3 eLearning Design Goals for 2013
I was recently asked to speak at an elearning forum on eLearning design trends for 2013. This made me reflect on where I’m currently at with my elearning design and how I can create more meaningful elearning experiences for the people who take my courses. I’ve given myself three elearning design goals for 2013…probably a little late for New Year’s resolutions but I’ve got a feeling I’m going to keep these ones!
Visualising the Story
One of the themes of the forum I spoke at was about visualising data. For those of you who may know me, I’m a big fan of using scenarios and stories in my work and this year I’m going to make a concerted effort to improve the visualisation of these stories. I think we can learn a lot from infographics and how they can turn static information into visually compelling learning experiences. I’ve come across two good infographics this week Spotlight Census and Telus. We do have to be careful with visualising out information. It’s crucial not to let the images, graphs or diagrams get too complex otherwise it becomes all about the design and the message or story may be lost.
Gamification
I’m currently reading ‘The Gamification of Learning and Instruction’ written by Karl Kapp. Firstly, thank you Karl! This book is really making me rethink how I create online content. We are living in an age where a vast majority of our course participants will have played some form of online games or commercial games so we need to look at how to get this audience to buy-in to our online content. Gamification is not about building World of Warcraft to replace your security awareness training but instead ‘taking principles that make games addictive and applying them in a learning context to improve retention and recollection of knowledge and better application and practice of skills’ (Kapp 2012). Building courses that using game mechanics can take time and will take longer to build than your basic one hour of ‘text and next’ but the cleverly designed course using the principles of gamification will ensure a richer learning experience.
Personalising the Learning Experience
In the past we looked at personalising our online content by using a conversational, informal language in our text e.g. I, we, you etc. You may have also looked at avatars or help characters that guide users through the content. I think back to my days as a primary school teacher and how I used differentiation in my pedagogy to cater for the individual needs of the student. I’m really keen about trying to incorporate this more into my online courses. With the advances in authoring tools such as Articulate Storyline I think we now have the technology to do this at some level and make it more personalised and ultimately more meaningful. Using variables in Storyline can help achieve this.
Variables are a way to remember information—such as a learner’s name or numeric input—and then present dynamic content based on that information.
My goal is use variables in my content display information that will be more meaningful for different groups. Again this will take longer to build than your basic text and next but I believe it’s worth it.
Finally, I believe all three of these elearning design goals are interconnected. If I apply gamification, I will need to visualise the story of the game and by using gamification I’m really personalising the learning experience by achieving results based on the individual’s choices and actions.
Let the visualisation, gamification and personalisation begin!
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eLearning Manager. MEd., Articulate Certified Trainer. Ruth has a passion for new technologies, social collaboration strategies and the impact they have on learning. |
Comments
Posted On
Feb 28, 2013Posted By
Rosemary MedlockGreat post Ruth!
I’ve already checked out the ABS site and ordered the book. I’d like to join you in these not quite New Year resolutions.
Thanks.
Posted On
Feb 28, 2013Posted By
Karl KappRuth,
Glad you are enjoying the book! You really hit the nail on the head with your short, accurate description of what I was trying to do with the book. Write something that encouraged learning designers to create interactive experiences without feeling like you have to create the next Halo or World of Warcraft. Good luck with your resolutions/goals.
Take care,
Karl
Posted On
Mar 02, 2013Posted By
Mark TantiHi Ruth, I really liked this blog. It really speaks to me about how we need to pitch our training to the demographic that we are teaching. The younger kids finishing university are all familiar and comfortable with electronic media. Yet, facilitators continue to use powerpoint to try and engage them in the learning experience. They have not made the cultural shift to this electronically savvy demographic. Thanks for the post.