It is well known that an iPad or iPhone does not support Flash within the web browser and this raises a lot of questions relating to how mobile users can view this content. This is where Adobe AIR comes in. AIR can be used to output Flash content into an app that can be downloaded or purchased through the Apple App store or an Enterprise account. Some conversion may be needed if your course was created using an older version of Flash or if the navigation or interaction points were better suited for a mouse then a user’s touch, but once this is complete, many Flash based projects can be turned into iPad apps. This means that you may be able to take some of your Flash based applications, even those that might need to connect to the internet or database, and convert them into something a learner or sales rep can download to their device, just as they would download any other app. AIR can also output Android apps, although most Flash content will display on an Android device. Although Flash is here to stay for years to come, and continues to run strong on PCs, Macs, and many current mobile devices, you may still have a wealth of knowledge that can be converted into something that can reach out to even more of your users.

Lectora Has Variables
Variables are simply a stored number or string of characters. Let’s say you have a page with three buttons that popup additional information about a topic. You would like someone to have to click all three before moving to the next page. You need to somehow store which buttons have been clicked and, if they were all clicked, enable a Next button and allow the user to move on to the next page. Variables are how we store these values. Lectora has simple programming capabilities which will allow you to easily create a stored variable, and later check to see what that variable is. You can set the initial value of a variable to be false and when a user clicks a popup button, set the variable to true. Now when the user clicks the Next button you can easily check to see if that variable is now true, meaning the user has viewed the popup. Let us know if you ever need any help getting started with Variables in Lectora.

Lectora certainly has good and bad characteristics and we would recommend it in certain situations but not in others. There are a lot of good comparisons between Lectora, Articulate, Captivate, and many other eLearning programs that can help you determine what is best for you. And we are always happy to throw in our two-cents as well.

In what seems likely to be an “ah ha” moment for education development, researchers at Purdue University’s Department of Psychological Sciences, explored the possibility that testing isn’t just an assessment of learning, but is a component that facilitates learning just like studying - but better.*

“Practicing retrieval (testing) produces greater gains in meaningful learning than elaborative studying with concept mapping.”

In an article published last month in Science magazine, a total of 200 students studied texts on topics from different science disciplines. One group engaged in elaborative studying by creating concept maps - diagrams that illustrate the complicated connections and relationships in the material. The second group read the texts and then practiced retrieval (unassisted recall of material). The students returned to the lab a week later for the actual assessment of long-term learning. The group that studied by practicing retrieval showed a 50% improvement in long-term retention scores above and beyond the group that studied by creating concept maps.

“Retrieval practice enhances learning by retrieval-specific mechanisms rather than by elaborative study processes.”

The study asked the second group who had practiced retrieval but had not practiced elaborative studying, to create conceptual maps during their second assessment, in the same manner as the first group. The expectation was that the students who had already performed concept mapping once, would significantly outperform those who were being required to do it from memory for their first time. That was not the case.

“Students erroneously predicted that elaborative concept mapping (studying) would produce better long-term learning than retrieval practice (test taking).”

The students also were asked to predict which technique - practicing retrieval or elaborative studying - would be best for their long-term learning. 75% of students believed that elaborative concept mapping would be just as effective or even more effective than practicing retrieval. Most did not expect that retrieval practice would be more effective, but it was.
The study’s conclusion: “Research on retrieval practice suggests a view of how the human mind works that differs from everyday intuitions. Retrieval is not merely a read-out of the knowledge stored in one’s mind - the act of reconstructing knowledge itself enhances learning. This dynamic perspective on the human mind can pave the way for the design of new educational activities based on consideration of retrieval processes.”

Testing ≠ Boring

The implication is that practicing retrieval is more valuable to learning than conventional study techniques. Self-testing enriches and improves the learning process, and there needs to be more focus on using retrieval as a learning strategy.

Those tasked with facilitating learning and information delivery, are now challenged to develop communication techniques and tools that help students practice retrieval in practical yet engaging ways.

Here are some recommendations:

• Decrease size, increase frequency - our online rule-of-thumb is some form of retrieval practice for every 2 to 4 screens of content. They don’t have to be long, under 15 minutes to complete, and can be additive. We call micro-tests “Challenges” to keep them friendly and our library of challenge templates is approaching a hundred and growing each week.
• Offer options - consider attaching “Assisted” or “Unassisted” options to each assessment. Assisted allows the user to re-access information for reference, unassisted is pure retrieval practice.
• Immediate feedback - retrieval is most valid when results can be closely associated with their actions. The longer performance results are delayed the less beneficial the retrieval practice.
• Vary the delivery - remember getting called on in 5th grade history class? That was retrieval practice. How about the card game “Concentration”? That and a lot of other games can be used to vary the delivery method.
• Provide tools - to be retrieved, information must first be retained. Text-based delivery is only one of many options available and strong didactics will employ more than one.
• Measure - especially if you’re offering options. Track not only learning progress but the retrieval practice tools that work best for a given subject or concept - and don’t be afraid to share metrics with your students.
• Make them pass - understand that while retrieval practice may look like testing, its value is as a learning tool more than an assessment tool. Hold standards high and work with students to achieve them before moving on.
• Stay fluid - like any broad generalization of learning styles, retrieval practice may fit /help many but not all learners. If you’re measuring (above) you should learn what works and what doesn’t.

While there is nothing wrong with studying, the performance numbers supporting retrieval practice are too big to ignore. The challenge - our and yours - will be a creative one as we explore new ways to bring it into the mainstream of learning.

• An emotional connection between content and user. “Hey, let’s hear what this person has to say.”
• A cadence, or inflection that can bring emphasis to important words or key points. “That point seems a little too important to forget.”
• A sensory tool to engage and provide interest. “Movement! Audio! This seems a bit more interesting… finally”
• Hands on, one-on-one interaction. “Oh… that is how that works. Nice to have the presenter’s time focused on me.”
  
• A bridge, or break between topics. You don’t need to have ADD to want a little variety. “Nice that everything isn’t running together.”
• A team member, watchdog, guardian, or even a feeling of protection. “Someone is watching over me and wants me to learn. Time to pick up the game.”
• A feeling of other people’s involvement, or even a competitive tone. “Hey, other people learning with me! I better keep up to the level of everyone else.”
• A pace to the material. “Hey, we are moving through this information pretty quickly!”

And there are so many more. Go ahead and try and think of a few additional ways human interaction has effected you throughout your education. Go ahead… I’ll wait.

OK, so how do we bring the human touch to eLearning? The most common method is to use pictures of people. If the topic is how to fix a bike tire, have pictures of a person fixing a tire. Even a single photo of someone standing next to a bike can make the connection (and show the end result of a bike with a fixed tire). Next up is narration. Voice over is used more and more. It is relatively cheap and goes a long way to keep everything moving at a proper pace. Video is next on the list. Video of a person, or even a cartoon character/avatar adds movement, provides a lot of emotion, and can drive content home while moving the learner along.

A few methods that we use to bring the human touch, while keeping projects on budget are to:

• Use video with narration in quicker, “bite-sized” chunks to depict processes and content.
• Use voice over or video only on introductions and objectives. This provides continuous breakaway from the content and keeps users aware of what they are there for and what they need to learn.
• To further the human touch past introductions and objectives, you can use images of the same person or additional people sprinkled appropriately through the content. This continues the idea that this teacher or presenter is always there.
• Use images of people interacting with the content. Showing someone holding a white sign and placing your content within can do a lot to lighten the mood and keep a user focused.
• Writing the copy to have a bit more conversational feel can add enthusiasm. Look at the written copy and think about how you would say it to someone in conversation.
• We also write a lot of content into scenarios. The scenarios provide a lot of real life situations the user must work through while providing a guide or characters they interact with.

Again, I will wait while you think of a few other methods that might bring the human touch into your eLearning projects. Seriously! Think about it. I will wait. I am have the time.

Is your device going to be used in an industry, such as medical, that might require latex gloves to be worn? Perhaps cleaning fluids like water and soap are going to be making an appearance on the hand? You might need to check out a resistive touchscreen over a capacitive touchscreen. Capacitive touchscreens are seen with your iPhone or iPad. Notice that you can’t touch the device with any object and hope for recognition. Resistive touchscreens recognize a press between two plates and therefor recognize any object that can put force on the screen. This is ideal for glove wearers or if you need to cover the device with a clear material to protect it from the elements. There are many other types of screens as well and there is a lot of great information online about them.

Mounts are important too. How your device connects to the environment it is within only adds to the user experience (and could keep your device from crashing to the ground). You don’t want your touch screen bobbing back and forth with every touch, yet you don’t want a device that is too heavy either. Do a little research, make a couple of calls, and you should be able to find the best option quickly. One last thing is the computer itself. Other touch screens connect to a separate computer and some touch screens have a computer built in. Some touch screens come with a mouse and keyboard and some just use the touch and an on screen keyboard. Sooooo many options.

Hardware aside, and an important feature to keep in mind, if your device is going to be hanging out for a while, don’t let it get bored, yawn, and fall asleep. Build a screensaver into your application that can add a little motion when times are slow and draw people back in.

When buying a touch screen, call the company that makes it and discuss what you are trying to do. See if they can send you a test unit. They know their equipment and can help you make the best choice for your application, the environment, and your audience.

What are Games-That-Teach? Part of what creates angst is the broad definition of what a GTT is. Also known as Game-Based Learning, the simple definition, “a learning-based activity that challenges a participant to a contest or task with an outcome that is both measurable and comparable,” is broad enough to encompass many content delivery formats. These games are often used to help audiences better understand information, improve performance, manage situations, think critically, problem solve and make decisions.

GTTs generally fall into one of three categories – Edutainment, Training Simulators, and Serious Games. They may be as sophisticated as a virtual reality environment like World of Warcraft (over 11.5 million unique players worldwide) and the popular FarmVille (over 82.4 million unique players worldwide), or as basic as Tic-Tac-Toe or Scrabble. It is the element of challenge that differentiates games from other content delivery tools.

Do Games Work? Here’s where you can relax a bit. Despite being around since 1962, there’s little empirical evidence that digital games as a whole are better at teaching than other, more conventional content delivery formats. Again, the variety and complexity of game types combined with the huge differences in the goals and objectives they seek to achieve and a limited ability to collect meaningful performance metrics conspires to keep the value of game’s contributions to learning enveloped in a haze. We think we see a form but the edges are fuzzy. The reason we think games are effective in the learning environment is that they clearly support three dominant learning theories:

• Activity Theory: GTTs engage learners in non-threatening virtual environments, allowing them to participate in and experiment with the content.
• Situated Learning: GTTs can safely immerse learners in a variety of virtual environments
• Experiential Learning: during gameplay, learners gain knowledge, experience or practice through direct experience.

The quick answer to the question “Do Games Work?” is, on an epistemic level (games that help players learn to solve problems that don’t have standardized answers) an emphatic… probably, but on a training level the answer is, almost certainly.  In fact, Europe is well ahead of North America in the productive use of digital game-based learning in the corporate training environment.

Our most successful game-based learning programs have been those that incorporate game components as part of the pedagogy, using them to reinforce concepts and create deeper learning.

Creating the Right Game for The Situation – now is an appropriate time to get into the game pool by starting at the shallow end. Here are 10 heuristics that will help keep you afloat while you learn to swim:

1. Identify goals and objectives – treat the game like you would any creative process, know your audience and create goals/objectives, strategies and tactics that accommodate your needs and theirs.
2. Start small – until more empirical evidence is in, keep games in the realm of a side dish, not the whole meal.
3. Keep it simple – look around you, the way you train now through simulations, role-playing, and group activities may be adaptable to games-that-teach. The point is a game doesn’t have to be complex or revolutionary to be effective. Which leads to the next general rule…
4. Make it quick – a good embedded challenge will take 8 to 10 minutes to complete. Those are rough numbers, we’ve seen some good ones that just take a minute or two and some that take an hour, but those are exceptions.
5. Learning is a narcissistic activity as, by extension, are games-that-teach – it’s not a bad thing, just a reality. The more you can put the user at the center of the game’s universe the more engaged and motivated they’ll be to play it.
6. Include feedback (and competition) – at the very least provide the opportunity for the user to measure and view their own performance results and be able to improve on them. Even better is to let them compare their performance to their peers.
7. Stay in their wheelhouse – each learner has a Zone of Proximal Development – the level of learning above their current competency that they can get to from their current level of knowledge and understanding. It’s important to have a feel for where the target group’s aggregate ZPD is and to stay within it (this also applies to core learning content).
8. Include women in the development and testing process – digitally based games have long been a male dominated bastion both in terms of players and developers. If women are part of the target audience (and when are they not) they need to be included in both development and testing.
9. Test early and often – most games can be effectively tried off-line to determine whether they’ll also work online. Incorporate pre-programming assessment into your plans and have a pool of (appropriate) testers available to provide feedback during the development process.
10. Know the realities of measurement – if it’s a small, one-time use game you can probably assess its effectiveness through an overall learning assessment (does the user know and understand the content they were supposed to learn?). If, however, the game is a platform on which additional learning is to be built, performance metrics need to be designed into the game to help guide future development.

Illumen bottom line – while the jury is still out on how much games can impact teaching, the influence of digital game-based learning (in one form or another) on the overall learning environment is likely to be profound. The convergence of technology, infrastructure, need and attitude are all hitting a synchronous rhythm. If you haven’t yet, start small…  but start now.

2. Provide Assessment Feedback
Assessments or tests should not be available simply to learn about how much or how little a student knows. Assessments should also help a student learn what they don’t know or don’t understand. Use this opportunity to help the student by explaining why an answer is what it is or reinforce information they got correct.

3. Bring the Teacher Back
Many eLearning sites focus away from a teacher or a guide and focus strictly on the content. This can work in many situations but think of a student walking into a classroom without a teacher. With just a book of information, the student may not relate to the content or understand their goals and objectives. A teacher is often a delivery system of information and each teacher brings their own approach while bringing life to a subject. Students enjoy knowing there is someone they can connect with.

A teacher or guide can be video or animated. They can be human, animal, alien, or even an inanimate object. They can be a constant or show up from time to time, introducing information, asking questions,  delivering details, providing step by step tutorials, and expressing real life examples and situations.

4. Get Hand’s On
Another engaging tool in our belt is our ability to create hands on experiences. A student can learn a lot quickly when they have a virtual way of interacting with something. Realtime 2D and 3D (like games use) can allow a student to “touch” an object by clicking and dragging to turn it around, clicking on different parts to get details, and even changing variables to see how they change how the object works or an end result.

Getting hands on does not have to be the best of the best technology. You can have a mathematical formula that has fields the student can type numbers into. As they type them in the answer changes. With this, a student can explore relationships between numbers and answers. Simple and effective.

5. Taking Notes
I don’t know about you, but I would be hopeless without my notepad, and I hate the idea of entering a classroom without a way to get notes down. Create a simple notes button that lets a student type something they want to remember. A student might need to know something specific, they might want to write down a relationship between something else they know to help them retain or comprehend information.

You can keep track of the page the student is on and allow the student to see all notes or the notes on a a specific page they are on. They may be able to click on the note to jump to the page they were on when they typed it. They can email or print the notes as a reading guide. You might even provide a button next to each paragraph that places that paragraph into a document for further review. There are many approaches to taking notes (that I will discuss in an upcoming article). To jot down an idea here and there and having it always available is a powerful tool in eLearning.

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.
   
4. Audience
   An audience is a group of users and often stands for a single user. A user can be a student, participant, and administrator.
   
5. Blended Learning
   A learning approach that blends or merges several different methods or types of learning together to form a cohesive experience. Blended learning could take a distance learning based course component, a live learning event, and an interactive virtual challenge and develop them into one user experience.
   
6. Brand
   Brands set the overall look and feel of a company, site, application, or other entity. They represent the values of the community, culture, and objectives through images, colors, shapes, logos, and layouts. Brand can go much deeper than visual ques alone and can effect how a company acts towards each other and other companies, how they develop ideas, etc. Brand recognition occurs when a company, like Apple, Nike, Google, and BMW are recognized by their brand and brand elements.
   
7. Chunking
   Involves the development of content and other materials into short, brief, bite size pages and sections that can focus the user facts, theories, processes, and ideas to increase their understanding and retention.
   
8. Content Management Systems (CMS)
   Application for delivering, tracking, and managing content and communication.
   
9. Engage and Engaging
   Refers to  a user’s favored interest in a website, component, and experience. An engaging experience often refers to an experience that immerses the user in materials or an environment. Engaging experiences often lead the user through text, video, animation, challenges, games, communication, or 3d environments.
   
10. Facilitator
    A course instructor, teacher, or helper who aids training and learning in an online, student based environment.
    
11. Haptics
    Input device that provides forced feedback to add a sense based approach to interaction. Haptics can range from a vibration pack in a game controller to a laparoscopic tool that hooks to a virtual 3d patient. See our post on Haptics.
    
12. Information Architecture
    Deals with the structure, management, layout, organization, and categorization of content. It allows users to more efficiently and effectively find information and work through information. It also provides methods for loading information faster.
    
13. Instructional Designer (ID)
    Someone who practices instructional learning theories to streamline experiences and courses by tailoring them to a specific group of users and audiences.
    
14. Interactive
    A hands-on ability to change and explore an object within an environment. Interactivity usually provides feedback to an interaction. With interactivity users can play with an iPhone without buying one, click and drag a scalple to make a virtual incision to learn surgery, and can move sliders around to adjust colors on a website.
    
15. Learning Management System (LMS)
    Application for delivering, tracking, and managing content and assessments for training and education. An LMS acts as a foundation for information and materials that make up a course or curriculum. For the user, it provides for navigation, the process of learning, and assessment tools. For the administrator, it provides the ability to add/adjust content and review reports on all aspects of the user and the site’s use. SCORM is often used as a platform to plug-in 3rd party and custom made courses and tools.
    
16. Metaphor
    Is the virtual, often stylistic, representation of a real life thing or interaction. In a computer, windows on a desktop, file folders, painting in an image editor are all examples of navigational and interactive components that derived from their real life counterparts. Metaphors are used often as users often find them intuitive because they can quickly find a relationship to what they already know.
    
17. Personas
    Fictitious characters who represent unique groups of users. Personas are used to understand how different groups of users will use a website or 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.  See our post on Personas.
    
18. Virtual
    A non-physical representation of a person, environment, object, or situation. Virtual solutions allow users to interact or train with others in a simulated or made-up environment. Marketing uses virtual solutions often. If you want to buy a car you can visit their website, view and interact with the car, change it’s characteristics, and drive it without ever seeing or touching the real thing.
    
19. User Centered Design (UCD)
    Design philosophy which focuses  on the goals, objectives, needs, and limitations of the client and the audience. UCD integrates into a development process by specifically detailing and exploring approaches that fulfil the goals and objectives.
    
20. User Experience (UX)
    The experience a user receives when interacting with a product, service, or idea. It is how these interactions are perceived, how they are used, and how information is gathered. See our post on the User Experience.

More to come. And let us know what terms we have not yet added!