Using Educational Technologies to Improve Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Program Overview Using Educational Technologies to Improve Learning and Teaching in Higher Education program is designed to provide participants with theoretical and practical skills of using emerging technologies either in Higher Education or in Vocational Learning. Participants will learn about internet search tools, social media tools, mobile learning, learning management systems, use of audio and video, open educational resources, gaming technologies among others. The focus will be on providing a comprehensive overview of what constitutes such technologies and how they can best be pedagogically integrated to enrich students’ learning experience both in the class as well as outside of the classroom. Participants will have an opportunity to discuss trends, limitations, and challenges of using these technologies, as well as engage in hands-on activities. Concepts related to learning design, building learning communities, assessment, etc. in light of recent technological and development will be addressed. Who should attend Using Educational Technologies to Improve Learning and Teaching in Higher Education program is addressed at Deans of Schools/ Colleges, Heads of Departments, Faculty members and Teaching Staff interested in expanding their portfolio of pedagogical strategies through the adoption of emerging technologies for teaching and learning, in order to improve students’ learning experience by enabling richer engagement with content and interaction with faculty and peers. The program may also be of interest to directors and staff working in Teaching and Learning Centers or those involved in planning, selecting and acquiring educational technology solutions. Main Topics Covered First day Introduction to latest trends and developments in educational technology Pedagogical implications for integrating technology in higher education Fundamentals of internet searching and browsing Introduction to web-based technologies The changes in the web and what they mean for teaching and learning online Basics of Web 2.0, social media tools, and e-portfolios Second day The 7Cs of Learning Design framework, including the following elements: How to ruin a course Course features activity Course view map Activity profile Resource audit Synchronous and asynchronous online tools and their place in teaching & learning Storyboard Evaluation rubric Third day Audio, video and their role in learning online Learning management systems Open Educational Resources and MOOCs Mobile learning Rethinking engaging students and conducting assessment using educational technologies Looking ahead: up and coming technologies Personal reflections and planning for experimentation and self-development Using Educational Technologies to Improve Learning and Teaching in Higher Education program will be held at the Hotel Novotel Deira City Center (Dubai, UAE) on January 12-14, 2015. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Welcome To The New Genre Of Learning We first stumbled upon the English alphabets nursery rhyme videos (video-based learning for preschoolers) on YouTube when we started deliberating on some preeminent ways to teach our preschool child the English alphabets. My instructional design professional milieu provided me an opportunity to appraise these videos more deeply as a cognitive alternative to the contemporary book-based learning approach. The videos offered a valiant alternative to the reclining and somewhat boring conventional approach, and were an instant hit with my three-year old. The next few months, we basked in the ecstasy of his buoyant and chirpy voice resonating the alphabet rhymes all around the house! Needless to say, the objective of teaching the English alphabets was edaciously achieved without much ado from our end. While video-based learning may not be a new phenomenon, it has recently started gaining momentous and accentuated pitch and resolution in the learning and development domain. What makes it increasingly trendy is its ardent approach of blending instructional strategy with the assorted range of technology and delivery options. The change in the trend of electronic learning resources that peeks out today is the fact that customized animations and videos, which were earlier only a part of the entire package bundle of the electronic learning resources, are now being beheld as one of the independent packaged bundles in themselves. This change in the trend is largely been nurtured on account of two primary developments in the educational technology domain: first the increased cogency of social media proliferation and social blogging in the everyday life of a learner, and second, the advent of smart phones and the increased verity of mobile learning. Reasons for Eminence So, what makes video-based learning so eminent? Anna Pitts, an online researcher at the Graduate Recruitment Bureau, remarks: "Studies have shown that we rely heavily on our senses to process information when learning and engaging more than one sense when teaching can help information processing. Using multiple senses allows more cognitive connections and associations to be made with a concept." Image Courtesy: http://www.soundtherapyperth.com/benefits/capd.php Video-based learning has the ability to comprehend to different learning styles seamlessly. Videos in general easily cater to the visual and auditory learning styles almost immaculately and simultaneously, and offer an exceptional combination to engage the two prominent senses of the learners, visual and auditory. So do most of the conventional page-turner online modules with text and audio. What differentiates video-based learning is its ability to not just engage, but galvanize the cognitive schema of the learner better and faster. Contrary to the conventional page turners, in video-based learning, the schema of the learner is compelled to work faster due to the high frequency of changing onscreen sensory ambiance blended with the meticulous auditory permutation. It’s an open secret that faster working schema revitalizes learning, and in essence, video-based learning resources find a replenished zenith in terms of learning and retention. Madhury Dubey, author of "Effective E-learning: Design, Development and Delivery", cites that this ubiquitous eminence of video-based learning is also driven by the striking shift of learners from content consumers to content creators. One key factor that has contributed to the increasing popularity of video-based learning is that videos act as an impeccable channel, a single source to deliver learning both synchronously and asynchronously. With a plethora of mobile learning applications, such as Explain Everything, available across different mobile platforms (both android and iOS), video-based learning has struck an unprecedented cord with teachers/trainers as well as mobile learners. Some other reasons for this fervent proliferation of video-based learning include: Ease of rapid development and deployment across multiple platforms and devices. With all the advancements in educational technology today, we have a plethora of options to make the video-based modules device and platform independent. Coherence with subject matters of almost all dimensions and depths. In addition to conceptual animations and recorded lectures, video-based learning modules are considered best for highly technical and complex subjects such as engineering, surgery, military academia, and even flight training. Assurance of a face-to-face human texture. Salman Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, remarked that when he started creating and posting math tutorials on YouTube for his cousins, they preferred him on YouTube over him in person. The Right Instructional Strategy Mix Not all videos may have the stamina and fortitude required to make the learning experience congruent enough to achieve the desired learning objectives seamlessly. Without meeting this end, a video discourse may well be stripped off the real objective and run the risk of being diluted and adulterated to a mere storyline. Similar to any course/learning discourse, video-based learning objects must also imbibe and weave the right kind of instructional mix to enable a long-term learning roadmap and high-end retention. A creative pursuit of blending the joy and surprise emotions of the viewers/learners is an essential mix to gain the attention of the learners in any video discourse; this being more demanding compared to conventional page turners. Given that videos essentially may lack the frequent interactive elements (although Khan Academy does provide inbuilt interactive elements in some of their video tutorials), holding the attention of the viewers/learners and keeping them involved becomes an ingrained challenge, which the instructional designer must address unconditionally throughout a video discourse. Harvard Business Review claims that "People seem to have an unconscious aversion to being persuaded," and this may inspire vital intellectual nourishment for the instructional designer creating any video-based discourse. That the risk of persuasion stands higher in a video discourse is evident from the fact that unlike conventional courses, any form of noise (visual, auditory, technical, or instructional) in videos is far more distracting. To put it simply, any degree of redundancy, superfluity, repetition, or information overload may result in persuasion and distraction, and the essence of learning being lost. As a corollary, the timeline of a video discourse must be consciously and instructionally plumped to pedantically encapsulate the subject matter and the learner needs. To synopsize, video-based learning, carefully orchestrated and conflated with the apposite instructional strategy mix, now seems to be the new pitch and resolution of learning, at least for some time in future. Our Nascent Experience Working with the Educational Technology Center of one of our clients, a premier university in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, our team recently developed a pilot series of video-based courses (VBC) on highly technical engineering subjects. The subject matter on these VBCs sprawled across the entire curriculum of some selected courses being taught in the university. Upon release, the VBCs became an instant hit with the students on the campus. Apart from other factors contributing to the grand success of this endeavor, the release time was of paramount importance. These VBCs were envisaged as supplements to the actual classroom lectures that the students were required to attend. The release date of the VBCs was positioned close to the semester exams, and the VBCs were expeditiously drawn as important revision resources for the students. The other important aspect claiming the success of the VBCs was the punctilious selection of the subject matter experts - the best faculties of the university for the selected subjects. The students were able to connect with and acclaim the "face-to-face" persona of their favorite professors as the "lead actors" in the VBCs. What made the VBCs even more cogent and lucid was the prudently schematized instructional design in terms of chunking and aligning the VBCs with the entire curriculum. The duration and content relevance factors played equivocally, ensuring that adept and adequate practice sessions were included with each VBC, wherever required. Looking at the grand success of this pilot initiative, the university has now decided to embark on developing similar VBCs across the entire gamut of subjects and courses being taught there as their departments’ upcoming engagements. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

eLearning Games In Compliance Training Compliance may be the last area of eLearning that you expect to see a game, but using serious games as part of a compliance programme can reach learners in ways that a more traditional approach can’t. Too many staff think compliance training is dull and boring and are ready to dismiss it as a check-box exercise. Incorporating a new style of learning can shake up any course and that’s something compliance training needs. Why eLearning games? Elearning games are fun, that’s why people choose to play them. ELearning isn’t always fun, and that can put people off. The more elements like interactivity and enhanced gameplay you incorporate into your eLearning the more engagement you’ll see. But more importantly, eLearning games have characteristics that make them more suitable for certain types of training, including compliance training. Some staff may dismiss an eLearning game as a gimmick, until they actually play one that’s designed properly and helps them to learn new skills. Elearning games don’t replace the rest of the learning, but they can achieve things that are difficult to replicate with a conventional approach. What goes on when you play an eLearning game? In eLearning games, you can take risks, you don’t worry about consequences, you learn from mistakes. You can start to see how this can be applied to training like compliance. We are all natural problem solvers; give someone a goal and some rules and they will find their way to the solution. A well-designed eLearning game will allow you to fail and learn from your decision. You can move on and try again until you get the right answer, and when you do you’ll retain that information. Why compliance games? Compliance is about rules, eLearning games are designed to teach you rules through trial, error and repetition without you even knowing you’re learning them. If I asked you to tell me the rules of Tetris the chances are you’d have a pretty complete list, certainly enough to allow me to play it straight away. Have you ever read the Tetris instruction manual? How many assessments have you taken on Tetris? When you play an eLearning game you try out different tactics to see how you can achieve the goal, there’s no fear of failure because you’ve got another life. A lot of the focus in compliance training is on completion, making sure that all staff required to take a course have finished it. One of the trademarks of well-designed eLearning games is replayability. Design an effective eLearning game and your staff will not only want to complete it, they will want to replay it over and over. Games improve high speed decision making, which can be important in many compliance scenarios like health and safety.  Some compliance situations would benefit greatly from fast response times and any practice you can give your staff will help when they need it in real life. An eLearning designer will be offering feedback to the learner whenever possible, within an eLearning game environment they get immediate and constant feedback on their actions. Giving the learner the opportunity to see how they are progressing throughout the process is invaluable in learning. Who’s using eLearning games? You don’t have to look far to find examples of serious games being used to educate and train everyone from schoolchildren to professionals. Government agencies The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) approve certain flight simulators for logging time against pilot training. This kind of simulation is the perfect example of a game-type environment being a better place to learn and make mistakes than in real life. Games in eLearning give you the chance to experience extraordinary or hazardous events and see how you would react to them.  A highly competitive industry with a lot of regulation, the aviation sector is a good example of how eLearning games like simulations are used to reduce costs. Retail business Baby goods retailer, Mothercare is using game elements as part of its Staying Safe at Work programme, allowing learners to explore the real life scenarios that they could encounter in a warehouse or shop floor without fear of failure. IT services companies IBM developed the City One game as part of their smarter planet initiative. It served two purposes, engaging potential clients who are interested in their services and showing people the reality behind running a city. Getting people interested in the decisions that are made when managing a city’s resources and people is a hard task and a game is one way that IBM have been able to do it successfully. Microsoft are using Minecraft to teach kids how to code, and you can try it out on line. It shows how a game can be used to train people on underlying principles that aren’t always obvious. Programming involves following rules and logic to produce the right result so, like with compliance, eLearning games are a natural way to teach these skills. All of these examples show that by providing your staff with the tools to explore and learn about the issues through experience you can reap the rewards.  Whatever your compliance needs it’s worth considering an eLearning game as part of the solution you offer to your learners. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Tips To Create An Amazing Online Training Course On A Tight eLearning Budget The old saying goes that you "pay for what you get". However, there are a variety of ways that you can create amazing and engaging online training courses on a tight eLearning budget. By using the right tools and capitalizing on your experience, skills, and talents, you can offer your corporate learners an unforgettable experience. Developing online training courses doesn’t have to cost a small fortune, especially if you use these money-saving eLearning tips. Narrow the scope of your online content. One of the quickest ways to go over budget is trying to cover too much subject matter in a single online training course or module. This is why it’s essential to narrow the scope of your online content before you even start the design and development process. Sit down with the Subject Matter Expert to figure out what you should cover and what can be left out. Whether you are creating the online training course yourself or enlisting the help of another Instructional Designer, this approach will save you money and time. It will also benefit your audience, as they won’t have to sift through an abundance of online content to find the information they absolutely need. Determining the objectives and goals of the online training course goes hand in hand with this. Otherwise, you run the risk of wasting resources on topics that don’t even belong in your clear and concise online materials. Repurpose existing online training materials. If you have any online materials already on hand, such as interactive interactive scenarios, online text, or images, you can cut costs by repurposing these elements. Even if you need to make minor modifications to the current online content, it will still save you a great deal by not having to create it from scratch. It may even be wise to store all of your images, text blocks, background music, and any other resources in one centralized location. This will serve as your own personal eLearning library moving forward, which can reduce costs on all future eLearning projects. For this very reason, it’s wise to select a LMS that can store all of your important online materials safely, and allow you to quickly and conveniently integrate them to other online training deliverables. Find the perfect eLearning tools. It’s a common misconception that authoring tools are too costly for tight eLearning budgets, especially when more advanced software with a variety of features is concerned. However, there is a wide selection of eLearning tools that are affordable, or even free, that you can use to design your budget-savvy online training course. An example of this is Google Apps in eLearning, which is an entire suite of tools that can help you develop surveys, eLearning assessments, and online presentations for free. Just make sure that you choose an online tool that is ideally suited for the talents, skills, and experience level of your eLearning team. The goal is to go with a solution that offers the perfect balance of usability and features. Rely on eLearning templates and online media libraries. Many eLearning tools integrate a great variety of pre-designed eLearning templates to choose from. You simply input your information, images, and any other online resources that are necessary, for deploying the online training course. Rather than having to build your online training experiences from the ground up, eLearning templates give you the chance to design amazing and effective online training courses in a fraction of the time. There are even some solutions that allow you to integrate your branding and color scheme into the layout of the online course. If you need to include photos, music, and images, look for eLearning tools that include online media libraries. These online libraries often have hundreds, if not thousands, of multimedia elements , interactions, and graphics that you can use in your eLearning course design. Create bite-sized online training experiences. Instead of creating one lengthy online training course that covers all of the subject matter, you can also opt for several bite-sized modules that focus on a specific sub-topic. This not only reduces the risk of cognitive overload for your corporate learners, but allows you to create online training experiences more rapidly. Another perk is being able to quickly modify and update each individual module, rather than having to edit and revise the entire online training course over time. For example, if you discover that one of your bite-sized corporate eLearning experiences is not as effective as it could be, you can simply modify that particular element to improve its weaknesses. Invest in needs analysis and audience research. Audience research, performance assessments, and needs analysis may all seem like items that don’t belong on your expense sheet. However, they can all offer you the chance to create more effective online training courses for less. This is primarily due to the fact that they reduce the likelihood of several revision rounds and ensure that you are meeting the needs of your audience. Conduct surveys, interviews, and focus groups to figure out the goals and preferences of your online learners, as well as the expectations of the organization with respect to online training courses. Doing so will also allow you to pinpoint which training needs to be covered, and which pieces of information can be omitted. If you pair this with Subject Matter Expert input, you can develop a streamlined, cohesive online training course on a tight eLearning budget. With these tips on hand, you have the power to create visually stunning and highly effective online training courses for your corporate learners, without breaking the bank. Using the appropriate online tools and a bit of creativity, you can develop meaningful online training experiences for a fraction of the eLearning cost. Now that you know how to design top notch online training courses on a tight eLearning budget, take a moment to read the article 5 eLearning Costs That May Put At Risk Your eLearning Budget to discover the 5 eLearning costs that may put your eLearning budget at risk. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

It’s Time To Switch To Responsive eLearning. There are many benefits to responsive eLearning. Not only that, but with the rise of BYOD (bring your own device) and an increasingly mobile workforce, responsive content is quickly moving from a "nice to have" to a "need to have." Overwhelmed by the idea of converting all your existing content, or starting from scratch on new responsive eLearning? Here are a few reasons you’ll be glad you switched: 1. Create once, access anywhere You could sit down, make a list of all the devices you think your learners might use to access training content, and then design a new version of your course for each device. Or you could design one responsive course that will adapt to whatever device screen size it’s displayed on. I don’t know about you, but I pick option 2. Up until recently, eLearning authoring tools hadn’t quite caught up to responsive web design methods. But now, you can easily create responsive eLearning right within some of your favorite authoring tools, like Lectora®. Responsive Course Design™ (RCD) in Lectora is unique because you only have to design once, in the desktop layout. Content in the desktop view is automatically positioned and sized for landscape and portrait views on tablets and phones. Using Lectora’s RCD is also more efficient and cost-effective than other responsive eLearning development options. 2. Second screen learning Perhaps your learners want to be able to take a course on their desktop computers while in the office, then later reference that content on their phones while out in the field. Creating responsive eLearning ensures that they’ll still be able to access that course on the go without losing important information. 3. Future proof The great thing about the way Lectora does responsive eLearning is that it does NOT use width-based breakpoints. John Blackmon, Trivantis CTO, says, "If you use a width-based breakpoint to define content for a tablet, what happens when the newest phone has a logical screen width that is the same as the tablet? The view you intended for a tablet is used on a phone, even if the screen on that phone is too small to render it properly. As technology progresses, this problem will occur more often." With Lectora’s RCD feature, you design for device type and orientation, instead of screen width, ensuring that your content will display well on all devices, even ones that haven’t been released yet. Try the new Responsive Course Design feature in Lectora for free! Download a free 30-day trial now, and you’ll never look back. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Creative Approaches In Instructional Design Within XY Learning Team we are trying to find answers to this challenge. To open our minds we are using Learning Battle Cards (LBC) and tools from this family. Designed approaches, however, could be used regardless of the tool; you can utilize post-its or other materials which will help you to bring such a routine of opening minds for new Training and Development approaches to the table. Beyond Routine  The following clip shows how you can use Learning Battle Cards to design better learning journeys within the team of Instructional Designers. Feel free to copy, mix, match, and alter this idea when you face such a challenge. Learning Battle Cards: Gamification Of Instructional Design If you don't know what Learning Battle Cards is you can check the next short clip. Simply speaking, it is our ambition to gamify the Instructional Design process with Learning Battle Cards. We will be working on new exercises and activities for educators utilizing the concept of Learning Battle Cards. We hope that they will help not only for designing better learning interventions, but also for deliberate self-development and better understanding of learning space. You can check our website (www.learningbattlecards.com) for more information about the concept, other tools, and other ideas how to foster creativity in day-to-day chores of educators. You can also place an order for you deck of Learning Battle Cards there. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

ATD TechKnowledge 2016 theme is "Reimagine Learning" Technology is disruptive. In a world where mobile devices outnumber people, technology is changing business and employee development in big ways. It makes learning accessible in ways never imagined. It’s time for you to reimagine what’s possible—and reignite the potential of how you develop and deliver learning. How can technology take your talent development efforts to the next level? ATD TechKnowledge 2016 is the place to learn about the latest technology trends. Hear from thought leaders and practitioners who are on the leading edge of this new frontier. Learn with us. Think forward. Join us in Las Vegas and come prepared to stretch your imagination. Why ATD TechKnowledge 2016? Meet, Learn, and Network With the Trendsetters. Our speakers, attendees, and exhibitors are at the forefront of the industry. They won’t just be presenting to you; they’ll be sitting next to you in sessions and having lunch with you. This is your opportunity to make new contacts, learn from the best and the brightest in the industry, and find out how to stay ahead of the curve. ATD TechKnowledge 2016 Tracks E-Learning Design / Development Emerging Technologies Management & Implementation Mobile Platforms & Tools Serious Games & Simulationssocial Social Virtual Classroom ATD TechKnowledge 2016Keynote Speakers David Rose is an instructor and researcher at the MIT Media Lab, and the author of the book Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things. A serial entrepreneur, David is CEO of Ditto Labs and is the founder and former CEO of Vitality, a company that reinvented medication packaging that is now distributed by CVS and Walgreens. He also founded Ambient Devices, which embedded Internet information in objects such as lamps, mirrors, and umbrellas. Kate Matsudaira (Principal, Urban Influence) has spent her entire career leading brilliant teams, and is currently a principal at Urban Influence, an award-winning branding and interactive agency in Seattle, Washington. Previously, Kate was the founder and CEO of Popforms, which was acquired by Safari Books Online in 2015. She has also worked as the vice president of engineering and chief technology officer at Decide (acquired by Ebay), Moz, and Delve Networks (acquired by Limelight), and as a software engineer, tech lead, and manager at Amazon and Microsoft. Brian Wong is the co-founder and CEO of Kiip (pronounced keep), a mobile monetization network. He has been recognized with many awards for his accomplishments and leadership. Before starting Kiip, Brian led key publisher and tech partnerships at the social news website Digg.com, where he accelerated the company’s mobile presence by launching the Digg Android mobile app. After skipping four K-12 grades, he received a bachelor of commerce from the University of British Columbia at age 18, and shortly after became one of the youngest people to ever receive venture capital funding. ATD TechKnowledge 2016 will be held at the Caesars Palace (Las Veags, NV, US) on January 13 - 15, 2015.   This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

How To Transform Distance Learning Content  Isn’t it amazing how old distance learning is? According to some articles it’s been used to teach students for over 200 years! In the old days, students applied for a course with a university or other educational organization. They’d be posted their text-based distance learning course materials and maybe get some tutor support by mail and/or phone (when the phone was invented, of course). In recent years, many organizations may have extended their distance learning offering to provide more support by email and/or discussion boards. A learning platform may have arrived where more text heavy materials were added. But... and here is the big BUT. This is where some organizations remain stuck. Whether in paper format or online in PDF format, text heavy materials are given to students to wade through. In this day and age how effectively can students learn from this text heavy approach? Do distance learning organizations feel they have no choice but to adopt this approach because of the vast curriculum that has to be delivered? The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. The choice of learning technologies is endless. So the possibilities of creating digital learning content are also endless meaning organizations do have choices. Many choices. A distance learning course is the perfect learning product for using eLearning. There will be a specific curriculum which needs to be taught, so a large pool of content already exists. It’s not about starting from scratch. It’s about thinking creatively about how distance learning content is designed. Here are five suggestions on how to transform distance learning content into engaging digital learning content - all of which I have used or come across being used effectively. Give case studies an interactive scenario make over. Case studies are often used in distance learning content to illustrate a theoretical perspective of a topic and give students questions to solve around the case. A suggested model answer is usually provided so students can compare it with their own answer. Transform these case studies into an interactive scenario. Make students the protagonist in the scenario giving them the opportunity to make decisions or apply concepts as they would in the real world. Build in feedback around the decisions a student has made, choices they have selected. After completing the scenario, students can then discuss it with other students to share their experience. Covert examples into a story. Expand on key examples used in course materials and convert them into a visual story. For example, in a recent animation project for a university I worked on, a key project management framework has five steps. In the course materials, each step has a different industry example explaining how the step can be applied. In the real world, students would be applying the framework from one perspective i.e. one industry example. With this in mind, one industry example was used for all steps and a story created telling students how the whole framework was used. The animation is a bite-sized piece of digital content; is audio driven, highly visual and has no student interaction as such. However, because of the media used, the animation allows students to step back from all the text heavy materials and learn about the topic from a different perspective. Using different approaches to teach, creates those "Aha" moments when a student says "I finally get it". This animated approach also benefited the teaching faculty hugely.  As subject matter experts, they were urged to think differently about the way they teach particular topics. Design show and tell content. The foundation for a subject like Accounting is built on numerical concepts and principles. Trying to learn the numerical concepts purely from text narrative can be challenging. Students struggling with these concepts may need to be shown in detail how to apply formulas and interpret numbers. Design worked through solutions which demonstrate how to solve such numerical problems step by step. Present the data, show formulas being applied, explain where numbers come from and illustrate the business impact of results. There are many software tools which you can use to create this kind of solution for distance learning delivery - such as whiteboard tutorial software, screen recording tools.  This approach can be used for many subjects. Develop interactive exam practice questions. For distance learning programs which are assessed by examination, students will typically go through past papers and model answers. Develop interactive resources around past exam questions which guide students through the key stages in answering questions. They can compare their answer to a model answer and see examples of different levels of answers; some low graded answers and some best practice answers. Provide hints and tips on answering exam questions for specific subjects and topics. Go 100% digital with all content. This is the bravest and boldest option. It means saying goodbye to most, if not all, paper based / text heavy materials and rethinking your course content strategy. It means investing in a future which is aligned to the ever growing digital world. It means embracing the many possibilities of learning technologies and delivering education for the next generation of distance learners. The College of Estate Management took this brave and bold step in 2014 and won the 2015 Bronze eLearning Award for Best online distance learning program. One Final Thought  Organizations offering distance learning programs need to change their game… and quickly. If they’re not already here now, the next generation of distance learners will be here very soon. They will not have the time or motivation to go through those text-heavy materials. They will demand variety of media in their learning and more importantly will be used to learning digitally. Make sure your distance learning organization is ready for them. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

How To Use Puzzle Games In eLearning Puzzles are not just for action-adventure games and Sunday morning newspapers anymore. In fact, they can assess learner knowledge, motivate reluctant members of your audience, and take eLearning immersion to a whole new level. But how do you use puzzle games in eLearning effectively without diminishing the real world value of your eLearning course? They key is knowing which eLearning games to integrate, as well as how they should be used. Here are just a few puzzling tips that can help you infuse mystery and intrigue into your eLearning experiences. Puzzle piece rewards. The idea of using badges in eLearning is nothing new. However, when you transform those badges into puzzle pieces, you can take learner motivation to the next level. After your online learners successfully complete a module, ace an exam, or achieve a milestone, give them a puzzle piece that brings them one step closer to completing the puzzle. You can make this even more immersive and entertaining by creating a puzzle that features a riddle or mystery image, or add a touch of humor by revealing a culturally appropriate joke. Interactive eLearning course objects. While there is a time and place for static eLearning course graphics, clickable images can make your eLearning course even more interactive and engaging. For example, you can create a door that learners must click in order to reveal the answer or have them choose from a variety of different keys that each unlocks a different eLearning lesson. This also makes learners feel as though they are in control of their eLearning experience, because they have a direct say in which eLearning modules they complete next. Collect and use items. This is a technique that is widely used in open world adventure games. Give your online learners the opportunity to collect various objects throughout the eLearning course that they can store in their virtual backpacks. You can also make this scenario-specific if you don’t want to turn your entire eLearning course into an educational scavenger hunt. Later in the eLearning course or scenario, include a locked object or another type of interactive graphic that pairs with a previously gathered item. Your online learners must then determine when and how to use the objects they have in order to advance to the next eLearning lesson or level. You can even make them combine items to build their problem solving and creative thinking skills. Navigate learning paths. Ask your online learners to choose a path that leads to a different eLearning lesson or topic. You can also add this eLearning strategy to your interactive scenarios or simulations to make them more mysterious and adventurous. Instead of displaying the usual outcomes, make it creative by incorporating a story into the eLearning activity. For example, your online learners can play the role of a medieval adventurer who is trying to slay a dragon, and every path leads them down another intriguing road. Just make sure that you align the eLearning activity with the goals and objectives of your eLearning course. Crossword puzzles. This is an ideal puzzle game for knowledge checks and eLearning assessments. Provide your online learners with a virtual crossword puzzle that they must solve by accessing previously learned knowledge. Give them the questions and ask them to fill in the blanks. Make certain to give them detailed instructions beforehand and allow them to reset the puzzle in case they would like to self-test later on. It is also wise to give them a way to check their answers as they go along so that they can get immediate feedback, rather than having to wait until the very end to review all of their responses. Sequence of events. Sequencing puzzle games in eLearning are great for task mastery. You provide your online learner with a series of events that are out of order and ask them to put the events in the correct sequence. You can also combine task sequencing with  eLearning scenarios to make the online activity more immersive and realistic. Again, be sure to offer them feedback as soon as possible so that they can improve their performance and master the correct sequence. A simplified version of this might be a series of images that depict specific steps which the learner must arrange in the right order. Conversation-based eLearning scenarios. A conversation-based puzzle game or scenario in eLearning is ideally suited for performance management. The learner must interact with a virtual character who asks questions or displays certain traits, such as a dissatisfied customer who is trying to make a return. The learner must then engage in dialogue with the character to solve the problem and avoid conflict. You can even include non-verbal cues in the conversation, such as slouching or shoulder shrugging, to encourage your online learners to become more observant. Do your audience research beforehand to learn as much as possible about how your online learners speak, such as the terms they use on a regular basis, and what situations they encounter in the workplace. Incorporating puzzle games in eLearning can make your next eLearning course more interactive, memorable, and entertaining. Use these 7 tips to ensure that your eLearning strategy serves the learning goals and draws your audience into the eLearning experience, without distracting them from the core objectives. Also, keep in mind that puzzle games in eLearning should always have a purpose. If you are simply including a puzzle for the sake or entertainment, then this isn’t offering any real value to your learners. Puzzles games are just one of the many eLearning games that you can add to your eLearning experiences. Read this article Gamification vs Game-Based eLearning: Can You Tell The Difference? to learn how to compare and contrast gamification vs game-based eLearning and discover useful tips on how to design an effective eLearning strategy for each. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

The Importance Of High Quality Content In eLearning When undertaking a course, it can seem that it’s better to have too much information than too little. Some may say that it’s best to give the learner more information than they really need. However, when it comes to eLearning, it’s far better to be concise and keep content relevant to measurable learning objectives that ultimately benefit the learner. Here are 4 tips to help you create high quality content in eLearning: Keep content relevant to the learning objectives. To achieve this, we must first identify what the learning objectives of a course will be. When working with a client, we will ask what knowledge their learners need to be able to demonstrate at the end of their course. Using Bloom’s Taxonomy as a guide, we can then work out the best strategy to reach their educational goals. Once identified, any content must be relevant to these learning objectives otherwise the learner could simply end up learning the wrong thing. Keep content succinct and concise. The learner only needs to be taught what they need to pass the course. Identify the key topics or subject areas, and concentrate on what the learner needs to know in order to apply knowledge at the course’s end. As Shakespeare once said, "Brevity is the soul of wit". Conciseness provides the biggest impact when saying something funny or humorous, but another translation of it is simply "don’t waste my time"! When writing content, try to keep blocks of text to a minimum. Present information in short groups of four, and if possible simplified into bullet points for easy reading. Jargon and overly technical language should also be avoided. Engage the audience. In order to keep learners interested in your content, try to make it sound "human". If your content comes across as too technical, or as if it was being recited by a machine, then you risk immediately disengaging the audience. eLearning is meant to be an electronically enhanced version of what the teacher would deliver in person. Aim to be creative. Possibly tell a story, use game-based learning, or inject some humor into the course. However, don’t become sidetracked by trying to force too many gags into your content and forgetting the learning objectives! Also, use examples that are relevant to the industry or environment the learner is involved with so that learners can identify with the course. On a course about safety in the workplace, the case studies should naturally differ greatly between a construction company and a bank. Proofread. Poorly written or fact checked content can create several problems on an eLearning course. Content riddled with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors or incorrect facts can reflect badly on an organization, and lead to learners not being able to take the course seriously. Even worse, the learners could assume the incorrect content is true, and learn it anyway. The whole course would be rendered pointless and leave the learners in a poorer position than when they started. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Leading Questions In eLearning Leading questions, also known as "loaded" questions, are designed to influence and guide the learner. More often than not, leading questions contain subtle hints that elude to the correct answer. This form of questioning often has a negative connotation, due to the fact that it has the power to coerce a learner into thinking a certain way, instead of giving them the opportunity to find their solutions. However, when used properly, leading questions have the potential to trigger the thought process and encourage learners to reflect upon key concepts and ideas. 4 Types of Leading Questions Assumptive. As its name suggests, this type of question makes an assumption that guides the learner in a specific direction. "How much do you like the eLearning scenario?" would be an example of an assumptive question, as you are automatically assuming that the learner enjoyed the experience and are simply asking them to clarify how much they liked the scenario. Personal input. This type of leading question encourages the leaner to share a personal opinion or thought. It often requires a "yes" or "no" response. An example of a personal input question would be: "There seems to be a growing trend in mobile phone usage, don’t you think?" The question already implies that there is a trend and encourages the learner to offer their personal input. Implication. Implication questions center on the "cause and effect" principle, whereby one event will lead to a negative or positive consequence. "If you don’t follow this process during the simulation, how do you think it will affect the outcome?" would be an example of an implication questions. It prompts the learner to explore what might happen if they follow their current course of action, as well all other variables. Coercive. This is the least favorable type of leading question, as it forces your learner into thinking a certain way. "Don’t you think that the employee onboarding process is too long?" is an example of a coercive question. Learners aren’t likely to answer honestly, and you’ve already told them the answer you want to hear. 5 Tips On How To Use Leading Questions In eLearning Make it challenging. Craft leading questions that offer the ideal amount of difficulty for your learners by conducting audience research beforehand. Figure out what they know and what they expect to learn. If the question is too difficult, rephrase it in order to guide them in the right direction. The primary purpose of a leading question is to focus your learner’s attention so that they have the opportunity to arrive at their own conclusions. Craft leading questions carefully. The trick to creating effective leading questions is distinguishing between manipulation and guidance. It’s quite easy to blur the line between the two when formulating the leading questions for your eLearning experience, as it’s all a matter of phrasing and word choice. Examine each question to make sure that it isn’t coercive in any way, and that it doesn’t include your own personal thoughts or opinions. Let your learner think for themselves, without being pushed into your train of thought. Timing is everything. In addition to the phrasing of your question, you also need to be careful about where you place it in your eLearning course. Make sure that you ask the question at a time when your learners have just enough information to answer it correctly, so that they are able to apply the knowledge and move it to their long term memory banks. If you ask a question too early, they simply won’t have enough previously learned knowledge to draw upon. On the other hand, asking the question too late in the learning process will take the challenge out of the eLearning activity, as well as reduce their ability to retain and recall the subject matter effectively. Never underestimate your learners’ intelligence. It’s perfectly acceptable to center a leading question on a more rudimentary subject matter. However, you should never craft leading questions that are so basic that they insult the intelligence of your learners. Asking them a question that anyone with a bit of common sense could answer correctly won’t add any real value to your eLearning course or encourage your learners to explore the topic. Makes sure that all of your leading questions are relevant and require some degree of skill or insight to answer. Leading questions ALWAYS have a correct answer. One of the distinguishing characteristics of a leading question is that it has a single correct answer. A question like "What does everyone think about this amazing image?" would not be an effective leading question, for example. Not only would each of your learners have their own unique response, but you are implying that they should think the image is amazing. To ensure that your leading question does have a single correct answer, carefully analyze the phrasing, word usage, and tone. If there is even the slightest possibility that a learner might be confused by the question or unsure about what response you are looking for, then reword it to provide more clarity. Lead your learners in the right direction and then give them the power to think for themselves. Use this article as a guide to design leading eLearning questions that engage and inspire your learners, without resorting to coercion. One of the most significant benefits of using leading questions is that they encourage the learner to think while guiding them in the right direction. The  article Direct Learners’ Attention: 5 Tips For eLearning Professionals features 5 additional tips you can use to direct your learners’ attention and improve their comprehension. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

3 Key Steps To Help Gain Competitive Advantage Through Employee Development  Let’s face it: Globalization is making business a tougher game. Most companies are now competing in a global market rather than a local or national market; software can be competitively developed offshore, shopping can be ordered from virtually anywhere, and even one-on-one service-based businesses can practice remotely using online video conferencing tools. Playing on a bigger business field means it is critical for your organization to gain a competitive advantage through employee development, which is where effective corporate training comes in. Most high-performing organizations are taking a structured approach to skill development by maintaining a training calendar for new and existing employees. The more we train our employees, the greater the payoff. There’s data to back this up. HR Magazine reported that organizations investing $1,500 or more per employee per year on training average 24 percent higher profit margins than those with lower training budgets. There’s more: The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) gathered training information from more than 2,500 organizations and found that those that offer comprehensive training have 218 percent higher income per employee than those with less comprehensive training. We will take you through 3 key steps PulseLearning uses to create customized, targeted training that will improve employee development and give you that sharp competitive edge that could increase your profit margins. Identify core skill requirements. Before launching in and training employees, your organization needs to identify the core skill requirements and any skill gaps so the right resources can be created for your audience. Conducting a training needs analysis (TNA) can help analyze your requirements and where existing training fits into the picture. From there, a plan is created for how to best extend the skill sets of new and existing employees. Develop appropriate training. When you know the core skill requirements you want to train your people on, an effective training solution can be developed. Consider what kind of solution will best suit the audience. It could include eLearning, face-to-face learning, or a blended solution of both. An online solution works best for geographically dispersed audiences, saving time and money associated with traditional classroom training. Having your training designed for use on mobile devices (mobile learning) such as iPads and smartphones will mean it can be accessed anywhere and anytime an Internet connection is present. Training can be designed to fit in with your employees’ schedules by producing bite-sized learning chunks for busy roles or downloadable resources where reading is required to reduce screen time. Evaluate the success of training. So you’re now investing in regular training for your people, improving employee development. What you’ll want to know is how effective it has been. Did it teach your employees what it intended to? Did it engage, motivate, and delight the audience, and importantly, did the training yield a return on your investment (ROI)? Evaluating the success of your training is the final step but is the most critical in the development lifecycle. Your approach to training should incorporate continuous improvement to keep it on point. Talk directly to your employees about their training experience and use their feedback to evolve your resources. Reference: Article: Not Investing in Employee Training Is Risky Business. The Huffington Post Australia, 12 October 2015. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Bett 2016! Welcome to the world of education technology! On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you that your school is kitted out with the most innovative learning technology and that everyone knows how to use it to its full potential? If you’re not a 10, well… you have nothing to worry about; the rate at which these resources are being developed means nobody should be a 10! To truly transform education through technology, we need to learn from experts, solution providers and each other. Bett 2016 is where this discovery takes place. Bett 2016 Keynote Speakers Professor Sugata Mitra, Professor, University of Newcastle Salman Khan, Founder, Khan Academy Belinda Parmar, CEO & Founder, Lady Geek Will Richardson, Expert and Innovator, Online Learning Networks Dan Haesler, Educator, Writer and Speaker Bett 2016 in detail Exhibitors Find products and solutions that are transforming the teaching and learning process. Bett Arena Whose ideas, vision and success stories will inspire your next steps in education? Learn Live Practical seminars, workshops and demonstrations for you to get involved in. School Leaders' Summit Our curated audience programme for those in leadership positions. We're supporting Gosh How can your school help Bett provide for seriously ill children and their families? Technology in HE Summit Our curated audience programme for higher education leaders. Bett 2016 will be held at ExCel London (London, United Kingdom) on January 20 - 23, 2016. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

7 Ways To Engage Through Building Learning Culture   The Gallup data analytics revealed that 70% of employees are disengaged on their job. They seem to be working, but if you think of productivity, commitment, and enthusiasm -their engagement- it is hardly satisfying. That is not a question of loss in creativity - but a real threat to the whole company’s well-being. What do companies like Google, Cisco, and Apple do differently? Explore The "Working Dead" You probably see such employees regularly and can easily recognize them: They check mobile phones and social networks as often as possible. They complain about the company. They spoil working environment. They cooperate badly with colleagues. The most dangerous thing about disengaged workers is, firstly, that they work poorly. Moreover, they infect the corporate culture and ruin relationships between colleagues. Make Employees Alive You are not alone in solving the problem of engaging your office team. According to Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2015 research, more than 3300 of explored companies emphasize employees’ engagement as №1 challenge. So, how to revive these disengaged and bored ones? Think of establishing learning culture - it’s an effective way to wake them up. Learning culture here means systematic approach to educating and engaging employees. It should be built in company’s business processes. As the Human Capital Institute (HCI) states, building a learning culture creates synergy between business goals and learning and development. It’s really a value add for an organization. Learning culture helps: Your employees to develop professionally. Your HR specialists to build a sense of team among the staff. The business through increased employees’ loyalty to the company. The global technological giant Cisco set up leadership development courses. Managers had to build own businesses as a part of their development plan. This is how one employee’s initiative -The Cisco Telepresence - was created and became a successful part of Cisco business. Bersin by Deloitte mentions that learning culture is integrated into internal policies of such giants as BP, Toyota, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Google, Apple, and UPS. Engage Through Building Learning Culture Make learning culture interactive and engaging: Make learning an easy process. Consider eLearning that has user-friendly interface and is comfortable to use even with no IT skills required. What is more, it’s cost-effective and interactive. Employees combine lectures with interactive tasks and simulations, so they are not bored. Implementing eLearning was one of MasterCard "priceless" steps in keeping up with employees’ mood and considerations. The company combines gamification and animation to train information security compliance. Here the office team acts as "superheroes" that have to secure MasterCard data-bases. Use online learning systems. They provide possibility to share professional knowledge, get the learning statistics and manage the whole learning process 24/7. Consider employees’ gaps. Advise every member of your team on skills they need for their job but don’t possess now. It can be a good motivation for skills’ improvement. That also works as a "fear-factor" that shows this improvement is necessary to stay professional and keep the job. Choose courses employees would be interested in. Provide learning that both company and your staff members can benefit from. Sales, marketing, management - consider courses that bring sense and knowledge for not only professional, but also career ascent. Provide time on learning. Set some extra-hours devoted to employees’ studies. That’s a sign the company cares about employees’ personal development. So, this way you can create employees’ loyalty. Add some incentives for most productive employees. Everyone wants to perform better than his colleague. Make good use of it! Let company’s management become a part of learning culture. If the CEO and key managers show engagement with training, employees feel cooperation with company’s leaders. When implementing a learning culture, you have a great opportunity to solve the problem with disengaged employees. Make this effort to the sustainable success of your company and get raise in productivity, team-building, and employees’ commitment as a result. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

TalentLMS' Assessments, Questions, Tests, And Grading  It's strange, but the most cited factors that people adopt eLearning for, are not really related to its educational qualities, but rather to cost and convenience. Sure, an LMS (Learning Management System) is cheaper to deploy and scale than traditional classroom based training, and much more convenient for both instructors and learners, as it doesn't demand their physical presence and rigid class hours. But eLearning is much more than a cheap solution for when you can't afford classroom-based training. In fact, according to an extensive meta-study by the Imperial College of London, eLearning has been shown to be equally or even more effective than traditional training. But you don't have to take their research-backed, scientifically-proven words for it: In this article we'll have a look at how a modern eLearning platform like TalentLMS can help you not only train your employees but also access their progress and its training effectiveness, enabling you to make valid assessments. Put Your Learners To The Test (Literally)  Tests and quizzes are the most basic form of interaction with your students (apart from putting up content for them to study). Unlike in traditional learning, where tests go hand in hand with the tedious and time-consuming task of correcting them (which is why lots of teachers prefer to give as few of them as they can get away with), in eLearning tests can be graded "automagically" by the LMS. Not only that, but instructors can also prepare a large pool of questions of different types (multiple-choice, complete the phrase, match question and answer, etc), and let TalentLMS create tests of the desired subject matter and number of questions itself. These two features allow instructors to have many small assessments in every lesson, and slightly larger ones at the end of every major course section, without having to spend all their time devising tests or grading them. It's also better for the students, as they don't have to deal with the fearful "end of semester" mega-test, but rather a larger number of smaller and more manageable tests. As for cheating, instead of getting easier with eLearning (since the teacher is not standing next to you), it's actually harder than with traditional learning. TalentLMS for example can use the aforementioned pools of questions to create random, personalized tests that prevent students from sharing their answers. Do Your Homework  eLearning tools being able to automate testing and other parts of examining users doesn't mean that old-style homework is obsolete. TalentLMS offers just that, through its "Assignments" feature, which allows instructors to define homework assignments for the students to work on. Students, in turn, have to upload a file with their reply in order to complete the assignment. In TalentLMS an assignment can be considered completed either at the moment when the student uploads his answer or when the instructor has evaluated and accepted it. Assignments can be graded just like tests and quizzes, although obviously manually by the instructor, which can also set their status to be either "passed" or "failed". This feature allows for more nuanced and personalized assessment of your students' skills and understanding, e.g. by having them write essays, computer programs and similar lengthier and more intricate assignments that cannot be adequately expressed by simple tests and quizzes. Reports  The most comprehensive tools that TalentLMS offers to help you access the success (or lack thereof) of your eLearning program are Reports. Sure, tests, quizzes and assignments are all great, but they only provide brief and isolated views of a student's progress. To get the full assessment of how your students are doing you have to get to the reports page and see their progress (or lack thereof) throughout their courses. For instructors assigned to a course, the "Course report" page shows an overview of the students’ interaction with that course through time, and includes information on the tests, surveys and assignments they were given. LMS administrators get an even fuller overview in TalentLMS, as they can see reports for the entire system (including different branches), and even generate their own custom reports. On top of what instructors see in their "Course report" page, administrators can see reports for all Users, Courses, Branches, Groups, Assignments, SCORM items, Tests, and Surveys. Reports can be filtered down to particular Groups, Courses or even individual users, allowing you to have both a general 10,000 feet view and detailed statistics on anything you want to measure. And if you want to share a report with others or process its results in a third party system (e.g. Excel, your ERP, etc.) TalentLMS’ CSV export feature lets you do just that. Conclusion  In this article we had a look at the tools and methods a modern LMS platform like TalentLMS offers in order help you assess your training program’s progress. Note that you’re not just accessing your students’ efforts and progress, but also the efficiency of your training material; whether it's too advanced for the students to understand, or so easy that bores them, whether it's confusing and needlessly complicated, and so on. Teaching, after all, is a feedback loop between instructor and student; even when the learning takes place online. TalentLMS, for its part, gives you everything you need to take advantage of that feedback loop to fine-tune your training to perfection. Want to see more? Take TalentLMS for a free test drive and assess its legendary ease of use, flexibility and speed for yourself. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

How Do Non-Profit Organizations Benefit From eLearning? With the availability of the internet and many organizations relying on technology, it is not a surprise that eLearning is gaining popularity and momentum at an encouraging pace. Though some industries like Banking and Education sectors are clearly early adopters, it is evident that all organizations stand to benefit from technology-aided learning. This includes non-profit organizations of the Development sector, which have to grapple with continual training needs, varied audiences, time crunches, as well as budgetary constraints. eLearning helps employees connect and collaborate. Most non-profit organizations have employees in different offices, with field offices being mostly far-flung and remote. With a technology-aided platform, all employees can be engaged with one another on a continuous basis which helps them work, better together. The eLearning platform can automatically send updates on events, trainings, news, with no added efforts, this relieves employees of administrative duties that come along with arranging events and making sure all employees fit them into their schedules. Most modern eLearning platforms are equipped with features like content sharing, reporting, calendaring, and administrative tools that help employees stay up-to-date and in sync with one another. eLearning helps manage organizational knowledge. Most organizations have a wealth of knowledge but no clear way of de-cluttering or arranging the relevant learning material. While most of these training material is in the form of hard copies or even PPTs, a Learning Management System (LMS) can help organizing the material and disseminating it to the relevant stakeholders. Using quick and efficient ways of eLearning creation with rapid-authoring tools, all existing material can be converted into e-format. These can then be catalogues within the Learning Management System, with appropriate tags, which helps employees search for them on the portal. The Learning Management System can be programmed into recommending suitable learning content as per the learner’s role within the organization. So if the manager fills in the role description, the system would automatically churn out all courses that would benefit the specific employee. This helps the employees within the sector gain knowledge on a continuous basis and as per their evolving roles within the organization. eLearning successfully breaks down barriers. Most non-profit organizations have members and employees that are geographically as well as linguistically separated but share the same organizational goal. A Learning Management System that can be deployed in multiple languages that can break the barriers of location or language, and unites all employees regardless of where they live or what languages they understand. This feeling of "oneness" is crucial when working in the development sector where the nature of work is such that understanding each other is at the core of organizational success. eLearning does not always bring IT hassles. Most modern learning management systems do not require in-house IT teams for maintenance. The Learning Management System vendor can provide the support needed for the first few months or as long as it is needed by the organization. This is especially useful for non-profit organizations that do not have IT personnel on staff or do not have the budget to hire IT personnel. Thus, the technology-aided platform can be implemented and run without internal IT support. The support extended from the Learning Management System provider can be worked within available budgets, to make a cost-effective eLearning solution. eLearning encourages sharing. As many organizations in the development sector are scattered all over the globe but work towards one cause, they stand to benefit a lot from learning about and from each other. But it is not always possible to write and share detailed reports or findings. So a lot of learning which is actually present within the organization does not circulate throughout but stays within small circles. With eLearning, employees can be encouraged to share instantly through audio or video clips, online blogs, and discussion boards within the Learning Management System or even video blogs. Field videos, findings, views on world events or even small personal achievements can be shared -to create a channel of sharing and learning. With appropriate tags and descriptions, the shared items can be archived on the Learning Management System and can be searched as per need by employees- across offices and locations. The success of eLearning in the Development sector comes the easy assurance that most employees within the sector have an open mind about learning. With technology, learning becomes more available and accessible. The learning content becomes more relevant and updated as well. That’s a true win-win for all. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Articulate Storyline And Mobile Learning  I recently read an article published by Articulate (makers of authoring tool Articulate Storyline) in which they define their outlook on the delivery of learning and detail how they plan to release new software designed specifically to better deliver eLearning content for mobile. The article outlined the fact that learning content is usually delivered via a slide style interface and that Articulate intend to retain this format across all devices using a responsive mobile player. Whilst I am glad that Storyline may be getting a partner app to better target mobile compatibility, I hesitate to jump on the "one slide fits all" approach they favor. Whilst it’s true that this is the current paradigm, it does not consider whether slide-based learning is the best solution for every platform and device. Below I will explain the various approaches available when it comes to developing mobile learning and discuss how we should be making the most of the opportunities available, rather than choosing a one size fits all strategy. Why Has This Become An Issue? Within the world of digital learning we are experiencing growing pressure for courses and training ephemera to be made available on a range of devices, from PCs to tablets and smartphones. eLearning is changing from an alternative to classroom equivalents to a fully mobile service, where end users have more control over how they consume their learning content. With different use cases, devices, operating systems and browsers, how do you best deliver your content without sacrificing its efficacy? What Are The Options For Mobile Delivery? There are a number of terms that get mentioned when talking about this subject, therefore it makes sense to define what we mean when we use them: Responsive. A responsive system is a fluid system where content stretches to fill the screen area most efficiently. This system covers the largest number of user devices because device resolutions (and screen sizes) vary so greatly between desktops, tablets, and phones. Adaptive. This system uses breakpoints to switch the design to a predetermined layout depending on the space available. Essentially delivering a custom experience at each screen level, an adaptive solution usually requires more design time to accurately define each style, but works best when a fluid layout just won’t do the content justice. Native. Building a custom app for a given platform which allows you to exploit the features of the operating system and device at hand, e.g. GPS, camera, accelerometer, multi-touch, and the processing power of the device itself. Where Does Articulate Storyline Fit In? As one of the leading authoring tools on the market, Storyline creates packages for iOS, Android, and PC by publishing either Flash or HTML5 output. This output resizes the slide-based learning to fit the available screen space. However the content scales with the course, not independently responding to the device. This makes text almost unreadable on smart phones. On a tablet you can opt to use their mobile app to boost performance, but this has one drawback in that it doesn’t work with a learning management system. Output from Articulate Storyline does not cater to smart phone resolutions as the content only scales down to fit the dimensions, leaving you with an illegible course. It also doesn’t currently support any version of Windows mobile (a platform designed for professional and casual work flows). What Do The Experts Say? We can learn a lot from the branding, design, and print industry, which has gone through a similar digital revolution where demand for ever increasing portability has driven many magazines and websites to adapt to the mobile age. Erik Spiekermann, the noted typographer and designer, has experienced this change first-hand and has this to say about communication on digital platforms: "The way to design is the same, you give content form and the medium really is always different. (…) I’ve got to cram a lot of complex content into a given format no matter how small that may be. I don’t see any difficult issues there it’s the same always; you solve the problem, you think about the users and think about the issue at hand: How much information, how do people read, when do they read, why do they read, do they have to read, can they read, must they read?" Clearly, adapting content around the user can result in much more effective delivery if we consider how they will digest the content available given the medium at hand. "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." This classic quote from Benjamin Franklin about education in general also references the need to involve the learner in the learning experience. Engaging content is important, but you also need to provide the information in the right medium to maximize take up. Finally, I find it pertinent to point out that this is still a very new development in the learning industry which has only really become important in the past couple of years. However, sometimes we need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture: "...we are still only a little way into the digital publishing revolution. It took 200 years (…) for the full ramification of the printing press to be felt in society and economics, and we are, at the most, 50 years into the computerized publishing revolution." (Belam, 2011) In Summary: Always Consider The Learner What the article by Articulate fails to address is the fact that people consume content in different ways depending on the device. It is the great success of many apps and e-books that they give the user a more portable, instant access and retrieve system. Applications like the New York Times app, for example, deliver vast quantities of information across devices, seamlessly integrating multimedia, imagery and even typography into a familiar structure. The idea of a one size fits all system is a developer-centric concept, rather than thinking about how best to deliver the content in a form that benefits the user, based on what they have to hand. What’s more important is the content that we’re striving to deliver in an engaging way.  If you take away the idea of the slide as the vehicle, you have far more options for delivery. With this alternative approach, slide based content might not reflow on other devices, but instead delivers a different experience tailored to the mobile nature of the device. What was previously an in-depth course on wiring up a boiler and product catalogues becomes a short video and diagram prompt-based resource. Making the most of responsive, adaptive and native content where appropriate is a more diverse and user friendly approach. My hope is that this new tool from Articulate Storyline does include some aspects of a more modern approach to responsive content and does not tie itself to reproducing the same slide across each device. Without implementing some sort of responsive element, text size and graphics will suffer as a result. However, I am sure that Articulate have big plans for this software and, as I’ve already said, I am looking forward to testing what they have to offer in this space. In the end, the market for this will be driven by the demand for mobile adapted learning. This quote sums up our new reality perfectly: "The overall point is that new technology will not necessarily replace old technology, but it will date it. By definition, eventually, it will replace it. But it’s like people who had black-and-white TVs when color came out. They eventually decided whether or not the new technology was worth the investment." - Steve Jobs This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Compliance Simplified: How To Use Creative Instructional Design Approaches To Instill The Spirit Of Compliance  In this article, we will look at this challenge in detail. As a response to mitigate this, I will outline how we can instill the spirit of "why comply" by using examples that feature compelling creative Instructional Design approaches. Background High profile areas of business -especially anything connected to revenue and markets- are governed by regulations. These are sets of rules set out by government bodies on how businesses should operate - covering trades, financial dealings, competition rules, safeguarding, and more. For example: Rules on insider trading, antitrust, or competition are in place to ensure that financial markets operate fairly, so no party has an advantage over another. Rules on workplace behavior and health and safety are in place primarily to safeguard the people at work. How And Why Rules Can Be Misunderstood Let’s take a look at a couple of examples that explore how and why rules can be misunderstood - either because they try to set standards for personal behavior which is complex and can be challenging, or because they set out strict methods of operation, based on market behavior. Compliance Simplified Example 1: Respect in the workplace. Respect in the workplace, or in any place, can be a difficult subject to discuss. People do not like to think they are behaving disrespectfully - most people believe they behave well with colleagues and others they encounter in the workplace. That’s because respect is not regulated - it is set by an internal bearing, based on our morals and ethical perspectives, which are in turn derived from our upbringing, past experiences, home lives, and even faith. Telling someone their behavior is disrespectful to you or to others can be difficult. Respect is often only noted by its absence and by the person who is not being treated with respect. Huge developments in anti-discrimination movements have made discussions about respect (or a lack of it) in the workplace easier to lead. What can be done: Let me share how we have handled two important aspects to meet the mandate of respect in the workplace. Recognizing disrespectful behavior. In the first instance, we have shown how we can build sensitivity to recognize disrespectful behavior. Alongside, we have added a simple test to guide the learners and help them not cross the line. Responding correctly to disrespectful comments. In this instance, using a situation analysis approach, we highlight the consequences of each choice made by the learners. Making the learners see the impact of their choices, we can increase the probability of right action. Compliance Simplified Example 2: Combating bribery in business. Bribery and corruption is another contentious area. While it is simple to explain the concept and what constitutes a bribe or corrupt behavior, the difficulty lies in ensuring that learners apply the concept and demonstrate expected standards of behavior. Bribery can easily become the norm - a standard way of doing business with people. While to an outsider, bribery or corruption may be obvious, it may be invisible to someone who thinks it is normal business practice. Gift-giving, hospitality, and entertainment are also tricky areas to negotiate - when does a gift become a bribe? While many countries have national legislation on bribery and corruption, and the laws of some countries cover behavior beyond their jurisdictions, there are no monetary limits on what constitutes a bribe. Understanding when a gift could be considered a bribe is crucial to understanding the entire concept - and this can be a minefield for employees and managements. What can be done: In case of combating bribery in business, a very significant aspect is to have employees recognize the red flags and trigger the required action. This is how we have handled this aspect: How Can We Handle These Dynamics? Through our creative Instructional Design approaches for compliance courses, we have defined an approach we term as Compliance Simplified. The examples shown in this article have been picked up from this approach. To help learners understand tricky legal premises using this approach, we: Take complex concepts and demystify them for learners. Use simple explanations, placing learners into challenging scenarios and asking them to choose a way out - an opportunity to choose the right path. Explain the consequences of each choice made before posing another similar dilemma - testing the learners’ understanding along the way. I hope this article was useful in seeing value in our mandate Compliance Simplified and how it can influence and trigger the right behavior. We believe only when this objective is achieved, would the compliance mandate hit the bull’s-eye. Using innovative and creative Instructional Design techniques for compliance is a very significant practice at EI Design. Do contact me if you have any questions. Acknowledgement: This article was conceptualized by our business associate Helen O’Gorman who shares my passion to make compliance courses immersive and engaging. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Riverside Tech for Schools Summit 2016 Riverside Tech for Schools Summit 2016 is one of many of the EdSurge Summits. Held in two days consisted of a workshop and an all educator day. Riverside Tech for Schools Summit 2016 Education Leaders Workshop Workshops give education leaders the inside track on emerging tech & trends. Engage in small group sessions with leading edtech companies selected based on your district priorities. Take part in thoughtful conversations around critical issues such as data management, evaluating tech & building partnerships. Meet & share your experiences with peers from other schools & districts. Thought Leadership, talk through critical issues facing schools, districts and companies committed to improving student outcomes. Build Partnerships, sharpen how you articulate your organization’s needs and concerns so as to build more collaborative partnerships. Explore Tech, groups of administrators are matched with edtech companies with the goal of spurring candid exchanges around needs and solutions. Network, build new contacts and strengthen your existing network by sharing challenges and solutions with peers from the region. Riverside Tech for Schools Summit 2016 All Educator Day Get hands-on with products in a place where your voice is heard. Try out the latest innovations for supporting teaching. Give your feedback so companies know how to tune their products to fit your needs. Meet other teachers and expand your network of friends & colleagues. Explore the leading showcase of innovative technology for classrooms and schools and meet the entrepreneurs and companies creating these products. Listen, leading education thinkers start off the day; at lunch, a panel of students share their views on edtech, learning and life as a student. Share, exchange feedback with edtech product builders to help tune the products to fit students’ needs; get tips and insight from educators and entrepreneurs alike. Delight, enjoy complimentary breakfast and lunch. And to cap off the event, 15 lucky participants will take home mobile devices at the end of the day! Riverside Tech for Schools Summit 2016 will be held at the Bourns Technology Center (Riverside, CA, US) on January 22-23, 2016.   This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

What You Need To Know About Tin Can Api   I was a bit alarmed to read a recent article stating that Tin Can API "is a Learning Record Store". That’s not what it is, though it does need to connect to one. I thought it might be helpful if I wrote an article about what Tin Can is, and how important it’s going to be in eLearning. I’ll start by explaining the problem with current Learning Management Systems, then look at the solution; Tin Can API. Towards the end I go into a bit more detail and invite you to imagine how Tin Can could work in your organization. My overall conclusion is that if widely adopted it could revolutionize Learning and Development and data management. The Problem  The problem with Learning Management Systems is that very little learning happens on them. In the real world, students move around, use various devices in different locations, and will find much of their learning content away from the Learning Management System (LMS). This involves activities. They may, among many other possibilities: Google something. Use Wikipedia. Watch a video or slideshare. Upload a video or slideshare. Listen to a podcast. Buy an eBook. Read a blog post. Make a blog post. Borrow a library book. Play an educational game. Attend a conference. Email someone with a question. Subscribe to a class on iTunes U. Actually take the class on iTunes U. And, yes, take a Learning Management System course or module. So the Learning Management System is now just one part of a greatly expanded learning universe. Well-designed Learning Management Systems courses are very useful. A good Instructional Designer will create courses that deliver everything the student needs to know in a measured, entertaining, and memorable way. But students will still wander away from the Learning Management System to deepen their knowledge and satisfy their own curiosities. A Learning Management System will not capture those "extra" activities, despite them being the activities where most of the self-directed learning takes place. Tin Can API aims to correct this problem. What Is It?  Also known as Experience API or xAPI, Tin Can is a specification for learning technology that captures data in a consistent format about a person’s activities from many different systems and technologies. Browsers, games, mobile devices, library systems, YouTube, blogs, HR systems, and yes, good old Learning Management Systems - the list goes on and on. Any device or system capable of running the Tin Can API can provide data about activities in this standard format, which needs to be fed into a Learning Record Store - a repository for all the data. Who Made It?  It was conceived by the same people who made SCORM: Advanced Distributed Learning, sponsored by the United States Department of Defense. They tendered it out and the contract was won by Rustici Software, an American company with lots of experience with SCORM. Rustici named their internal project Tin Can. After much listening to the needs of the eLearning community and a lot of development, they delivered the "Tin Can API" to ADL, who promptly renamed it "Experience API" just to confuse everyone. But by then there had been so much early adoption and excitement about Tin Can, that the name Tin Can stuck. Tin Can and xAPI aren’t two forks of the project, one owned by Rustici and the other by ADL, as some people think. They are two names for the exact same thing. You might find people and companies referring to it as xAPI, which is fine - that’s its official name, after all. Why Did They Make It?  SCORM has been around since 1999 and is still the most used learning interoperability specification in the industry. But it’s clunky and limited. It assumes a sequential learning experience in which you work from one module or assessment to the next in a linear fashion. And as outlined above, it fails to capture anything that happens outside the Learning Management System. So learners are siloed. Only their interactions with formal activities are tracked in the Learning Management System gradebook, like online workbook study, Learning Management System assessment activities, quizzes etc. All the real "lightbulb" stuff where they are pursuing knowledge autonomously goes unrecorded. That’s not good enough these days, said ADL in 2011. We need a successor to SCORM that captures the whole range of learning activities, wherever and however they take place. So they issued a Broad Agency Announcement, a way the US government uses to invite contractors to bid for R&D projects. Rustici won it, and Tin Can was born. How Does It Work?  The Tin Can API is a web service that allows for statements of experience (typically learning experiences, but they could be anything) to be delivered to and stored securely in a Learning Record Store. Data from any Tin Can-enabled device or system -known as an "Activity Provider"- emerges in the form of statements. These have the basic format Actor, Verb, Object. So a statement might say [Jimmy] [watched] [YouTube video x] or [Sally] [read] [blog post y] or [Billy] [visited] [the Museum of Natural History]. Here’s some real output from a prototype of Tin Can: 11/18/2015 4:20:18 PM Test User experienced Tin Can Prototypes Launcher 11/18/2015 1:31:12 PM Test User initialized Js Tetris - Tin Can Prototype 11/18/2015 1:30:55 PM Test User attempted Js Tetris - Tin Can Prototype 11/18/2015 1:30:53 PM Test User initialized Js Tetris - Tin Can Prototype 11/18/2015 1:30:52 PM Test User launched http://id.tincanapi.com/activity/tincan-prototypes/tetris 11/18/2015 1:30:37 PM Test User experienced Etiquette - Playing 11/18/2015 1:30:36 PM Test User resumed Golf Example - Tin Can Course 11/18/2015 1:30:36 PM Test User initialized Golf Example - Tin Can Course 11/18/2015 1:30:34 PM Test User launched http://id.tincanapi.com/activity/tincan-prototypes/golf-example 11/18/2015 1:30:30 PM Test User terminated Golf Example - Tin Can Course 11/18/2015 1:30:30 PM Test User suspended Golf Example - Tin Can Course This shows the basic Actor - Verb - Object syntax of Tin Can statements. A lot more can be added to a statement, for example: Result: [John] [attempted] [Tetris] [with score 2569] Context: [Pippa] [completed] [sushi preparation for beginners] [in the context of Japanese Cuisine 101] [under the instruction of Hiro Yakasuma] Lots of verbs are possible. Some examples are: Resumed. Attended. Commented. Registered. Scored. Shared. Responded. Imported. Voided. Progressed. Failed. Preferred. Interacted. Asked. Launched. It’s also possible to create your own custom statement fields. Things can quickly get confusing with so many verbs available, which is why there is a cookbook for Tin Can, a sort of Book of Spells for instructional wizards. It contains things called recipes. Recipes  The extreme flexibility of the Tin Can vocabulary could lead to chaos if people chose different statement types to describe the same activity. The whole point of interoperability is that there are uniform ways to describe particular activities. A simple example of what could go wrong is: Vimeo could produce the statement [John] [launched] [How to teach your dog tricks] YouTube could produce the statement [John] [opened] [How to teach your dog tricks] Hulu could produce the statement [John] [viewed] [How to teach your dog tricks] So there’s a problem. Different verbs can describe the same activity. This is why Tin Can needs standard, agreed-upon vocabulary and format to describe certain types of activity. These are called recipes. They are kept in a registry at tincanapi.com and are designed to promote consistency. For video, the recipe that has been decided on defines the actor, verb and object (the watcher is the actor, the video is the object) and the verbs that should describe the activity, which are: Play. Pause. Watch. Skip. Complete. A "play" statement is sent when a video is started, and a "watch" statement is sent when the video is paused when the previous state of the video was playing, in order to capture the segment that was played. As this simple example shows, it can get complicated, and that’s exactly why there are recipes: To keep everyone singing from the same hymn sheet and stop them turning Tin Can into Tin Can’t. What Is Its Potential?  If the global learning community chooses to adopt Tin Can / Experience API, it will enable us to liberate learning content and activities from the confines of the Learning Management System and track learning activities across a hugely diverse range of platforms. The data gathered will give a far richer picture of the real-life impact of learning. A new power that Tin Can gives us is the ability to analyze activities and link them to results. In the example below, data in the Learning Record Store are analyzed to show a relationship between attending a sales webinar and selling a product. The webinar software is xAPI-enabled and so is the sales CRM. They both produce statements that are stored in the Learning Record Store. Wyver Solutions Ltd. Data like this will require careful analysis to avoid confusing correlation with causation. Just because 80% of people who sold product #42 attended the sales webinar, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the webinar is a direct driver of sales success. A new era of education data mining could be upon us as organizations seek to extract meaning from their Learning Record Store statements. New analytics software is already springing up promising to provide actionable insights from training and performance data. But there is low-hanging fruit there too. If the most common search term on the company intranet by new people is "claiming expenses", it seems actionable with little analysis: Make the expenses process clearer during induction. This is intended as a primer, and a discussion of analytics could go on for many more pages. To close, I invite you to spend a minute or two browsing the diagram below, following the arrows around, and imagining Tin Can’s potential in your organization. I hope you now have a better idea of what Tin Can is and are better prepared for when it comes up in future learning conversations, as it surely will. Wyver Solutions Ltd. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

How To Use Visual Thinking In eLearning Visual thinking refers to a learning approach that links complex ideas or concepts to visual elements, such as images, word maps, or infographics. Visual thinking can be used by eLearning professionals to create meaningful eLearning content, as well as by online learners to visually represent their ideas and thoughts during the eLearning process. Top 3 Visual Thinking Benefits In eLearning Simplifies complex concepts. One of the most significant benefits of visual thinking in eLearning is that it can simplify more complicated or involved processes and ideas. Rather than trying to explain the relationship between two concepts, for example, you can create a chart that compares and contrasts them for the learner. Thus, your audience can immediately receive the key pieces of information in a visual format, which allows their brains to process the knowledge more quickly and effectively. Encourages online learners to organize key ideas. Visual thinking in eLearning gives online learners the ability to organize their thoughts and ideas, without having to store every bit of knowledge within their minds. They can create a visual representation of the information they are acquiring, which can then use as a reference and study tool later on. It also allows them to collect their thoughts and opinions about a specific topic, so that they can delve into every aspect of the subject matter. Boosts knowledge retention. When information is presented in visual form, learners are much more likely to absorb and retain it for real world use. This is primarily due to the fact that their brains are able to see the connection between new concepts and previously learned knowledge. They can also more effectively comprehend the link between related concepts, as well as every sub-topic that is associated with the idea. For example, they can map out all of the traits of a species or every step of a work-related task. Top 5 Tips To Use Visual Thinking In eLearning Include infographics that convey core ideas. Infographics have been a popular tool in the marketing industry for quite some time, but in recent years they have become valuable learning aids. Infographics offer a visual representation of statistics, trends, steps in a process, or interrelated concepts. Instead of simply explaining an idea in a lengthy paragraph, infographics break the subject down into easily digestible visual components that are both educational and entertaining. You can combine text, images, graphics, and even colors to evoke certain moods to create an interactive and memorable infographic for your eLearning course. Encourage learners to create idea maps for each lesson. At the end of each lesson, ask your learners to create an idea or word map that summarizes the key concepts. Let them get creative and use whatever media, images, or representations they prefer. For example, they can use photos to symbolize every step of a process or comic characters to portray different traits or characteristics. The goal is to give them the chance to recap and review the information so that they can not only expand their understanding, but commit the key takeaways to their long-term memory. If they are able to put it into their own words , or visuals in this case, they are more likely to recall the information in real world situations. Ask learners to create idea-based sketches. Sketching is another perfect example of visual learning, as it allows learners to create engaging and entertaining visual depictions of the core ideas. For example, ask them to watch an eLearning video featuring the subject matter then design a sketch that summarizes the overall message. You can make this even more interactive by encouraging your learners to make their own videos that explore the subject matter, then having them peer review all of the completed presentations. The learner who made the eLearning video can get the valuable feedback they need, while the other learners can deepen the comprehension by designing a summative sketch. Explore the subject matter through digital storytelling. Digital stories are comprised solely of electronic media, such as online music, graphic art, and animation. For more advanced learners, you can develop digital storytelling activities that enable them to delve into the subject matter in a creative and visually compelling manner. Just make sure that you give them a clear idea of what’s expected and what topics they should cover, so that you are certain everyone is on the same page. Also, provide them with a list of the all the sites they can use to create their virtual masterpieces. Highlight important dates by using an interactive timeline. A timeline is yet another example of a visual learning tool that can greatly benefit your audience. Rather than just listing the important dates, make a clickable timeline that features all of the significant moments throughout history. The learners can then click on the individual events to get more information, or just study the timeline to take a quick glance at the topic. Well written eLearning content is essential, but you have the power to transform your eLearning course into an interactive and memorable experience by taking a visual thinking approach. Use these 5 tips to integrate visual thinking activities into your next eLearning course. Is it possible to create great visual design when you are not a designer? Read the article 10 Tips To Improve Your Visual Design Skills For Non-Designers to discover 10 simple tips to improve your visual design skills and ensure that, despite your lack of knowledge or experience, you can create your own high quality visual design eLearning environment. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

I had a meltdown today.  I didn’t mean to do it, I’m just frustrated right now.  About this time, every single year, our administrator panics about state testing and has us "analyze" the data to determine which kids can help get our number ups. (she actually said that one year, I almost got up and […]

I would comment, but why bother, right? If Fewer or No Tests, Then What? http://t.co/LIrkpS6DWd via @plthomasEdD — Paul Thomas (@plthomasEdD) January 31, 2014 Standardized tests don’t measure learning. They measure household income. http://t.co/awlY8q8wbz @DianeRavitch pic.twitter.com/KmYcT8VVxZ — Steven Singer (@StevenSinger3) January 31, 2014

First week of school over and done.  I had the kids add 6 apps to their devices… and several of them have already started tweeting and sending me notes on My Big Campus.  I hope to make this school year one full of embedded technology learning and growing.  The goal is to prepare the children […]