Because e-learning brings education and technology together, your efforts may be judged twice!  From an educational viewpoint, how does your e-learning stack up against instructor-led training? When it comes to technology, how “state-of-the-art” are your online courses?

Independent studies show time and again that not only can e-learning be as effective as instructor-led… it can be even more successful than classroom training. In an earlier entry we talked about a study that said just that. On the other hand, many e-learning courses don’t fare nearly as well when judged on their technological merits. This may be due to lower-end e-learning development expertise, but – more often – it’s due to budget and time constraints.

Fair or not, most students cannot help but compare e-learning courses to more advanced technologies they see elsewhere—in gaming or in innovative blockbuster films like Avatar. The fact that these other media require millions of dollars and years of R & D doesn’t change the  perception that most e-learning looks like “horse and buggy” in comparison.

The good news is that affordable technologies, used with the right creative approach, can bring a new level of engagement to e-learning. One approach is the use of simple virtual agents—digital creations who can act as on-screen personalities to guide, coach, tell stories or engage in simulated conversations with learners. While not as realistic or detailed as their “Hollywood cousins” in films and games, they…

• Can have remarkably lifelike characteristics
• Can be created quickly and inexpensively
• Don’t require any of the technical complications or costs of custom video

Once e-learning developers realize that on-screen characters who directly address the learner are an affordable technique that can be used – even on tight production schedules – the opportunities multiply for creative approaches that stimulate and excite learners by relating to them on a more “human” level than before.

Have you had an opportunity to use virtual agents in e-learning you produced? Have you taken e-learning courses in which realistic, on-screen digital characters addressed you directly? How many ways can you imagine characters like these being used in e-learning? 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 4:04 pm and is filed under Low-Cost Training Solutions, WBT, e-Learning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.