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I’m Not a Doctor, But I Play One in Second Life…

July 28, 2009 in Design | 3 comments

I have a list of examples I’ve encountered in which I think that Second Life is truly serving a functional training purpose.

And even though virtual worlds have been one of the biggest buzz items in the T&D world in the last several years, the list is very short. No doubt, part of my reluctance is because as “tech-savvy” as I am, in SL, my virtual clothes still attach to unusual parts of my virtual body.

However.

I’m adding this to my list.

Photo: Imperial College London

Photo: Imperial College London

Obviously, as a sometime patient I want medical professionals to get as much hands-on practice as possible. If it’s preceded by virtual practice, I say so much the better. And though the article doesn’t mention it, I have to think SL could prove a very useful tool for doctors’ continuing education, as well…

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3 Things About Storyboarding That You May Not Have Seen

July 9, 2009 in Development | 2 comments

I’ve had a lot of storyboarding inspiration lately…

1) Notebook, purchased at Muji

2) Pretty amazing example, seen at MoMA:

Storyboard for The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down, an opera by Robert Wilson.

Storyboard for The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down, an opera by Robert Wilson. (Photo by Scott Unrein)

3) Video on storyboarding, posted on MinuteBio

I’ve been reflecting on how much these notions of storyboarding really relate to e-learning. Most of the e-learning storyboards I’ve seen focus much less on the visual design than these do, and much more on which words need to appear on screen and which words should be spoken.

I generally do the kind of storyboard that just communicates which words the developer needs to put on which screen, but only in “development”, after the interaction itself has been designed through a prototype. That way Word or PowerPoint or whichever tool I’m using doesn’t force me down a completely linear path; the tool has to accommodate the interaction I’ve designed.

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

June 30, 2009 in Design | 1 comment

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?

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Learning Agents Part 3: Learning Agents, Done Poorly

June 24, 2009 in Design | No comments

Recently I received a sample e-learning course on preparing for a pandemic. It was primarily presentation of factual content, and it included an on-screen, animated agent with voice narration. It’s a counter-example to the one we saw yesterday. Here are the issues I had with it:

  • The narrator introduces the topic but doesn’t reappear after that first screen (within the first lesson), so she doesn’t provide any sense of continuity.
  • She doesn’t have a name or personality, or any emotional impact on the course.
  • The animation doesn’t add anything compared to just using images; in fact it adds movement, which distracts from the onscreen text.

At least it was short. That sounds facetious, but it’s a virtue that many courses don’t have… particularly when they’re showing off cool toys like animated characters.

Stay tuned: Another Agent To Learn From

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Learning Agents Part 2: Learning Agents, Done Well

June 23, 2009 in Design | 6 comments

The best example I’ve seen of a learning agent in action (Course Demo — free account creation required):

learningagent2

The learning agent from Allen Interactions' anti-terrorism course

The course teaches police officers and dispatchers how to identify and respond to terrorism threats. The initial content presentation is made by a learning agent.

Why I think it’s effective:

1) The agent’s appearance and voice are spot-on authentic; I suspect the developers used a real cop. Good call… I couldn’t see a namby-pamby voice talent impressing this audience.

2) Images and narration are used, which are every bit as effective as video, without the hefty bandwidth requirement. Also, making changes will be much easier than with video.

3) Since it feels like we’re in a classroom, the designers gave the agent good presentation skills. It’s not super-thrilling, but he’s not merely reading his slides to us.

Your thoughts? More examples?

Stay tuned: Learning Agents, Done Poorly

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