dump the-drone-easy-steps-to-livelier-elearning-1201324532943289-5

ElearningBlueprint.com

Dump the DroneEasy Steps to Livelier Elearning


Who are your learners?

How do they feel about elearning?


FantasyI love to sit at my

computer and read read read!



Reality

They want me to take another

online course? It had better be

worth it.


The problem


What makes a course boring?


A major cause

Corporate Drone

It’s a mindset!

It’s a language!


It’s a language

• Buzzwords This course enhances the expertise of R&D staff so that they may leverage collaborative concepts to provide a competitive advantage.


It’s a language

• Buzzwords

• Blather This activity will help develop an understanding of the basics of brand management and how it can be effectively used to inform a marketing strategy that ensures that the company's unique position in the marketplace is maintained.


It’s a language

• Buzzwords

• Blather

• Bogus “Because I am new to marketing, I would like to ask you some questions. First, how can I better communicate with the sales force to ensure a productive relationship?”


It’s a language

• Buzzwords

• Blather

• Bogus

•Boring


It’s a mindset

• Big words are impressive!

This course enhances the expertise of R&D staff so that they may leverage collaborative concepts to provide a competitive advantage.


It’s a mindset

• Big words are impressive!

• Lots of words are impressive!

This activity will help develop an understanding of the basics of brand management and how it can be effectively used to blah blah blah.


It’s a mindset

• We’re so busy trying to impress, we’ve forgotten how to sound like human beings.

“How can I better communicate with the sales force to ensure a productive relationship?”


Drone infects design

Droning design:

• Tells, tells, tells, then tests

• Cares more about content than learners

• Makes learners work harder than necessary

• Fears humor, conflict, and creativity


Why do we drone?

We’re brainwashed in school.

• Droners get better grades.

• The higher the degree, the greater the pressure to drone.

Assignments force us to be wordy.

• “Write 12 pages on...”

We bring this training to the business world.


Nasty effects

Corporate drone:

• Makes it harder to learn

• Kills motivation

• Costs more to produce


“But if we make our courses easy to read, our learners won’t respect them!”


Language = interface

Would you intentionally make your interface hard to use?

Language is part of your interface.

It’s a way to deliver content.


Want respect?

Make your content challenging, not your language.


TechniquesFor Eradication of Demotivating Communication

to Dump the Drone


Clear, creative design inspiresclear, creative language.


Vary your rhythm

You Who Do

Make them laugh

Chop Run the numbers

1 2

3

4 5

Design

Content


1. Vary your rhythm

rhythm


Design

• Give the learner control

• They’ll set the pace and rhythm

• Vary the format (media, text...)

• Present content from two perspectives

• “Opposing viewpoints”

• Break up text with headings and bulleted lists

• Interrupt yourself (callouts, boxed quotes)

rhythm


Language, too

Vary sentence...

• Length

• Short is good, but variety is more interesting.

• Type

• Have you asked a question lately?

• Structure

• Spice it up--change direction with dashes; tack on a thought with a semicolon.


2. Make them laugh


How can you add “safe” humor?

laugh


“Safe” humor

Some ideas:

• Use embarrassing situations that apply worldwide

• Give a character a blind spot

• Exaggerate

• Use non-human characters that aren’t likely to be offensive

• Use unrealistic examples

• Give up on reality altogether

laugh


Spoof

Who are your learners?

• Do they make fun of themselves?

• Can you make fun of them, too?

• Are they experienced elearners?

• Spoof elearning!


3. Say...

“You” “Who” “Do”


Say “you”

you


Example 1

This activity will help develop an understanding of...

you


Rewrite 1

This activity will help you understand...

This activity will help develop an understanding of...

you


Benefits

• Puts you in conversation mode

• Makes you care more about your learner

• Makes your language more concrete

• Identifies who does what

you


Example 2

The fire extinguisher should be recharged every six months.

you


Rewrite 2

Recharge the fire extinguisher every six months.

Who does it?

You do it!

The fire extinguisher should be recharged every six months.


Say “who”

who


Example 1

Each quarter, a new sales report is created.

Who does it?

who


Example 1

“divine passive”


who


Rewrite 1

Each quarter, a new sales report is created by the product manager.

Now we know who does it,

but it’s still passive.

who


Rewrite 1


Each quarter, the product manager creates a new sales report.

stronger verb than “is”

We’ve added a human being!

who


Who does what?

Make clear who is doing what to whom.

• You’ll be easier to understand.

• You’ll use stronger verbs.

• Your course will have more people in it.

who


Example 2

The field of child advocacy helps children who...

who


Rewrite 2

The field of child advocacy helps children who...

Child advocates help children who...

Abstract nounturns into

human beings!

who


Add even more people

• Create composite characters

• Add audio or video of real people

• Learners

• Leaders

• Customers

• Risky: Introduce a guide who appears throughout the course

• Make people up

who


Make people up...

...but make sure

they’re interesting!


What makes a character interesting?


Which man is more interesting?

who


Suffering is interesting!

Make your characters suffer.

• A flaw, such as

• Arrogance

• Over-enthusiasm

• Jumping to conclusions

• An embarrassing situation

• Email gone horribly wrong

who


Cluelessness is boring

No one cares about the clueless newbie!

She’s just a blank slate.

who


Happiness is boring

...unless the character has suffered first


Say “do”

do


Nouns are boring

• They’re not people (usually).

• They don’t DO anything. They just pile up:

the product management process workshop

do


Nouns are sneaky

• Often, you can’t even picture them:

functionality leadership

• They try to trick you into thinking they’re verbs:

Buying is an important consumer behavior.

Boring noun masquerading as verb!

do


Change nouns to verbs

The vetting group researches, reviews, and approves wording in customer documentation.

The vetting group services are centered on researching, reviewing, and approving wording in customer documentation.

The only verb in the entire sentence

do


Pick a lively verb

is grabpush

lift

touch

do


Tell a story

Even the most dry material has a story.

• Make chronology clear.

• Make actors clear.

Then, before final scripts are written, the content is vetted by Legal.

First Legal vets the content, and then the writer creates the final scripts.


What are some ways to use fiction in a course?

do


Tell a story: fiction

Some possibilities:

• Immediately plunge learners into a story. Give them info and tools as they need them.

• Write a story that appears as scenes throughout the course.

• Introduce each course section with a scenario. Revisit the scenario at the end of the section.


What makes a story interesting?


Is this interesting?


Is this any better?

do


Conflict is interesting

Conflict is any challenge. Your characters could:

• Disagree

• Want something but face a barrier

• Make a mistake

• Need to rescue others

• Get an unpleasant surprise

do


Keep moving!

• Your story probably needs less setup than you think.

• Every scene & every bit of dialog should move the story.

• Add urgency--put characters under pressure with a deadline.

do


Show, don’t tell

At the conference, Jacob told someone about the planned widget enhancement. This was a mistake, because a competitor overheard and enhanced their widget first. Jacob’s boss was upset and wondered who had leaked the secret.

When you tell, you explain everything:

do


Show, don’t tell

Show instead.

We’re going to enhance our widget next

quarter.At the conference...

do


Show, don’t tell

Our competitor just enhanced their

widget! How did they know?

One month later...

do


Show, don’t tell

And the moral is...

Let your learners draw conclusions.


Vary your rhythm

You Who Do

Make them laugh


1 2

3

4 5

Design

Content

We’re here

•Identify actors•Add people

•Add verbs•Tell a story


4. Chop it!

chop


Why cut text?

• We read 25% more slowly online

• We’re used to scanning, not reading, online text

• Younger learners are used to games

• A quick pace is more interesting

• Nielsen and others: “Cut text by 50%”

chop


Chop these

• Sections that don’t directly support an objective

• “Duh” sentences

Buying is an important consumer behavior.

• Blather

chop


Chop blather

We’re not writing literature!

One fine day near the end of spring, when the wild roses in the hedges had reached their peak of heady perfume, Little Red Riding Hood walked into the woods.

chop


Chop blather

One fine day near the end of spring, when the wild roses in the hedges had reached their peak of heady perfume, Little Red Riding Hood walked into the woods.

chop


Chop blather

Most adjectives and adverbs are blather.

To successfully avoid unforeseen problems that could negatively impact costs, we must proactively search for errors throughout all phases of product development.

chop


Chop blather

Most adjectives and adverbs are blather.

To successfully avoid unforeseen problems that could negatively impact costs, we must proactively search for errors throughout all phases of product development.

expensive


5. Run the numbers

numbers


A tool, not a solution

Best uses for readability analysis:

• Check progress during rewriting

• Set standards for writers

• Reassure clients

Your course could get a good score but still be boring or confusing!

numbers


Word: Step 1

numbers


Word: Step 2

Click this

numbers


Word: Step 3

Make sure this is checked

numbers


Word: Step 4

Complete the spell check. You’ll see this.

numbers


Ignore grade level

Ignore this!

Use this!

numbers


Ignore grade level

Grade levels don’t apply to adult materials.

• Use Flesch Reading Ease

• Higher score = easier to read

• Compare your score to the scores of familiar materials, like magazines

numbers


Find your score

Reading ease = 40.4

numbers


Compare

Material Reading Ease

Reader’s Digest 65

Time 52

Business Week 51

Wall Street Journal 43

Harvard Law Review 32

Auto policy 10

Hard

Easy

numbers


Compare

Our course: 40

Hard

EasyMaterial Reading Ease


Time 52

Business Week 51



Auto policy 10

numbers


Compare

Our two-hour course is slightly harder to read than the Wall Street Journal.

Would our learners enjoy reading the Wall Street Journal for two hours straight...

...online?

numbers


Rewrite to raise your score

Hard

EasyRecommended for online

Material Reading Ease


Time 52

Business Week 51



Auto policy 10


Vary your rhythm

You Who Do

Make them laugh


1 2

3

4 5

Design

Content

•Identify actors•Add people

•Add verbs•Tell a story


Want more?

ElearningBlueprint.comInteractive job aid that helps anyone create lively elearning

MakingChangeBlog.comMore ideas like the ones in this slideshow

Cathy Moore

http://www.cathy-moore.com




dump the-drone-easy-steps-to-livelier-elearning-1201324532943289-5

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