How are Designers Using Anthropomorphic Characters in E-Learning? #346

Using Anthropomorphic Characters in E-Learning  #346: Challenge | Recap

Looking to liven up a boring or stale course?

Here’s an idea: Try something unexpected like flipping the course on its head and using unconventional characters to drive the narrative.

What does that look like? 

In other words, what types of conditions and environments would most appeal to bed bugs. Instead of the usual storytelling approach, the big idea was to use anthropomorphic bugs to lead the training.

Anthropo... what?

Anthropomorphism simply means attributing human characteristics to animals(ducks, bears, bugs) and non-living objects (cars, toys, lamps, legal documents ). In addition to movies, anthropomorphic characters can be found in books, advertising, and most importantly, education.

Anthropomorphic Shoes in E-Learning

Here’s a good example from Rachel Craig of how easily a conventional course can be reframed so that a product is the primary character.

The example features a series of anthropomorphic shoes that help train salespeople on how to match shoe models and styles to customers. Each shoe played a role in the course by describing its history, unique design features, and when to choose each model. Pretty cool, right?

Click to view the example

Challenge of the Week

This week, your challenge is to share an e-learning example using one or more anthropomorphic characters.

You’re free to use an existing project or create something new for the challenge. The goal is to show how anthropomorphism can be used as a storytelling device in e-learning.

Share Your E-Learning Work

• Comments: Use the comments section below to share a link to your published example and blog post.
• Forums: Start  your own thread and share a link to your published example..
• Personal blog:  If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We’ll link back to your posts so the great work you’re sharing gets even more exposure.
• Social Media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can track your e-learning coolness.

Last Week’s Challenge:

To help you give life and personality to this week's challenge, check out the creative font games your fellow challengers shared over the past week:

Font Games and Learning Activities  #345: Challenge | Recap

New to the E-Learning Challenges?

The weekly e-learning challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos.