The theme this year is “Learn something new, perform something extraordinary.” This theme is exciting because what we in the corporate training space do every day is create something that educates and teaches professionals. As a professional adult, we often forget that we need to keep learning to improve ourselves and our businesses. Extraordinary performance grows a business and creates innovation–something we all want to have happen. I’m happy to say that viaLearning strongly believes in and pursues extraordinary performance. Our work is a testament to that. Whether eLearning, ILT, mobile or gaming, we want to make a positive impact in the training space.

So swing by our booth, see what we do, and share what you do so we can all learn together and create something extraordinary.

Happy learning,

Julie

The interest in game-based learning has accelerated considerably in recent years, driven by clear successes in military and industrial training as well as by emerging research into the cognitive benefits of game play. Developers and researchers are working in every area of game-based learning, including games that are goal-oriented; social game environments; non-digital games that are easy to construct and play; games developed expressly for education; and commercial games that lend themselves to refining team and group skills.

Organizations are faced with numerous challenges, including: training their staff quickly on product specifications, features, and benefits. The tips in this Game Guide help organizations learn how to engage, captivate, and educate their teams by delivering the right information at the right time through gaming. Companies around the world depend on viaLearning’s game-based training initiatives to build creative learning solutions that drive organizational performance. This short guide explains what game-based learning is, and what it can do for your organization.

Happy learning,

Julie

In mobile learning, a common concern is security of information. One session I attended discussed the different levels of security settings that can be applied and options for security on mobile devices. Options include text and voice passwords, all the way up through custom security settings on native apps. One interesting stat in the growth of mLearning is that IT desks have seen an increase in support requests of 70% because of multiple devices. Why are security and support issues important? They will become obstacles when deploying a mobile learning strategy if the IT team is not consulted early on in the process.

Game-based learning is a big topic, as you all know. We build game-based learning, as do many other companies. It’s definitely a process to integrate gaming into a successful learning strategy. In addition to knowing the audience and culture of the organization to best assess the type of game, if any, to deploy, nailing down game mechanics is equally important. Game mechanics provide a way to give immediate and relevant feedback, learning reinforcement and an engaging and collaborative environment. Ensure these mechanics are determined prior to beginning a game build:

• Points: Will you build in this motivator? How? What values? What does earning points do?
• Challenge/quest: What are the goals? What is the level of complexity?
• Levels: Will there be levels? How will those levels be ‘won’? How is a person’s success at different levels shared?
• Leaderboard: What does the leaderboard indicate? Progress? Status? Competition? Is it visible to all?
• Virtual goods: What do you earn in the game? A piece of cake or point or eCommerce opportunities?

There were many great sessions and speakers at Learning Solutions 2012; it’s hard to capture all the great nuggets of information. It will be interesting to see how today’s comments and projections about mLearning and game-based learning morph over the coming year. Stay tuned.

Happy learning,

Julie

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 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

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 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

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

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

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