It's 2 challenges in one! Conversations & branching scenarios mingle with some special characters. Read more...

Going back to school can be a big change in your life. Suddenly you have to make time and adjust to either going to class or attending an online course. This change in routine can lead to a change in habits. Primarily it’s the healthy habits that get the boot out the door. It doesn’t have to be this way. There are three areas that you can make small efforts to maintain a healthy lifestyle that will not only make you feel better but will actually benefit you in your education as well: sleep; nutrition; and exercise. SLEEP It may sound obvious but SLEEP IS GOOD!!!! It’s tempting to have a late night cram session before a test or stay up because you waited last minute to write your paper. Sleep actually improves your memory. During sleep your brain strengthens memories you experienced while awake. Learning Spanish? You’ll be able to speak it better with a good night’s sleep than without. It’s called consolidation. Seriously. Look it up! Sleep also seems to strengthen the emotional components of memory during sleep which may help ignite the creative process. Next time you forget an assignment that wonderful sleep you got will help you come up with a better excuse than the dog ate it. NUTRITION You don’t have to be in a dorm to gain the 'freshman fifteen'. It’s very easy to sit in front of the computer and eat one chip, two chips, three bags later… When you eat healthy you actually increase blood flow to your brain. This keeps your brain sharp. It can even help prevent Alzheimer’s disease! But it’s not your address you are worried about forgetting, it’s the formulas in organic chemistry you are concerned about right now. Reaching for baked, steamed and grilled foods rather than fried and favor baked can contribute a lot to having a healthier lifestyle while studying for school. If fast food is your easiest option, get the grilled chicken sandwich hold the mayo rather than the fried greasy one (extra lettuce doesn’t count as a healthy substitute). EXERCISE Exercise has ridiculous benefits that can help with school! Let me break it down. Cardiovascular exercise can create new brain cells. BOOM! Getting sweaty increases production of cells in hippocampus (didn’t make that up) responsible for memory and learning. BOOM! It increases concentrations of norepinephrine (real), a chemical that moderate the brain’s response to stress. BOOM! Exercise releases endorphins which creates feelings of happiness. Yeah happy buzz! BOOM! School can be stressful but don’t take it out on your lifestyle. The benefits of having a healthy lifestyle won’t just reflect in your waist size but in the effort and results of your education. Just like the terms hippocampus and norepinephrine, you heard it here first. If you already knew those terms then maybe a profession in healthcare should be on your horizon. - See more at: http://www.milcareered.com/blog/healthy-lifestyles-can-benefit-your-educ...          

Today's Guest Blogger is Christian Wright, an instructional professional in the School of Life Sciences as ASU. He has a Master’s in Education and a Ph.D. in Biology where he studied the interaction between physiological condition, environment, and foraging behavior of Gila monsters in Dr. Dale DeNardo’s lab in the School of Life Sciences at ASU. Additionally, he was a postdoctoral research scholar in Dr. Sara Brownell’s lab in the School of Life Sciences at ASU. His current research is a continuation and extension of research he worked on with Dr. Brownell in her lab and focuses specifically on 1) generating a validated general biology programmatic assessment, 2) exploring potential biases in undergraduate biology classrooms as well as examining mechanisms and interventions that may explain and alleviate said biases, 3) evaluating assessments used by undergraduate biology instructors and by biology education researchers to determine if these measurement tools are indeed measuring what they intend to measure, and 4) exploring how and why instructional strategies differentially impact cohorts of students in undergraduate biology classrooms. Additionally, Christian co-teaches the two introductory courses for biology majors as well as a freshman success seminar.For this Teach Tech Blog, I chose to highlight a recent study that illustrates how students with different gender identities are impacted by instructional practices that may become increasingly common in undergraduate biology classrooms. A recent meta-analysis by Freeman et al., (2014) showed that active learning improves academic performance compared to traditional lecture. As we incorporate active learning into our classrooms, it’s important to remember that the students in our classrooms are not homogeneous. Rather, students enter our classrooms with a diverse array of backgrounds and social identities, which may impact their experiences in our classes. As such, it is crucial to understand how students from different backgrounds and with different identities may be impacted by our teaching practices. I chose to focus on gender for this blog because recent work has shown that, despite controlling for metrics of prior academic ability, female students in large-enrollment introductory biology classrooms that used an array of teaching practices ranging from traditional to much more student-centered teaching consistently underperform on exams compared with males and that females participated much less frequently in class discussions relative to male students (Eddy, Brownell, and Wenderoth, 2014).Women experience active learning differently than menNot all students may be reaping the benefits of active learning. Multiple barriers may prevent students from fully engaging in active learning, including anxiety, feeling dominated by other students, and not believing that active learning is useful. In a new study out in the December issue of CBE Life Sciences Education, Eddy, Brownell et al. (2015) explored this potential problem in biology classrooms and found a gender effect.  When asked about their comfort participating in active learning, women were much less comfortable than men in participating in whole class discussions (Eddy, Brownell et al., 2015), which may help explain why female voices are not heard as often as males in these classes (Eddy, Brownell, and Wenderoth 2014).  In contrast, women and men are equally comfortable during small group discussions.  Despite equal comfort, their experiences in these groups were different. Women were more likely to prefer to collaborate with other group members, while men were more likely to take on the role of the leader.  Further, women valued peer discussions much more when they had a friend in the group - which didn’t seem to matter to men.  Taken together, these experiences indicate that active learning is not the same for all students.  It also means that perhaps to allow women and men to have the same opportunities in active learning classrooms, we need to incorporate more small groupwork, structure that small groupwork so students can participate more equally, and perhaps give students the chance to work with friends.ConclusionsThese inequities are indeed troubling, but not unavoidable. By continuing to conduct research into second-generation active learning and by closely scrutinizing how our active learning approaches can differentially impact our students, we as instructors can hopefully help to create environments that are inclusive and equitable to all students. What experiences have you had with gender roles in active learning classrooms? Please take a minute to share! ReferencesEddy SL, Brownell SE, Thummaphan P, Lan MC, Wenderoth MP (2015).  Caution, student experience may vary: socialidentities impact a student’s experience in peer discussions.  CBE Life Sci Educ .  December 2015.Eddy SL, Brownell SE, Wenderoth MP (2014). Gender gaps in achievement and participation in multiple introductorybiology classrooms. CBE Life Sci Educ 13, 478-492.Freeman S, Eddy SL, McDonough M, Smith MK, Okoroafor N, Jordt H, Wenderoth MP (2014). Active learning increasesstudent performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111, 8410-8415.

Learning executives and professionals worldwide have voted our company’s solution one of The Best of Elearning! 2015 products. After being nominated earlier this year, it was announced on December 7 that TrainingPartner/GeoTalent received an Award of Excellence for Enterprise Learning Management. Catherine Upton, Group Publisher of Elearning! and Government Elearning! Magazines, wrote, "Congratulations to you and your entire team. Thank you for continuing to innovate and drive enterprise learning to new heights." In its 11th year, Elearning! Media Group hosts the only user’s choice awards in the enterprise learning and workplace technology market. For the 2015 awards, readers and professionals from both the private and public sector cast more than 4,000 nominations across 30 product categories. Category Winners and Award of Excellence recipients for each category were revealed in the Winter issue of Elearning! magazine. This year, 100 individual products and solutions were named as finalists. "Our industry continues to innovate and evolve… We are committed to recognizing innovation and user satisfaction across a diverse group of solution providers," reports Jerry Roche, editorial director of the Elearning! Media Group.

Last month, as part of a craft of writing session, English and Writing students were invited to contribute to their lecture via twitter. Including a real time conversational element to the lecture seemed apt given that the nature of the session was dialogue. Prior to the lecture students were emailed a hashtag and invited to contribute should they wish. During the session the live tweets were broadcast to all in the lecture theatre. This was the first time a session like this had been run with the cohort and it was as much of a learning exercise for staff as it was for students. Purposefully no rules were implemented as part of the activity, and although conversation occasionally diverted away from the lesson having staff who were tweeting with the students meant conversations were steered towards the subject should they veer too far off topic. The addition of a digital dialogue element to the session gave an extra dimension to an already engaging lecture. Particularly interesting was that one of the most engaged students in the session via twitter wasn’t even studying on the course and had instead contributed after seeing the hashtag on his friends twitter wall and decided to get involved. The decision by academic staff to incorporate this interactive element was really encouraging, they wanted students to become involved in the session and went with a method that they had not used previously. Sometimes it is difficult to try new things because you are unsure of how they will go and if it will be a success. Hopefully the english team will build on this experience, reflecting on the dialogue session to include further methods students can contribute to taught sessions. As a team we are always happy to support academic staff wanting to introduce a technical element into their teaching, if you’ve been inspired by this session or want to discuss any ideas you have please get in touch with the team: etsupport@falmouth.ac.uk   

What comprises a superlative student?  If you could fill out an end of course survey for your students, a perfect score might look something like this... In an ongoing series, Marina Gutai, a recent IWU...Continue Reading »

 Photo credit: Frederic Legrand - COMEO / Shutterstock.com In Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan’s recent letter to their newborn daughter, Max, they point to personalized learning technology as the key to helping their daughter and others in her generation achieve their goals. As a learning strategy, personalized learning recognizes that students have different needs. Learning programs adapt for each individual based on their learning process and goals so that they can be as innovative, productive, and accomplished as possible. Personalized learning technology ties together both the capabilities of improving the potential of individuals as well as the education of children all over the world. It can serve the most diverse populations whether they are in the same classroom or at different locations. In its essence, personalized learning combines the two overriding ideas that power Zuckerberg and Chan’s new philanthropic initiative of about $45 billion: "advancing human potential and promoting equality." In their letter, they write to Max about her future: …You’ll have technology that understands how you learn best and where you need to focus. You’ll advance quickly in subjects that interest you most, and get as much help as you need in your most challenging areas. You’ll explore topics that aren’t even offered in schools today. Your teachers will also have better tools and data to help you achieve your goals. Even better, students around the world will be able to use personalized learning tools over the internet, even if they don’t live near good schools. Of course it will take more than technology to give everyone a fair start in life, but personalized learning can be one scalable way to give all children a better education and more equal opportunity. Others are already advising Zuckerberg and Chan on how to go forward. Psychologist Howard Gardner, originator of the theory of multiple intelligences,  advises on learning pathways, individual choice, varied approaches to learning, and different intelligences. Anya Kamenetz at NPR, talks to education experts who remind us that with personalized learning comes redesigning schools and investing in support for teachers —which Zuckerberg and Chan are planning to do. Zuckerberg and Chan admit that there are many ways to achieve personalized or adaptive learning  but technology is key to its success. They also recognize that in order to accomplish their goals, they need to partner with leading education experts. Acrobatiq’s courseware, based on the research of learning science experts  at Carnegie Mellon, aligns with what Zuckerberg and Chan imagine for the future. And Smart Author  gives instructors the capability to personalize their entire course in a way that reflects exactly what they want to teach using Acrobatiq’s comprehensive technology platform. With this announcement and funding, Zuckerberg and Chan have reinvigorated the work of educators everywhere to explore and adopt best practices and platforms in personalized learning.

As we do every month, we’re bringing you the most interesting and insightful articles about gamification that we read this month. Gamification is really growing as an industry, so this month I thought I’d write an edition which demonstrates how gamification is being used in completely different fields. Let’s start. The gamification of cyber security "Gamification and cyber security? How is that a thing?" That’s exactly how I reacted when I came across this article. A competition which took place in London this month attempted to find the next best up and coming tech talents, to recruit to the fight against cyber threats. You might be imagining rows and rows of hackers sitting opposite bluish screens and poring over code and complex puzzles, but in reality they were actually all super focused on… games. The Cyber Security Challenge UK, organized by experts from GCHQ, BT, Lockheed Martin and the National Crime Agency (NCA) is an annual event. Interestingly, organizers say that they believe the next generation of cyber security talent is likely to come from the gaming environment, which is why the challenge shifted from a set of simple tasks that could only be accessed at limited times, to a much more immersive gaming environment called the virtual skyscraper. This gamified environment tests technical curiosity, problem solving skills, competitiveness and desire for peer recognition, which are all important traits for a successful career in the cyber security industry. Gamification in banking Yep, another surprising industry. An article in firstpost.com speaks about how gamification is an important tool in the transition to the digital banking era. The article quotes research which indicates that interest in gamification in the banking industry is rapidly growing, and that the percentage of banks that are implementing some kind of gamification solution in their organization has gone up from single digits to somewhere in the 30’s. A great example is a gamification solution used by BBVA. The game rewards usage of online services with medals, badges, and points that can be used to claim real world prizes. In essence, BBVA is using gamification to educate the market about a new solution, which will benefit the customers and offer them a much better experience once they get used to it. Another example is Rabobank, which has an internal gamification network for knowledge and idea sharing across the organization. Rabobank has also used gamification to encourage customers to complete their mortgage application documentation online. Gamifying politics You know how your grumpy uncle always says that politics is just a game? Well, yeah, he might have had a point. A local councilor from the city of Windsor in Ontario, wants to build a gamification app where citizens can digitally push levers and buttons, in order to move money around in a fun way. All this is meant to encourage people to take part in local democracy. The councilor said that he sees gamification as a way to increase citizen engagement, and that he can only see good coming from it. The game would be able to show users the consequences of an unbalanced budget (rising taxes, for example). Local politicians are thinking that through the game, they might be able to get a glimpse of how users would react to tax increases and other changes in policy. You can read more about it here. Gamification for marathon runners? Milestone sports, a sports tech company announced the launch of a new gamification program for running event organizers. The program is meant to gamify the training process for running event participants. Through different wearable devices, participants can see how they are performing in comparison to other event participants on a host of parameters which are all aimed at improving the runners’ results. Participants get rewards for sticking to their training regiment, and the program will also identify areas that need improvement in their running style or form. These gamified features assist runners in reaching their goals and prevents them from getting injured. If you’re a runner, or just interested, you might want to give the whole article a look. That’s all for November. If you’ve come across an interesting piece on gamification, we’re always interested to see if we missed something. Feel free to send us an email with the best gamification articles you came across!

Workforce gamification is on the rise, and its powerful potential is only beginning to be unlocked. The question I often get asked is what is enterprise gamification used for. Broadly speaking, many workforce gamification projects we implement are either for performance - workforce performance management - or for training/onboarding - i.e. learning. Today’s workplaces need both: real-time performance management AND better learning and collaboration. Each company can choose what it needs first, and sometimes a combination of both flavors is the best solution. Gamification for Learning The first kind of gamification we see a lot is gamification for learning, or what a lot of organizations call e-learning. This is implemented in organizations in a host of different situations - When a new product is launched and the company would want to ensure salespeople are aware of it and the company wants the employees to learn about it, when new guidelines come out as to how to handle customers (or just as periodical training to refresh employees), or even when a new employee goes through her onboarding process and is learning the ropes at the new organization that she has now joined. This kind of gamification can usually be characterized by tasks that involve completion, such as going through learning materials (typically pulled from learning management systems) and other activities that check learning and enhance it, such as quizzes, simulations, TV game show scenarios (where the questions are about relevant information) and others. Learning projects that are on-boarding centric are usually shorter, since the knowledge that is being acquired is needed for the near future in order for the employee to do their job properly. But when learning is combined with performance, as we’ll see below, learning becomes longer term. Gamification for performance management Disrupting traditional HR performance management, workforce performance gamification gives employees real-time views of their goals, objectives and KPIs, so that they can reflect on their performance. Here, the aim is first to learn about how an employee is doing, and then see what can be done to improve this performance. At GamEffective, our platform is always learning and monitoring the performance of employees. Our user interface makes it easy for both employees and managers to see how performance is developing over time. Using this data, it is also possible to create benchmarks against which an employee can measure himself, or create predictions for how we expect an employee to do in the future. But that’s only the beginning of what gamification for performance management can do for employees. Over time, we’ve noticed that making performance data available to the employees themselves, allows for a host of different positive outcomes like self-reflection and self-improvement of employees. It also allows for employees to see how they are doing in comparison to their peers, and to see what KPI’s they need to get better at in order to advance towards those who are currently performing better than them. Finally, part of performance management gamification is competition. At GamEffective we’ve learnt that competition is a great tool to increase competition, but only if it is done in the right way. It’s important to maintain a sense of competence and competitiveness also in those employees who are consistently performing at a lower standard than their peers, and we’ve developed a few mechanisms to do this. Performance gamification with learning components Sometimes it is possible to have the best of both worlds. In our case, this means creating the best environment for employees so that they can both be aware of their performance and of how they are performing in comparison to other employees and also have an opportunity to undergo learning sessions tailored specifically to the KPI’s in which they need to improve, at relevant times. One way in which we are doing this on our platform, is by integrating e-learning micro sessions in to the performance management system. So, when employees enter the platform they can see how they are performing in comparison to their own benchmark, to other employees, or to other teams. At the same time, they also have gauges that show them in real time what KPI’s they are weakest in, so that they can undergo micro learning sessions in real time and improve in the aspects of their performance which they are currently lacking. The idea is to give both a long term picture of performance, and an immediate option of improving, learning and moving forward.

The old saying Don’t work harder, work smarter might seem like common sense, but it isn’t common practice—especially during the hectic holiday season. In addition to the year-end push for revenue goals and project completion at work, everyone’s personal time is impacted with school vacations and holiday celebrations that can result in added pressure and frenzied activity. Many people approach this season with the mindset If I put in maximum time and effort 24/7, I should be able to get it all done. I’d like to suggest something a little different. Although it’s very tempting to tell yourself "Don’t just sit there, do something," please consider this: "Don’t just do something, sit there!" I know it sounds counterintuitive, but let me explain how this mindset can make things easier both at work and at home. Someone once taught me the phrase Plan your work and then work your plan. When you jump into a project without proper planning, you often make decisions without all the necessary information—which can create extra work for both you and your team. But when you take the time to think, strategize, and prioritize, you’ll actually save time, have better focus, and avoid pitfalls along the way. At work, it’s critical to take the time to create a project plan before taking action. This will allow you to be proactive at making continuous progress toward the end goal instead of being reactive when issues come up along the way and slow you down. Without a clear plan, you have no real focus. And without focus, you might be working hard—but not smart. At home, it’s important to get the whole family involved in creating a plan for the holidays. There’s nothing sadder than ruining your own holiday spirit because you feel like you have to do it all. You might be surprised at how much everyone would pitch in on holiday preparations if you simply asked for help. So sit down as a group and decide who is going to be involved in which project. Doing projects together—whether it’s cooking, shopping, or entertaining—adds to the positive holiday spirit. And you’ll spend more time together as a family. What’s more important than that? I encourage you to sit down and take a few minutes right now to plan your work and personal activities for the coming month. I guarantee it will be time well spent—and you’ll enjoy the benefits of working smarter, not harder.

Our belief: At Vignettes Learning we use stories in eLearning; however, we make them interactive. The emphasis is getting learners involved in the story and not just telling the learners the story.Synthesis. eLearning designs should not spoon-feed learners. Developers and designers are encouraged to create modules that challenge the intelligence and creativity of the learners. Knowledge spoon-feeding would create infants out of learners. Image SourceThe job of eLearning designers should enable learners to reflect, discover and decide rather than just giving information out. Creating the proverbial comfort zone in eLearning designs is the formula for boredom. The so-called ‘comfort zone’ induces students to become passive. It dulls their minds and suppresses creativity.Facilitators and trainers shift the control of the learning from the learners to them by giving too much information and data. Overly eager designers tend to manipulate the modules to attain their desired results. They want the learners to win the ballgame according to their terms and biased outcomes. Intellectual constraints build mental muscles. Muscles are formed by consistently engaging them with artificial stress and constraints. You don’t need Arnold Schwarzenegger to tell you that. Likewise, designers must push elearners’ to critically think and carry some mental burden to arrive at or discover learning nuggets. Let them travel through a labyrinth and discover their way out in the quest to acquire knowledge.As an eLearning designer, I understand the dilemma that my fellow colleagues face in the industry. By designing lessons that give more control to learners, we make ourselves ‘obsolete’. It’s a scary thought, right? I aired this matter in my blog : Are Trainers Still Needed? In that blog, I wrote: Informal learning, social learning, or learning based on the learners’ choices or options are certainly redefining the roles of trainers, learning specialists and even learners themselves. As they take more control of their own learning on their own terms, this becomes a frightening scenario to many learning specialists."Letting go of control" pushes trainers to rethink their roles in the learning process. However, rather than balk at the prospect, it is about time that this becomes an open issue. Years ago, letting go of control was like committing suicide where trainers are concerned.Truth to say, we trainers, never had total control. We’ve always felt, thought and convinced ourselves that we control learning because we instruct and teach knowledge. However in reality, learners choose to learn based on their own personal goals. So, this openness about losing control is not entirely novel news. It should no longer be a surprise.Interestingly, this is the same concept that Adam Richardson wrote in his Harvard Business Review article entitled ‘Boosting Creativity Through Constraints’. In that article, Richardson writes: Conventional wisdom holds that the best way to boost a team's creativity is to unshackle them from constraints. The less they have to worry about, the more open they'll be with their ideas, the theory goes. Budget? Unlimited! Ideas from outside? Bring 'em on! Different business model? Consider it entertained! Unfortunately this approach can actually be counter-productive.Some constraints are realities that must to be dealt with — laws of physics, or perhaps a budget. Other constraints may seem immovable but upon inspection are actually assumptions based on the past — your business model, or which customers and needs you serve, for example.Constraints have a Goldilocks quality: too many and you will indeed suffocate in stale thinking, too few and you risk a rambling vision quest. The key to spurring creativity isn't the removal of all constraints. Ideally you should impose only those constraints (beyond the truly non-negotiable ones) that move you toward clarity of purpose.If a constraint enhances your understanding of the problem scope and why you're doing what you're doing, leave it in. Insights into user needs, for example, are great because they provide focus and rationale. If the constraint confuses or overly narrows scope without good reason, remove or replace it. Don't be afraid to experiment with different combinations of constraints; it's not always easy to tell ahead of time what the right mix will be for a particular project or circumstance.Here are some tips on how to build constraints that compel learner’s creativity:Ask or post the right questions in your modules. Target the learner’s blindside. Post unexpected questions that are not answered by yes or no. Use hyperlinks and links in your lessons. Let you eLearners navigate through other knowledge references. Present contradictory ideas and compel your students to take a stand. Opposing views fuel discussion. Collaborative learning is attained when there are clashes of ideas and concepts. Do not feed your students with your conclusions or recommendations. Guide them through but do not dictate as to how the learning should be concluded. Provide a feedback mechanism so that you can challenge the answers or conclusions of the elearners. Whenever possible, use learning games. This can make learning entertaining. Related BlogsAre Trainers Still Needed?Are you guilty of interrupting the learners learning?Reference: Boosting Creativity Through Constraints by Adam RichardsonRay Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Our belief: At Vignettes Learning we use stories in eLearning; however, we make them interactive. The emphasis is getting learners involved in the story and not just telling the learners the story. Synthesis.Avatars are not only novelties or catchy web accessories. They provide web users with a third-person perspective of themselves. Avatars help us project ourselves during web interactivity. Recent studies show that the third-person perspective has more advance uses in eLearning and interaction.Image Source I chanced upon an EA Sports website, a gaming portal that enables players to ‘paste’ their head shots onto the body of the player of their choice. The feature is called Game Face. It gives this alluring welcome to the players: Create your EA sports avatar on the web and get to play as yourself in the games!I am not into gaming but I like the concept of personification: the users "see themselves" in the interactive zone they are engaged in. Perhaps, people tend to become more efficient in interactive games when they see themselves in it. The survival instinct kicks in: they don’t want to see their avatar lose or die right before their very eyes.As eLearning facilitators, we make it a point to require elearners to post their photos or avatars during interactive sessions. The chat room and online forum become more ‘personified’ during virtual lessons through the photos or avatars of fellow learners. An article published in the Harvard Business Review describes a breakthrough research that takes the avatar concept technology a hundred notches higher. In You Make Better Decisions If You "See" Your Senior Self, Hal Hershfield writes:"There’s a large body of literature showing that emotional responses are heightened when you give people vivid examples: Donors give more to charity when they hear from a victim; pulmonologists smoke less than other doctors because they see dirty lungs all day. So I partnered with Daniel Goldstein of Microsoft Research, Jeremy Bailenson of Stanford, and several other Stanford researchers see if giving people vivid images of their older selves would change their spending and saving preferences. We took photos of our subjects and used software to create digital avatars—half of which were aged with jowls, bags under the eyes, and gray hair. Wearing goggles and sensors, participants explored a virtual environment and came with a mirror that reflected either their current-self or future-self avatar. Afterward, we asked them to allocate $1,000 among four options—buying something nice for someone special, investing in a retirement fund, planning a fun event, or putting money into a checking account. Subjects exposed to aged avatars put nearly twice as much money into the retirement fund as the other people. Later we had some people see the older avatars of other subjects to test if that affected their choices, but it didn’t. Only those who saw their own future selves were more likely to favor long-term rewards."So, how do we apply the basic concepts of the third-person perspective in elearning design? How can we induce our elearners to "age or become more mature" in their responses? The correct and efficient use of avatars in story-based eLearning design is only part of the whole approach. To create the appropriate learning environment, designers should set a good storyline, an apt setting and a realistic script. Create the right tension and draw them into the scenario. Trust the learners and implement your lessons with the disposition that they can rise to the level of the challenge. In short, treat them as adults who are capable of being creative and responsive no matter how difficult your lessons may seem. Pace your lessons well so that learners have enough time to think, react and assess their response. We are recreating real-life scenarios. As such, there are emotions and reactions involved. While we try to draw out the spontaneous reaction from learners, it is also as important to give them space to process their own learning . The results of the above-mentioned research could be further applied to elearning development. I foresee that this third-person concept is applicable to value-based and ethics-centered lessons for NGOs, socio-civic organizations and churches. Indeed, the elearning universe is expanding because of the changing needs of global communities. Related BlogsThe Dream of Personalization - Far fetch but PossibleDesigning eLearning for Martians and Other Aliens Reference  You Make Better Decisions If You "See" Your Senior Self by Hal HershfieldRay Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Our belief: At Vignettes Learning we use stories in eLearning; however, we make them interactive. The emphasis is getting learners involved in the story and not just telling the learners the story.Synthesis: Accessibility to massive content  in this Digital Information Age can be overwhelming and sidetrack even those with the best intentions. It is therefore important that designers focus on the intended context of their lessons rather than allow themselves to be distracted by too much information during elearning development.  Minimizing  content to its essentials  can be an effective way to accelerate eLearning.  It allows  context to float to the surface like oil over water. Image SourceWell developed elearning programs put premium on embedding context rather than just provding content. A critical step to achieving this is distinguishing content that learners need to know or must know. It is lean yet significant. Otherwise, it does not create the intended learning impact. As we apply the approach to creating micro-lessons with the embedded context, learners are drawn to discover it and enables them to glean the critical knowledge and retain it more easily.The quality of content and the process by which we synthesize content are factors that affect learning. Content that simply  overloads our minds and makes learning incomprehensible can even  lead to confusion. In this light, context takes precedence over content. In my blog Context is King, I wrote:"With the massive information and content growth and the speed of information change, the next generation challenge is not content but rather how to make sense, how to discover and how to apply the ideas from the content. In essence, how to find the context becomes more important. This is known as Contextual Learning - a learning that connects content with what the learners already know and benefit from its immediate usefulness. It is not the amount of information that we provide learners that is important. It is what is meaningful and immediately useful to impact their performance."Here are points to ponder for elearning designers:• Content development doesn’t work like a piggy bank. Storing too much information in one single lesson weakens the learning framework. If you keep on dumping content without providing the process on how to weave everything into one symbiotic modality, your lesson becomes good for nothing.• Context focuses on micro-lessons that lead to rapid learning. Uncovering  a single lesson from one page is more practical than unearthing  multiple lessons from  a whole book. • Contextual learning limits the scope of the lesson but it does not mean that the learner  has lesser learning. • Context enables designers to focus only on what is relevant and disregards novelty and unnecessary  information embellishments that do not contribute to the eLearning structure.In his article  4 Weapons of Exceptional  Creative Leaders, Charles Day wrote:"The context gives us the ability to say no with confidence.Great leaders are not necessarily braver leaders. They’re just better informed about the consequences of their choices, which makes it easier for them to make the hard ones. The result is they are able to keep their companies focused.When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 as its CEO, he began saying no to virtually every request by Apple’s developers. He understood that saying yes was a distraction from where he knew he needed to take the company and having context gave him the confidence to stand by his convictions.Many leaders fear saying no and see it as limiting. But more often than not, it’s the right answer when you’re clear about where you’re headed and are in a hurry to get there. Context requires that you build from the future back. Once you know where you’re headed, the decision whether to turn left or right at any given fork becomes increasingly clear. Context is only relevant if it’s based on current information. Because the world is changing in real time, exceptional leaders actively welcome disruptive thinking."What is said about contextual leadership can also be applied in contextual elearning development.   Designers who are keen on contextual learning safeguards their lessons by saying "no" to: • Information overload that defocuses the learner from the heart of the lessons • Bland, boring and conventional designs that fail to challenge the creativity and rationality of the learners • Knowledge spoon-feeding that induces procrastination rather than participationRelated BlogsContext is KingConstraints Compel eLearner to be CreativeReferences4 Weapons ofExceptional  Creative Leaders by Charles DayRay Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Our belief: At Vignettes Learning we use stories in eLearning; however, we make them interactive. The emphasis is getting learners involved in the story and not just telling the learners the story.Synthesis. eLearning content should be a collaboration between the client and the instructional designer and developer. Without the collaborative process, it is more difficult to produce effective and impactful elearning design. This is the reason why training needs analysis is important in elearning development. The first question a developer should ask the client is: what do you want to learn?Recently, Ikea launched an ingenuously designed shelter for refugees. In his article, A New Ingeniously Designed Shelter For Refugees—Made By Ikea, Shane Snow writes:"The Ikea Foundation (which has invested approximately 3.4 million euros in the project so far) and UNHCR will beta test the shelters in Ethiopia next month, then iterate to a final design for mass production. They currently cost $10,000 to make, but they’re hoping to get that price down to less than $1,000 when they’re in mass production. The tents cost half that, but they hope to have the cost even out, given the long life of the shelters."The same article cites that these innovative shelters are twice as large as the old-school refugee tent. They measure 17.5 square meters, take four hours to assemble and designed to last 10 times longer than the conventional ones. Take a look at the Ikea tent here.Putting on my designer’s hat, I became fully aware of the amount of research, situational-needs analysis, behavioral study and technical preparations Ikea designers went through to produce the innovative refugee shelters. The design is objective and end-user specific: for refugees.The process of developing the elearning design is similar to the design approach of the said tent. Just as the blueprint of the tent was based on the needs of the refugees, the development of elearning modalities should consider the assessed requisites of the learners. In this sense, a needs analysis is a vital step. A shotgun approach will not achieve learning goals especially in the development of the elearning design. The next key step would be the presentation and discussion of results with client. Here lies the opportunity for a collaborative approach between designer /developer and the organization’s elearning stakeholders.In my years as an eLearning developer, I am convinced with certainty that the most effective and impactful lessons are those co-designed by the client. Co-design in this respect means that the client spent collaborative sessions with the developer to analyze the needs of the organization.Entities subscribed to elearning, participate in the development of lessons. After all, the principals have better knowledge of its members than the developers. Collaborative elearning development produces contextual lessons that hit the bull’s eye.In my book 3-Minute Learning, I pointed out one of the common pitfalls in eLearning course development: designing and developing e-Learning programs without understanding the principles of elearning behaviors and the nature of internet technologies.Based on the above fact, I cite these guide points for both the developers and elearning principals:Learning needs analysis should be implemented with a critical mind. The principal should disclose relevant data and information that could help designers come up with an objective-specific lesson. Designers should be given the general background of the elearners. Prior knowledge of the contextual situation of the organization would definitely help designers customize an appropriate eLearning design. Principals should inform the designers about the strengths and weaknesses of the organization in relation to the lesson being designed. This way, the designers and developers are able to build the learning parameters. Learning results should be quantifiable and measurable. Keep in mind that the behavior of learners in an elearing environment is different. Virtual classroom solicits a different attitude and disposition from the learners. What works in a conventional learning environment would not necessarily apply in a virtual class. Conduct a Beta test of the virtual lessons and invest time in implementing trial runs to recognize the flaws and defects of the conceptual and technical elements of the design. Allow the principals and the learners to evaluate the elearning design. Record and keep the evaluation results. Knowledge benchmarks are necessary for the next phase of the elearning development. Related blogsAccelerating eLearning by Focusing on ContextSurgical Insertion of Micro-Scenarios that Beautify and Fire Up Your eLearningReferenceA New Ingeniously Designed Shelter For Refugees—Made By Ikea, Shane SnowRay Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Our belief: At Vignettes Learning we use stories in eLearning; however, we make them interactive. The emphasis is getting learners involved in the story and not just telling the learners the story.Synthesis. An iconic TV series is used as a model for creating an open-ended ending for story-based elearning design. Such an approach creates cycles of continuous learning because the lesson becomes collaborative. As the learners attempt to put an ending to an unconcluded story, different insights contribute to the development of the lesson.Image source.American actor James Gandolfini passed away last June 19, 2013. He played the iconic role of Tony Soprano in the HBO TV hit series The Sopranos. As the mob boss of a ruthless and dysfunctional crime family syndicate in New Jersey, Gandolfini was critically acclaimed for his intensity and realistic portrayal of the role.The Sopranos are considered as the greatest television series of all time. It has won a multitude of awards, including back-to-back Peabody Awards for its first two seasons, twenty-one Emmy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America named it the best-written series in television history. (Wikipedia).What impressed me most about the Sopranos was the manner the scriptwriters ended the series. The interpretation and meaning of the Sopranos’"final scene" is still being debated today, six years after the last episode was aired.The final scene showed the Soprano family about to have a family dinner in a diner. The camera pans through different frames suggesting that an assassin could show up and ‘whack’ the crime boss in front of his family. As tension builds up, the camera gives a close-up of Tony Soprano’s face, looking at someone who just entered the diner. Then, blackout. The credits followed without any annotation or epilogue. Watch the Sopranos’ final scene here. The ending has spurred hundreds - if not thousands - of blogs, articles and feature writing, explaining their point of view or interpretation of the ending. The Sopranos’ finale is a clear example of what we story-based elearning designers aim to achieve in their elearning modules. After hooking the learners with a well-written and engaging story, the open-ended ending allow the viewers decide how to end their story.In the same manner, a story-based elearning lesson solicits innumerable lessons, insights, interaction and reaction among the learners. Unlike conventional learning where there have been always a ‘right or wrong’, the story-based elearning lesson probes deeper into the emotional and intellectual faculties of the learners. The learning becomes collaborative because of the interaction and feedback. Here are some guidelines on how to create a story-based elearning lesson with an impactful open ending:The beginning and body of the story should be engaging. It should move the learners to commit to the story. It should be compelling enough to make them deeply concerned about how the story would end. If the developer could not feel the tension and conflict of his or her SBL design, I am 100% certain that the learners would not experience it also. Without character identification, the story-based elearning lesson fails to connect with the learner. Without such connection, the whole learning framework falls apart. Everybody is basically going through the same thing every day: joy, happiness, enthusiasm, sadness, tension, anxiety, disappointment and fatigue, among others. Human emotions are the easiest to recreate and project. Reflect and ask: is this story-based elearning lesson projecting an authentic experience? I close by quoting an excerpt from my book Scenario-Based Learning Using Stories To Engage e-Learners:"Many of us in the business of teaching, learning and training believe it is our role to engage learners. We become frustrated during these occasions when we can’t achieve this. We can only set the stage for learners to become engaged themselves. There’s a difference. Learners are perpetually engaged by their own stories. They complete their own stories, their bucket lists. Trainers and designers merely help by facilitating the process. The power of SBLs is to allow learners to complete their stories and discover the embedded learning ideas, not to force them to participate in stories that don’t resonate. They may go through the motions, but they won’t be engaged."Story-based elearning design creates a never-ending story that draws reactions, perspective and insight long after the last scene ended.Related BlogsCreating Learning Peaks with ScenariosPut the elements of viral videos in eLearning story designReferencesScenario-Based Learning Using Stories To Engage e-Learners by Raymundo Jimenez, PhD. The Sopranos, WikepediaRay Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Our belief: At Vignettes Learning we use stories in eLearning; however, we make them interactive. The emphasis is getting learners involved in the story and not just telling the learners the story.Synthesis.The responsibility of eLearning developers does not stop at implementing lessons. Post-learning assessment and data analysis are major factors to determine the efficiency of the learning modality. eLearning facilitators should ask themselves: Are we interpreting data correctly?Image source.Recently, the British Broadcasting Company website published an article written by Malcom Gladwell entitled "Viewpoint: Could one man have shortened the Vietnam War?" It is both intriguing and enlightening. It showed the vital role of data analysis and consequences for the erroneous process. Gladwell cites historical references pointing to the failure of American intelligence executives to correctly interpret the data of the Vietnam War. It proposes that the Vietnam War could have ended much earlier and saved thousands of lives had there been accurate interpretation of information collected.Konrad Kellen was part of Rand Corporation, a high-level think tank commissioned to interpret Vietnam War data. He was part of the Vietnam Motivation and Morale Project headed by Leon Goure.  Gladwell summarizes the objective of the project:"The idea was to break the will of the North Vietnamese. But the Pentagon didn't know anything about the North Vietnamese. They knew nothing about Vietnamese culture, Vietnamese history, Vietnamese language. It was just this little speck in the world, in their view. How do you know that you're breaking the will of a country if you know nothing about the country? So Goure's job was to figure out what the North Vietnamese were thinking.The idea was to break the will of the North Vietnamese. But the Pentagon didn't know anything about the North Vietnamese. They knew nothing about Vietnamese culture, Vietnamese history, Vietnamese language. It was just this little speck in the world, in their view."As the Vietnam War ensued, Rand Corporation managed to interview captured Viet Cong guerillas and produced 61,000 pages of transcribed manuscript. Goure interpreted these data and concluded that the Viet Cong were utterly demoralized and they were about to give up. Goure recommended more bombings to break North Vietnam. Everyone but Kellen believed Goure.According to Kellen, his interview with a Viet Cong Captain changed his perspective. The captured officer revealed that North Vietnamese believed that they could not win the war. Kellen interpreted this data differently and concluded that "an enemy who is indifferent to the outcome of a battle is the most dangerous enemy of all."The US government ignored the opposing recommendation submitted by Kellen. The Vietnam War continued and the rest is history. Data analysis and interpretation are vital in any industry including the eLearning sector. As eLearning facilitators and developers, we should interpret the data without biases or prejudice. It is in the best interest of our elearners to give up control over our desired results or projected outcomes.Vignettes Learning is running a program called STEX, an online application that gathers learner’s feedback and reaction over simulated training scenarios. We do our best to interpret data in the most objective way in order to get accurate evaluation. Aware of the consequences of manipulating data to achieve preconceived outcomes, I would point out that our guidelines in data interpretation are meticulously followed.In the medical field, wrong diagnosis could lead to dangerous results. This can very well compound the problem and endanger the well-being of the patient. This logic is also applicable in eLearning. Here are some points to ponder in analyzing elearning data:Give attention to details. All data are important, even the seemingly insignificant ones. Approach your data with an open mind and objective disposition. Do not prejudge an assessment based on initial results. Analyze the data with someone who has an opposing perspective. You need to test conclusions and recommendations by putting it in a crucible, so to speak. Detach yourself from the analysis and do not get emotionally attached to the outcomes. State your margin of error in your assessments. No one is infallible. Malcom Gladwell compares data analysis to listening. The ability "to listen" correctly to data is a skill all elearning facilitators and designers should possess. Of this, the author of the article writes:"Listening well is a gift. The ability to hear what someone says and not filter it through your own biases is an instinctive ability similar to having a photographic memory. And I think we have a great ]deal of trouble with people who have this gift. There is something about all of us that likes the fact that what we hear is filtered through someone's biases."Related Blogshttp://vignettestraining.blogspot.com/search/label/critical%20thinkinghttp://vignettestraining.blogspot.com/search/label/e-Learning%20StrategyReferencesViewpoint: Could one man have shortened the Vietnam War by Malcom Gladwell Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Rapid learning is achieved by putting lessons in micro-scenarios. Instead of serving the "whole pie of knowledge" all at once, serving slices to elearners is also effective.Micro-scenarios prevent information overload and give learners more capacity to focus and accumulate information.The eLearning culture has a couple of limitations. In virtual learning, both the trainer and the learners are separated by space and barriers. Technology compensates these limitations. Virtual learning centers do their best to make virtual human presence as real as face-to-face presence.In this regard, the mode of learning in a physical classroom differs from an elearning environment. Big data, huge knowledge sources and voluminous information should not be forced upon the elearners. Instead of pontificating on large data, eLearning methodology selects only a micro-lesson which can be plucked from the whole knowledge source.In his article, Little Data Makes Big Data More Powerful, Mark Bonchek shares a parallel view. He placed a distinction on the specific uses of big and little data and their specific uses in transmitting lessons:Selecting a small data or a micro-lesson is indeed an effective way to bring lessons across in an eLearning environment.I compared these micro-lessons to kernels. In my many years as an eLearning professional, I can say that focusing on kernel knowledge is a lot more effective than serving the entire corn. This is so because the constraint in the elearning environment is different from a classroom setting.In my blog, Instant and Rapid One-Minute Learning for mLearning and eLearning, I stated tips on how to pick up the "kernel":Although our brains are powerful, we can only process a quantified amount of data at a given time. Since not all the data we acquire translates into learning, it is only rational to choose kernels of knowledge and focus on particular lessons. In eLearning, the kernel is more significant than the corn.Do you agree that fleshing out small pieces of learning a little at a time, instead of dumping a huge amount of info all at once works better? Share your thoughts in the comments section!Related blogs:Instant and Rapid One-Minute Learning for mLearning and eLearningReferences:Mark Bonchek: Little Data Makes Big Data More PowerfulRay Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Story-Based eLearning design is effective because it creates an environment where learners are compelled to anticipate. The vagueness of "what's next" keeps the mind engrossed until the story finds a resolution. Very few people can resist the power of a good story. Anticipation is a natural human tendency or practice. Ordinary everyday occurrences are filled with circumstances that compel us to anticipate. Whenever we drive, we anticipate the change of traffic light at the intersection. While watching a baseball or football game, we await the direction of the ball or the pass. We can almost predict what our boss might say if we are late for a meeting. We look forward to how our spouse would react over a new dress or suit. We eagerly anticipate the reaction of our kid over a surprise gift. Anticipation makes life dynamic. It keeps us moving. The Story-based eLearning design stirs the learner's anticipation. It is a catch or secret door through which learners enter. People can barely resist a well-told story and their minds are enticed to follow the plot with embedded lessons.Interestingly,Thomas Levenson wrote an article in the MIT Technology Review about Rebecca Saxe's experiments on Theory of the Mind (ToM). One of the objectives of the experiment was to find out how our brains learn to be social. To do this, Saxe devised a story-based experiment to assess via MRI, how children anticipate scenarios and thoughts.Rebecca Saxe describes how she came up with the idea of making a story-based experiment process: Even other fields of science have acknowledged the potential of the story-based design as a learning modality and a knowledge-gathering tool for neuro-research.In my blog Vague Stories Help Learners to Discover, I quoted an excerpt from John Lehar's In Praise of Vagueness: As eDevelopers and story-based learning designers, we are reminded that the human brain is wired to anticipate. Every human being has the innate capacity to see storylines in everyday occurrences. Our job is to bring out these storylines in real life and put it in the context of eLearning.I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic. Sound off in the comments section! Related blogs:Vague Stories Help Learners to DiscoverReferences:Thomas Levenson: The Story of a Study of the MindRay Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

In most endeavors - war, sports, marketing, or storytelling - the element of surprise works wonders. By using the strategy of surprise, people are caught in their vulnerable state, a condition that leads to openness and non-judgment. Surprise, therefore, is important in the Story-based eLearning design because it creates an environment of awe and marvel during the learning process. The ingredient of surprise adds more impact to any event or endeavor. In the movie Sixth Sense, the audience was blindsided when Bruce Willis - who everyone thought was a regular character - was later revealed to be a dead person. During the Vietnam War, the Tet Offensive launched by the communists caught the US military off-guard that it nearly depleted the American forces.The power of surprise is just as important in the Story-based eLearning design. Since eLearning follows the dynamic or hypertext method instead of the linear approach, the lessons are unexpected, with open-ended outcomes. In effect, learners’ sense of wonder is heightened, causing them to be more receptive. How is surprise attained?Story-based designs are basically provocative and argumentative. It compels learners to take different views and answers that are not labelled as right or wrong. In effect, there is a flow of new ideas, giving learners the opportunity to 'stack experiences'. Surprise is largely based on the unexpected. In real life, we cannot always predict how events will turn out. We attempt to bring the unexpected into our learning scenarios to make lessons more authentic. Our eLearning designs usually mirror real life with its own surprises.On the contrary, when we spoon-feed learners, we eliminate the surprise factor. When this happens, learners tend to be passive and take less active roles. When eLearning lessons are dynamically designed, the learners are taken to various twists and turns. They flow with the story and discover context as it unfolds. Learners in anticipation and see how the scenario turns out.In his article Surprise Is Still the Most Powerful Marketing Tool, Scott Redick writes:What are the other lessons infusing surprise? When learners are surprised, It is actual evidence that they have more to learn. The fact that they were surprised proves that they still lack knowledge or have not learned enough; thus, there is an exciting room for growth. I’d love to hear your thoughts! Sound off in the comments section, and let’s discuss.  References:Scott Redick: Surprise is Still the Most Powerful Marketing ToolRay Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

I am thrilled to present you five of my best videos, each one providing you with a sneak peak, as well as helpful tips, on how the Story-Based eLearning Design can transform your courses into high-impact learning events. Must Learn - Does Your Learner Need 1,500 Pages?How many percent of 1500 would a learner require in order to start working at their new job? It depends on the content, but never all 1500 pages.Why do we expect our learners to go through all 1500 pages as if we expect them to master the massive information?Must-learns -  important information we want learners to learn quickly because they need learning competencies and skill sets they can build on the job quickly so that they can perform.Mastery or full competency - these are learnings they can only learn over time so they can become masters of it.We don't want to train a master in just one hour or even a 5-hour eLearning course.Focus on separating the must-learn from the working competency to the full competency content so we can focus our energies. Extreme StoriesIn selecting stories, we tend to select those that show extreme emotions.There is a science behind it - our minds no longer respond to typical situations.Sometimes, we get so used to typical situations on routine, we go on autopilot but when something particularly eventful happens, we tend to remember that for a long time.When you tell a dull story, nobody will pay attention to it.When you design stories you need to infuse these with new information so you tend to exaggerate the details.Embedding Content in Stories Sometimes you encounter participants who have no experience or idea about embedding technical aspects of a module into a story.Add more elements into the story so learners will see information that he may not have known ahead of time, or skipped through.If it's the first time for a learner to encounter a policy, a good strategy would be to have one of the characters explain the benefits and the impact of the policy to help learners gain a better understanding.Allow learners to discover the facts and learnings embedded in the story. As they go deeper into the story, the more they will discover.The more you embed, the more you will be providing them with a more enriching experience. I would love to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments section.Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

This case study presents a series of strategies and tactics which help you answer these questions: How do I respond to rapid business needs for e-Learning?How do I decide which approach can dramatically increase the speed of development and how do I calculate the returns?How do I work effectively with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to obtain content?What strategy ensures that the software meets rapid development and cost objectives?Here are some excerpts from the article:Rapid e-Learning as a term is an oxymoron. e-Learning is inherently rapid.  Its principles are all about speed and quality. It provides immediate learning. Its tools and software are fast, inexpensive and have more capabilities than we can even imagine. It is personalized and just-in-time learning at its best.  Our e-Learning programs are at least 50% heavier than they should really be (too much content).  These are at least 75% cumbersome (too much control) than what is required by e-learners.We need to present an architectural plan or infrastructure for our e-Learning program so all contributors can follow a process.Remember "Garbage in, garbage out"? Well, it may be more like: "The more garbage is generated, the slower the speed or flow, the higher the costs - and the quality stinks."Software developers and suppliers have their own "beliefs" borne out of their backgrounds, origins, interests and skill sets.Add interactivity only whenever and wherever it matters.This architecture provides clear direction for design, processes, and software and resource requirements - that lead to a clarity of standards and streamlined decision making.Reduce the amount of content to focus on "must learns." This increases the speed of development, cuts the costs and meets e-learners' needs.The ability to randomly select application  points allows e-learners to learn or apply ideas rapidly; it cuts down by 75% the burden of forcing learners to go page by page.Assist SMEs to organize, categorize, write and display the content that meets the standard of your architecture (structure their contribution so it is easy and time efficient for them).You can also maximize the full capability of the software when you know the end results you wish to derive.Not all content should be in an interactive form. Don't rush into converting content into interactive format if  plain text, images and references will work. If only 20% of your content needs to be interactive, then you already drastically reduce your development time. You also help the learners focus on what is truly important and what matters - which is one of e-learners' needs. Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

How do we make sense of the huge barrage of information that we encounter on a daily basis? We need to let go of the need to know everything. We need to train both our learners and leaders to resist the tendency to dump content. We need to help learners focus on usefulness and context of the content and to design and deliver training and eLearning programs to reflect this principle. According to Dr. Daniel Levitin, PhD, author of the bestselling book This is Your Brain On Music, we process 34 gigabytes of information during our leisure time alone and we would have created a world with 300 exabytes of human made information. Every hour, YouTube uploads 6,000 hours of video content. It's just impossible to keep up. Information overload is a growing concern and it has been discovered that the human mind can only take so much information at a given time. It needs time to digest.A Huge Problem for Corporations, Classrooms and eLearning LessonsOrganizations are unaware that they are actually paying a high premium for information inundation. Employees are not as productive when they are pressured to learn new things in with so little time. Hence, information and its application seem to be divorced from each other. "Corporations are failing to help staff cope with the technological barrage, daily meetings and constant connection, leading to rising levels of stress and psychological illness and costing billions in lost productivity," says Sarah O'Carroll in her article "How email deluge makes frustrated workers go postal" published by Herald Sun Melbourne Edition.Have you tried being in front of your computer trying to complete an elearning course? Can you still remember how instantly you became confused, frustrated and overwhelmed because of the information dumped on you? The overload problem manifests in elearning, classroom training and other forms of learning. The tendency to dump content is high. The challenge for eLearning designers and leaders is to engage users without overwhelming them.Solutions for Learners and CompaniesPaul Hemp in his article "Death by Information Overload" published by Harvard Business Review, suggested some solutions to the problem: changing corporate cultures, providing better tools, learning to use tools to filter and focus. Although these are great suggestions, the most important and may be the most critical is a change in our belief system or attitude. Jerry Michalski, an independent consultant on the use of social media nailed it, "You have to be Zen-like... You have to let go of the need to know everything completely."Why do we need to let go of the need to know everything? In training we are focused on production and efficiency of delivering content, not on its usefulness. Its consequence is the slowing down of the usage of content particularly apparent in the overload problems.Context is the True King, Not ContentWith the avalanche of information caused by high speed telecommunications and information technology, the current challenge is not the lack of content, it's the lack of context.  The need to refocus learning objectives on the needs of learners becomes apparent. For example, story-based learning objectives focus on acquiring knowledge in small steps. Instead of writing content from the context of the designer, write it as a set-up so learners can instantly see their usefulness in real life context. In designing content, always start by asking learners what is important to them and why. Why use story questions? Because you are are encouraging learners to bring forth their own stories. The key idea is that with the presence of so many content, the learners must be helped with your questions so they can focus on what they consider useful. When we skip this process, we don't help the learners. Here are some story-based questions aimed to help learners find out the usefulness in a content: What problems will you solve if you find the answer?What is important to you?What are you trying to solve?What do you know NOW about this topic?What do you want to know about this topic?How will you go about learning more about this topic?How do others feel and what do they say about this topic?How does the above change your understanding of what it is that you want?Context Setting Learning ObjectivesHow do we operationalize using learning objectives to helpful learners discover the usefulness of content and finding context instantly? Let's call this Story-Based Learning Objectives.Preview the two examples below.Example 1 - Probing Questions Example 2 - Confidential Documents  What is the difference between the static learning objectives and Story-Based Learning Objectives? Static learning objectives are statements of facts or academic learning goals.  This is an example of what we dump on learning lessons. We expect the learners to appreciate and learn academic goals. Naturally, it is difficult to learn by the sheer nature that it is hard to find meaning from a static fact. Story-Based Learning Objectives on the other hand are context driven. They quickly bring the content into a contextual form. They help the learners visualize the value of the context in real-life context. In preparing the Story-Based Learning Objectives above by focusing usefulness and context, do we engage the learner? Do we shorten his/her stress? Do we hasten his/her understanding of the content? And do we make it easier for the learner to apply the ideas presented within the content? The "Set Up Steps" of Story-Based Learning Design helps you to convert your content into highly contextually focused learning objectives. I'd love to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments section. References:Ray Jimenez, PhD. Story Impacts Learning and Performance: Monogatari Press. March 5, 2013John Gantz, Angele Boyd, and Seana Dowling: Cutting the Clutter: Tackling Information Overload at the SourceAnnual Reviews: The Role of the Critical Review Article in Alleviating Information Overload Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

A sage was once asked by his students, "Master, we ask you the truth and you tell us stories," to which the master replied, "the shortest distance between you and the truth is a story." So what are the things we learn from stories? Why do we hang on to every word that the character utters? Has the character changed our behavior? Suppose we replace the character with a lecturer, would you get the same automatic connection? Probably not.Are Our Brains Hardwired for Storytelling?An award winning storyteller who has performed for 6.5 million audiences and a prolific author who has written 34 books, Kendal Haven answers with a resounding yes! As a nationally recognized expert on story structure, Haven believes that our brains are hardwired for storytelling and that we're not just Home sapiens, we are Homo narratives. According to Haven, we prefer to remember stories better than non-story information. Kendal Haven on YOUR BRAIN ON STORIES: WHY YOU ARE HARDWIRED TO THINK AND LEARN THROUGH STORYTELLINGPeople are willing to pay to be engaged. You want to buy their attention. They want to pay with their attention to be engaged. Attention is the currency in the exchange of ideas and stories to ensure that they are engaged.Human beings have been telling stories for 100,000-300,000 years. The human species has relied on stories as a structure and has been used to convey and archive learning, history and wisdom. We are hardwired for stories and that's why it resonates with us.According to EEG recordings, from sensory organs (seeing, hearing, smelling, touch and taste), information goes through the neural story net and are converted to story form before it gets to the conscious mind.The story net automatically distorts and makes up its own version of the story to make sense of it. We need effective story structures to ensure the accuracy of the information being conveyed through the story.Listen to the FULL Audio for 40 minutes here.What Happens in the Brain During Storytelling Session?The brain is not in neutral when we hear stories, its gears are engaged. It's ready to make its own judgments and is synchronized with the storyteller. "When the woman spoke English, the volunteers understood her story, and their brains synchronized. When she had activity in her insula, an emotional brain region, the listeners did too. When her frontal cortex lit up, so did theirs. By simply telling a story, the woman could plant ideas, thoughts and emotions into the listeners' brains.", says Princeton researcher Uri Hasson. We know that the experiences presented in the stories can be experienced by them too. This automatic connection or synchronization between teacher and learner is seldom achieved through traditional teaching methods. What We Learn from Stories: Values, Morals and How to Live Our Lives Stories have characters placed in a specific situation. We easily identify with them and how they cope with the situation that they are in. What is the moral dilemma that they are facing? Did their values in life help in achieving moral clarity? In short, how the characters live their lives become an example for us. So it's not accidental when we use characters in a story, it's intentional. There is a foundational theory that characters represent the teaching moments. And it is in our use of these characters that we can impart knowledge. Since stories are that influential, isn't this the best way for educators to embed technical compliance and other learning content?What is the goal of the main character? Did he manage to accomplish his goals? Every story is resolved when the character fails or accomplishes his goal.Conflicts. What is keeping the character from getting what he wants?Risk and danger keep the excitement in the story. What can possibly go wrong?What is the struggle the main character is facing? What is the main character up against? This keeps us glued to the story.Details make the audience add pictures to the stories. Designers can effectively use details to insert learning content in the stories.Motive explains why the goal is important and makes us identify with the characters. We become the character so to speak and we pay attention.ReferencesEmma Pearse: 17 Life Lessons From 'Stories We Tell': Web: JUNE 24, 2013 Michale Gabriel: Learning and Growing Through Stories: April 1999: New Horizons for Learning   Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

How would you like to learn the way they do in the blockbuster movie "The Matrix"?  Was there ever a time when you just want to download a whole bunch of information-minus the hole at the back of your neck-into your brain and viola!? When you want to be a musician, you just plug that "musician plugin" and all of a sudden you're performing in a concert. When you want to be a programmer, you just download the latest "programmer plugin" and you're set to write the next killer app.According to Teemu Torvelainen in a newsletter entitled "What are nano-learning and m-learning?," "In the Matrix films, new skills were learned fast. Instructions on how to fly a helicopter, the characteristics of a motorcycle, and many other things were downloaded in a couple of seconds. This could be called nano-learning. Such training contents, or modules, are extremely short, take a minute or two, and focus on the point. Learning takes place at exactly the right moment and in the right place."What is Nano-Learning?There are different terms used in reference to it including micro-learning and small bites learning. However, it's all about breaking down huge chunks of information into small, bite-size, digestible morsels.  And this is not even a new idea. In the words of Elliott Masie, President of The Masie Center and the director of the Learning Consortium, "I am a nano-learner. What does that mean? Each day, I learn several things in small chunks. Really small chunks. A 90-second conversation with an expert triggers a huge 'a-ha.' A few moments concentrating on learning how something works leads to a new micro-skill. What's more, I am not that unusual. Most people acquire most of their knowledge in smaller pieces." The video above tells us the basic of micro-learning. Using the cake analogy, it gives us the idea that we should not learn anything that doesn't fit our brains. Hence, "don't eat anything larger than your head."The normal way people acquire knowledge is by learning in small steps. These bite-size morsels of information that we consume forms a broader and deeper connected knowledge.The idea is to take a learning unit that takes seconds to learn or do. Micro content should not take longer than 15 minutes.Make the information learned, a part of the daily routine. Acquiring this habit allows learning to really sink in.Incorporate micro-learning in the virtual learning environment. This way, you can impart knowledge the micro-learning way too.As it turns out, nano-learning is actually how people normally learn. It's not an event, a lesson, or a content, but rather a way of using the smallest ideas to get things done or get results. Knowledge is cumulative. This means that what we know at this point in our lives is just the sum total of all the micro-learnings in our entire lifetime.How to Empower Your Organization Through Nano-LearningAlthough the Matrix analogy is fictional, nano-learning is not. It has been effectively used in various scenarios to empower organizations. Companies have been using this technique to introduce new products or a new way of dealing with customers.Another way nano-learning is used is in the creation of ads. You do not have the luxury of lengthy explanation about how your product can improve people's lives. You only have a few seconds to grab viewer's attention, so making use of that small window is crucial. The video above showed how companies can systematically use nano-learning to empower their employees without sucking the life out of the learning experience. There are four stages in a learning journey namely, Prepare, Equip, Apply, Reactivate and Support. Prepare-four things occur at this stage namely Introduction, Orientation, Alignment and Inspiration.Equip-another set of four occurs at this stage and they are known as Course, Campaign, Coaching and Cohort.Apply-the four most important factors here are Practical Factors, Checklist, Certification and Active Coaching.Reactivate-at the reactivation stage, the fact that the brain forgets a lot easily is taken into consideration and that's why four factors are important at this stage namely, Recap, Reflect, Reinforce and Repeat.Support-taking into account that we can't contain everything in our head, at the support stage four factors are also taken into consideration. These factors are Performance Support, Help Desk, Expert Network and Community.From the rest of the video, you can see that micro learning is used to deliver content in all stages of the learning journey. What Does this Mean for Designers?Most instructional designers are not aware of the power that nano-learning packs in. It gives you the opportunity connect to your audience in an instant! No need to bore them with details, just deliver the meat of your topic in a creative and effective way. "We have a unique opportunity to stretch our thinking about the size of our average learning project. Right now, most learning modules start at 15 minutes and often cover hours or days of involvement. But most learning moments are teachable moments. Malcolm Knowles described the perfect teachable moment as the intersection of a small question with a great small answer. That is at the heart of nano-learning." Elliott Masie added.  For your audience, it gives them the most of what you have to share without being bogged down with the details. It keeps them interested and connected to you. In short, nano-learning is a win-win situation for both you and your audience.References:Elliott Masie: Nano-Learning: Miniaturization of Design: Dec. 28, 2005  Teemu Torvelainen: What are nano-learning and m-learning?: Nov. 17, 2007Cognitive Advisors: Nano-CoachingLiz Stinson Design: An App That Tells the Fascinating Stories Behind 5 Fonts: Web: Sept. 24, 2014Kerri Simmons: 10 Things You Should Know About Nano-Learning: Less Is More Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning