How to design elearning that’s memorable and budget-friendly

19 May 2010 By 19 Comments

Need to make an impact on a budget? You might find some ideas in this presentation.

It shows five decisions you can make that will help you save money and create more memorable elearning. It’s split into five short videos for easy idea-snacking and to meet the restrictions of YouTube.

Highlights include a matrix that helps you decide if training will solve the problem (part 2) and an example of a storyboard that emphasizes activities, not information (part 5).

Here’s the first part.

These links go to YouTube:

Part 1

  • Super-quick overview of action mapping
  • “Awareness” and “tracking” aren’t good reasons to create a course

Part 2

  • Handy matrix to help you answer, “Why aren’t people doing what we need them to do?”
  • Will a course really solve the problem?
  • Example of a multiple-choice question and feedback that simulate the real world

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Instructional design, Scenario design Tagged With: , , , , ,

The big mistake in elearning

10 May 2010 By 43 Comments

Here’s a short presentation that includes:

  • The one powerful change that will make our elearning a lot more effective
  • A quick demo of action mapping
  • A fun example of the type of information that should go in job aids
  • How to get people to stop telling you, “Turn this information into a course”

To see a bigger version on YouTube, click the movie when it’s playing. Can’t access YouTube? Here’s a Flash version.

To practice steering your client away from an information dump, you might try this challenge. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured instructional design, Instructional design Tagged With: , , ,

Elearning example: Branching scenario

3 May 2010 By 51 Comments

You’re a US Army sergeant in Afghanistan. Can you help a young lieutenant overcome cultural differences and make a good impression on a Pashtun leader?

That’s the challenge behind “Connect with Haji Kamal,” a decision-making scenario that my cool client Kinection and I developed for the US Army. The online scenario is the homework part of a lesson plan that includes in-class discussion about how to build rapport across cultures. It’s part of a much larger effort in the Army to strengthen soldiers’ cross-cultural and peacekeeping skills.

Turn on your speakers and give it a spin, and then come back here if you’re interested in the design decisions behind the activity.

Connect with Haji Kamal

The goals

The activity is designed to be completed as homework before a culture class, and it includes a facilitator guide with debrief questions. Our goals were to model specific rapport-building behaviors and inspire class discussion.

To follow the “good” paths, you need to see things from Haji Kamal’s point of view, show respect and patience, and otherwise apply cross-cultural skills that will be discussed in class. You end up on less successful branches by making more ethnocentric choices. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Elearning examples, Featured scenarios, Instructional design, Scenario design Tagged With: , , , ,