I have heard colleagues over the years proclaim some discontent when it comes to developing compliant related courses, such as Code of Conduct or Fraud related courses. The negativity usually centers on the belief that these types of courses are boring page-turners or information dumps, which when viewed this way certainly doesn't make it sound very fun to develop, does it?
Say what you will, but these are actually one of my favorite types of courses to build, and that's primarily because I don't view them as boring page-turners, or information dumps. Instead, I view them as awesome opportunities to develop fun, interactive, story-based masterpieces.
Now you may run across subject matter experts or managers who don't think fondly of creative and fun courses and prefer to play things safe, but don't let that deter you, go for it anyway. I discuss this a previous post titled 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Goodnight', so check this post out if you need some inspiration to go against the grain a little here.
Check out this course I created called 'Social Engineering', which is a type of fraud scam and definitely falls into this 'compliant course' category. I could have just dumped a bunch of information on some pages, asked a few review questions along the way and called it a day, but that's just not my style!
Instead I decided work some creativity and fun into the course, which also made it a blast to develop. In this course you go on a spy caper, find clues and capture some bad guys, while all the time learning a thing or two about Social Engineering.
Consider this approach the next time you're faced with content that may seem boring at first. Avoid the information dump, mix in a character or two, and take your learner on a journey. They will thank you for it in the end!
A funny thing happened at the 2012 Lectora user Conference. I found my new e-learning development software, and it's not Lectora!
So there I was at the 2012 Lectora user Conference, visiting all the exhibitors, which were new at this conference, and I stumble upon the good folks at 'E-Learning Uncovered', a totally unbiased vendor who writes how-to books on e-learning development software. During my conversation I candidly asked them their opinion on the new Lectora 11 that was being announced at the conference compared to the new Articulate Storyline product I had heard so much about.
Without droning on with all the details, the E-Learning Uncovered reps advised me that they were waiting with baited breath for the Lectora 11 feature announcement taking place later in the conference. If Lectora could pull a rabbit out of the hat and incorporate a timeline and audio syncing ability, in addition to some sort of screen capturing tool, they just might be included in the conversation with Articulate's new Storyline tool, which they heralded as a "Do-It-All Game Changer"!
So there I am, sitting at the much anticipated Lectora 11 presentation listening to all the new features, waiting and hoping for mention of a timeline, syncing, screen capture, something, but it never came. Now I like the folks at Lectora and they really do put on one heck of a conference, but all that really doesn't help me once I get home, and I was extremely disappointed that none of the features I was hoping for were announced.
When I arrived back home I immediately downloaded the Articulate Storyline trial and just as quickly fell in love with it. PowerPoint feel, easy to use, syncing, audio recording tools, timeline, screen recording,variables, layering, and more. Pretty much anything and everything you could ask for!
Like most times when I attend a conference of this nature I am required to give a presentation to the entire team regarding what I learned at the conference (gotta justify the investment right?), and you should have seen the look on everyone's faces when my Lectora User Conference presentation concludes with recommending we invest in Articulate Storyline as our new primary e-learning development tool. I'm glad to report that by bosses listened, and I am now the proud owner of a Storyline license, as is my development colleague.
Storyline has it all people, so if you're looking for a single stand-alone tool for all your e-learning development needs, there's not a better one out there than Articulate Storyline. Take this new kick-butt Storyline tool and package it up with the absolutely unrivaled support and forum's Tom Kuhlmann and team has put together, and you have a top-notch head of the class solution set!
By the way, I still have Lectora, but I use it only as a wrapper these days for things I develop in Captivate (Which I may not be using for very much longer either once I master the Storyline screen capturing tool).
This particular post isn't going to teach you much, or provide a ton of insight. This is a 'rant' and 'call-to-arms', fueled by recent events that forced me to change Verdana to Arial, change 'Biggest Strength' to 'Core Competency', and totally replace a fun scenario-driven interaction with a traditional and 'safer' information dump!
As e-learning developers we tend to be creative risk-taking creatures by nature, while our stakeholders/SMEs tend to be more compliant, play-it-safe, traditional, no-risk, detail-oriented, core-competency-focusing, inside-the-box, Arial-using robots. (Can you sense my frustration yet?)
These stakeholders usually win the battle when it comes to the final elements of the course, even though most wouldn't know a good e-learning course if it came up and bit em'.
What's worse is that when we (the developer and expert) disagree, express concern, or present push-back, we sometimes get the labels of being 'uncooperative', 'resistant to change', or 'difficult to work with'. Nobody wants these labels, so what I've witnessed is fellow e-learning developers simply giving up before even being heard! They crumble under the pressure of Corporate America heiarchy, and simply concede before even speaking up (not all mind you).
Now I understand that we all have to change things we don't want to, take the 'human' element out of our courses in place of more corporate speak, use the real-world business woman graphic when we wanted to use something more creative....I totally get it! But I'm not one who's going to surpress opinion or not leverage my creative e-learning awsomeness because of fear of repercussion, and I implore all of you to do the same.
In case you're wondering, I have a few of those 'Resistant to Change', 'Risk Taking', 'Sometimes Uncooperative' labels dangling on me! It may sound silly, but I kind of like them and wear those labels as badges.
I will continue to push the envelope! Continue to treat my audience as a real-person who hates hard to understand corporate speak as much as I do. Continue to try to make my courses fun, interactive and different. I will continue to buck tradition and 'usually' hate Arial font. And I will continue to believe that not every course must comply to some pre-structured 'Learning Model' or 'Taxonomy'.
I saw a commercial the other day that showed me everything I needed to know about a new car and the awesomeness it possesses, and I even knew where I could go locally to get one when the commercial was over. They didn't start that commercial with an 'Introduction', followed by 'Objectives', yet I was still able to glean what I needed. You don't need all that stuff in a course just because some learning model says so.
The best innovations of this world are not spawned from being traditional, following the crowd, and taking no risks. The best innovations come from those that think differently, buck tradition and take risks (Apple anyone?).
I feel like it's my job to speak up when I disagree, to continue to try to leverage new and interesting technologies, to NOT use Arial font because somebody says so, to try to convince my stakeholder that not every piece of information needs to be crammed into the course, and so on and so on.
I encourage all of you that read this to do the same. Don't just cave because you're afraid of getting a bad label. If you err on the side of caution, or don't do something because you're afraid of the very predictable resistance you will get, then you're doing yourself and your 'actual' e-learning audience an injustice.
We must work together with our stakeholders to convince them to take risks, be different and think different, which is a hard proposition considering they are hard-wired this way. Whatever you do though, don't go quietly into that good night, just because you're afraid of what others will think. If you truly believe it, then (as Rocky Balboa once said) "Go For It!".
Do not go gentle into that good night! Rage, rage against the dying of the light!
If you're not familiar with a little website called Icon Archive (iconarchive.com) you should put it on your radar immediately. This site has a ton of very cool and useful images.
Now simply pointing you to a site with cool images doesn't really warrant my big set up in the first paragraph does it? The real gem here is that although these icons are available for a price, I have been successful with legitimately acquiring some of the images royalty free. How you ask? Here's the scoop.
Many of the images on this site state that they are free for 'non-commercial' use. Now through a little research it turns out that there are varying opinions on the exact definition of 'non-commercial'. One said definition stated that as long as the user wasn't profiting from the usage of the images then it could be categorized as 'non-commercial'. Well, since most of the elearning I create is for internal employees, and we don't charge our employees to take our courses, I'm in compliance and free to use the images...right?
Now I wasn't totally convinced and still didn't feel totally confident using the images, so I went into sleuth mode and took it a step further. I emailed the creator of a particular icon set I was eye-balling and asked them if using their images in my e-learning courses for internal employees would violate the non-commercial tag, and I was very pleased when the creator emailed me back advising I could use their images in my e-learning courses free of charge. BINGO! (by the way, those blue emoticons in this post happen to be some I acquired.. I have 80 of these little dudes, all with different expressions).
So there you have it. Add iconarchive.com to your list of image resources, but I suggest you shoot over a quick email to the creator (which is easily identifiable on the site) and garner their green light first,
