This Month’s #LCBQ – Fun
This month’s Big Question at the Learning Circuits blog is “How do you make e-learning fun?”
Before listing my ideas regarding e-learning fun, I do want to note that just because it’s fun does not necessarily mean learning objectives are being met, that it is relevant to participants’ learning needs, that it will motivate learners, etc. However, incorporating elements that are fun will keep the learner’s attention, make it an enjoyable experience and hopefully get people talking the course up to others. For me, one of the greatest compliments is when people say, “the course was fun and I learned a lot too.” FYI: If you are looking for a good way to engage and motive learners, in addition to making them fun, take a look at the ARCS Model and Gagne’s Nine Events of Learning.
Back to the Big Question, here is how I make e-learning fun:
- Add humor. When appropriate of course and never, ever offensive.
- Add fun characters. I like to use numerous characters to break up any monotony, add conversations and even increase attention by creating tension between characters.
- Incorporate games into courses or make the entire course a game itself.
- Silliness is a great way to get the audience’s attention and focus on specific content you want to be memorable.
- Incorporate interaction between audience members. Perhaps pose fun questions or topics they can discuss and make sure they know it is OK to have a fun, lighthearted discussion. Incorporating social media can help make this happen.
In regards to when to make e-learning fun, I try my best to make it fun whenever I can pull it off. Some topics do not easily lend themselves to being fun and if it is something emotionally sensitive then I keep it serious as not to offend. The same goes for topics that the audience and/or stakeholders take very, very seriously and do not want misinterpreted as something to be taken lightly.
Don’t forget to add your two bits to the Big Question or tweet your comments using the #LCBQ hashtag.
Music for Games and e-Learning
If you are looking for music for your e-learning or educational games, I have a resource for you – mOsno. The right music can add great depth and emotion to e-learning and especially games. Just as any good instructional designer uses or creates graphics that support the learning, use of music and audio should do the same. However, it is not always easy to find the right music, or musician to create music, that will support the learning and design. Well meet mOsno. He creates some fantastic stuff including the music you are hearing now created for an educational environmental game, My Own Biome. FYI: He is not only a very talented musician, but has a game development background in addition to experience producing music for games.
If you are looking to connect with mOsno, here is his site - www.mosno.net. There are also more fantastic examples of his work on the site.
e-Learning and Games in Healthcare
After six years in banking, I have recently returned to the healthcare industry. Thankfully, e-learning is prevalent in healthcare and very receptive to the use of games. Games are a fantastic way to challenge learners and keep them engaged and interacting with the content at hand.
Like many in e-learning, I am responsible for both design and development along with playing the role of graphic artist too. This is what I refer to as my “one-man workshop.” I think some in our field who are also a one-man, or woman, workshop may shy away from the use of games in e-learning because of the level of resources and time required to produce a game. Yes, we do see some great games out there that required large teams of designers, developers, graphic artists, etc., but that does not mean we can not create e-learning games too. For me it is more of a matter of scale and taking advantage of the resources that are available.
I have been able to produce what I call mini-games, which I incorporate into courses and occasionally use as small stand alone games. In order to be able to produce games, I keep them small and not too complex. This reduces both design and development time. I also rely on some great resources that help make the seemingly impossible Flash development possible. Here they are:
- ActionScript for Fun and Games by Gary Rosenzweig – The last edition is from the days of Flash MX, but it is still a great resource when it comes to developing games that can be tweaked into e-learning games. Gary also has more updated resources online at www.garyrosenzweig.com.
- Flashkit game tutorials – They not only have a good collection of game tutorials, but also provide the source files which help immensely in dissecting and learning the ActionScript.
Back to healthcare, here are a few articles on use of games and e-learning in healthcare I would like to share:
- The Rise of Gaming in Healthcare
- Serious Games Futuring Medical Training in France
- Healthcare Industry Embraces Online Training
Here are also few examples of courses in healthcare/health sciences, including a few games (in bold), that I dug out of the Free e-Learning page:
- Blood Typing- NobelPrize.org
- Cardio-Pulmonary Resucitation (CPR) – e-Mersion
- Deep Brain Stimulation – Edheads.org
- Escape From Diab – NIH
- Interactive Health Tutorials – MedicinePlus
- How Your Brain Understands What Your Ear Hears – NIH
- Learn.Genetics ™ – Genetic Science Learning Center
- The Human Genome
- Nanoswarm: Invasion From Inner Space – NIH
- Playnormous Health Games (K-12)
- SnacktownSmackdown – Kaiser Permanente (K-12)
It is very exciting to be part of an industry that sees such value of games in education and training. FYI: There is also a conference next month (May 25-27) on the role of games in healthcare - Games for Health Conference. I won’t be able to attend, but it looks great.
Interested in Creating an Alternative Reality Games (ARG) for learning?
The elearning Guild’s Learning Solutions e-magazine recently published an article by Brandon Carson, Dolly Joseph, and Enzo Silva tilted “ARGs Leverage Intelligence: Improving Performance through Collaborative Play.”
It is a worthwhile read. It includes some great examples of ARGs and a case study of an ARG implemented by Sun Learning Services (Sun Microsystems). Plus, there is practical advice regarding designing ARGs for learning, who should be on an ARG design team and their roles, and design risks.
FYI: You will need to log-in to the e-Learning Guild to access the e-magazine. If you are not a member, you can join as an Associate Member for free.
Here are few more resources on ARGs and learning:
Alternate Reality at the Smithsonian
Innovative Learning (including examples and design principles)
ARGology.org – ARGs in Education & Training (contains resources for getting started and examples)
Series of video interviews regarding games and learning from Frontline (PBS)
