How Technology is Reshaping Modern Education Over the last few years, modern education has gone through some major changes. Teachers have long adopted interactive technologies and students increasingly use smart devices to access learning resources. Such trends are mainly triggered by the development of web technologies and the growing use of mobile devices in particular. The ability to access the Internet almost anytime and anywhere is, of course, the primary driver of innovation in the education sector. As opposed to older generations, modern teenagers grew up using technology and can hardly imagine their lives without smartphones and tablets, which are becoming irreplaceable learning resources. Often referred to as Digital Natives, these generations keep exploring the potential of new technologies and readily use them for educational purposes. The accelerated technology development, therefore, enabled us to access previously unimaginable spaces, thus changing our perspective on most aspects of our daily lives. In the world where information is constantly available, the ways we learn and teach are bound to change. Unsurprisingly, most schools and universities worldwide are introducing policies regarding technology implementation, while students continue to explore it on their own. Consequently, we are witnessing new paradigms in the modern education system, with more and more resources being made available to students’ in classrooms. However, there are also numerous self-study applications, tools and online learning resources that enable people of different ages to study whenever and whatever they want. The Reshaping Modern Education with Technology Infographic outlines some of the key figures related to the use of technology in modern education, particularly focusing on language learning. As a highly interactive field, language learning largely benefited from the development of tools that enable real-time communication. Currently, language learning is one of the most popular fields of educational innovation, especially in terms of self-study apps. With thousands of downloads and almost as many active users, language learning apps are changing the ways we approach languages. Via: saundz.comThe post Reshaping Modern Education with Technology Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

The Big Benefits of eLearning Infographic Did you know 40% of people have access to the internet around the globe today? In 1995, it was less than 1%. The figure increased tenfold from 1999 to 2013 and will only increase in the future.  46% of college student are taking at least one course online. However by 2019, roughly half of all college courses will be eLearning based. In 2011, it was estimated that about $35.6 billion was spent on eLearning across the globe. In 2015, online corporate training alone is estimated to be a $107 billion market. The Big Benefits of eLearning Infographic reviews the top 5 eLearning benefits. Top 5 eLearning Benefits Time Savings. eLearning saves time as it can be accessed anywhere, at any time, resulting in cost savings. Additional time usually spent on Face to Face Training can be re-directed immediately into business tasks and operations. Reduced footprint. The environment benefits too. eLearning reduces our carbon footprint by replacing physical, printed training materials and reducing training travel requirements. Increased reach. eLearning allows a large, geographically dispersed audience to be reached 24/7, while providing exciting opportunities to personalise the experience. Cost savings. Moving content online results in business cost savings. eLearning eliminates expenses associated with face to face training such as travel, trainers, venue hire and printed materials. Improved pedagogy. eLearning strategies such as gamification, improve leaner engagement and increase leaner retention. The variety of eLearning tools available today makes it easy to cater for different learning styles.   Via: www.pulselearning.comThe post The Big Benefits of eLearning Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

2015 Back-to School and College Retail Trends Infographic Behind Holiday, Back-to-School is retail’s second biggest season and often a barometer of how well retailers will perform the last half of the year. NRF’s annual survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, is among the most anticipated consumer research releases each year. The National Retail Federation asked online shoppers if they plan to use retailers’ omnichannel delivery options, including free shipping, same-day delivery, ship-to-store and reserve online. The topics they ask about each year — from school uniforms to living in a dorm — also yielded interesting insights. The 2015 Back-to School and College Retail Trends Infographic the top 10 trends as students get ready for school. Not surprisingly, back-to-school shopping continues the shift to mobile with a whopping 40% of searches done via mobile device - that’s a 25% increase from 2013. Those searches are a combination of searching for products as well as finding retailers nearby that sell the products. Back-to-School and Back-to-College represents a $68 billion opportunity for American retailers, and new shopping trends are emerging as the long-promised omnichannel has finally become reality. Retailers like Target and Meijer are making back-to-school shopping even easier. Technologies like Point Inside are helping retailers integrate store-specific shopping lists and interactive maps into their branded mobile applications. The maps show store layouts and guide shoppers along the most efficient path to pick up all the items on their list. If you’re a retailer, this is an interesting combination of technologies to enhance the user experience and increase conversions: Ensure that you’re leveraging local search engine optimization in coordination with your inventory so that you’re easy to find online and your customers can find the products they need. Make it easier for consumers to find and buy the items they need when they get to the store. Oh, and keep in mind that while many shoppers are waiting to the last minute, savvy shoppers are heading to the stores and online earlier than ever. 75% of all back-to-school shopping happened in the first two weeks of August! Via: nrf.comThe post 2015 Back-to School and College Retail Trends Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

5 Easy Ways to Develop an Engaging eLearning Course Engaged learners are what we are actually looking for in eLearning. The 5 Easy Ways to Create an Engaging eLearning Course Infographic provides 5 tips to create engaging eLearning courses that will allow you to increase your audience’s engagement levels. 1. Make the content relevant to students. The purpose of a course should be to provide students with relevant content that is packed with useful information, it’s easy to understand, and helps students reach their learning goals. 2. Make the content visually appealing. An eLearning course should include a variety of elements that make it more appealing and keeps the students engaged. Make sure that the content is clean, easy to follow, and includes resources such as pictures, videos, and other multimedia files. 3. Use gamification. Students enjoy gamified elements such as leaderboards, earning points, and badges because they make the learning experience more enjoyable and drive participation. 4. Allow students to collaborate. It’s important for students to talk with each other about the class, exchange resouces, and collaborate on projects. That’s why class tools such as groups, chat rooms, forums, blogs, and wikis are a great way for them to connect. 5. Use storytelling to captivate students. Stories make courses more interesting, intriguing, and motivate students to learn more. For students it’s easier to remember the concepts if they are taught through inspirational stories that excite them. Via: www.neolms.comThe post 5 Easy Ways to Create an Engaging eLearning Course Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

Elearning translation is complex, time-consuming and costly. Here are eight articles - from eight elearning experts - to help give you some new ideas to make your elearning translations more efficient - and more cost-effective. 1. Christopher Pappas: How to effectively translate your elearning course (8 tips) Translating your eLearning deliverable can be time consuming and quite costly, but in this article Christopher will show you how to effectively translate your elearning course without the stress that is usually involved. Here are some invaluable tips and tricks for elearning translation 2. David Kasteler: 10 easy steps for successful elearning course translation Elearning course translation can have challenges but with proper organization companies can easily overcome those challenges. In this article David outlines some easy steps to follow to help the translation process. 10 easy steps for successful elearning course translation 3. Annette Heidrich: 10 essential tips of elearning translation and localization With many moving parts, elearning and training translation can be quite complex. In this article Annette explains how proper preparation can eliminate unnecessary costs and foster an efficient process to keep the project on schedule. Here are Annette’s 10 tips to help avoid common localization issues 4. Christopher Pappas: 5 elearning translation mistakes you should avoid Elearning translation can prove to be challenging, even if you have a vast amount of eLearning experience under your proverbial belt. Christopher shares some of the most common mistakes and some tips to help you avoid making them. 5 elearning translation mistakes to avoid 5. Training Zone: Elearning translation & localization There are two options to be considered for eLearning localization. You could either re-record the whole course in the language you require, or you could just try out subtitling. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each option 6. Acclaro: Top 10 tips for training and elearning translation Acclaro shares 10 tips to help you avoid some common translation pitfalls when gearing up to take your computer-based training modules, classroom instruction materials or eLearning applications multilingual. Click here to read the 10 tips 7. Ingenuity: Elearning localization is more than just translation When translating elearning it’s important that the end user understands each aspect of the course, without making the course dry or stale. Effective eLearning localization is more than just translating words - it’s about choosing the right regional context. Learn why elearning localization is more than just translation 8. Dan Scholes: 7 tips when creating elearning for translation and localization Strong, multi-lingual elearning requires a comprehensive strategy for localisation to be incorporated into the project. To help, Dan Scholes from Sponge UK has put together a few tips for a successful and pain-free process. Read Dan’s elearning translation and localization tips The post Elearning translation ideas to help you create more effective elearning faster appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

If you’re not careful, eLearning maintenance can quickly spiral out of control. Let’s look at three real-world examples where cloud publishing can save you hours of time by making elearning maintenance easier and more efficient. Why eLearning maintenance can be time consuming and frustrating When you begin a new eLearning project, always make sure you think about how you intend to maintain it into the future. There are three common challenges that can come to frustrate you down the track: Controlling changes and future versions Make sure you agree on a scope of changes before starting a new product. For example, will changes be made on an annual or bi-annual basis? Will text, media, resources and links need updating and if so, to what extent? How will you manage the project files on an ongoing basis? And do you have the resources and budget for future changes? Republishing and testing Don’t forget that any changes and additions will require a thorough testing of the whole module. That means if you’re publishing a SCORM package, you’ll need to run it through testing to make sure everything conforms and works. Deploying to LMS If you manage your client’s LMS or LRS, you’ll need to factor in deploying the module(s) and then testing again in the environment. The added costs and resources required to maintain eLearning cannot be ignored. To streamline your maintenance, you should consider using a tool with inbuilt cloud publishing. How to maintain eLearning more effeciently Let’s look at three ways modern authoring tools with inbuilt cloud publishing - like Elucidat - can help you maintain eLearning more efficiently. Changes can be logged and managed within the tool. This reduces the need to maintain separate documentation. Project files are all together in the cloud. This removes the burden of maintaining files on your network and allows access to anyone with a login to work on the project. Changes can be pushed to the LMS without the need to republish project files and redeploy them. Let’s look at some real-world examples of how Elucidat’s cloud publishing feature can help you efficiently maintain eLearning courses without draining your budget. 1. Product training: Product name has changed Imagine your marketing team changes the name of a product and you need to make the change to your eLearning in several instances that have been translated into different languages. This would generally mean you either go through and change each instance by hand or you write and run a script to make the changes across all the courses. In both cases, you’ll need to republish the courses, retest and redeploy. With Elucidat, instead of redoing it all and then re-uploading, you can quickly make the change to the product name at the Course Master level and the changes will be automatically pushed to all the courses that belong with that Master. What’s more, these changes can be pushed directly to courses on an LMS. This saves you heaps of time because you don’t need to republish or redeploy the courses. 2. Induction training: Fire safety procedures have changed Your fire safety procedures change. Only one resource in your eLearning needs updating, but you have to re-do it all! With Elucidat, you don’t have to redo it all. Since all the project files are kept together in the cloud, you just need to replace the single resource with the change. Provided the file name remains the same, that’s all you have to do! No need to republish and retest the whole module: the change is automatically pushed out to your LMS. 3. Compliance training: Company policies need to be updated Imagine your information-security and fraud-awareness courses for the whole business need to be updated on an annual basis and whenever there is a change in the law or policy. If you don’t proactively make these changes, you’ll be legally liable and your business will be at risk. Typically, you’ll need to change the course material and the accompanying assessment. Once this is done, all your staff will need to confirm they have understood the amendments and for auditing purposes, you’ll need to report this in your LMS. With Elucidat, all of this can be managed simply and quickly in the ways described in scenarios one and two above. What’s more, using Elucidat’s system of badges, you can attach an achievement badge to the course updates. This is useful so you can track which of your staff members have taken the new course and passed the assessment. When a learner visits a screen or answers a question (or set of questions) correctly, an achievement badge is awarded and the test results tracked in your LMS. Summary: Cloud publishing can save you time Tools with cloud publishing can save you time and money because they intuitively help you run and maintain eLearning courses more efficiently. All your files are kept in one place. Your projects are always up to date and available to everyone with a login. Changes can be made once at the Course Master level and then pushed out to all courses that are built from the Master (including courses with translations). Changes are automatically pushed out to SCORM courses in your LMS. This saves you the time and cost of having to separately republish, test and redeploy. Learn more: Take a tour of Elucidat to see how it can save you time on eLearning maintenance The post 3 Real-World Examples Where Cloud Publishing Can Save You Time on eLearning Maintenance appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

Elearning Superstars is a curated list of inspiring elearning examples, published every Tuesday. Subscribe to get weekly updates via email. This week we have some great elearning by Tesco, Cambridge University and TechFuture Girls. Showcase your elearning: Have you created a great piece of elearning that you’re really proud of? Showcase your elearning here to win awards and get published on Elearning Superstars. 1. Tesco: Learning Leap (Won bronze at Elearning Awards 2014) 2. Cambridge University: A suite of animations for GCSE and A-level computing and maths 3. TechFuture Girls: Activities, games, and projects designed to build girls’ skills and confidence The post Elearning Inspiration: Tesco, Cambridge University, and TechFuture Girls appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

Are you using storyboards to guide your elearning development? Read on to hear how five elearning experts use storyboards to create more effective elearning, fast. 1. Connie Malamed: Storyboards for elearning Many people who are new to eLearning want to know how to create a storyboard. Should they use a professional tool? Should they create a template from scratch? What should they put into the template? In response to these types of questions, Connie interviewed herself about this topic. Here are Connie’s storyboarding tips 2. Christopher Pappas: 12 Tips To Create Effective eLearning Storyboards A storyboard is a map that guides elearning professionals through every twist and turn of their eLearning course design. eLearning storyboards make the elearning design and development process much more efficient. Christopher shares 12 tips to help you create elearning storyboards that effectively communicate your elearning vision 3. Michael Treser: How to use storyboards to build better courses in a more efficient manner Let’s take a closer look at what storyboards are, and how you can use them to start building better courses in a more efficient manner. How to use storyboards to author better elearning 4. David Demyan: The Rapid Storyboard Development Process In this article David shows you how use Snagit to capture - and move - screen captures and pictures quickly and reliably into the storyboard document, eliminating the manual repetition of copy, paste, resize, and repeat. And if you need to link your visuals instead of embedding them, there’s an easy way to do that, too. Learn how to rapidly develop a storyboard with Snagit 5. Justin Ferriman: 8 Easy Steps for ELearning Storyboards Before you jump into creating any elearning program, it is important to first create a storyboard for the course. If you are new to storyboards, then Justin has an eight-step process to help you get started. 8 easy steps for elearning storyboards The post 5 elearning experts share their storyboarding ideas to help you create more effective elearning appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

Elearning Superstars is a curated list of inspiring elearning examples, published every Tuesday. Subscribe to get weekly updates via email. This week we have some great elearning by Brickwall, TeacherGaming LLC and The Resuscitation Council UK. Showcase your elearning: Have you created a great piece of elearning that you’re really proud of? Showcase your elearning here to win awards and get published on Elearning Superstars. 1. Brickwall: Retail Experience Programme 2. TeacherGaming LLC: KerbalEdu helps students explore space 3. The Resuscitation Council UK: LIFESAVER "Crisis Simulator" The post Elearning inspiration: Brickwall, TeacherGaming LLC, LIFESAVER Crisis Simulator appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

We curated instructional design tips from five elearning professionals. Use these ideas to create more effective elearning, faster. Anand Timothy: 7 instructional design tips for effective elearning In this article, Anand shares 7 instructional design tips for creating effective eLearning courses. Use this advice to impress your target audience almost instantly, regardless of your elearning design experience. Read Anand’s instructional design tips Christopher Pappas: The power of the agile instructional design approach Agile instructional design may have its roots outside of the world of eLearning, but it is now being widely used by instructional designers in all niches. In this article, Christopher shares the basics of the agile instructional design approach and shows you why it can be so powerful. Read Christopher’s agile instructional design ideas Jolie Miller: How we do instructional design at Lynda.com Whether you’re teaching a friend how to knit, creating online instruction, or just want to be able to better communicate—these strategies don’t disappoint. Read Jolie’s 10 favorite instructional design tips Will Holland: Top 6 mistakes you should avoid in elearning instructional design Have you ever watched a video or used a self-paced training module that was supposed to teach you something — and it was a total fail? Undoubtedly, you have. If you are now involved in the creation of elearning courses—you need to know what mistakes often lead to the audience feeling frustrated, bored or not taking training seriously. Learn the six common instructional design mistakes to avoid Clare Dygert: What makes for great instructional design? Find out what a veteran instructional designer considers to be the three essential elements of great instructional design. Read Clare’s instructional design tips and ideas The post 5 elearning professionals share their instructional design ideas and tips appeared first on Elucidat Blog.