E-Learning

Fighting for Attention: Engaging E-Learning Hacks

Fighting for Attention: Engaging E-Learning Hacks

Designing e-learning is my creative passion. I get stoked at the prospect of authoring a course that is fun, engaging, and appealing to learners. As an erstwhile student and current professional, I’ve taken scores of self-paced e-learning courses over the years. I’m often astonished by how static and dull most of these presentations are. Granted, there are technical limitations (and in some cases, design standards) that dictate how much multimedia can be used in self-paced course modules. However, smart uses of multimedia in online courses can help capture attention, which is fundamental to facilitating the learning process. Below you’ll find some of my favorite hacks for adding pizzazz to online presentations. Be sure to adhere to the terms of service of each resource listed… and be a good librarian by respecting copyright.

Let’s Get Visual

If you are in need of fun photorealistic visuals, but you are not a Photoshop pro, check out 3dVia’s 3D Collage app. This neat Facebook application allows you to design hybrid 2D/3D images by using a photograph as a backdrop and importing 3D models into the scene. 3D Collage is fast, fun, and free. Simply upload your own 2D image into the program or snag one from Flickr, locate a 3D model from inside the app’s library, and then publish the output to your Facebook profile. Once the picture has been published, simply save a copy of it and paste it into your e-learning course. I’m currently working on a point-and-click adventure about customer experience, and I’ve used 3D Collage to develop all the in-game images.

Hit learners with a quick shot of fun and creativity by using any of these e-learning hacks.

Hit learners with a quick shot of fun and creativity by using any of these e-learning hacks.


Of course there are times when you may need to add video to your e-learning modules. Youtube is an excellent clearinghouse for finding video assets. Depending on your authoring tool, however, streaming videos can present a challenge. If you are using Adobe Captivate 4, there is an excellent Youtube widget that allows for streaming directly to your Captivate presentation. If you do not have Captivate 4, you can likely import the Youtube video as a Flash video file. To save Youtube video as FLV, simply go to KeepVid, enter the URL of the video you want snag, download the file, and then save it as an FLV. Voila! You should now be able to insert the Flash video into your presentation. This tip is useful for authoring tools like Articulate and the free online course builder, Udutu.

Another hack I commonly use is recording screencasts to demonstrate processes. Screencasts are digital recordings of computer screen output. You do not need anything expensive like the commercial version of Camtasia to record one. It’s possible to make a screencast directly from your browser by using Screencast-o-matic.com. Screencast-o-matic integrates with Youtube so that you have a place to host your screencasts for free, provided you have a Youtube account. After recording the screencast, simply upload it to YouTube from the Screencast-o-matic interface. You can link to the screencast, stream it during a course if you are using Captivate’s Youtube widget, or you can rip the FLV file using KeepVid.

It’s Not What You Say, but How You Say It

I prefer self-paced e-learning modules that have audio narration (with the option to mute in the event that the narrator is terrible!) When recording audio, course authors must be mindful of sound quality and audio level. A best practice that I recommend is to record the audio separately, using an editor like the freeware Audacity, and then optimize the audio before importing it into a course. This ensures that all slides have equal sound levels. You can also use Audacity for more creative purposes. Consider applying a voice filter to the narration of an objective slide for a change in pace. If you are using characters or agents in your e-learning, you can also apply filters to their voices for a bit of variety. Here are my three favorite custom filters for Audacity and directions for creating each.

Robot Voice Filter:
1. Record voice
2. Highlight selection
3. Go to Effect, then scroll down to Delay
4. Change the Decay amount 10
5. Change the Delay time to .009
6. Change the Number of Echoes to 30, then click OK
7. Go back to Effect, and repeat Delay four times.
8. Play your edited track

Chipmunk filter:
1. Record voice
2. Highlight selection
3. Go to Effect, then select Change Pitch
4. Modify the Percent Change to 117.50
5. Play your edited track

Walkie-Talkie Filter:
1. Record voice
2. Highlight selection
3. Go to Effect, then FFT Filter
4. Click on purple line and drag it up to the top (12db)
5. Click 10000Hz
6. Click OK
7. Click Effect, then High Pass Filter
8. Change Cutoff Frequency to 2000, then click OK
9. Repeat this process 2 times
10. Play your edited track

Have fun using these hacks, but resist the urge of inserting too many. There is no substitute to sound instructional design.

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Curiosity Rules!

Phrenology bustI am fascinated by brain science, or I could say my brain is fascinated. There is a heightened and growing knowledge of how that astounding organism really works. As I’m reading John Medina’s Brain Rules (the book, which goes much deeper than the website), I keep thinking of the recent study released by the Department of Education, which compares the effectiveness of face-to-face, online, and blended learning delivery. The meta-analysis of over 1000 studies conducted between 1996 and 2008 seems to provide a solid basis for the conclusion that online instruction is “more effective in improving student achievement than the purely face to face instruction.” I wasn’t all that surprised by the findings, but I wonder if the basic comparison is all that meaningful. Is it the online versus face-to-face dichotomy that is the important distinction? Or is it innovative versus traditional approaches that make a difference in a person’s learning?

Levine neuro-developmental systems.There is often an underlying presumption that the traditional, on-ground classroom offers a quality instructional experience. I can attest that I have had very inferior f2f classes and I’m sure I’m not alone. Even with a good instructor, there are serious limitations to traditional teaching methods. When I returned to graduate school in mid-life, I was dismayed to realize what a struggle it is for my brain to absorb auditory information delivered in a 1-2 hour lecture format. Having read Dr. Mel Levine’s A Mind at a Time just before entering grad school, I grasped that I wasn’t stupid—it’s just that my learning strengths did not mesh with this age-old form of teaching. Levine identifies eight key neuro-developmental systems of the brain, illustrated here. Individual variation in the strength of these systems is huge; a math “genius” may be strong in sequential ordering yet dismal in social thinking; a socially gregarious person may be strong in language but weak in higher thinking. Our traditional educational system emphasizes attention controls and higher thinking and undervalues social thinking and spatial controls. As Medina says, “our schools are designed so that most real learning has to occur at home.” Levine’s work has generated a non-profit organization that seeks to deliver knowledge to All Kinds of Minds.

In the Online Learning Study, the front-runner was actually the blend of face-to-face and online. I would guess that the blended approach provides the greatest variety of learning options, allowing learners to engage their strongest neuro-developmental systems. And perhaps purely online delivery won out over f2f because instructional designers are trying harder to be innovative and deploying more tools to address different learning styles. I’m not comfortable with Secretary of Education Anne Duncan’s summary of the report that we need to “incorporate digital content into everyday classes.” It’s not the digital component alone that provides the learning magic. There are many teachers in on-ground classrooms who are experimenting with new strategies to engage students in-person.

Medina sums up his book with this declaration:

“The greatest Brain Rule of all is something I cannot prove or characterize, but I believe in it with all my heart ….it is the importance of curiosity.”

We need to be designing learning to stimulate and satisfy curiosity. Whether that is accomplished online or in-person is secondary to the essential Brain Rule.

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