So what does the ADDIE model stand for?

The idea behind the ADDIE model has worked for instructional designers over the years. It is a pretty simple model. in ADDIE the stages are sequenced comfortably,  firstly the problem is defined before the team moves on to designing or developing, this way the sequences continues till implementation and evaluation .

ADDIE is a 5-stage process for designing and developing the training content.

The principle behind the ADDIE model is that designing/developing/implementing the content of a training cannot begin without prior research. And in the end, evaluation or  measurement of  success should be done.

So the ADDIE model sounds logical ugg stiefel verkauf and worth sticking to after all,right? Now Let’s introduce the SAM model; which involves rapid prototyping and it stands for:

The stages involved in the SAM process are the following:

1. 1. Preparation Stage – An initial meeting is done, with all team members and stakeholders of the project to collect basic information about the learning outcomes.

1. 1. Iterative Design Stage – Includes designing, prototyping and the evaluating loops. 

1. Iterative Development Stage – Includes evaluation, development and the implementation loops.

Now how to use it?

In SAM, also known as the agile model, the concept is to constantly evaluate your training effectiveness throughout your entire learning development process. So unlike the ADDIE model; SAM does not apply a linear approach, but requires the instructor to evaluate the training at each phase. Evaluating continually requires rapid prototyping, there is an involvement of subject matter experts and the stakeholder in every stage of the learning development process. This mimics the business realities seen in most learning organisations , where things move fast and ideas can become outdated more frequently!

With the SAM process, you are constantly receiving feedback from the stakeholders throughout the learning development process.

This methodology is beneficial since you save on time for re-development by finding the problem in the early stages of the development. It is well understood that catching the problems early on can save costs massively also you can ensure a better learning outcome over medium and long term.

So what do we understand between the both?

That ADDIE process is quite basic but comprehensive and thorough. It works for setting up a generic process for the development of instructional products; in a sense, it sets a conveyor belt system in motion.

Instructors can create those products with efficiency and quickly; so it ensures that each product output holds equal value and is the same. But, is that what we want? All products holding the same value? So to overcome the ADDIE process’ drawbacks, the SAM process can be adopted by incorporating its modern features.

Since Rapid prototyping is now possible using Rapid authoring tools such as Articulate Storyline, therefore it is easy to adopt and benefit from Successive Approximation Model (SAM).

Contact us at james@stratbeans for a FREE consultation or sign up for a free demo! 

The post SAM vs ADDIE- Which is better for Learning Design? appeared first on Stratbeans.

The increase in usage of devices such as tablets, smartphones makes it challenging to fulfill growing needs for smart digital content. Training, research reports, magazines, books, and financial data and marketing content contain the information. It needs to be delivered via print or simpler digital files. They must now be created, edited, enriched, and packaged for new devices.

In today’s technology-savvy business environment, it is virtually impossible to gain a competitive advantage. Especially, without a strong digital content development strategy. Irrespective of the industry you’re in, getting in front of target audiences now means, first and foremost, getting online. But there are many factors to take into consideration. They are mainly related to developing, creating and distributing content.

While creating digital content, one of the most common questions business leaders have to deal with its length. It’s no news that, in general, the attention span of humans is shrinking. This is why eLearning courses have been dominated by microlearning modules. Media outlets deliver bite-sized headlines that can be summed up in 40 characters or less. The best example nowadays is Inshorts which delivers news in 60 words for a particular news item.

Important questions to answered

Before setting up the digital content development plan, an instructional design team is assigned who looks after the content management system. They develop training content or content marketing team who develop promotional content must answer the questions below:

1. 1. Who is the target audience for the content they are about to create?

1. 1. What are the issues they are trying to resolve?

1. How is this content going to help them do that?

Narrowing out one’s answers is going to help a lot to create digital content. It also helps to implement development strategies according to the target audience. The outcomes of doing this would be beneficial for target audience. It helps them solve their exact purpose make the content apt. The best option is to at least have available to you a blend of content delivery options and formats. Incorporating a wide range of multimedia and tools allows you to manifest digital content materials. They are generally based on the audience and the specific needs.

Digital Content Tailoring for Corporate Training

For example, if we consider the corporate training scenario the content that has to be tailored. It couldn’t be so short as an entire course has to be designed. So the course contains modules with a significant number of interactive eLearning videos. It is used to engage the end-user. An entire course means it will consist a significant amount of subject matter.Although these lengthy web-based courses are nowadays being replaced by nugget-based learning suitable for smaller screens. So as to ensure that the training and assessment is possible on the move.There is also the question of content format. It all boils down to what will make for the most enriching end-user experience. Compliance standards complement the content types supporting them to run on multiple different devices and most importantly different learning management solutions (LMS).

Conclusion:

As far as content development is concerned, it is a must to devise a plan, strategize the plan and execute it to satisfy the needs of end-user. In order to make sure the above three things happen it is mandatory to answer the questions of who is the target audience, whether their purpose is being solved, detailing about how is the purpose being solved.

The post Digital Content Development – From grain to bread appeared first on Stratbeans.

Multi-device responsiveness of Articulate 360 gives the stakeholders the most needed chance to post in-context reviews from a smartphone, tablet, and desktop with a web browser as the medium.

What all you can do with Articulate Review?

One can just publish to Articulate 360 from right in Storyline 360, Studio 360, Peek, Preso, and Replay 360, and then you can share your content with SMEs via Articulate Review. Articulate Review content items include everything you publish to Articulate 360 from Storyline, Studio, Replay, Peek, and Preso as well as video files you manually upload. An extra feature that you have is the option to let reviewers post comments without an Articulate ID. Although if you require the reviewer to sign in you could prompt them to create an articulate ID and then post the reviews.

The streamlined review process helps cut out any unnecessary back and forth. So you’ll create courses faster and, as an added bonus, have happier team workers as well as clientele! Any reviewer comment can be up to 1,500 characters in length which are apt to convey the changes to be made.

See for yourself how change management got a whole lot easier with the perfect collaborator Articulate Review.

Comment your thoughts below.

The post Articulate 360 Review: Perfect feedback collaborator appeared first on Stratbeans.

Instructional Designers end up investing a large amount of time in quite a few redundant tasks; such as, fixing individual screen bugs, UI/UX (User Interface/User Experience) design and setting up course templates, etc. Ever wish for all this to…stop?

Your Instructional Designers are being TOO caught up in the technical part of eLearning. So, what ways can you apply to make your Instructional Designers’ lives easier? This article will guide you in understanding it all!

Rapid eLearning Tools

With the existence of rapid authoring tools; your designers can become developers, too. They can start off with form-based tools and then move onto WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) tools which guide the user to quickly build screens “rapidly” exactly as the end user will see the output. Your designers need very few days to get a hold of the tools and reach an effective proficiency level.

So if your Instructional Designers are experienced and understand the web design and Instructional Designing; they’ll have a blast. However, many people that we seek on the basis of their skills, face a tough time when it comes to making the shift to eLearning. This includes:

• Classroom trainers
• Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
• Content Developers
• Learning & Development trainers

There are always specific issues that arise amongst the above listed stakeholders when it comes to adapting to eLearning tools.

What are those Issues?

1. They find the task of learning the working of tools challenging.
2. They concentrate more on the aesthetics of their courses rather than putting more of their focus on the course flow and narration, the course design, the interactions that would make learning effective.
3. Eventually, they became frustrated, due to the amount of time spent on tweaking things, fixing bugs or trying to make the content consistent.

However, modern eLearning tools can solve the above listed issues. These tools remove the technical tasks and simplify the workflow allowing people with no technical experience to create and deliver eLearning quickly. So when you are able to remove the above listed barriers, more of your learning experts can get empowered to involve themselves in delivering eLearning quickly and easily.

What are the three benefits of these modern eLearning tools?

1) Long-Term Investment

Create master courses and reuse its elements to build more courses instead having your Instruction Designers create new course designs every time. Have your technical team create a master course template which your Instructional Designers may use again and again.

With master course templates, you get a total brand and structural control allowing you to play around with the interface. So the Instructional Designers do not have to concentrate on the navigation, branding, and layout feature.

2) No Need of Training

Go for tools that are easy-to-use and intuitive for beginners such as Articulate; instead of spending hours training Instructional Designers on hard-to-learn software. These simple tools work on the basis of point-&-click course content creation and editing.

You should aim at decreasing your team’s time in the assembling of each layout screen by screen. Instead, opt for tools in which ready-made courses exist and all your team has to do is click and edit.

3) Compatible 

With tools like Articulate, you do not have to check and test your courses look on different tablet and mobile devices. With Articulate, the course scaling occurs automatically. For example, Articulate is a responsive tool that allows content to be previewed on phone, tablet, and PC screens.

You are able to see how your course is looking on various devices and apply changes as you continue to building the course. So your Instructional Designers do not have to worry about the technical issues as Articulate takes care of the responsive delays automatically for multiple devices.

So Why Go For Articulate?

Articulate is such a tool that empowers your Instructional Designers to focus on the course content rather than the technical details. This helps in reducing any initial obstacles faced by your Instructional Designers when they begin creating eLearning content. Lastly, by including more of your Learning & Development team in the eLearning development process, more high quality eLearning output for less can be created.

For those of you interested in having yourself or your team get certified Articulate Storyline 2 trainings; Stratbeans also provides as both public and private in-house programs.

The post How to Save Instructional Designers from Technical Work appeared first on Stratbeans.

What was covered in the Certified Articulate Storyline 2 Training?

A successful Articulate Storyline 2 training was conducted by Ron Price in Pune. It went on for a well over three days in which both the Basic and Advanced course were covered. The class comprised of individuals from organizations such as Bajaj Allianz, Essar, Sify, Capita Co, Trent-TATA, etc. Majority of the participants had been sent by their employer. They had limited knowledge of the program. The Articulate workshop aimed at people with several levels of work experience. It ranged from no prior experience up to several months of experience.

Day One

The first day of the three day workshop, focus was placed on the building blocks of Articulate Storyline: slides, layers, triggers, and states. The participants also got to learn a bit video and audio tricks. The workshop had a flexible schedule and provided lots of opportunities to practice. The workshop had a pleasant learning environment where all participants were given the chance to ask for help or more time.  The participant’s got to understand basically on how much time one should invest on a task and how much time spent is actually worth the benefit.

The workshop had a  “tell, show, and do” model and each participant had followed the “Bring Your Own Laptop” (BYOL) rule. The participants worked on the problems while the instructor demonstrated via a projector.  A major takeaway was that the participants got to learn various ways of solving a problem in Storyline 2.  The participants clearly got to understand that there are some methods that are generally more efficient and faster than others. So ultimately, the participants got to learn various short-cuts and best practices which would help in streamlining their course development process.

Day Two

The second day of the Basic class included the Storyline player, publishing, quizzes, and scenarios.  The participants had the chance to create various types of assessments and got to learn about the advantages of free form questions.  The workshop also covered how to create and work with branching scenarios. The third day was the Advanced class.  On the last day, the participants were introduced to variables (text, number, and true/false), JavaScript options, conditions, and progress meters. 

Why We Recommend Stratbeans’ Storyline Training?

As a learner, you can question yourself “Can’t I learn everything by exploring myself via online guides?”  Of course, you could learn everything that is taught in the class by yourself.  However, the training provides couple of unique advantages over self-study: 

• • Stratbeans’ Storyline training guarantees to speed up your learning curve by a significant amount. 

• • You get taught how to work on Storyline 2 by an expert and with a hands-on, purposeful learning as opposed to randomly searching out answers on the internet. 

• • Our trainers provide the learners with steps of exactly how to do something while making sure efficient or “best practice” methods of accomplishing tasks are covered.

• • Our trainers constantly challenge the learners to consider how they would tackle a problem. 

• The workshop makes the learners “think like Storyline” which enables learners to utilize more of the Storyline’s capabilities as opposed to being stuck in a linear “slide, next slide, next slide” mentality. 

This Advanced workshop will teach you many new methods and tricks even if you are an experienced Storyline user.  Our certified Storyline 2 trainers make sure that the Basic class flows seamlessly into the Advanced class. In summary, Stratbeans’ Storyline training course can greatly improve your abilities. 

Our Tips For Those of You Planning to Attend the Training

Our recommendation would be that if you are planning to take the training, you at least play around with the program.  With a little familiarity with Storyline 2, you will keep you from feeling overwhelmed.

Visit Articulate Trainings for any training related queries.

For a demo or a free consultation sign up here!

The post Articulate Storyline 2 Training Review appeared first on Stratbeans.

Improve Your eLearning Skills by Continuous Reviews of Your E-Learning Projects

You and your team should hold a weekly reviews of your projects; here the status, the issues, the next step are openly discussed about your eLearning project. Your team gets enabled to figure out what may be acting like a road-block in your project in terms of lack of resources, scope of the eLearning project being unclear to the team, a skipped deadline, etc.

A collaborative discussion leads to the discovery of new defects that your team can be prepared for when the next eLearning project arrives. Plus this brainstorming review session only aims at getting the best results out of the eLearning project.

Improve Your eLearning Skills by Asking For Feedback

Makes sure that you set a number of action items you have to finish off for your eLearning project then consult a team member to see whether you are on the right path. Keep the number of action items to a minimum so that the reviewer does not feel it is a burden for them to provide feedback. Plus the reviewer will be able to give you apt and well-pointed feedback of your eLearning project.

Improve Your E-Learning Skills with a Thought-Bank

Have a thought-bank where you can keep various eLearning examples that can help in generating new thoughts for your projects. In this thought-bank you can keep multimedia, interactions, animations, and visual design examples. This folder of thoughts can be your eLearning repository of creative knowledge; so if you ever get a creative-block; just peak in that eLearning folder to seek inspiration.

Improve Your E-Learning Skills with Your Personal Learning Plan

Have your own personal learning plan where you give yourself to learn about learn about course design and construction. Stay engaged about the latest trends in eLearning course design. You may initiate a blog that helps in documenting your eLearning project and build a community of people that can provide relevant feedback.

Improve Your E-Learning Skills with Practice

This skill building effort goes hand in hand with your thought-bank; which is filled with innovative ideas just waiting to be used. Start your eLearning practice by applying those ideas. This should be done apart from building a real eLearning course design. You will be getting a hands on experience on your eLearning authoring software, perhaps, Articulate and understand what features, interactions, actions, etc. work for you.

Contact us for a free consultation or sign up for a free demo! 

The post Top 5 Things to Do to Improve Your eLearning Development Skills appeared first on Stratbeans.