Tag Archives: engagement

Learning Objectives and Salsa Dancing

Posted on by Judy Unrein
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salsa

Photo: iStockPhoto

On Tuesday night, my husband and I started Salsa dance lessons.

Starting class, the instructors didn’t state learner-focused performance objectives or list the conditions under which we were expected to perform. Instead, they demonstrated what we would (hypothetically) be able to do once we learned the steps. It was enough beyond what we would cover that day to be motivating, but not so advanced as to be demoralizing.

The guidelines IDs use to create objectives help us communicate clearly, but don’t help us motivate our learners. I’m with Michael Allen that we could do better… why not communicate objectives and simultaneously help our learners visualize what they will be able to accomplish, even what they will become, once they finish our training?

IMO, subject matter and delivery method are largely irrelevant; I’ve seen this same technique used in data entry training.

Your thoughts?

Choose Your Own Adventure

Posted on by Judy Unrein
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My mind has been on authoring technology lately. Specifically, how do I work around this tool’s shortcomings, or bend this one to my will?

These problems need attention, but it seemed like a good time to balance things out with a little Choose Your Own Adventure.

Choose Your Own Adventure #22, Tattoo of Death!

Choose Your Own Adventure #22, Tattoo of Death!

CYOA, if you’re not familiar, is a series of young-adult adventure books that allow the user learner reader to make decisions for the main character by turning to different pages in the book. Each decision may lead to success… a new decision… or certain death. They’re incredibly engrossing, and they made many a long, childhood car ride bearable for my sister and me.

I use them to illustrate the concept of branching in an ID class I teach; they’re also a great reminder that creating interactivity requires creativity… not necessarily fancy technology.

…And Finally, Learning Agents Part 6: Get Your Own (Using Illustrations)

Posted on by Judy Unrein
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Illustrations deserve their own discussion; they’re my recommendation because they’re highly editable.

Angela, one of our recent stars. $18 for her files and 100% worth it.

Angela, one of our recent stars. $18 for her files and 100% worth it.

You can use clipart (and if you do, check out Tom Kuhlman’s now-classic post on clipart editing). For learning agents, though, one or two on-screen personas get a lot of focus and need to represent a wide range of behaviors, so clipart may not cut it.

For my money/time, I buy pre-made illustrations. The regular stock photo sites have illustrations, but the best collection I’ve found for learning agents is cartoonsolutions.com.

Most of their characters are elearning-appropriate and they come with various poses and mouths (meant to animate speech, but I also use them as facial expressions). I buy Flash versions and use Illustrator to edit them for stills. Add audio from a popular CSR, and you’re golden.

I’m still looking for more collections — any recommendations?