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

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Looking to liven up a boring or stale course?

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

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What does that look like? 

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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.

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Anthropo... what?

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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.

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Anthropomorphic Shoes in E-Learning

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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.

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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?

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Click to view the example

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Challenge of the Week

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

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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.

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Share Your E-Learning Work

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• Comments: Use the comments section below to share a link to your published example and blog post.
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• Forums: Start  your own thread and share a link to your published example..
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• 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.
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• Social Media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can track your e-learning coolness.
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Last Week’s Challenge:

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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:

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Font Games and Learning Activities  #345: Challenge | Recap

\n

New to the E-Learning Challenges?

\n

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.

\n

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

\n

Looking to liven up a boring or stale course?

\n

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

\n

What does that look like? 

\n

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.

\n

Anthropo... what?

\n

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.

\n

\n

Anthropomorphic Shoes in E-Learning

\n

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.

\n

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?

\n

\n

Click to view the example

\n

Challenge of the Week

\n

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

\n

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.

\n

Share Your E-Learning Work

\n

\n
• Comments: Use the comments section below to share a link to your published example and blog post.
\n
• Forums: Start  your own thread and share a link to your published example..
\n
• 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.
\n
• Social Media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can track your e-learning coolness.
\n

\n

Last Week’s Challenge:

\n

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:

\n

\n

Font Games and Learning Activities  #345: Challenge | Recap

\n

New to the E-Learning Challenges?

\n

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.

Hello!

Quite by coincidence, I discussed this topic with Sandhya Lakhanpal today, for her Redefine Instruction podcast.

In this example I have used a robotic character inspired by HAL from the movie 2001 and GLaDOS from the game Portal 2.

DEMO: https://bit.ly/elhc346
BLOG: https://bit.ly/elhc346bl

The learner can take a pre-test in the elevator before attempting to enter the vault in the basement. Entering the vault is easier if you perform better on the pre-test. The robot's reactions and feedback also change based on the learner's answers.

I think the TTS voice really suits this character, do you?

I can't believe I forgot to include HAL. Nicely done, Jonathan. And yes, the TTS totally fits. Which one did you use?

Thanks David. I used Matthew as he definitely gave off some HAL vibes!

Yep, the TTS worked perfectly. I'm ready to be a MIPRU expert (not). I like how you stylized the characters. It had a real sci-fi vibe.

I really wanted to get to the end of the story, so I actually did learn a lot about FCA Regulations. Your creativity is admirable and such a huge inspiration!

Cats Preventing COVID
Demo: https://jodisdemos.s3.amazonaws.com/346+Anthropomorphic+/story.html

I never use cats in my demos--LOL! I often notice how anthropomorphic images are used in advertising to make serious topics more friendly, so that's what I tried to do here. BTW, I am really loving the new course cover slide! And building on #345 I used a fun font pairing in this demo--Kristen for personality and Museo Sans for reading.

The pictures are \"adorbes\" and perfectly match your content. Did you have to modify on your own our were you able to source through a subscription, etc.?

Oh, I wish I did my own art. It would take me longer than doing the interaction. I found the cat set in my subscription. I can change colors and expressions--sometimes I find a good vector set that you can mix-n-match elements, but I rely on someone's else's creativity.

Really nice--go cats! It does exactly what you intended--makes a serious topic more friendly. :)

Oh my gosh. I love, love, LOVE this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello, Meet my stinky little friend!

Demo: https://360.articulate.com/review/content/fd8aef67-791e-448e-8790-55f9ef443c32/review

Haha...we've had a couple cheese inspired demos these last two weeks! Now I can't see a cheese name without thinking they would be great font names (from Tracy's demo last week). Loved the nose slider!

Yes. I was looking at last weeks Font demos AFTER I created this and was intrigued by her \"Font or Cheese\" as well.

I added a drag and drop quiz for effectiveness checking.

Very elegant french accent. Sounds like mine.
May be someday, Articulate will add a 360 smell experience in Storyline.

Interesting challenge...
Can you guess the Mascot? https://360.articulate.com/review/content/38a01941-429d-429d-883e-6530827de1c6/review

Download: http://samuelapata.com/downloadmanager/click.php?id=105

Great design. I like how you cover the faces for a moment prior to the reveal. I feel like I am playing that Masked Singer game. I have no clue about who the mascots are so, typing the answer is way too hard for me. Maybe a multiple choice or a drop-down menu with all the possible options would be more satisfying for the novice learner.

Thanks Ron, for the helpful feedback. I've made some updates you might like.

Lovely design, the texture and layout is very appealing. I had no idea who these mascots were, but I had fun guessing their names, and I actually got a few right! The history lesson was very interesting.

Thanks Ang. Glad to know you did!

Fun! By the time I took it I just had to press a button. As a graduate of the Big Ten thanks for adding some of our mascots!...though I'm a Wildcat. :)

Meet Bei Bei: A Day in the Life of a Giant Panda. Demo: https://tracycarroll.net/Giant_Panda/story.html

Blog post: https://tracycarroll.net/meet-bei-bei/

Super cute! Nothing better than a Panda. I really liked that frame with the parallax effect.

Thanks, Jodi!

Lovely work. Was this storyline or something else?

Hi, Ron. It's Powtoon/Canva/Camtasia & Storyline.

I started building this anthropomorphic project almost a year ago. I worked on it from time to time and today is the right moment my characters will see the daylight.
May I introduce: “7 most wanted friends in Storyline”! All of them have names (I kept them international – as the Articulate community is international too), they have their own superpowers, addresses where they live inside Storyline, favourite music and hobbies. Have fun and enjoy!
https://elearningprojects.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/demos/Challenge346_AnthropomorphicCharacters/story.html

I love everything here! The ideas for the characters, the writing, the sound, the small animations, just everything!

Wildly imaginative! Still curio about how you made the sliderio.

I designed Slideiro from scratch in Illustrator (made her jump and hold the ball) and then Photoshopped into basketball game :)

Love your characters. Very cool interaction.

Quick & basic dog care ... and was able to get back into Vyond, which is always fun. :)

DEMO: https://360.articulate.com/review/content/be773261-817a-4d11-9d49-2e1c24f3a52d/review

Very cool animation. The advantage with cats (I have some) is you only need 2 topics : feed and let them ignore you. :-)

I really wish it was that simple to care for a dog haha.

Very whimsical! I really liked the bathing scene. I wish Vyond had some animal character builders instead of only having dogs and cats as props, like furniture. :)

COVID guidelines for a wildlife shelter
DEMO: https://360.articulate.com/review/content/9720752b-d5cb-4176-b20a-a726d53b188e/review

Excerpt and tweak of a simple one I created a while ago for distribution on a mobile phone.

Gwyneth,

I love the Rhu's as a trainer and a measuring device. Looks like this would indeed work well in a mobile environment.

Very creative way to reinforce the concept of distance...and such a cute animal. Loved it!

I'm currently visiting Lviv, a beautiful city in the western part of Ukraine. As the mascot of the city is a lion I thought it might be a perfect fit for the challenge this week.

https://koeninger.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/portfolio/ELC346/story.html

So many good things about this demo. The character was cute and I liked seeing Lev in the various environments. The use of the 360 degree photos was immersive. The music video was fun. And the multiple views in the 360 were super as well. Great design and wonderful interaction Fabian.

Thank you for your feedback Ron!

I definitively need a good topic to use 360° photographies like you did perfectly in your virtual visit of Lviv. Lev seems to be a good guide.

It was also my first time working with 360, and I really like this new feature and can already imagine a lot of different use cases.

Nice idea, Fabian.
I like your simple but clear graphics. Thanks Lev, for showing your beautiful city ;)

Thank you Joanna!

Bonjour Heroes.
Interesting topic. It's true that half of the projects I create on Storyline for my clients use anthropomorphic characters. I wonder why it was so difficult for me to imagine a character and a subject for this challenge. So this is it. Meet the laughing gull that talks about navigation buoys.
https://360.articulate.com/review/content/3782832e-4fe4-499d-b48c-d6161dd1806e/review

NB: the floating movement of the buoys seems not very fluid. Maybe because the motion path is very small. I will remember this not to use such a small path in the future.

Really nice! I like how the bird gives additional information after you click on the buoys.
I opened it on my phone and didn't notice any issues with the floating movements.

Thanks for letting me know, Fabian. It's still not smooth on my PC screen. I will study this.

Love it and I think the motions paths work really well. Only criticism would be I'd probably make the whole buoy clickable rather than just the top as I didn't realise this at first (maybe didn't pay close enough attention to the instructions lol)

Thanks for watching carefully, Narissa. But (another mystery) all the buoys are clickable, from the top to the floating bottom. Maybe because: they are NOT clickable at all during instructions, and become clickable afterwards. You tried too quickly.