Poster presented at the Workshop on Monitoring PhD Student Progress, November 8th, 2013. The workshop took place in the University of Vigo, Spain and it was organised by the PhD Programme Doc_TIC together with other programmes.  One of the workshop's activities was the presentation of the on-going thesis work by the PhD students of the organising programmes, with a poster or in an oral session. This was my contribution:

Hello all, We had been working on the quarterly newsletter of Instructional Designers Community of India for sometime now and finally the newsletter - IDConnect has shaped up and got released today. Here is a copy for all the readers of this blog Hope you enjoy the newsletter. Click on the image to download

I have a new paper on my proposal for a gamification framework. It was published on november, 19, in the Special Issue of eLearning Papers on Personal Learning Environments (issue nº 35). The paper is co-authored with Rebeca Redondo (University of Vigo), Ana Vilas (University of Vigo) and Ademar Aguiar (University of Porto).The paper, A gamification framework to improve participation in social learning environments, describes a gamification framework applied to the integration of game elements in Social Learning Environments. The framework is being applied in Schoooools.com, a Social Learning Environment for K6.by Jorge SimõesThis paper presents a gamification framework applied to the integration of game elements in Social Learning Environments. The framework is being applied to a K6 Social Learning Environment leading to a gamified system. With this gamified system it is expected to achieve a raise in the motivation to use the platform with students becoming more loyal users. It is also expected that they will be deeper involved and engaged in educational activities supported by the environment. The proposed gamification framework includes architecture for a gamified system and a guide to help the development of gamified activities.Authors: Jorge Simões, Rebeca Redondo, Ana Vilas, Ademar AguiarPublication Date: Nov 19, 2013Publication Name: eLearning Papers on Personal Learning Environments, issue 3 Research Interests: E-learning, Social learning environments, and GamificationSee also this post - PLE and Smart Cities - from Ilona Buchem, one of the guest editors of this special issue of eLearning Papers.

A lady demonstrates 2 or 3 ways of making grilled cheese sandwich and tells you "You’re Doing it All Wrong!" She finally teaches you the steps to make a cheese sandwich the right way. How would react to this? Would you relate to the things that you might be doing wrong and try to learn it to do the right way? Or Will you get irritated and think the person is arrogant? When you design an e-learning program, it is a good idea to show common mistakes/errors and then teach the right way of doing things. This way retention is far more higher. Now look at this video on making grilled cheese sandwich: I really liked this video and I think it is very well done.  I would  recommend you look at the comments on this video. Not many are happy with this video. For example one person feels "maybe those? people that "did it wrong", likes their grilled cheese that way!" Now the questions are: How would you react to such a video? Do you think  there is a better way to tell someone how to do something right? Have you ever included "You’re Doing it All Wrong" scenarios in your e-learning to teach the right way of doing something? How did you do it?

An invitation from the EMOOCs 2014 Team for the EMOOCs 2014 Summit, in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Feb 10-12, 2014:"Dear Sir/Madam,Have you heard of the recent global phenomenon that is revolutionizing education? Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have the potential to disrupt the higher education system. Did you know, for instance, that the number of MOOCs in Europe has more than tripled since the beginning of 2013? Do you want to learn about the opportunities that MOOCs can bring to your sector? How to plan, produce and run a MOOC? We invite you to join the EMOOCs 2014 Summit of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from the world of MOOCs in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Feb 10-12, 2014, to discuss the latest developments and find areas of common interest. EMOOCSs 2014 offers a series of workshops, meetings and the tutorial "All you need to know about MOOCs". With the input and participation of active MOOC stakeholders such as yourself, we intend to collectively shape the future of higher education in Europe. Learn more about the programme and register for this unique event. The deadline for registration is the 1st of February 2014. Feel free to contact us if you would like to receive any additional information.  Sincerely yours,The EMOOCs 2014 Team"Important DatesSubmissions deadline:  October 4, 2013Notification of acceptance: November 15, 2013Camera ready papers due: January 5, 2014An interesting view about how europe is dealing with MOOCs can be seen in this page from Open Education Europe with a distribution of MOOCs per country:Spain is clearly on the lead with 129 MOOCs followed by the UK (69), France (48) and Germany (47).

I just read this post listing 60 great resources on teaching online. I have been offering online training programs on Instructional Design basics for quite sometime now and I was delighted to find these resources. This also prompted me to write this post. If you offer training programs via Skype or web conferencing tools like Webex or are aware of such online training programs, I am sure you will be able to relate to this post and participate in the discussion. My objective in writing this post is to highlight the challenges with online training and invite opinions  to overcome these challenges. So here goes my list of challenges with online training: Internet Connectivity Issues - If you are located in India and offer a training program online, then you need to think about internet connectivity issues. Especially if your learners plan to take the training program from home, the first thing you need to check is the internet speed at their residence.  Internet connectivity issues can spoil your training program big time. Power Cuts - If you are located in India and do not live in a place where there is  power backup or your learners live in a place where there is no power backup, then you need to keep track of the frequency of power cuts and plan your online interaction with your learners accordingly. Power cuts again can frustrate both you and your learner. Learner Motivation Issues- To keep the learners focused and engaged in the learning process is a challenge in any training program. With online training program, the challenge increases because you are not physically present with your learners and if they are taking the training program from home , there may be lots of distractions. A lot of activities can engage and engross your learners. For example my training program is completely activity based. I talk less and allow the learner to discover things through activities. Interaction/Communication Issues - In a classroom training program there is great scope for trainer-learner interactions. With online training, the trainer has to make an effort to keep the communication going. If there is lack of communication, then the online training program is sure to fail. For example in my training program, I allot a couple of hours for online interaction/discussions. My learners spend a lot of time doing exercises offline. When my learners are taking their offline exercises, I make sure I am available on Gtalk/Skype so that they can ping me if they have any queries. I also ping them to check if all is fine. Managing Expectations - This is relevant for any training program. You need to set expectations and set rules to meet the expectations upfront. If you do not do this then you cannot expect your learners to perform well. For example in my training program before every exercise I  list all the rules to complete the exercise. I make sure I give the rules to my learners both in written and verbal formats. I have seen that not setting expectations and rules upfront can frustrate the learners. Trainer Personality - Online training demands much more openness,  flexibility, concern and friendly attitude on the part of the trainer. The trainer has to compensate for the lack of physical proximity in every possible way. The trainer needs to make the learners comfortable because most people are apprehensive about online training. I work hard on my attitude, tone and language to interact well with my learners and I am sure with time I will get better and better at it What do you think? What are the  top challenges with online training? How do you overcome these challenges? Please share your thoughts.

Open Education Europa: top content of 2013 based on the number of pageviews. In the  category "Top articles from the eLearningPapers", my paper A gamification framework to improve participation in social learning environments, co-authored with Rebeca Díaz Redondo, Ana Fernandez Vlas (University of Vigo) and Ademar Aguiar (University of Porto) is #3. In second, another paper from University of Porto.This paper presents a gamification framework applied to the integration of game elements in Social Learning Environments. The framework is being applied to a K6 Social Learning Environment leading to a gamified system. With this gamified system it is expected to achieve a rise in the motivation to use the platform with students becoming more loyal users. It is also expected that they will be more deeply involved and engaged in educational activities supported by the environment. The proposed gamification framework includes architecture for a gamified system and a guide to help the development of gamified activities.The K6 Social Learning Environment is Schoooools.com.

In school, I have been punished a lot of times - reasons :  homework not done, shoe not polished, stepped into the class late etc. I used to hate punishments and always wondered why teachers cannot be a little lenient or deal with these issues in a better way. Now consider this e-learning course : The Incredible Adventures of the Amazing Food Detective. It is an engaging course to create awareness about healthy food habits. The target audience for this e-learning course are children/youngsters. All is fine till you continuously interact with the e-learning course window. If you leave the window open for a long time, without interacting with it, this is the message you get: Its funny to see this message and you can laugh it out. But then if you see it the other way, it is kind of penalizing the learner for not paying attention to the e-learning course though the message does not explicitly convey any such thing. After this message, you cannot access the course for 60 minutes. Isn’t that frustrating? Especially if you are involved and engaged in the learning process. Do you think such strategies should be included in e-learning programs? Please share your thoughts.

Nordic DiGRA will be held in Sweden, in May 29 and 30:Games are becoming more and more pervasive in our everyday life. Gamification and game-based learning are research topics that are blooming. Games are also used in electioneering. We invite submission for full papers and for workshops. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:gamificationgames in societygames and learninggames as propagandapersuasive gamesgames in teachingcritical stances to gamification and game-based learning Important dates: Full paper submission and workshop proposals: March 30, 2014Founded in 2003, DiGRA is the premiere international association for academics and professionals who research digital games and associated phenomena. It encourages high-quality research on games, and promotes collaboration and dissemination of work by its members.

The EDEN Annual Conference 2014 will be held in Zagreb in June, 10-13, 2014, with several Conference Themes.The year 2014 is important as the start of the new European programme period until 2020. This coincides with intensive developments in ICT-supported learning, educational innovations and, in particular, open educational resources. With present economic trends, the key question being growth and employability, it is highly important how employers accept job candidates with the certifications and competences from the new world of learning, characterised by many innovative approaches and open educational settings.Important Dates:Paper Submission: 31 January 2014Conference Dates: 10-13 June 2014

We love watching videos. YouTube and other similar video sharing websites have made viewing and sharing videos as easy as possible. However when it comes to learning from videos, there is certainly a hitch. For example, consider I have to write a paper on Entrepreneurship and I am referring to some videos on the topic. Let’s say I look at the video below : Referring to a video as shown above for learning purpose can be really time consuming and painful for the following reasons: I will have to go through the entire video and then find out if there is anything relevant. If it is a lengthy video, I will be spending too much time going through the entire video. Since there is no table of contents, I cannot skip portions and move on to more relevant portions. Now look at this video here : Learning from the video above is much more easier because: The contents are clearly listed and segregated. The duration is also indicated. You can either listen to the entire lecture or  jump to portions that interest you. In this case, even if it is a 2 hour video, you do not have to worry much because you can always skip and look at stuff that interest you or is relevant to you. What do you think about the point I am making here?  Please drop in your thoughts in the Comments section.

One of my blog readers asked me an interesting question: How do you go about finalizing content for your project when there is no source content or the source content you have is largely incorrect? To add to this problem, suppose the ID is working on a hardware based project, has not clue about the subject and  and the SME is a tough nut to crack. What should the ID do? My Take Honestly, I feel every e-learning project must involve a Subject Matter Expert who actively contributes and participates in the development of the training material. It is the responsibility of the project head to ensure that IDs have all the support to their work. If there is no Subject Matter Expert on the client side or there is a Subject Matter Expert who is not supportive or doing his/her part well, you can either involve an Instructional Designer who has some clue on the subject or get someone within the organization to assist the Instructional Designer. I find it strange when an Instructional Designer is given no assistance with respect to the Subject Matter especially if the subject is highly technical.  I have worked on e-learning projects where I have had to research on the Subject Matter and come up with the content without any guidance. I used to find it very challenging to decide on the content, because I really didn’t know how to go about finalizing the content without any pointers. While its challenging to handle such a situation, you cannot avoid this at all. So here are some things you can do to finalize the content for your e-learning project, considering there is no Subject Matter Expert for the project: Keep the target audience in mind. Keep the course goal/objective in mind. Spend some time on Google and  get a grip of the subject matter by reading stuff randomly. This will help you get comfortable with the subject. Refer to full length books on the subject matter. If you refer to 4 or 5 books, you will get an idea what to cover. Make a list of topics to cover. Research on each topic and put the raw content in a Word document. Discuss with your colleague or someone who has a clue on the subject and get an opinion. Stop at one point and freeze the content. There is no point doing endless research. You are not the subject matter and you know there are limitations. Make sure you keep your Project Manager in the loop all the time. Tell your Project Manager what you have been doing, the challenges you are facing and the possible solutions you can think of. Remember there is no point fretting and fuming. Do your best. In case things are not on working well or your client is not  happy, escalate/get help. Your Project Manager or higher authorities will have to do something about it. What’s your answer to this question? Please share your thoughts.

The year 2010 has been great. I have written close to 43 posts and have managed to keep this blog alive A couple of posts managed to enter the "Great Learning Posts" list in elearning Learning.  This certainly has encouraged me to write more. I hope to write better posts the coming year. So here’s is closing this year with  TOP 10 posts of 2010. Why Learning From Videos is Difficult The Difference Between Technical Writing and Instructional Design 6 Reasons To Use Amplify for Collaborative Learning Is it Okay to Punish Your E-Learners for not Paying Attention? Do You Tell Your Learner "You’re Doing it All Wrong!" to Teach the Right Way? Using Case Studies/Scenarios for New Application Training Time to Eliminate Software Product Tutorials? Introduction to the Instructor Led Training ToolKit Instructional Design Review Checklists - Key to Quality E-learning T-Bites I thank all my readers for inspiring me to write more. Hope you all enjoy visiting my blog and continue to do so. Wishing you all a rocking 2011! Cheers, Rupa

The III International Congress on ICT and Education - ticEDUCA2014, a biennial event carried out since 2010, will be held in Lisbon, at the Institute of Education of Lisbon University, on the 14-16, November, 2014.Themes:Theme 1: Formal and Informal Learning Environments and TechnologiesTheme 2: Computer Mediated Communication, Relationships and  Expression of Emotions OnlineTheme 3: Digital Technologies and Professional DevelopmentTheme 4: eLearning in Higher Education and Vocational TrainingTheme 5: Technologies and Special (Educational) NeedsImportant dates:Paper Submission: June, 20, 2014Notification of Acceptance: September, 5, 2014Submission of Accepted Papers: September, 14, 2014Proceedings of ticEDUCA2012 are available on line.

The Horizon Report 2014 - Higher Education Edition has been released. This year's edition has a new format that now includes Key Trends Accelerating Higher Education Technology Adoption and Significant Challenges Impeding Higher Education Technology Adoption.The 2014 six important developments in educational technology are listed in in the report's third section, Important Developments in Educational Technology for Higher Education:Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or LessFlipped Classroom Learning Analytics Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years3D Printing Games and GamificationTime-to-Adoption Horizon: Four to Five YearsQuantified Self Virtual AssistantsRegarding last year's report, Quantified Self and Flipped Classrooms are new. Games and Gamification is kept on the "Two to Three Years" horizon. This is what the report says about it:"The games culture has grown to include a substantial proportion of the world’s population, with the age of the average gamer increasing with each passing year. As tablets and smartphones have proliferated, desktop and laptop computers, television sets, and gaming consoles are no longer the only way to connect with other players online, making game-play a portable activity that can happen in a diverse array of settings. Gameplay has long since moved on from solely being recreational and has found considerable traction in the military, business and industry, and increasingly, education as a useful training and motivation tool. While a growing number of educational institutions and programs are experimenting with game-play, there has also been increased attention surrounding gamification — the integration of gaming elements, mechanics, and frameworks into non-game situations and scenarios. Businesses have embraced gamification as a way to design incentive programs that engage employees through rewards, leader boards, and badges, often with a mobile component. Although more nascent than in military or industry settings, the gamification of education is gaining support among educators who recognize that effectively designed games can stimulate large gains in productivity and creativity among learners."About the Quantified Self trend, the report mentions that:"People have always demonstrated interest in learning about themselves by tracking and measuring their behaviors and activities. Students already spend time in formal classroom settings gathering data about themselves or research topics. Quantified self technologies tap into this interest in the form of mobile apps, wearable devices, and cloud-based services that make the data collection process much easier."The Quantified Self movement can benefit from gamification. In fact, if people are able to track and measure their behaviors, adding the proper game elements, they can be motivated to improve those behaviors, increase engagement in activities promoting those behaviors and change undesirable behaviors. This is the all idea behind gamification. And Education can benefit from both trends: gamification and the quantified self.In this post published on Gamifeye, four approaches were mentioned to collecting data in gamified systems. Quantified self with gamification is the second approach, "using some external device". In Education they are also connected to Learning Analytics.

This is my first post for this year. I have not been able to blog due to lot of changes that’s been happening in my professional life. Anyways, here I come, once again, to share the little knowledge that I have. This blog post is for those venturing into custom e-learning business or people who are getting started with their first e-learning project. Before I get into the crux of this post, I would like to explain why I decided to write on this topic. When you are trying to do something for the first time, there is always lot to  learn and do before you actually get successful. For example, when you are learning to swim, you have lots of fears and inhibitions to overcome, many guidelines to follow and lot of practical exercises to do, before you actually start swimming. Likewise, while getting started with your e-learning business or your first e-learning project, you are likely to face challenges, hurdles before you finally execute the project. With some common sense and a systematic approach,  you can easily tackle challenges and execute your project smoothly. So here are some guidelines for startups, individuals starting with their first e-learning project. These guidelines apply only to those working in very small teams/virtual teams. Please note these guidelines do not follow any specific order. I hope these will help you avoid mistakes and execute your project successfully. So here you go. When starting with your first e-learning project, make sure you do all of the following. Get a Grip of Instructional Design/E-learning Design - Make sure you completely understand about instructional design or e-learning design and development. It is important you have a clear idea what kind of work goes into e-learning development. Gain hands-on experience - When you are starting a business and when there are very few people in your company, you cannot afford to just supervise or monitor. Make sure you also get down to work. It doesn’t matter you know the tricks of the trade or not. You will learn only by doing. Build a good rapport with the client - Make sure you interact a lot with the client before actually you get down to work. Spend a lot of time confirming the requirements and what you propose to do for them. Remember the client may or may not know about e-learning. Take some time to brief them about it or show samples. Check mode/medium of delivery -Make sure you know how the client plans to deliver the e-learning to the learners.  Research and study about SCORM and other standards. Study the LMS that the client is using. This will help you design and develop content that complies with the client’s system. Get a sign off on A&D -Make sure you get a sign off on the Analysis and Design document before you start storyboarding. Plan your project- Share the project plan with the client and team. Make sure you stick to the plan. Hire a consultant if required - But make sure you do not give him/her complete control, even if he/she is an expert. It can be dangerous for your business. Outsource with care and caution - If you are outsourcing the storyboarding activity, make sure your freelance IDs completely understand the requirement. Introduce the IDs to the client.  It is important that you stay in the loop while the IDs communicate with the client. If you are outsourcing the graphic design bit, make sure you hire graphic designers much in advance and involve them right from the Analysis and Design stage. Keep backup - Always plan for unexpected exit. For example if an ID leaves the project, you should have already planned for his/her work. Develop design standards and checklists -  Based on the Analysis and Design that you did for the project, come up with standards and guidelines to storyboard. These checklists will be very helpful when 2 or more IDs are working on the project and this will also help you determine the quality of work, when you review the storyboard. Review work - Make sure you review the work yourself before it goes out to the SME or client. If the SME has suggested fixes, make sure you check the fixes, once its done by the IDs. Since this is your first project, do not take a chance. Set rules of engagement with the Subject Matter Expert - Articulate clearly how you will interact with the SME. For example, how do you want the SME to send review comments? Should he/she use the Review feature in MS PowerPoint or highlight changes in a different color? Remember if you do not set rules of engagement, interactions with the SME will get too messy. Monitor activities regularly - Always monitor and continuously look into the activities throughout the e-learning development cycle. For example if your graphic designer has started work, frequently check work progress. Check quality of work. If you do not monitor, it will be too late until you discover shabby work or undone work. Set communication channels - If you have a virtual team or an in-house team, make sure you communicate with your team frequently and check work progress. Make sure you use email to communicate with your client, SME and team. You will have a record of all communication that has happened. Organize mails and work-  Make sure you sort all emails you exchange with your client, SME and team. Keep track of all mails and make sure they are easy to locate. Use a tool or have a folder structure in place that will allow you to track versions of storyboards and also reviewed copy of storyboards. Keep your client informed - Make sure you keep the client updated of the work progress. Use an iterative process - Complete small chunks of work and test it with learners. This will help you make lot of fixes beforehand. If your course is structured as Modules and Lessons, make sure you get review comments after  every lesson. Sending an entire module for review is not a good idea. Freeze content - Make sure you freeze content at one point. For example, after lesson 1 review and fixes, get a sign off on lesson 1. If the SME keeps changing his/her mind or if the SME keeps reviewing the same stuff, it will be disastrous for you. Test your e-learning - Map the e-learning course with the storyboard.Make sure your e-learning program goes through ample rounds of review before it is shipped off to the client. Avoid delays - Do everything that will allow you to complete work on time. Track delay in responses, delay in work. When you upload documents for review, get an acknowledgment from the client that they received the document.  If people from the client side are not responding, follow up. Do not wait. I am sure there is lot more to the list above.  Do you have any tips to add to this list? Please leave it in the Comments section.

Editing a video using Camtasia is a bit of a challenge for newbies - you will agree to this, if you are a regular user of Camtasia. But I think every tool has its pain points and there is always a learning curve with all  e-learning or screen capture tools. You really need to figure out how to work well with tools like Camtasia to make your life easy. Otherwise you will spend hours editing unwanted portions in your video. Before we proceed further, here is a video that I recently created using Camtasia. A few things about this video: This video showcases a software meant to be used by people working in organizations which conduct Clinical Trials. The software essentially will help people manage their day to day activities using the software. The software will allow people minimize paper work,  automate their processes and reduce errors. This video  is a quick tutorial on how to model a trial using the software. The objective is to educate existing customers on how to use the software to execute their tasks. The objective is not to project the benefits of the software. I created this video in less than 1 hour and editing was not so difficult because I planned in such a way that editing should not be time consuming. So here are some quick  tips to reduce editing time in Camtasia which I think work really well: #1 Remember editing might get painful when you have to split frames in the video. As far as possible, you must avoid splitting frames.For example, a frame is highlighted below in the Timeline: You may have to split the frame in to two or three,  if you want to extend the time of a portion of this frame. Throughout the video, if you have to keep splitting frames, editing will get really tiring. #2 While shooting the raw video, make sure you record in parts and not in one go. If you record in parts, you will not have to split the video into multiple frames. Removing unwanted portions and also extending the time of each frame will be easy. For example, the screenshot below shows many camrec files and one camproj file. The camrec files are the raw/unedited frames of the video.  I shot the video as I performed each task and saved the raw video of each task as a separate camrec file.For tasks with more steps/details, I broke the task in to two camrec files. Example: Check two camrec files for "Visit Schedule". Finally I added each of these camrec files one after the other in the timeline. I quickly edited, rather removed unwanted portions of the frame in each camrec file, added callouts and finally saved it as a camproj file. #3 While shooting the raw video, never hurry up. Make sure you give enough time for the actions and (say 5 seconds or more) for the callout. This way you will not have to split the video and will be able to easily place the callout in appropriate places in the video. #4 If you are planning to add transition only in specific portions of the video, plan your camrec files or frames in advance. For example the video above has transition in 2 places - check 1:56 and 3:48.  Here is a screenshot: If you notice the transition happens during the course of a task and not after a task is completed.Here the task is "Editing the Visits Schedule" and since there is lot of data to enter in the cells. I filled in a few cells and then applied the transition effect after which the data filled across all cells is shown. I knew I had to add a transition so while shooting the raw video I separated the task into 2 camrec files - one camrec file that shows entering cells in a couple of cells and the second which has all the data entered across cells. This way I could add the transition effect in between these two frames. Note transitions can be applied only in between frames. #5 While shooting and editing a video using Camtasia, always remember that  removing unwanted frames is easier than splitting frames. Hope you found this post useful. If you use Camtasia and have some editing tips to share, please leave a comment.

When I was creating this tutorial video using Camtasia, I was looking for ways to insert an audio loop. The audio clip I had was just 32 seconds and I had to extend it till 4 minutes. In Camtasia Studio, I could not find an option to loop the audio track. Please let me know if there is any such option. I could see only one option that was possible in Camtasia Studio - Add the audio track to the timeline multiple times. For example, I have added the audio clip twice in the Timeline as shown below. But then, after googling for sometime, I found a better option. The option was to create the audio loop in Audacity and then add it in Camtasia Studio. Here is the video that I referred to and it really helped me a great deal: Hope you find this video useful and do let me know if you have any good tips to loop audio files.

The gEducation Workshop - How Gamification is changing the future of Education will be held in Barcelona, on the Gamification World Congress. The gEducation Workshop will be on Saturday, May 24, 2014 (9:00am - 1:30pm).   Topics of Interest:    •    Tools for education    •    Gamification in education    •    Techniques and strategies    •    Frameworks    •    Collaborative learning    •    Innovative methodologies    •    Success stories    •    User experiences and gamification in the clasrooms    •    Management of gamified classrooms    •    Useful resources for educators    •    Gamification for different learning levels    •    Styles of gamfication in educational environment    •    E-learningImportant Dates:    •    Submission deadline: April 14    •    Notifications: May 1    •    Workshop: May 24

Some years back, I had to go through an induction program in one MNC. I was introduced to an award winning e-learning program that was supposed to introduce me to the company, product, services,  policies and procedures and more. The e-learning course interface design was  extravagant. It was an expert graphic designer’s work. While the design was out of the world, the content was too drab and boring. To be frank , I got nothing out of the course. All that I did was just click Next to proceed further while I checked out the rich, bright e-learning interface.Though I gained no value out of the course, I did think the interface did lure me to explore the entire course. There was a time when I used to give a thumps up to fancy designs and interfaces and a thumps down to anything that was plain and simple. To me at that point of time, form was just as important as function. I could never think of compromising on form. Today my perception has changed. I completely believe form must follow function. However, the decision whether or not to compromise on form is completely context specific, depends on the end user requirements. For example: If you are trying to sell a product, say chocolates, it is not enough you produce high quality stuff. You also need to make sure that the wrapper is attractive enough to lure people to buy the chocolates. If you want to train pilots, a flight simulator is very much needed and will alone serve the purpose. High definition and rich content is part of aviation training. If you want to create e-learning for kids, you need to present  content using rich images/animations, sound/music and make it as attractive as possible for the kids.No colors,  no images, no sound, will not work well with kids even if the content is very useful. In all the scenarios above, form is equally or sometimes more important than function. On the other hand, if you are building a software application to solve a business/enterprise problem, the following questions are of utmost importance: Is the software easy to use? Is the software easy to learn? Does the software solve the business problem? If all the above requirements are met, even if the software user interface is simple, it will work well with the customers/users. So what do you think? Should form follow function or vice versa? Please share scenarios, if you can.

The International Journal of Serious Games (IJSG) has lauched its first issue (volume 1, number 1, january 2014). The published papers are fully available for download:Individual and collaborative Performance and Level of Certainty in MetaValsMireia Usart, Margarida RomeroGamification and Smart, Competence-Centered Feedback: Promising Experiences in the ClassroomMichael D. Kickmeier-Rust, Eva C. Hillemann, Dietrich AlbertGuidelines for an effective design of serious gamesChiara Eva Catalano, Angelo Marco Luccini, Michela MortaraSerious Games for education and trainingAlessandro De Gloria, Francesco Bellotti, Riccardo BertaBusiness models for Serious Games developers - transition from a product centric to a service centric approachJannicke Baalsrud Hauge, Stefan Wiesner, Rosa Garcia Sanchez, Poul Kyvsgaard Hansen, Giusy Fiucci, Michel Rudnianski, Jon Arambarri BasanezThe journal is seeking for contributions in several topics. Gamification is one of those topics.The IJSG is published by the Serious Games Society.

I was busy last two months and that’s one main reason, I have kept away from this blog. This month is better and I have been catching up with some of my friends and fellow Instructional Designers A  short discussion with my fellow Instructional Designers on the state of Instructional Design/Instructional Designers in India prompted me to write this post. What is the actual state of Instructional Design and Instructional Designers in India today - This is something I guess all of us in India want to know!! Note: When I say Instructional Designers, I do not mean learning/performance consultants. I mean people who develop training material. Based on my discussions with people in the e-learning industry and what I have seen in the recent past, here is what I assume/think is happening: Rapid e-learning is very much in. Flash based e-learning exists but is getting stagnant. Software/Application training material dominates the e-learning market. K12/Soft Skills/Other non technical training materials are getting developed but not in abundance. MNCs still go for Instructor led  training programs. How does this affect the area of Instructional Design? Instructional Design can no longer be associated with creativity, innovation, thinking out of the box because templates, standards, rules and guidelines are very much in. Technical Writing becomes a part of Instructional Design because most Instructional Designers today work on SAP training modules or any other technology related training material. How does this affect Instructional Designers? Apart from  regular skills/knowledge, Instructional Designers today : MUST/NEED to be tech savvy Domain expertise (software/technology/aviation/finance/more) is a must Must learn to work with templates, rules, standards and guidelines Must know technical writing standards Must know how to use rapid e-learning tools like Articulate, Captivate, Camtasia. Must know HTML, CSS Well, whatever I have listed here is based on assumptions. I really don’t have facts or findings. Can you help? If you are in the e-learning industry or into the e-learning business, please take sometime to correct whatever I have shared in this post or share facts/findings, if you have any. This will help a lot of people in India.

You have an amazing software product….. the product is going to create great value for your customers…. you plan to invest a lot in support and training and increase  product adoption…… Wow! Is that good enough? Have you thought of a way to increase product adoption, keeping training and support costs low? Well, it’s not simple,  I know. However it’s not impossible either…. Solution: Invest more in the usability of the  product. Focus on user effectiveness. increase success rate and reduce users errors improve ease of use and ease of learning increase user productivity and user satisfaction increase user trust in the system I know this sounds very theoretical. Will try to share some case studies in the coming days. Meanwhile I would like to hear from you. Please share your views or case studies if any.