Taking a look at CS4

Well, the new Adobe CS4 is looking pretty awesome - especially all the new integration options between products like the InDesign export feature to Flash in order to animate PDF's. In E-learning we are still using "traditional" print methods to create simple job aids and giving the learner access to the documents as PDF's. Making the reading experience more interactive and visually relevant - like a simple animation of how to put together a desk or chair (thin of those impossible to read Ikea instructions).

Flash paper magazines (http://issuu.com/)and ads are going to continue to grow in popularity and I predict will eventually go a long way towards replacing printed magazines. The new conditional text feature is also very cool - we are now expected to produce training for a global audience and this gives us the opportunity to produce materials for instructor lead training and e-learning in several different languages with the same layout and consistent look.

The ability to create animations, interactive buttons, and page transitions with out having to know or use Flash is also a great feature for instructional designers who do not trained instructional technologists - or who simply don't have the time or budget for custom Flash development.

I'm off to explore the new Flash features now and will post on what I learn and how it can be best applied to improving e-learning and training in my next post.

E-Learning Simulation: Global Managment Skills

Wow,

It's been a while since I wrote on my blog. Being swamped with work doesn't help - but a guess most anyone could say that. As for new developments in the world of e-learning, I would like to share an update on the latest project I have designed and assisted with development on. The project is a conversion of an 8 hour workshop into five online modules that are a total of 1 hour and 25 minute. They are approximately 25 minutes in length each. Just the right "sit-and-learn" time most adults can stand in one shot.

I decided to follow a very real world and highly interactive approach when designing the modules. The learner is cast as the project lead of a negotiating team in the modules in order to simulate the activities, and acquire the knowledge and skills, that are required to become an excellent global manager.

In the simulation the learner is assisted and taught by a mentor who communicates by phone and email. When on phone calls with the mentor, the knowledge imparted is supported by emails and images that support the learning content. The activities the learner engages in are also based around the everyday tasks required to manage a culturally diverse global virtual team, such as sending out kick-off meeting invites, facilitating video conferences, following up with communication concerning action items and objectives, and finally meeting the opposing negotiating team in Spain to conduct face to face negotiations. The modules conclude with a dinner where the virtual team finally meet and debrief about the success of the project.

In order to not break the "spell" of the immersion into the simulation - all feedback, practice items and assessments are presented as everyday project requirements. The learner is "assessed" and given feedback at the end of every module by being required to write a report to their boss on project updates. using a company "report template" the learner needs to input (though multiple chose section) the relevant information they have learned or tasks they have completed into the report.

It has been interesting to see my excellent graphic designer/developer, Heather Gee, create the interfaces and graphics that support the content. Through the use of folders and newspapers that provide information and learning points, to the inputting of user names to log-in to the laptop computer used by the learner in the simulation(which allows the simulation to be personalized as the user name appears in email greetings and on reports), the entire learning experience is based on total immersion in the environment and storyline.

Though these ideas took off on paper as I was designing the content, and knowing that this was fully possible to do with Flash, I have been truly amazed that Heather has been able to develop the entire module interactivity in Captivate 4 with some Flash elements thrown in. We have used CrazyTalk to animate the characters, such as when we have "reality show" confessional screens of the learners team members give feedback on performance or just to provide additional learning content.

This project has shown me that if you can imagine and properly design how you would like the instruction to be presented - it is possible as long as you have a strong developer and graphic designer. I will provide some screenshots of the modules once they are finished.