In my early days, I wrote a lot of software training courses. Instruct, Demo, Practice, Test, Rinse, Repeat. Something like that. CBT did the job.
Is it just me and my particular career trajectory and things seem to be getting deeper now? Or has this complexity been there all along and I was just skating along in a parallel universe?
Are the expectations for eLearning actually getting more demanding? Are we seeing a real shift from just information and declarative knowledge to real expertise development?
I guess the obvious answer is yes. We must be. We have to be. Businesses are looking for eLearning to fill more of the training need. Universities and institutions are transitioning to online curriculum.
So as designers, we – (and by this, I mean I) – need to be better prepared to create more complex training programs.
(This is when I start thinking about going back to grad school. Yes, me. I think about it. I really do…)
Photo credit: white grapes on the vine by roblisameehan
2 comments:
Hi Cammy,
For those of us who have been designing e-learning since the days of interactive video, in many ways the demand for "complexity" is somewhat cyclical and perhaps more linked to stable periods between technological advances in platform and connectivity. Basically, for a lot of people, we've traded immersive, high bandwidth, high engagement standalone learning experiences, for highly connected, lower bandwidth, lower engagement experiences....until maybe now where we can have both. So the future indeed may return us designers to flex those creative and intellectual muscles - if the budgets allow and the focus is on real performance improvement, not purely cutting training costs.
Talking of muscles, I'll be battling your Kineo colleagues on the rounders pitch on Sunday, so we'll see if Brightwave can retain its crown.
P.S. In true spirit of the e-learning age, perhaps you don't need to "going back to grad school" but interweave your study as you go...
Hey Lars,
Great insight as always.
Sounds like Brightwave didn't get that crown either...alas. The high-paced, competitive world of eLearning -- it never ends does it?
As to grad school -- that's just something I toy with when feeling insecure. But I've been on a firm quest to get my degree informally for a few years now. And I'm sure I'll be sticking to that approach -- at least for now! But sometimes I long for the structure and discipline such a program might enforce upon me.
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