course design help

Jul 15, 2014

Hi,

I've been given a list of 10 do's and don'ts, with a little narration to go along. I've been asked to turn this is into an interactive module.

I'm stuck and coming up blank about ways to make this work. Any ideas?

Thanks, Alex

19 Replies
Jackie Van Nice

Hi Alex!

Of course this begs a whole lot of questions about topic, audience, purpose of the piece, etc. - but you can't go too far wrong by adding some context, a little bit of story, and appropriate and evocative images.

Here are a couple of examples I've done for Articulate challenges. I designed them to present some simple information points, just as you need to do:

Interactive step graphic demo: http://www.jackievannice.com/?p=175064196

Photo story demo: http://www.jackievannice.com/?p=175062088

If you check the other challenge demos I've posted on my site you may find other ideas, too.

Hope that helps!

Jackie

Phil Mayor

I don't think that a video is the most effective solution here (although it would probably be the cheapest option). I would try and add some interactivity as interaction with content has more chance of engaging the learner and ensuring learning takes place.

I would look at what Jackie recommends, I would be inclined to build a mini interaction for each one and as you complete return the a checklist menu page of your do's and don'ts. If possible you could inject some humour and do them very "tongue in cheek".

Joshua Roberts

Phil Mayor said:

I don't think that a video is the most effective solution here (although it would probably be the cheapest option). I would try and add some interactivity as interaction with content has more chance of engaging the learner and ensuring learning takes place.

I would look at what Jackie recommends, I would be inclined to build a mini interaction for each one and as you complete return the a checklist menu page of your do's and don'ts. If possible you could inject some humour and do them very "tongue in cheek".


Of course it's all personal opinion, I personally am not engaged having to click through an interactive module to find out 10 things. With the dramatic rise of sites such as BuzzFeed and their YouTube counterparts (Example - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff07KdikxXE ), people watching Top 10 videos has become increasingly popular. I'd watch some of the videos they have put together to draw inspiration from.

I don't want to sit through a 'module' just to find something that could have been given to me in a nice video, you can still check the knowledge acquisition later or a course resource. It's not my style to learn through the manner Phil or Jackie have mentioned, to me it just seems as though it's creating for the sake of creating.

Phil Mayor

I was talking about creating an effective elearning solution, also note the OP asked for an interactive module. The solution I gave is on an evidence based model that interacting with content increases retention. Although Videoscribe and Powtoons are great tools they do not create interaction and are therefore passive tools for relaying information but for learning to take place then the learner must engage with the content and in elearning this is through interaction. By asking your learners to actively engage in their learning you will find they are less likely to forget critical information.

I don't think it was personal opinion just best practice based on good research.

Alex Westin

Jackie Van Nice said:

Hi Alex!

Of course this begs a whole lot of questions about topic, audience, purpose of the piece, etc. - but you can't go too far wrong by adding some context, a little bit of story, and appropriate and evocative images.


Hi Jackie,

Thank you for the reminder to give the complete picture. It is a medical facility and the "course" is for nurses. Right now, they have something that is basically PowerPoint with voiceover. The whole thing is about 10 minutes long. Pretty much something along the lines of "do check vital signs" but "don't treat without orders."

I will look at your examples right now, thank you!

Joshua, you made me think. While they are not ready for video (and I have no idea what PowToon is), I should be thinking more along the lines of "engaging" not necessarily "interactive." Although, like Phil, I believe those two terms go hand-in-hand. Which is why my first thought was it needs to be interactive.

Phil, thanks for the idea on the checklist menu page. This is a new client so I do not know if humor would work.

Alex

Bruce Graham

I do not believe that "engaging" and "interactive" are necessarily different things.

I am firmly on the fence on this one

Joshua makes good points about PowToon (see here for more information) and Videoscribe. A good film like Avatar is wonderfully engaging, yet the "interaction" comes from an emotional interaction, not just "clicking things".

Tools such as Videoscribe and PowToon do not have to produce video that is humorous. Just because something is deadly serious it does not have to be deadly dull.

Saying that - engagement can come in many ways - perhaps you could pick-and-mix "interactive" with "engaging".

I am working on producing some very "serious" medical centre/facility adverts/videos, with a "non-dull" video format (see below).

"Interaction" can come in many forms, physical, but also emotional. Perhaps there is the perfect solution somewhere in the middle, using them all?

Cathy Moore

Since it's a list of do's and don'ts, there must be things that the nurses are doing wrong or failing to do. Those behaviors could be the focus of some activities. Rather than presenting the list in various interactive ways, you might not tell the nurses anything yet, and instead present several short decision-making scenarios that reveal the do's and don'ts.

Example: (just notes; the scenario itself should be more detailed and subtle and realistic) When you enter the examining room, you find the patient, Mrs. Rogers, a heavyset woman who appears to be in her 50s. She's coughing horrifically [more technical symptoms here] but her lips and fingertips are a good color [or whatever signs show that she's not starved for oxygen]. What do you do?

A. Give her a drink of water to see if that gets her coughing under control, then take her vitals

B. Immediately request a physician

C. Take her vitals as best as you can with all the coughing

D. Something appealing here

Then, in the feedback, you can provide the appropriate "do" or "don't." For example, if the learner gives her a drink of water first and this is happening in the US where the temperature is taken orally rather than under the arm, the feedback could be: "Mrs. Rogers' temperature reads [something reassuringly low, just mildly elevated], her blood pressure is X and their pulse Y [nothing super alarming]. She says she's had the cough for a week. You note all this and leave for your next patient, assuring Mrs. Rogers that the doctor will be in soon. 30 minutes later you hear that Mrs. Rogers [blah blah something drastic due to a high fever you failed to detect because you gave her water]. Don't give a patient any treatment, even water, before taking their vitals."

In this approach, the do or don't comes AFTER the learner makes a choice in the scenario. In other words, the scenario isn't a recall activity or a test; it replaces the info presentation and instead the info comes out naturally in the feedback. If they make a good choice, the do/don't is still stated, to confirm their choice. Even if it's produced in a low tech way, it's intellectually more engaging than watching a presentation or clicking to reveal stuff.

If you're concerned about having learners make decisions before you've told them everything they might need to know, you might check out the research summarized in this blog post:

http://blog.cathy-moore.com/2013/09/throw-them-in-the-deep-end-but-keep-a-life-preserver-handy/

Bruce Graham

So Cathy - are you saying that there is NEVER a place, in your opinion, for a list of do's and dont's?

Almost by definition, there will always be behavioural aspects that need to be changed. I appreciate it may not be the best way to do things, but sometimes there is a need.

Bruce

PS - it was you who got me started on PowToon too !

Phil Mayor

Bruce Graham said:

I do not believe that "engaging" and "interactive" are necessarily different things.

I am firmly on the fence on this one

Joshua makes good points about PowToon (see here for more information) and Videoscribe. A good film like Avatar is wonderfully engaging, yet the "interaction" comes from an emotional interaction, not just "clicking things".

Tools such as Videoscribe and PowToon do not have to produce video that is humorous. Just because something is deadly serious it does not have to be deadly dull.

Saying that - engagement can come in many ways - perhaps you could pick-and-mix "interactive" with "engaging".

I am working on producing some very "serious" medical centre/facility adverts/videos, with a "non-dull" video format (see below).

"Interaction" can come in many forms, physical, but also emotional. Perhaps there is the perfect solution somewhere in the middle, using them all?


Bruce I agree with you, my opinion here was that video was not the solution, no reason why it couldn't be a part of the solution, but for do's and don't you are trying to change behaviour, I would recommend interactions/activities to achieve this.

I see a lot of value in Powtonns, Goanimate, Videoscribe etc as a solution in elearning but not as THE solution. Often I think we can be seen as the workman who only has a hammer and every problem is a nail to be hit.

Bruce Graham

If the whole thing is "...Pretty much something along the lines of "do check vital signs" but "don't treat without orders." then it could potentially be covered by 60-90 seconds.

I'm afraid that I have no real time for anyone that cannot last 90 seconds on something that is important. The important part is to make the whole thing compelling.

The PowToon eBook originally said, (bearing in mind that they were talking about cartoon-based marketing):

The average attention span of the Facebook generation is 90 seconds. This is the time you have to get your message
across—and the first 7 seconds are the most crucial! That’s when you have to convince viewers to actually continue watching.

Our research indicates…
Best cartoon length: 63-92 seconds
Critical start: 7-10 seconds

Cathy Moore

I'm not saying, "Never display a list of do's and don'ts" and don't believe I've ever said that in my blog. What I'm saying is that if someone gives you content and says, "Make this information interesting," it can be helpful to first find out what the learners / readers are supposed to do in the real world with that content. Why do they need it? Then it becomes possible to design activities that let them practice and possibly fail to do whatever it is they're supposed to do, and then in the feedback tell them the "do" or "don't" that clearly they need to know based on what they did in the activity. People who are already doing it right are confirmed in their actions; people who are screwing up realize that they're screwing up and are told the right way to do it.

If really the goal is to just distribute the list to nurses, there are much cheaper ways to do it than through elearning.

Joshua Roberts

Bruce Graham said:

If the whole thing is "...Pretty much something along the lines of "do check vital signs" but "don't treat without orders." then it could potentially be covered by 60-90 seconds.

I'm afraid that I have no real time for anyone that cannot last 90 seconds on something that is important. The important part is to make the whole thing compelling.

The PowToon eBook originally said, (bearing in mind that they were talking about cartoon-based marketing):

The average attention span of the Facebook generation is 90 seconds. This is the time you have to get your message
across—and the first 7 seconds are the most crucial! That’s when you have to convince viewers to actually continue watching.

Our research indicates…
Best cartoon length: 63-92 seconds
Critical start: 7-10 seconds


Agree with this entirely.

Just look at YouTube adverts, the deliberately capture attention in the first 7 seconds so that you do not press the 'skip' button. They start very fast paced or leave you on a cliff hanger at 7 seconds - all very effective in getting you to continue.

Phil - This is a broad category and there isn't enough information to accurately suggest the pros and cons of each approach. You have made a number of generalisations in your last post which may or may not be true and we could go backwards and forwards over the issue. But 20 seconds for a single do or don't? That would be one of the slowest most boring videos I've seen, you wouldn't expect a user to sit and read a do or don't in your module for longer than 20 seconds would you? (Length pending, but I'm making a presumption here that they are going to be more key points that full pointers)

As I've said, my choice would still be a video - yours may not be, that's one of the wonderful things about this forum, everyone has a different method. However I don't think you can completely trash my choice based on background information that does not exist. A video may be more than suitable and the best option, but on the flip side depending on the content it may not be the best choice.

Phil Mayor

Joshua, I didn't think your suggestion was the most effective solution, as I stated before the OP asked for interactive design, I am afraid a 60-90m second infomercial is really not going to change behaviours.

I wouldn't expect a user to read for 20 seconds, but by combining audio, media and interaction I can make this engaging and interesting and do my best to reinforce the message being delivered. There has to be a reason for having a list of do's and don't and it is likely that something has either changed or is often done wrong. It would be much better to add some context around these decisions and scenario based interaction would work great, to add this context in a video would take around 20 seconds.

I appreciate videos have their part to play in learning, Youtube helped my electrician to fit a heated floor for me, he watched the video, looked at the equipment and then did the fast whilst referring back to the video, but this wasn't passive learning he had access to the videos whilst performing the task, I very much doubt through experience that a nurse will have access to a video whilst performing their day to day routine.

Sorry you felt I "trashed" your idea, I didn't I based my recommendation on my experience, and still believe that a video is the incorrect solution.

john faulkes

This is a very interesting thread and I think all contributors have added useful points. it's a shame any apologies were needed.These are genuinely useful 'disagreements' illustrating the challenge of how best to capture peoples' attention and plant ideas in peoples' minds.

It emphasizes how much that IDs who think seriously about this, are really needed for the future.

We've all seen interactive quizzes where the questions are so easy that it's a waste of time. Some where they are pitched just right...where the ID has worked hard to think through what would be a genuinely useful challenge, and I think people really appreciate that. Also some where they are based on pure guesswork, usually obtuse facts such as on many radio quizzes. (They annoy me). That may be the perfect place for a video, and Powtoon/Videoscribe are great for this.

My one original addition to this thread - why not give learners a choice? Ask them whether they want it presented to them, or whether they'd like to challenge themselves?

Occasionally there are of course some lists of things that just stand out perfectly on a piece of paper. The Three Laws of Robotics come to mind. But also if you have time, check out Sailor Malan's (Battle of Britain fighter ace) ten rules of air fighting. (i.e. read and digest if you want to stay alive! )

This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.