This year viaLearning attended the ASTD TK 12 in Las Vegas to learn what the tech focused trending topics were right now amongst the industry.  ASTD reported about 1000 attendees and the show was the usual mix of hands on application of technology and strategy.  The conference hot topics remained Gamification and Mobile platforms.

Gamification is settling in as a topic – with more of a focus on how to apply meaningful game mechanisms to elearning and less “what does it all mean”.   A notable break out was the impact of successful business environment simulation as a mechanism to take learning beyond knowledge transfer through to effective application of that knowledge.  The results of presented case studies really seemed to show an opportunity for stimulating the learning into higher level application of the concepts.

Similarly on the mobile platform front the take away focus was on the maturity of the offerings coming into play – especially around sales enablement where combined customer content and “learning content” are bought together under a common environment where training and learning are done within a switchable common environment that ensures training and available materials stay in synch.

Overall it was a great validation of our strategy and direction and we left feeling confident that our solutions and experience is building around the right learning objectives.  Feel free to let us know if you were there and had any other “take aways” that would be worth sharing.

Happy learning,

Julie

The New Year always brings a plethora of professionals trying to determine what the coming year will bring. I’m guilty of this as well. We all want to be the ones to say “I told you this would happen…” or “I knew that would occur in this year…” But it really is so hard to know. I’ll bite, though, and take a stab at it.

The training space is always evolving, but one trend in the past few years has now become an ‘official’ business driver. That is the validation that L&D departments need a more reliable way to measure and evaluate training as it relates to the impact on an organization. Intuitively it makes sense: supporting technology and the speed at which people learn is getting businesses to the point where solid measurement  is expected. Plus, to prove its worth, L&D departments are now put in a position to quantify results as it relates to ROI. Because of this, the Kirkpatrick Model has been tweaked for the 21^st century. The article How to Evaluate Learning: The Kirkpatrick Model for the 21^st Century does a nice job of explaining how the model has been flipped from a bottoms up approach to top-down approach. When planning a training program, start with the end in mind and ask what the desired outcomes are and plan to that. Many organizations are doing this now; this model confirms it. You can learn more about the Kirkpatrick Model here.

eLearning is also taking on a new dimension with the addition of gaming (or game-based learning or gamification). eLearning is not simply web-based training any longer. It includes all training that is technology based. eLearning can be delivered by a computer, mobile device, tablet, Smartphone, social networks, really any technological device. It is even integrated into classroom settings. Its form is many as well…ranging from full, asynchronous courses to multiplayer games to texting on mobile devices. Because of the ability of games to engage and interact with learners, I expect the most interesting changes to occur in that space. There will always be a need for ‘traditional’ web-based eLearning, but deployment of that content will transition to a more interactive and sometimes entertaining game solution.

So to start out 2012 I’m going to put a stake in the ground and say that the two biggest trends are:

1. Development of an ROI model for training
2. Games will become the preferred delivery method for eLearning

What do you think?

Happy learning,

Julie

Happy New Year, everyone. 2011 came and went so fast that the training world did not have too many changes. We saw improvements in mobile learning, game-based learning and HTML5 development. Traditional web-based training held steady, although it tended to be blended with other modalities for effectiveness. Which is where I predict 2012 will take us…

Remember in grade school when we had to memorize our addition, subtraction, multiplication tables? Well, there is something to be said to that. Science has proven that repetition is a key in retaining information in the brain. This means that for learning to be effective, the information needs to be consumed by the learner multiple times, a minimum of 3 times. Hence, memorization of math tables.

Providing information in a blended format can effectively provide that much needed repetition to learners. Think about it: you want to give training to your sales representatives on a new product. What would the results be if you provided that information in a PDF? Or a web-based training course? Or by posting specs on the website or sending them out in an email? If you simply did one of those, the results would not generally be very good. But, if all three forms of information dissemination were employed, the chances that the sales representatives could remember the information would be much greater. And the learning would be happening multiple times, in multiple ways and recalled in the way it’s needed more quickly and accurately.

I know technology will rule the roost in the training space in 2012. Mobile learning and game-based learning, which I am a big proponent for, will grow and continue to become more commonplace in training plans. HTML5 will continue to open new capabilities for development. I also know that by using those methods, in addition to other, tried and true methods, our training effectiveness will increase and more learning will be happening. And isn’t that what we want?

Happy learning,

Julie

The interiors of fast food restaurants are often decorated in shades of orange and brown, because those colors promote a healthy appetite. Lawyers routinely instruct their clients to wear blue suits during court appearances, because blue equates with trustworthiness. The room where performers hang out before going onstage is called the “green room” and traditionally has green walls, since green promotes relaxation.

The impact of color on our emotions and behavior has been observed throughout human history. From the interiors of hospitals to corporate logos, color influences the way people feel and act. There’s no denying that color has a significant impact on the way we see the world around us. In the hands of a skilled designer, a color scheme can give a sense of peace, make us anxious, influence our opinions about a product’s perceived value or put us in the mood for love.

In eLearning, we are always attempting to dictate the learner’s behavior. We want to instill a state of open-minded relaxation in which the viewer feels comfortable and confident enough to absorb and retain new information. We don’t want to take them out of this frame of mind by introducing startling, jarring colors which might break the learner’s concentration. With this idea firmly in mind, the graphic design of an eLearning course can be formulated so that it optimizes the user’s ability to get the most out of the course and sets them up for success.

There are, of course, considerations other than emotions to take into account when designing the visual look and feel of an eLearning module. More often than not, there is a customer whose brand identity must be preserved. This sometimes means working within strict guidelines, including adherence to a client-mandated color palette. It becomes that much more important, then, for a designer working within dictated parameters to craft a user experience that not only preserves the integrity of the client’s brand, but fulfills their learning objectives as well.

In addition to the emotional impact color can have, there’s a very real correlation between color and an individual’s ability to learn. A study by the University of Georgia College of Education showed that the colors of the walls in schools can have an impact on a number of factors, including:

• Eye fatigue
• Productivity
• Accuracy
• Spatial organization
• Developmental processes

The effects of color aren’t universal, however. One must be cognizant of one’s audience. The study referenced above found that while warmer, brighter colors were most advantageous to learning in preschool and elementary schools, upper grades benefitted more from cooler colors which promote focus and concentration.

Geographic and cultural differences can often change a color’s emotional impact, as well. While Western audiences might equate the color white with cleanliness and purity, many Eastern cultures associate white with funerals and mourning.

Here’s some additional reading to help you when choosing appropriate color schemes for your eLearning offerings:

http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm

http://sbinformation.about.com/cs/advertising/a/colors.htm

http://ms.cc.sunysb.edu/~lscarlatos/classes/ColorPerception/emotion.html

Be mindful of these considerations when designing your eLearning programs to ensure you convey the message you intend.

Happy learning,

Mark

2011 has been a great building year for viaLearning. First, we were recognized by TrainingIndustry.com as a top content development company to watch in 2011. This was based on our new and innovative service offerings, our unique approach to content development, specialized services and our client base. As 2011 went on, we further enhanced our capabilities and expertise in these areas, and then some.

This was validated by our winning of two Davey Awards recently. viaLearning was selected from nearly 4,000 entries from around the world to receive Silver awards for our work on the AT&T Torch – Micro Learning in the Mobile Marketing/Telecommunications category and Hewlett Packard’s Day in the Life in the Interactive Multimedia/Sales category.

We are thrilled to have been recognized with these awards in the eLearning community. The community is rich with creative, vibrant and excellent solutions—I’m very proud of the work our team has done to reach this status. May 2012 bring even more accolades and interesting experiences.

Let us know what your success looked like in 2011. Sharing is a beneficial way to learn from each other!

Happy learning,

Julie

As a senior project manager with viaLearning, I took the opportunity to travel to DevLearn in Las Vegas this year. It was great. While there were numerous exhibitors I was looking forward to speaking with and learning about at DevLearn, as project manager, I was most intrigued to learn more about the pertinent role that gaming is carving for itself in the eLearning sphere. During the expo, I had a chance to sit in on a presentation led by Koreen Olbrish, of Tandem Learning.  Olbrish discussed the impact that Alternative games and Augmented games are having on the eLearning industry.

ARGs, as they are called, are based on a type of storyline driven learning and are a blend of real world and online competitive events which allow the learners to practice in real life.  Olbrish described some of the previous ARG’s created by her team and she shed light on the amount of work that goes into creating such a game as well as the importance of understanding the workplace, the real life scenarios, and the roles of the organization as well as how all of the roles inter-relate with one another. What stood out the most to me was how these games quickly became engrained in their player’s lives and how many of them were unable to differentiate between actual life and the game.

After discussing her case studies, Olbrish segued into an even more interesting topic and that was the examples of an Augmented Reality Game called Dow Day game. This game, created by ARIS (http://arisgames.org/featured/dow-day/), virtually places the learner at the University of Madison campus in 1967, the year that students protested Dow Chemicals and their production of napalm. The game takes the learner back to Dow Day, provides the learner with a roll and a task and has the learner take on numerous quests and challenges. The game is comprised of virtual characters who provide hints and clues to the learners while the player navigates through the game trying to unlock all clues.  What makes these games so unique is that they have augmented reality and are being seen as the “new way to envision history.”  The games have current  real life images that have been superimposed over the old photos or videos and are now viewed as being reality. I am interested to see how these games take shape over the next few years and become key players in the eLearning sphere.

Happy learning,

Olivia

The importance of design in eLearning materials goes well beyond considerations of corporate branding, attempting to look slick and modern or the designer’s favorite color. The visual style of all instructional materials should first and foremost be about increasing the effectiveness of the learning experience. A University of Michigan study showed that a set of instructions presented in an easily-legible font will be perceived as more understandable and easy to follow than the exact same instructions when written in a typeface that takes more effort to read (whether that extra effort is because of an elaborate, decorative font, a lack of contrast between the text and its background color or a combination of factors).

In addition to the clarity of the onscreen text, diagrams will also only be as effective as the learner’s ability to comprehend them. By simplifying the visual representation of concepts, an eLearning designer increases the likelihood that their graphics will be understood, reinforcing – rather than detracting from – the learning objectives intended.

A learner is already being asked to do something that’s outside of most of our comfort zones: LEARN. Don’t force them into additional unfamiliar activities like deciphering difficult-to-read text or analyzing complex graphics.

Beyond considerations of legibility of on-screen text and the clarity of illustrative diagrams, an eLearning course should be pleasant to look at. This may seem like a trite and overly-simplistic statement, but when we look at something, we know immediately whether or not it appeals to us on an aesthetic level. While fine art can certainly be complex and difficult to digest, there’s still that initial gut reaction that tells you that you either “get it” or you don’t. Mostly this translates to whether or not you immediately understand the message or feeling that the artist was hoping to convey. With fine art, we often express this by saying that the art “speaks to us”. What we really mean is that it’s comprehensible to us on an emotional and/or intellectual level. To at least some degree, then, we can say:

Aesthetic appeal is increased by ease of comprehension.

In looking at the effectiveness of an eLearning course, we find that the inverse holds true:

Ease of comprehension is increased by aesthetic appeal.

A learner is going to be more likely to absorb and retain the concepts being communicated if the course appeals to the learner’s sense of aesthetic beauty; if they’re not distracted by jarring color combinations or unpleasant imagery. Visual clarity provides a foundation of comfort and familiarity, removing barriers to learning by creating a “safe zone” in which the learner can feel at ease and therefore more open to absorbing and retaining new ideas and information.

By putting a learner at ease by presenting information in a comprehensible format that’s easy on the eyes and doesn’t overwhelm with unnecessary and confusing visual elements, we create an environment of comfort and open-mindedness, conducive to successful learning.

Happy learning,

Mark

viaLearning Design

Yesterday I posted about what HTML5 is, or may be. I want to continue that conversation. My last comment was…

HTML5=The next major revision of HTML

It should be clear that these new HTML5 features, while designed to work with Javascript and CSS when necessary, are independent of those very different technologies. In fact a webpage could be designed strictly with HTML5 and not include Javascript or CSS. An example of this would be a webpage that utilized the new video tag. This tag allows a video of a specific codec to be embedded in a webpage without a separate plugin. This is a powerful feature but completely unrelated to CSS or JS.

Andrew also writes “Over the course of time, the media has generally lumped together aspects of CSS3 such as animations, transitions, transformations, gradients and web fonts, as well as new JavaScript APIs for enhanced browser capabilities, such as geolocation, under the singular term “HTML5.” The HTML5 spec does not encompass all of these terms and technologies; however, they are closely related to all modern browsers and are paramount in delivering a richer user experience”

HTML5+CSS3+JS=Modern web technologies capable of creating  rich user experience.

The problem with viewing HTML5 as being an amalgam of HTML+CSS+JS and any of the other modern browser technologies that seem to get lumped under HTML5 is that it further confuses people as to what is truly possible with the current web languages. There are demos appearing on the web that are being touted as examples of HTML5, but really lack any of the new features that HTML5 offers. In fact I’ve seen some of the “HTML5” demos successfully reproduced with HTML4 and In the end it wasn’t the HTML that made these demos function, but the advanced Javascript. The confusion and difficulty in pinning down what is HTML5 probably stems from trying to define a technology that is not fully developed. HTML5 is evolving and will not be complete until 2022.

Here is an excerpt from an informative article that helped dispel some myths I’ve seen on the web about what HTM5 is by defining what it is not:

What is not HTML5

1. SVG: Not HTML5. It’s at least five years old.
2. CSS3: Not HTML5. It’s…CSS.
3. Geolocation: Not HTML5.
4. Client Storage: Not HTML5. It was at one point, but was removed from the spec, due to the fact that many worried that it, as a whole, was becoming too complicated. It now has its own specification.
5. Web Sockets: Not HTML5. Again, was exported to its own specification.

It is interesting watching something develop and change, especially something like HTML5 because it evolves so fast. We’ll see what happens!

Keep learning,

Erhan

Over the last year I’ve been following the emerging information on HTML5 and what it has to offer. There seems to be some generalizations and conflicting views as to what HTML5 is and what it can do. I came across a well-engineered web presentation located here. The fifth  slide has an interesting equation relating to what HTML5 is.

HTML5~=HTML+CSS+JS

This equation is technically inaccurate. HTML5 is not approximately equal to all those technologies nor is it an umbrella that all those technologies live under. These technologies are all used in modern web browsers to create user experiences, but that is not exactly what HMTL5 is. However this equation is consistent with a portion of the current opinion on the internet about HTML5. I came across a good article written by Developer Andrew Trice that helped clear up a lot of confusion I was having and confirmed a lot of my suspicion about the technical inaccuracy of the above equation.

Andrew states “In the strictest sense, HTML is a text-based markup language used to format information that is often disseminated via the Internet. At a high level, HTML is a language that is used to structure and present text and images within a user interface. HTML5 is an augmentation of the current HTML 4.01 specification that adds new features that designers and developers will be able to use when creating their own content.”

So perhaps with that said a more accurate equation would be:

HTML5=The next major revision of HTML

Stay tuned and tomorrow I’ll have more of my thoughts on HTML5 for you.

Keep learning,

Erhan

viaLearning hosted a webinar today about boosting sales training and improving time-to-competence. One question that came up was how to motivate adult learners to finish their training. That’s a great question, and the answer seems to be a moving target. But, there are some recurring themes.

Here’s my take on how to motivate an adult:

• Make it relevant to them. Most training is relevant to the company, but not necessarily to the person taking the training. Think about it…if you have to take a training about a new product, do you think the sales people will really care about the product specs? Not so much. They will care more about how this new product provides value to their customer so they can sell more. Selling more to most sales people = more commission. That’s relevant to them.
• Be brief and be gone—roll out “microlearning.” Give them the pertinent information and be done with it. That’s not to say that you can’t give them that same information many times—you must to reinforce it—but making someone take an hour long course that really should only take 5 minutes is a mistake.
• Allow for exploration, not clicks. We’ve all heard it: “The learner needs to read the content on every screen” in a web-based training course. All learners need to sit through hours of ILT….Really? Do they really? If someone needs an answer, they will find it. Allow them to explore and find the answers. Don’t force them down a particular path. After all, I may just click through faster than you can count.
• Set clear expectations about what they need to know. It’s as simple as saying “This training will teach you how to improve your time to close rate.” The learner knows what to expect and is set up for it.
• Make it fun. People remember things if those “things” give them a good feeling. I challenge you. Take a concept and teach it an old-school way that provides no fun, no interaction. Take that same concept and create a game out of it. Assess what the learners got out of each session. They will get more out of the gaming piece. It’s fun; why wouldn’t they?

Every person ticks a different way, so you have to be flexible and creative in motivating people. While these tips may not motivate 100% of the people 100% of the time, they will help. Try it.

Happy learning,

Julie