Part 4 - Illumen’s Guide to eLearning - Types of Learners

There are libraries of books defining the many types of learners. We can usually drill down to three categories which are: Auditory, Visual, Tactile.

Listening, Verbal or Auditory Learners connect more dots through listening. Audio descriptions, storytelling, sound effects, and audio cues are better comprehended. If you want to connect better with this type of learner, try using voice over or record a podcast. When using a spacial based learning environment, sound effects and environmental noises that relate to your topic can often help your user focus as it will immerse them in the content.

If you want to teach someone how to change a bicycle tire, record audio that gives a very detailed description of what they are in store for. Make sure you pace the audio appropriately and be specific between one step and the next. Using just audio to explain to someone how to change a bike tire may not sound like the best approach, but what if you created a phone number for people to call into if they are stranded on the road and can’t recall the steps. They might not have a device that can show images and in an emergency situation it might be the best option.

Seeing or Visual Learners learn through imagery. They make better connections between information and themselves through seeing. Examples include videos, animations, infographics, photos, charts, graphs, and even visually laid out text. There are many ways to better connect with your user such as making a video that shows a process or shows motion graphics that represent the information being presented. Draw out what is being explained or use images that represent each step or the details of a product or theory.

If you want to teach someone how to change a bicycle tire, play a video showing all the steps. Show close up images of the tools and display text for key steps along the way.

Touching, Tactile and Kinesthetic Learners learn through interaction or by doing. The hands-on style of learning often allows for mistakes and changes to variables which express the cause and effect of the subject at hand. To connect with a tactile learner, create an interactive experience. Let the user make choices or interactively explore.

If you want to teach someone how to change a bicycle tire, give them a virtual tire to change and allow them to click the proper tools, click and drag the tire and flat tube off the rim in the proper order. You can even make a learning game by timing them and scoring them.

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Part 2 - Illumen’s Guide to eLearning - The Goals

Our journey begins by first understanding why we are taking a journey in the first place. Goals are the core when developing a learning program and the strategy, all information, activities, and assessments orbit this core. Defined goals give us a basis for what is important and what would make the end results of our program a success. Goals are often two-fold. Not only do we have goals and objectives, but so should our audience. Our goals are often financial, important to business, important to health and safety, analytical, required by law, and/or political, while our audience may just want to learn, is required to learn because of their education or job, or, like in the case of our bike enthusiast broken down on the side of the road or a homeowner who suddenly has a broken furnace, placed in a situation where learning is imperative. Goals have levels too. We might have one all encompassing goal for the learner as well as goals that specify what we want to see in our program. Here is a quick listing of my goals:

1. Having been in a prior situation requiring I change my bike tire, and having thoroughly perused the Internet, I was unhappy with the level of information explaining the act of changing a bicycle tire. I want an easy, yet more comprehensive way to educate someone on how to change a bike tire.
2. I want to better inform the audience about the tools required, the process, problems that often or rarely occur, and finding why the tire may have gone flat.
3. Provide an additional printable or mobile solution that is accessible to someone on the road, without the luxuries of possibly the Internet or a screen.

A few examples of goals we may find in other learning programs:

1. My business has a requirement that safety in the workplace training is required for all new employees and for every employee every two years. They must take a five questions assessment and pass with 85% accuracy to not be put on leave.
2. I teach a business course about project management. My goal is to educate PMs on what is important when testing to become PMP certified.
3. I sell custom made watches and need to explain to people how to care for their watch, and manage their watch, such as how to change the time and change the battery.

We could talk about learning goals forever and it is easy for a discussion on goals to turn into a want/don’t want list of everything including the kitchen sink. Time to move on.

Hey, Further Reading:
Planning a Course (Define course goals)

Illumen and the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase

Illumen is excited to once again sponsor the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase this year. It was a wonderful event last year full of great speakers covering such topics as the theories within eLearning, real world examples, and development processes. Registration will open in June.

Date: August 11, 2010, 8:30 am - 6:30 pm
Location: University Center, 525 S. State Street, Chicago, IL

From the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase website:

Celebrate the emergence of Chicago as a world-class center for elearning. Join hosts CISPI, CCASTD, and STC Chicago at the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase on August 11 for a cutting-edge exploration of new media and interactive elearning tools.

In 2008 and 2009, the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase earned the enthusiastic praise of attendees and presenters alike. This year, we are generating excitement again, as we celebrate the evolution of adult learning and performance.

The Showcase provides a full day of presentations with an emphasis on the role of new media and interactive methods in business and institutional training. Our speakers will explore all aspects of elearning—instructional design, development tools, media resources, virtual classrooms, social and interactive applications, mobile learning, rapid elearning, and more.

Bringing Note Taking to eLearning - Part 1

Go into any classroom and you will see students taking notes. What do we do when we need to remember things? We write them down.  We all retain and gain our understanding of information differently and so we all take notes differently. So, with note taking being such an important tool in education and training, it is important that, as we move learning to the Internet, we have the tools available to allow us to take notes online.

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Illumen and the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase

Illumen Group is proud to announce our sponsorship of the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase this year. This event, with more than 30 contributing speakers is setting the bar for eLearning based events.

This year, the Showcase celebrates the evolution of adult learning and performance, with an emphasis on the role of new media and interactive methods in business and institutional training. The Showcase provides a full day of educational sessions for all levels of experience. More than 30 speakers will explore all aspects of elearning—instructional design, development tools, media resources, virtual classrooms, social and interactive applications, mobile learning, rapid elearning, and more. Attendees will have an opportunity to create their own schedules from a variety of topics or follow one of four Showcase Tracks, including Simulations & Social Media, eLearning Tools & LMS, Online Design, and Management of eLearning.

More information about the event and registration can be found at the Chicago eLearning & Technology Website.

Illumen will be at the event showcasing our eLearning applications and offering information on the process and development of technology and learning based solutions. We hope to see you all there.

David Charney Talks User Experience at IBM Innovation Center

Illumen’s CEO, David Charney, talks User Experience (UX) at the IBM Innovation Center Granite Group meeting. This example filled presentation covers the meaning of UX, why it is important, where it is being applied, the process of developing strong experiences, the six elements of usability, and personas, to name a few.

June 8th, 2009  ::  IBM Innovation Center  ::  71 South Wacker Drive  ::  Chicago, Illinois 60606

Register Now for Learning 2009

Illumen had a great time at Learning 2008 last year. Registration is now open for Learning 2009. Keynoters include Capt. Sullenberger, Laura Fitton - On Enterprise Twitter and Malcolm Gladwell.

Learn, Benchmark, Collaborate, Compare and Plan at Learning 2009!  - Elliott Masie

Learning 2009 (www.learning2009.com)  ::  November 8 - 11, 2009  ::  Orlando, Florida

6 Ways to Extend User Experiences Through Mobile Devices

More people are using mobile devices to handle their everyday computer tasks. Given three minutes and my iPhone, I can check my work and personal emails, my schedule, the news, the weather, and sometimes even get in a game of Tetris. It, like so many mobile devices, is usable, engaging, efficient, informative, and scalable. This mobile convenience should carry through training and marketing solutions as well. Unfortunately, often due to certain limitations of each mobile device and their short shelf life, there is often not a credible mobile counterpart to most training applications. To bridge the gaps, here are 6 ways to extend the user experience of your web or CD-ROM based app through mobile devices.

1. Limit Your Limitations
   It is often said that the difficulty in developing mobile experiences is that there are too many custom devices, all with unique technologies that need unique solutions, and therefore too many limitations to justify the development price. In reality, you can often find that two or three devices, or types of devices, make up a majority of what your audience uses. This may not always be the case, but survey your audience, you may find out that that most use iPhones and Blackberries, or maybe they tend to use more generalized cell phones. There is nothing wrong with developing towards a couple specific types of devices if it makes sense. By understanding what devices are typically used by your audience, you can limit the limitations, save time and money.
   


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20 Common Terms and Definitions Found in E-Learning - Part I

When dealing with training, education, and marketing solutions, it doesn’t take long before we start hearing words we may not know. Below is a list of 20 common terms and definitions.

1. Analytics
   Refers to the analysis and derivation of data into usable information or statistics. Analytics are often presented visually or numerically and are used to understand your audience, where they are succeeding, where they are failing, your site’s use, and any other number of variables.
   
2. Animation
   Animation can be broken into two areas. First, it can be presented as 2d or 3d, and in a realistic or stylized representation of objects, people, and places. They take place over time and are often used to visually describe a story, a theory, an idea, a process, a feature, or a benefit. Second, animation can be used within a user interface to lead the user’s eye to focus on something specific or guide them to the next section within a course. The iPhone is a good example of this.
   
3. Avatar
   A virtual representation of a user. Avatars take on many styles such as cartoons, real photos, and even an image of a favorite sport, hobby, pet, or event. Avatars can help users customize their experience and interact with others.
   


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A Look at Personas

When defining the best solution to any project, one step within the discovery process is the creation and use of personas. User personas are fictitious characters who represent unique groups of users. We use personas to understand how different groups of users will use a website and application. By focusing on how a persona interacts with a website, navigates to content and through content, understands and retains the content, we can begin to understand the different user experiences that occur. These user experiences must fulfill the goals, objectives, and needs. This step can also help determine new goals, objectives, and needs as well as limitations users may have.

It is a good practice to find two or three user personas and one or two administrative personas. But each opportunity is unique and can derive any number of unique persona. First we must understand the different user personas. To do this we must understand the audience(s). This can be done by talking with our clients, their audiences, defining surveys, focus groups, looking at demographics, and general research. A lot of specific information can arise such as (to name a few):

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