double take

The images someone sees are processed through the visual channel, the domain of images including photographs, illustrations, charts and graphs. Text and speech are processed through the verbal channel, which is the domain of language. Although text on a computer screen is a visual element, our working memory quickly verbalizes the words and sends them through the verbal channel.
Cliff Atkinson, Beyond Bullet Points, on dual-coding theory

The use of multimedia can be extremely advantageous for e-learning courses. The goal of combining text, art, sound, animation and video is to promote a powerful learning experience by using the learner’s two cognition channels to organize incoming information into knowledge that can be acted upon, stored, and retrieved for subsequent use. When properly applied, multimedia elements yield measurable benefits by gaining and holding the learner’s attention and interest; improving also information retention. Multimedia is profoundly engaging.

Multimedia ingredients to add to your e-learning project:

• Images, graphs and diagrams;
• Meaningful animations to clarify the content;
• Educational videos;
• Buttons for interaction;
• Meaningful animated text;
• Music and Sound effects.

Another important point for e-learning projects is the adoption of interactivity features, which allows and empowers the learner to control how and when content is delivered, determining the flow of information.

References: Allan Paivio, Mental Representations: a Dual-coding Approach
Cliff Atkinson, Beyond Bullet Points
Tay Vaughan, Multimedia: Making it Work

Instructional design requires selecting, organizing, and specifying the learning experiences necessary to teach somebody something.
William Horton, “E-learning by Design”

While reading a book on e-learning, a sentence grabbed my attention: “Experts know too much”. The author implied that although content experts know a lot about their field, they often do not know how to present and teach the content. Some clients tend to think that a content expert can do the job of an instructional designer. Wrong. The problem is that they are not good at designing instructions on topics and behaviors, lacking skills to:

• Define good learning objectives;
• Set criteria for success;
• Analyze learners needs and abilities;
• Select learning activities and types to present the information;
• Select ways to give learners control;
• Create opportunities for collaboration;
• Develop hands-on activities;
• Create case studies and role-playing scenarios;
• Create games and simulations;
• Put together glossaries and job aids;
• Propose interesting research activities;
• Propose challenging and achievable assignments.

To illustrate, let us consider the case of a wonderful cook. When sharing his recipes, he has no secrets to hide. However, as a result of his familiarity with the cooking process, he forgets to teach essential steps that from his perspective were too obvious to mention. “How could I guess that you do not know how to prepare a béchamel sauce, ma chérie?!”

It is important to have a professional who is able to “translate” the most intricate concepts into ideas that are accessible and easy to understand by different audiences. The recipe’s secret is an instructional designer who knows how to break the content in small chunks and create memorable learning experiences. For me, this represents the intersection between education and journalism.

Over the years, the focus on iterative design cycles with attention to measurable results has been discussed by many Web developers. The book “Web Redesign 2.0″, written by the user-experience and interaction designer Kelly Goto and the founder of the agency Waxcreative Design, explains why iterative design cycles are key to achieving success. “By breaking large projects up in to smaller, more regularly paced and manageable releases, iterations can more closely be tied to specific business goals. It is important to note that not all iterative improvements will be visible to the end-user. Cost-effectiveness drives theses improvements”, they explain.

Additionally, iterative process allows for quick prototyping. These studies evolve ideas into great applications, taking into consideration budget and time constraints. Please, check the diagrams below:

• Defining e-learning project
• Designing and Developing
• Building, Debugging and Launching

Not surprisingly, many e-learning professionals are adopting the iterative cycle in place of the old ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation). According to Michael Allen, the use of functional prototypes and an iterative cycle enable subject-matter experts and others on the design team to fully grasp the nature of the envisioned interactions and spot errors in the specification in order to prevent them from becoming part of the final e-learning application. “Quick iterations allow exploration of multiple ideas. Successive approximation and alternative designs need to be developed with just enough functionality for everyone [including students] to understand and evaluate the proposed approaches.” He says that this prototyping approach is just the opposite of the ADDIE, which works for perfection at each point and intends to perform each process only once.

*Diagrams based on Michael Allen,
Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler studies

During the early years of e-learning, the combined use of distance education with face-to-face instruction was prevalent. At that period, computer-based training was incapable of stimulating the learner to improve his own abilities, by experimenting freely and effectively learning. We did not know how to explore the new media as a tool to promote meaningful interactive activities or collaboration. Times have changed. Now we have the resources to build great educational projects, but often we still do not take advantage of the pallet of tools at our disposal. The consequence is a renewed obsession for promoting blended solutions, which now are many times unnecessary. Some e-learning developers warn that blended training should not be used to cover-up for poor e-learning design. We risk losing the advantages of distance education:

• Flexibility and scalability
• Individualization
• Low-cost

The question is: when do we need to offer a blended solution? One will say: “Every time! Then we can invite an expert-friend-of-mine to give a 2 hours long PowerPoint presentation with endless bullet points, sound effects, meaningless animation and call it real time interaction”. Give me a coffee-break!