Designing Digitally, Inc.

Find Financial Freedom Program Launches!

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:49:01 +0000

Designing Digitally, Inc. is excited to announce that they have completed and launched the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority’s new Find Financial Freedom program!

The Find Financial Freedom website boasts nearly 10 hours of interactive e-learning in a fun and rewarding game-like setting. Using a board game concept, students work through a mock scenario of paying off their debt and saving their money to purchase a 3D car and house at the end of the program. The ability to customize their home through a web-based 3D simulation, including upgrading their yard, adding a garage or pool plus more, enhances the user experience.

Throughout each lesson they can earn money by correctly answering preliminary questions, review questions, as well as bonus questions. The bonus questions at the end of each lesson can cause a gain or a loss depending on whether or not the question is answered correctly. If answered correctly, students receive a extra money for scenarios such as having a yard sale or inheriting money from their uncle. If answered incorrectly, money is deducted from their savings for an unexpected expense such as new tires or medical bills.

To help students succeed, the website also includes a number of tools, such as an expense tracker, discussion board, periodic savings calculators and more. Additionally, coaches, who are assigned to each student, help guide users throughout their learning experience through an internal messaging system. For the website administrators, reporting features within the site to detail student progression and learning capacity.

Designing Digitally, Inc. is proud to have helped New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority provide their target audience with the tools they need to be financially responsible and looks forward to a lasting partnership with NHHFA as they continue to expand on their online offerings.

Strategic & Tactical Advantages of Custom Web-Based Training

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:23:52 +0000

If you’re interested in developing custom web-based training courses for your employees, but you’re having trouble getting upper management to buy-in, we can help. Knowing the strategic and tactical advantages of web-based training can help you convince decision makers that web-based training is appropriate for your team. It’s hard to list out all of the many advantages of web-based training, the following are the advantages we find most appealing.

Strategic Advantages of Custom Web-Based Training

You can create a global workforce with customized instruction all over the world.
Custom web-based training is easy to adjust to employee wants and needs.
Companies can retain valued workers with continuing education, certifications, and more.
Your company will enjoy increased productivity and profitability by improving knowledge and skill levels.

Tactical Advantages of Custom Web-Based Training

Web-based training offers flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere, whether your employees are at the office, home or a hotel room.
Travel costs are reduced, including the cost of hotels, airfare, meals and other travel expenses associated with onsite training.
Edits and updates are easy to make without time lag or reprinting costs.
Tracking and management tools make it easy to evaluate and stay on top of trainee performance.

There are many more reasons why custom web-based training is beneficial for businesses, and Designing Digitally, Inc. can help you determine the best way to present your training materials in this format. For more information about how we can build your custom web-based training modules, contact us today for a free quote!

Why Cutting Corners in E-learning Development Doesn't Save Money

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:11:14 +0000

There are lots of ways that businesses, schools, or government agencies offering online learning opportunities can cut their overhead costs. You may initially think about buying a software package that promises to allow you to do virtually anything in respect to e-learning development. However, just because there is the software available doesn't mean it is a good idea. Many companies, organizations, and agencies attempt to design their own e-learning modules only to find out they have spent considerable time, money and effort for a very low quality final product.

Experience Counts

Designing and developing e-learning modules and programs takes experience and a very particular set of skills. It is not just about putting information online; it is about creating an enjoyable, fun and entertaining learning experience for the participants. At Designing Digitally, Inc. our specialization is designing virtual training modules, simulations, serious games and virtual worlds. You simply cannot get that experience though using a software program no matter how comprehensive it may be.

Experience also counts in knowing what your target audience finds engaging, entertaining and useful. This means that the e-learning developers have to have their finger on the pulse of what gaming and technology components can be used in the e-learning experience to ensure it is cutting edge and up to the expectations of the learners. If you put together a module on your own using the basic technology it is going to be out of date and behind the times before it ever comes online.

Building in the Entertainment Factor

The reason that most entities that use e-learning modules and game-based training is because these types of learning experiences are more interactive, less costly for long term use and have a higher satisfaction level for the target audience than traditional types of training and teaching. The higher satisfaction factor for the learner has to do with the entertainment aspect of an online learning experience. Adding serious games, virtual worlds and simulations make the entire training more like a video game, which is a familiar entertainment option for people of all ages.

Unless you are a game developer, incorporating the entertainment component in a do-it-yourself type of e-learning software program is far too technical. Instead you will end up relying on the standard program offered by the software, which is the same as everyone else's e-learning program. Using a professional designing company provides you with the option to fully customize the e-learning program to create a unique, one of a kind training experience that is developed solely with your learning objectives and the target audience in mind.

Creating the E-learning Experience

Anyone that had participated in any type of game based training that wasn't professionally developed by specialists in the technology can tell you what was wrong with the game itself. Often the biggest problems reported is that there is no cohesive flow to the game and it doesn't address the learning objectives that it intended to cover. We have the experience that is needed to make the e-learning experience pleasant and captivating for the learner while ensuring the learning objectives are met.

Your web-based training will be designed by our team to provide choices to user, give information in a structured manner, and to provide the learning opportunities that you want included. The way that the game flows will be entirely customized to your needs. Attention to every detail of the learner's experience is our specialization. This is certainly different than simply using a template which only provides so many options and learning experiences which may or may not make sense with your specific training requirements.

We think of all the little things that you haven't. No detail is overlooked in the design and this ensures that the final product exceeds your expectations. Everything is considered when we work through the design and development including sound effects, backgrounds, additional features and elements to the learning experience.

This framework for the e-learning experience and attention to each detail on every screen is just one of the many features that the professional e-learning developers at Designing Digitally, Inc. focuses on when creating the perfect match for your e-learning program. These professionals have years of experience in developing all types of training for small to large companies, organizations, schools and agencies.

Cheap is Not Better

Trying to envision, create and develop your own e-learning module will not result in a professional, high quality end product. While you may be able to get the basics done, dealing with the inevitable glitches, problems and issues that arise when the module actually goes live is more than most people can manage. In addition, as a developer you tend to focus in on what you like in an e-learning experience which may not be same technologies and options that your target audience for the training wants, needs or enjoys.

What you are most likely to end up with is a training program that is web-based but not entertaining, engaging or effective. You have spent hundreds of dollars in software and hundreds of hours in development all for an e-learning module that is limited at best in its actual appeal.

Working with the professionals at Designing Digitally, Inc. can prevent all these problems. Your information, your feedback and your ideas can be incorporated into the e-learning module but our experienced team of professionals will handle all the design, development and technical details. What you will end up with is an e-learning module that functions just as anticipated, runs without any glitches or problems and is set at a level that includes all relevant, new technology to provide a high level of both information and entertainment for the learner.

This combination is sure to keep learners coming back for more and also provides you with the option to continue to do your job while we do ours. You will have a high rate of return on your investment in the training without any worries, hassles and the need to spend time learning about web-based development while also trying to do your own job.