Games and Simulations

Assignment:
Think about examples of when you have used games or simulations yourself or attended a course in which a game or simulation was used. Please share with us what the game or simulation was and whether it was successful or not.

Response:
I have used a Jeopardy style game using a software called GameShow Pro. We use this in a live classroom, and you can get buzzers for your participants to ring in and it automatically keeps track of their scores. It is successful in a live classroom with several teams because it builds camaraderie and teamwork as they compete against other teams for the high score.  It is also a nice way to test recall.  We use it as a debrief in the mornings of a week-long class and test either their knowleedge of the pre-work, or what they learned the day before. 

I've also done a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" type game using a flash template in Lectora as a quiz in an eLearning course.  It's another way to do a recall/knowledge based quiz, but it looks a lot cooler than a bunch of multiple choice questions.  We do not actually score this quiz since the results are not sent to our Learning Management System, but we've found that the participants do answer all 15 questions because they want to see if they can get them all right. 

As for simulations, I've only ever written very simple branching scenarios using PowerPoint, and more recently, Storyline, but they have only gone one or two slides before coming back together. From what I have seen elsewhere, you can do very advanced branching with multiple outcomes, multiple variables and very different paths, but it takes a lot of work to design and program it!  I don't think I've ever done a true simulation for my own work, but I've seen some examples. 

SimWriter is a simulation-writing tool, and I attended training on how to use it.  While there, I created a demo simulation, but have not had a chance to use it in my work yet.  They have great examples on their Showcase tab on their website. Some of my colleagues in a different department have created a simulation with it, on selling techniques.  They used a green screen to film an employee as a potential sales prospect, and inserted him in one of the backgrounds SimWriter provides.  They then used the software to create a meter to see how good the customer though the interaction was going.  You could fail at any time, but the customer telling you the meeting was over, or, if you took an acceptable path, you closed the sale.  It was really cool, and I liked that they used video and not just still images. 

How to implement eLearning

Assignment:

When you think about how you want to implement your elearning, you have to think about all of the issues that will influence your decision. Reflect on the questions and considerations that impact your decisions about how to implement elearning. 

Response:

I think the biggest consideration is time - how much time do we have for the project?  After the needs analysis and before a decision is made on implementation, you have to determine your time contraints. You may not have time to build a fancy, media-rich course with multiple branching scenarios and animated vignettes.  At that point, you will need to make a decision on the type of authoring tool, theme, and media standards for the course.  In my opinion, this decision needs to come before the storyboarding, but likely after the design document. 

Another consideration is regarding your tools and talent- do you have a developer who can make your vision come to life in the course?  What authoring tools are available?  What are system or bandwidth contraints? 

A third consideration is how this course will integrate with any other courses in a curriculum and how learners will find it.  Will it be delivered to a specific audience or available for anyone to search.? Will it be uploaded through an LMS system, or available by search through a department website? Will it be a stand-alone course or part of a larger curriculum?  Will it link to any other topics or courses? 

Other considerations depend on the project, your project members and stakeholders.  What do your stakeholders want?  What did your needs analysis reveal to you?  Is a job aid or performance support sufficient, or is a full course needed?  Is WBT the appropriate vehicle for the course, or does it need to be blended with some Instructor-led components? 

There are many questions and decisions that need to be made before implementing a course.  Hopefully, your project planning, and design process will allow you to answer all these questions before you begin the course development to guide you to the best implementation plan. 





 

Assessments

Assignment:

Assessments can be a challenging and delicate topic in training and elearning. There are many considerations that you have to look into as you design your assessments. What considerations have you included when formulating assessments?

Response:
When building assessments, I often think about how they will be delivered/scored.  Will it be paper-based and scored by hand?  Computer-based and scored automatically?  Built, delivered and scored through our LMS?  Or given orally and scored by an Instructor? 

Most of the tests I've designed have been for computer-based courses and delivered via an eLearning software or in our LMS system.  Sometimes they are scored, and sometimes they serve more as a practice activity within the course and feedback is given before the learner moves on.  Whether they are scored/reported on or not is another consideration that requires input from the stakeholders and depends on the purpose of the course and test. 

We do have one course that has a robust authentic assessment to determine if the learner can apply all of the objectives of our behavioral interviewing course while interviewing a "mock candidate".  We set up a learner to be the interviewer, while another student serves as the candidate.  A pre-qualified observer listens in and takes notes and grades the interviewer against the rubric.  They run through three different behavioral-based questions in the mock interview and have to display the required behaviors, not only in the interview itself, but in the debrief, candidate rating, and decision-making at the end of the exercise.  The observer then consolidates their notes and scores from the entire series of questions, and provides feedback to both the learner and their manager on what elements meet or exceed criteria, and what elements need more work. 

Another consideration is whether the assessment can predict success on the job. If a test is written so that it just tests knowledge of something versus how to actually perform and do something, it's not as effective. 

The main consideration is whether the assessment ties back to the objective and end goal of the course.  If it doesn't, then it's not worth including. 
 

Connect Activities

Assignment:  For this week's blog post, please recount a learning experience you have had in which the connect portion of the experience was so important it is the part you remember the best!

Response:  It's funny, because when I started reading about Connect Activities, I thought they were almost a "throwaway" activity.  I mean, I've seen countless elearnings or readings where a rhetorical question is asked to try to make you think about how you can apply it to your own experience, but how many learners actually stop and think about it?  I know I often fly right past those questions and keep reading.  

But, as I kept reading about other "connect" activities, I realized that they are more than just rhetorical questions, and can add a lot of value.  Even those stop and think questions, when used in a live class or with a discussion board, and can be good fodder for group discussion and insight.  I think it's tougher when it's an individual reflection. 

A good way I've seen ponder activities applied is through a journal.  This was for a live course that lasted several days.  At the end of each day, the learners were prompted to capture their top three "a-ha" moments or key take-aways from the day's lessons.  By writing them down, and reflecting on how they would apply those concepts back on the job, it both reinforced the learning and connected it to their daily work.  Each morning in class, we would then have a journal reflection discussion where people would share their take-aways and thoughts on application.  Then others in the class could expand on their classmates' ideas and incorporate other applications into their own journals.  This was very effective.  Not only could the learners refer back to just a few pages of their journal, versus several days worth of course materials, they also had a built-in discussion-starter to talk to their manager about what they learned in training and how they would apply it.  When I took a class with a journal-type exercise, it was definitely the part that I remember best and was able to use when I came back to work from the training. 

Another good connect tool is a job aid.  Especially after a session of heavy learning, it's nice to have a simple document to remind you of the key concepts or where/how to find additional resources.  Job aids also allow you to spend less time on training, since you can train them on using the job aid or performance support, rather than spending a lot of time on the system itself.