5 great ideas from interactive marketing

Dialog bubblesHere’s another alternative to the Next button: fast-paced interactive conversations from the makers of “You Don’t Know Jack.”

In a comment on the elearning samples page, MM pointed to these examples by Jellyvision. Wow. Quick, lively, occasionally snarky, and always richly human. As Jellyvision says, “It’s conversation rather than presentation.”

What can we learn from them? [Read more...]

Why you really want to be short

Short and happy dogThe elearning samples page lists more than 35 inspiring interactions. Why did so few corporate courses make the final list?

One reason: The people who designed the interactions knew the following 3 Secrets of Shortness.

1. Forget the intro

Typical course: “Welcome to the Widget Functionality course! Widgets are undoubtedly an important part of our lives, and understanding how they function will help you gain the most benefit from their use. In this course, you will learn how widgets work.”

Interactive: “How Widgets Work”

2. Show, don’t tell [Read more...]

Addicted to audio?

Tom Kuhlmann has posted a thought-provoking demo that shows four ways to approach narrating a course.

The first three slides use some sort of narrated text. The final slide shows the best approach for that content, which is narration with visuals and no text.

My concern is that many people assume that narration is best for all content. However, research suggests that narration should be used only in certain situations.

Addicted to audio?

[Read more...]

Makeover: Teen body parts at risk!

Makeover logoHere’s the first in a sporadic series of makeovers. I’ll grab some elearning that might need perking up, add some perk, and put it here for you to critique.

The first sample comes from the US government, which published Teen Worker Safety in Restaurants. There’s a lot to the site, but I’ll focus on just one aspect.

Like many instructors, the authors tell, and then they show. I think it can be more powerful to reverse those steps and show, then tell–especially when you’re talking about possible amputation. [Read more...]