What makes Online Training engaging?

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Permalink Reply by Erik Deckers on April 25, 2008 at 3:08pm

I just sat through a boring (it wasn't just dry, it was ARID) session on the new automated mail barcodes. Not an interesting topic to begin with, but what made it worse was:

1) PowerPoint slides loaded down with text. Whatever happened to the 10-20-30 rule?
2) They read from a script. It was like listening to accountants do their own commercials.
3) The slide text was also in the script. Save one of us some time and skip the reading, or just don't make the slides.
4) Use Flash, videos, and video chat. Let me see who I'm listening to.

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Permalink Reply by John Nichols on April 25, 2008 at 4:28pm

Kathy,
Developing online training is something that I have been doing for over 7 years now. There isn't really a magic solution to solve all online training/educational opportunities because they are often unique and specific.

However, many times the online training is just a page turner (PPT exported to html). There is no incorporation, like Erik talks about, for Flash, videos, etc. to bring in interactivity and immediate feedback. Oftentimes people go to the extreme and think that at that point we're talking about game theory.

Again, depending on the situation, utilizing a simulation to enable people to practice digitally before the real world. Just like anything relevance is huge. Does it have a purpose? Or is it just a throw it online and teach yourself. For some other instances, maybe the training is disseminated via video podcasts. What a great tool for training for nationwide sales team that travel a ton!

There are lots of great tools that can be integrated. I really like talking about this stuff and creating solutions for online training. Feel free to contact me at john (at) getvisualblaze (dot) com if you want to talk more!

-John

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Permalink Reply by Barbara Jones on April 26, 2008 at 9:47am

I have been designing training programs for many years and have always been interested in why some are dreadfully boring and some are interesting and engaging - even memorable. It isn't just online training where this happens. Classroom training can be boring or engaging, and for the same reasons.

When you add onlline technology you add expense. Online training can be greatly more expensive and take very much more time to develop and I think that is where the problems start. People want the distribution channel but don't want to spend the money and quickly find they don't have the time. Interactivity in an online training program is one of the more complicated forms of communication. It required planning and careful execution to pull it off and many people get lost along the way. Or don't value it or don't care. The motivations of the people doing the creating are very important. If they just want to get the content out there it is unlikely to be a quality offering. Erik's experience of the illustrated lecture is a good example. I have seen plenty of videos that were just a recording of an illustrated lecture or worse yet "talking heads."

John, I would love to hear more of your thoughts on this.

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Permalink Reply by John Nichols on April 26, 2008 at 11:57am

Barb,
I think a huge key is the connection to adult learning theory with the training (regardless if it is 'traditional', online, or hybrid.

I do not necessarily agree though that by developing online technology you add expense. I have been involved in quite a few online course developments as well as hybrids -- combination of face-to-face and online-- where the overall training costs were drastically reduced as well as the overall training time. That is especially the case nowadays if the training involves expenses such as airfare, hotels, meals, etc. not to mention time away from the job.

Given all of that, though, I'm not one that is going to say 100% of training should go online. But in some cases it makes sense.

-John

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Permalink Reply by Dustin Sparks on April 27, 2008 at 1:44am

I have noticed that if someone isn't interested in what they're learning then they are going to be bored. I'm not sure there is a way around this.

Some topics are more interesting than others and thus become more fun.

A few things that I have noticed in my own experience with various online training programs, things that have pushed me away or drew me in personally.

1) Well presented graphics are a must. If your app looks engaging right off the bat, then it will at least create the mindset you want from the beginning.
2) Too much text is boring. We can learn a lot from movies in this sense. Take the idea of subtitles and audio. Instead of showing a large chunk of text, have someone read it to them while they check out subtitles that gradually present the text to them in small chunks.
3) The animation and images should fit in with the graphics. If your video is talking about some process that needs to get done, then show them that process in a high-quality live-action video or animation. Don't simply show the video and read the text to them without any visuals. Too much text is boring, but the same thing applies when there is too much audio and not enough visual to even things out.
4) Don't use big words, talk like people talk. It doesn't matter who you are, if there are too many big words then you are going to spend extra time worrying about what the word means. There should always be some way to explain it in terms that are useful.
5) If it is interactive, don't be too controlling over the time it takes to complete the training. The user should be able to move through the application at their own pace.
6) Interactive applications should be very simple, less than 3 clicks to get from one section to the next.

Note that I have no experience developing these applications and have done no research on this stuff. There are probably things here that are obvious to those who have. Again, these are just some things that have effected me in some way when using training applications. There's quite a bit more that I could write about this stuff, but I'll cut it off here.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Conner on April 30, 2008 at 9:09am

I'm actually very interested in this topic for a few reasons, one being that I work for a company that makes an e-Course ware product (Epsilen), and another is a project I'm working on to teach about Microsoft Enterprise technologies. I'm going through the MCSE right now, and I'm using video and powerpoint slides to go through the information. The idea is that people would watch the videos and then follow along in a virtual environment.

I'd be interested in getting critiqued on my videos, and would love to share exactly what process I'm using to get them online as well. You can see the project at http://www.servercrowd.com

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Permalink Reply by Kathy Isenberg on April 30, 2008 at 9:31am

Alex - I did take a few minutes to check out your videos this morning.

Couple things. First, I wasn't able to hear the audio on the website. I had to open the video using YouTube hear the audio for the Server 2003 Video. I like the quality of the video, but the audio could be a little more energetic and engaging. Second, on the Active Directory video - not as impressed. There are a couple parts of the video that do not expand out to allow the view to see what that audio is referring to, but the overall message was good.

Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Conner on April 30, 2008 at 9:41am

On the website, the videos require Silverlight, so I figure there would be some issues with that; hence the YouTube links (what you saw was just the slides from the ppt)

I'm hoping to get another person on board sometime so that the videos can be a little more engaging; I've found that I have a generally better experience learning from videos where there is actual teaching going on in the videos.

The AD video on YouTube is basically un-edited, since that was the one where I tried out widescreen (which doesn't work very well, I have found) and I had to make a separate version for YouTube.

Thanks for the suggestions, and I'll definitely work on improving the site and try and keep the video zoomed tight... Maybe the nice intro I'm going to start adding to the newer videos will make them sound more energetic ;-)

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