E-Learning Background

[Amir]

Hi awesome Forum,

I am a great fan of duarte, guy and a few other. While following them I can and I do understand to use simple and dark background like Blue etc.

But when it comes to e-learning, I rather prefer more funky look to my presentation. By funky I don't mean red and gray.
I mean a yellowish register copy background and the use of sticky posters and stickers with paper pin and clip.

My point is when you are using e-learning via online or on your computer, You don't see the person presenting and so you are easily get bored and distracted even the presentation created and the voice of the presenter may be awesome but when you use sticky notes and the background I mention creates a classroom kind of environment and keep your audience more involved and e-learning is about engaging I guess.

What are your thoughts,experience as what should be preferred:

Do we need to use just Dark Blue Background Or
A Funky yellowish copy background with sticky notes and use of paper pin.

Kind regards,
Amir

[BrucUK]

I think it depends on many things.
Firstly, it depends on who your audience is. If you are producing for a county council, or a financial company, "funky" will just not do!

You don't see the person presenting and so you are easily get bored and distracted

Well...there are several points here.

Firstly - there has to be a motivation for someone to take a course, so hopefully you have a hook to keep them watching without "fancy gimmicks".

Secondly - use of colours and graphics is fine so long as it is congruent with the course. If you are producing for clients, they will tell you what to do, not the other way around. There will be room for negotiation, but you may be tied to what they want.
QUESTION - if you were asked by a client to produce eLearning using their "dark blue" background, and bullet point style, how could you make it "interesting"? There are many ways to play around with "dull"

Thirdly - (and here is probably a complete thread...), the people who take the courses have to be PREPARED AND WILLING to learn on the PC. I have to admit, I get a little tired of people saying "...oh, and I cannot have the course more than 8-minutes long because people will get bored". People have to have the correct mindset for online learning, and it takes self-control not to head for the email etc. Many people have forgotten the art of doing one thing well, and they do several things poorly.

My point above is this...if the course is compelling to the course taker, then you do not need gimmicks - it all depends on the course, the subject and the audience. If a salesperson can see exactly why a 30-minute dark blue course will help them add 30% to their monthly revenue, and 3% to their margins, then dark-blue, and linear MAY be absolutely fine!

I think variation is the key. I recently posted in "General" about how to break away from the Corporate slide template. One of the examples in the Screenr is "sticky notes" (like you mention) - but I use them in a specific context, (to offer an opinion in the middle of a particular topic). If I were to use these throughout, it would be dull and gimmicky.

Anyway, it's a huge topic, and I look forward to the discussion progressing.
Many thanks for starting it!
Bruce

[Amir]

@BrucUK:

Your video I watched a couple days back and it's awesome.
Thanks in here for such a comprehensive answer as well, I waited for a while to reply to this post because I wanted to see other opinions as well.

I agree and do agree with you BUT

I don't know may be my perception or idea about e-learning is different.

"When you are face to face with your audience"
If you are interesting and your presentation style is appealing, then you can engage your audience even your presentation with power point may have been awful but your audience may ignore that and rather they will focus on you...

"When you are behind computer and only speaking with your presentation"
Then I believe, It's totally the opposite.

By e-learning I don't mean to and i don't expect just 15 power point styles with powerful words and stock images.
Yes if it just 15 slides then yes it definitely works and you have excellently demonstrated in less than 5 minutes Screenr - @BrucUK: Techniques that I have used in #Articulate eLearning courses - challenging corporate "norms" in #PowerPoint slides.

But e-learning what I believe is 500 Slides, A Whole Biology or chemistry or science subject demonstration.
You need to keep your audience engaging by putting something on your screen after a few seconds and a Quiz may be or a Question after a couple of minutes lecture...

I do agree that fancy gimmicks will not work and I won't recommend for it's usage.

Even if your audience including PHD's or may be a country president he needs to play with the system when it's comes to e-learning.

If you just show him Stock Images and One or Two word on a slide and you are talking for 5 minutes and imagine 500 or more slides then.........

I will gave an example of your video at the very second last there were three snippets on a desktop. Now if you are presenting in front of your audience and you show that picture then It's great but if you are using e-learning then I would say that One snippet should appear and then after a while the second one and then the third one.

Hope I make it interesting and not boring

[BrucUK]

Firstly - thanks for your kind comments.
If I understand you correctly, your main comments are concerning LARGE courses. Well - I would agree with you - these are very dull!
I think the first thing you need to do is to split these down, some slides may only be displayed for a few seconds, some for longer, but t his type of course should be split into digestible elements.
People have to realise the "e" (whatever that is......) and "classroom" are different. Many people do, but many people believe you can make a 2-day classroom event into "e" just by putting the slides online - you can't..
There are many ways to make eLearning interesting, 500 slides is never the way, and I've had my share of really boring classroom presenters as well...!!
Bruce

[Amir]

Thanks BrucUK.

Thanks you understand me (LARGE) and this is what I consider e-learning

The sales presentation or awareness campaign or new product demo are just presentations and I think should be excluded from the e-learning niche. (Although not possible)

If you want to learn web page designing or Telecommunication equipment or any Science or arts university semester course at home then that it what I called e-learning and as you previously very well said needs a big heart and full dedication.

So BrucUK if I want to design a whole university semester course for Professionals, I mean a very professional audience and it has more than 1500 slides. What presentation style you would advise me to choose.

Thanks.

[BrucUK]

What presentation style you would advise me to choose.

You have to choose the style(s) that suits the material being taught.
>
> So - that is really the only rule on style, apart from the fact that your style will be governed by resources etc. (see below).
Remember, a 1500-page course is just 30 x 50-page presentations! If you split it down into smaller units (see below), you will find that many styles present themselves, and this is the key to all eLearning. I am not saying that you should have 10-minutes of "Comic Book" followed by 8-minutes of "Video made in the style of Shakespeare", but any good course, long or short, contains teaching styles that are appropriate to the subject, and varied.

There is no simple answer to your question - there are many, many things to consider.

Some thoughts follow...., (and please note, I have never had to do something on this scale, so I am just extrapolating from what I know about my experience...).
I am assuming here that this is a commercial venture for you in what follows, and I am thinking here about what I would do if presented with this opportunity, it may be different from you and your situation.

1> Just like any other piece of work, you will need to break this up into much smaller digestible pieces. I would start with breaking it into logical sections, i.e., what would you present in each real "classroom" lesson. Apart from anything else, this will help you see the content in a different way. I would literally print it all out, and seperate it into piles on the floor - this will help you know where to start. What you then have is a series of presentations, just like any other "eLearning".

2> Timeframe? The styles you use will be dependant to some extent on how long you have got to produce this - the more time, the more styles will be possible.

3> Budget and resources.
How many people have you got to work on the project.? This will influence what styles you are practically able to produce

4> Any course like this will contain different styles anyway. When you have finished exercise 1>, I would then go through with a set of coloured markers, and mark up the notes or syllabus as "Lecture", "Investigation", "Quiz/Test/Knowledge Check", "Self-Study", "Video" etc. In a university course one is expected to do a lot of research, so use lot's of Attachments and Self-Study. Perhaps set people tasks to investigate and email you back subjects - then use online telephony/Webex-style calls to discuss. Use Forums and Blogging as well as your "course".

What you have here is big. You mentioned telecommunications - I spent 4 years in that sector in Cramer and Amdocs, (creating eLearning), and know very well that (like any other sector), some of the courses are massive and highly conceptual. Saying that, I believe that most of the processes for creating eLearning would be the same as smaller projects.
There's no one "style" for any learning - it just needs to be as well-designed as you can make it. I wish I had the "magic answer" for this, and any course in fact (!), but the only time you will know how good the design is............is after people have taken the course.

1500 pages of "course" will not contain 1500-pages worth of material when you start to have e.g. Attachments for Self-Study, or turn a page of graphics into an interaction. Start splitting the content down into chunks, and things will become clearer. The best way to make a start? Just make a start.

Good luck.
Bruce

[Amir]

Thanks BrucUK,

What a wonderful and comprehensive answer and great tips as well.

By the way I think we are the only one interested in this topic.

Thanks..

[pablohunny]

Originally Posted by Amir

...By the way I think we are the only one interested in this topic.

Thanks..

Not quite the only ones. Unfortunately, I don't have anything to contribute here yet... I'm learning from you though!

-A-

[DavidAnderson]

I like the point about presentation styles. Would you use the same font for a Formal Course as you would a leadership course? What about a safety course or a fun, new hire course?

Here's a collection of interactive graphics. Most were produced by news agencies who use the interactives as way to visually illustrate the main article.

[BrucUK]

I like the point about presentation styles. Would you use the same font for a formal course as you would a leadership course? What about a safety course or a fun, new hire course?

I would like to vary things, however, many clients (again) have their "corporate" font. The place where I do try and change fonts is with "container" graphics, for example a person in close-up holding a (blank) business card - that's where I'll use a font to try and illustrate a them, or message, or feeling.
I think fonts can end up a bit like clip-art if you are too free with them, they just appear gimmicky. I think, (with eLearning) and fonts, the concept of "less is more" stands strong.
Just my 2p worth.
Bruce