with almost no issues on different platforms, like adding extra code, deleting unnecessary functions, make the code more responsive to device changes, etc., and all of that is fine if you are willing to spend  (and have) the extra-time on making these changes.

However, as much as these tools make our lives easier in certain aspects, they also take away some freedom from our creative process when we are developing eLearning modules and we basically have to work within the limits of what is being offered by the authoring tool.

It is probably due to fear or maybe lack of time that we deliberately keep using these tools, and don’t get me wrong, using them allows to achieve and produce really good eLearning results, but what if you are aiming for greatness or awesomeness, there are lots of options out there to take your eLearning to the next level, you just need to shatter the shell you are in and explore!

HTML5 in the core of your products

Unfortunately, Flash interactions are being set aside due to compatibility issues with some devices (iOS devices, specifically) which may worry some eLearning developers in regards of tools that will provide them with everything they need to create spectacular interactions.

There are actually several tools that can help you doing something very slick without worrying about compatibility. For example, you can always code in native HTML5 and use JavaScript plugins like jQuery to achieve a high level of interaction. If you are worried about the complexity of coding from scratch, I am not going to say that is the easiest thing in the world, but there is a lot of information available out there that can guide you through all the development phases.

Also, there are more specialized tools that you can use that will help you avoid the coding part, but still help you create very interactive pieces on HTML5, and these can be easily wrapped in SCORM for LMS deployment. Just to give you a quick example, a few months ago we had the opportunity to work on a gamification project (games with a learning element) that by no means could be developed in Articulate Storyline or Adobe Captivate, because it was really out of the scope of those authoring tools. However, we used a game engine called Construct 2, which we re-purposed for eLearning, and in the end we produced an HTML5 product that was easily deployed on a LMS.

And this is just one tool that we used, there are a lot of other tools that will give you amazing results, for example Unreal Engine, a high level game engine that is used by very big video games companies to produce next gen games, can allow eLearning developers to create high level interactions (with 3D assets if you want) and HTML5 output to integrate in our platforms!

Everything you need is at the reach of your fingers, you just need to adventure out there and explore!

3 Tips for Creating Effective eLearning

 

eLearning can be a very successful training medium if executed well. The rollout of eLearning programs can save organizations on training costs, with the added benefit of faster delivery and the reach of a wider scope of employees. Creating eLearning that is both effective and engaging however, can sometimes be challenging.

Here are three tips I have found to be useful when working on eLearning projects.

Learning Objectives

Having a clear idea of what your learning objectives are helps to shape the content of your course. When writing objectives, be specific and focus on connecting these goals with what you want learners to take away at the end of the learning. By making objectives clear and concise, I find that I am better able to focus in on creating targeted evaluation pieces.

The Importance of Great Images

Images can truly help bring life to learning. That being said, not all images are created equal. When selecting images, try to include those which help to connect content to the real world. Learners tend to grasp information more easily when presented with a quality visual.

Also be mindful of including the right image size and provide the correct placement to match the content being presented. Choosing images that really connect to the subject matter can help make concepts more relatable to learners.

Create Engaging Learning

Because eLearning cannot necessarily cater to learners in the same manner as classroom training would, it is important to incorporate activities that are engaging and can keep learners interested in the subject matter. Since adults learn by doing and are most engaged when all senses are utilized, creating activities that appeal to multiple senses can be highly effective.

An example that uses a learner’s visual, auditory and kinaesthetic senses for instance can be a game. If done well, games can serve to positively affect the learner’s ability to understand and retain complex material. The advantage of activities such as these is that the content can seem less daunting and more fun, as learners are rewarded for their participation.

This list is by no means exhaustive but provides a few key guidelines to consider when conceptualizing and designing eLearning. To learn more about the work that we do at Pathways please visit our website at http://www.pathwaystrainingandelearning.ca/.

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!

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!