Interface design, instructional design, usability, interface specialists etc… the list goes on. Everytime I pick up .net, edge or elearning age I’m likely to be reading about a particular job role, all of which are ultimately to do with creating a design that a user or learner will use.

In recent months we’ve been looking at delivery of elearning content on handheld devices and I went to an excellent elearning network presentation where a developer from a large corporate bank presented on how they had created a new set of guidelines for development on the blackberry. When they started out they simply used the same model as they had for traditional content platforms. The user group was quick to respond to user questionaires making it clear how they used their blackberry and how they wanted content to be presented. There was also a really interesting piece of feedback about the length and type of content that they wanted to be presented with. The bank listened, made changes, re-deployed and the project was a success both in terms of learner engagement and test results.

Over recent months some of you may have followed our tweets and blogs posts about the iphone. Today we have had our developer approval through from Apple. There was quite a bit of paperwork but it was a reasonable straightforward process, although I was a bit surprised when asked to fax some documents over to Apple. Find fax, power cable, phone cable, manual, remember how to operate fax, fax, has it gone? Anyway the fax obviously got their and its all been approved. Whilst all this was going on Ed and I have been downloading apps, games, gps devices and really road testing the iphone. We’ve used it overseas, in the country, at festivals, meetings, offices, cities - it’s performed well in all situations (this is starting to read like a car review!. As we downloaded more and more apps we noted how so many of the apps just followed the basic design principles as laid down by Apple, but every now and then we’d come across something that just wasn’t right.

…well, it didn’t seem right. What appears to be happening is that some developers are designing apps that don’t follow the traditional interface model. There are no guidelines or documents that you must follow but the basic model of how things work is now so familar that anything other than this tends to throw you out.

Let me give you an example.

I’ve downloaded several news apps and find them to be really useful and I combine them with mobile sites

such as the guardian. I download the Sky news app. Nice layout, quite similar to lots of other news sites:

You’ll notice at the top right that it says Busi. I’d expected the interface to work in a similar to other apps that I’d used across the iphone and for several days I thought the app had crashed! Many people reading this might think I’ve just been a bit slow or just not got the hand of it but I think differently. There are so many people that I know who just would never ever get to this hidden content. There is content that you just don’t know exists until you work out how the sky news navigation model works. I tried re-starting, clicking on the arrow, clicking around the screen until…one day…I worked out how to get to the hidden content by accident! I just threw my finger across the menu bar and found this!

more content, loads of content! A really good consise news app with lots of hidden content. I know how to use the app although I sometimes get a bit stuck on the slide move!

I think the sky news app is great for news. Its realiable, loads quickly and has a good selection of news for when you are on the move. I just thought that this was a good example of delivering an interface that is not what the user group is used to. Then again I might be the exception and everyone else know’s how to use it.

If you are interested in reading more about this topic then check out this article from Smashing Magazine.

Scott

we are currently waiting for our developer status for the iPhone to be approved. Whilst we are waiting we’ve been trying a few things out. Here’s a sneak preview.

Real Projects Mobile Site

At the time of writing (15th July 2009, 13:07) we have 99 twitter followers, ok we’re no Stephen Fry! I actually find it quite flattering that 99 people want to listen to what we have to say, we think that some of it quite interesting. There is a lot of debate about twitter and its merits, how to use it, business model etc. I’ve been interested to watch how the online community has used Twitter in so many different ways and shaped it to fit their needs. Already we are seeing Twitter spam, Twitter SEO and Twitter lead finding services all of which have followed the trends of previous online services.

Personally I’ve got a twitter fon on my iphone and have found it be really useful for quickly catching up on news whilst on the move and I’ve been able to communicate with people who normally I would never get the chance to. Bradly Wiggins is an english cyclist currently doing extremely well in the Tour De France who has replied to his following that his messages keep him going. Mark Beaumont is an adventure cyclist who is using twitter to keep in touch with his followers and I’m sure from his perspective its a lot easier than starting up the laptop and typing in a long form email.

From a learning perspective there has been quite a debate about how it can be used and whether it is of any use at all. In the past few days this has been highlighted further by the publication of sections of a report by an Intern at Morgan Stanley about how teenagers use Twitter. The FT and the Guardian both ran the piece as lead articles and its generated quite a buzz on the internet news boards. I’m not sure what it tells us about the use of twitter in learning!

Interestingly there are people using Twitter with young people and with schools how it can be used in education and training. I was preparing for a speaking event on game based learning last week when I came across a research video from UTC Dallas on Twitter in the classroom. I’ve also found that the University of Minnesota are also using social media and twitter in the classroom. Both videos show how they are using twitter and social networks to increase the contributions made within the classroom. As one teacher says in the video “If you are not engaging with the call you might as well hit a brick wall.” They’ll be lots more debate on the merits of twitter, if you are interested then these 2 videos might just provide a starting point.

At the E2BN conference Twitter and Twitterfall was used to great effect to capture questions from the floor during the seminars, ok you needed a mobile device with twitter but it allowed for a much more open question and answer flow. This was an event largely attended by teachers and I was amazed by the sheer numbers who were contributing. I’ll certainly be using twitter fall in future presentations alongside the traditional question and answer sessions.

A question that I’m often asked is what’s your development process? Without getting all techie we follow a simple process that it based on PRINCE 2 and ISO 9000. I can hear the gasps already! When I took my PRINCE 2 exams I was given a great piece of advice that was “Little Project, Little Price, Big Project, Big Prince!”. This is something that has stuck with me and we’ve followed at Real Projects. Although we are an e-learning company we’ve all worked in different industries at some point and draw on that experience. our job code system is based on one I learnt working in the Oil & Gas industry and our wireframes used during development have been used by most of us at some point in a range of industries.

Wireframes
We’ve been using these on website and e-learning projects for a long time. They help map out the structure of a page and we can breakout the individual functions of a page. Critically they help our clients understand what the page purpose is. If you provide a lavishly illustrated graphic this can often be a distraction and the focus turns to colour, font, size and images. We know from our experience that if you get the wireframe right then the design follows much easier.

Sitemaps and Storyboards
We might use one or both. Its a visual reference of where everything is going and how it all interacts. Even on a linear piece of work we create this map, it provides a mental model for everyone on the project about where ‘things’ are going to happen.

Scamps
Simple sketches of what things might look like, these come a long way before final designs and let everyone see a flavour of what’s happening. I’m often heard saying “Everyone is a graphic designer, but not many people want to be a programmer!” There are not many occasions during a project when anyone asks to see the code or has a query about a specific coding technique! Get people involved, share the work - make sure that your e-learning project has as many people as involved as you need!

Agile
Agile development processes. You might be surprised to think that an e-learning company would be thinking of using Agile processes as these are often associated with programming. You might like to think of it as rapid prototyping. We think of it as see things often and make lots of little changes along the way. This does prevent the development process of “Build to the specification, then build what the client actually needs”. It’s so hard to specify exactly what’s needed, especially if you are doing something for the first time. You’d neven dream of taking a product to market without testing or refining it first so why do it with e-learning?

Friends - Often referred to as Stakeholders or clients
You are going to be working on this project for a while, even if its a small piece. You hope to work together for a long time. To get the best outcome for your e-learning project you all need to be involved. Your client is part of the team! We try to make sure that they are kept informed, know what is happening and we ask for their thoughts and opinions. Work together you need to use your collective skills to deliver your project,

So do we have a process - Yes we do! But we are flexible, we are repsonsive and the process needs to change alongside changing technology and the needs of our clients. The thing we like about e-learning is that it allows us to be creative, to look at new technology and deliver solutions that actually make a difference. We are an e-learning company but much of what we do is taken from and shared by other companies from all sectors - from how we manage projects to how they are designed.

Keep the process flexible

Over the past few weeks I’ve answered questions about e-learning strategies. I have been involved in the creation of e-learning strategy documents and projects for the public and private sector in the UK and thought that I would share a few of my thoughts.

This isnt’ an exhaustive list but it will provide you with a starting point. I would ensure that any strategy focuses on a number of key areas, these are going to be specific to your organisation but you may want to think about the following:

Participation
Who are the affected parties? What additional training provision will you need to put in place during the project lifecycle? Who are your stakeholders (internal and external)

Technical Issues
What is the current IT platform? How will your e-learning strategy integrate with future IT changes and developments? You need to think about how these are aligned

Content creation and acquisition
Where are you going to get content from? Are you going to develop it internally? What will your quality standards be? You need to think about the creation of e-learning guidelines so that you can control the output.

Feedback systems
How will you measure performance? How will cost of ownership and return on investment be measured? What are the projected costs? How will effectiveness of the learning be measured?

Costs
How will ROI be measured, how will you work with the cost centres within the business

Limitations
Think of the issues that you might have and get these highlighted early

Types of learner
Several things to think about: IT literacy levels, mobile learning, expectations of e-learning

Business Improvement
Where will this be? Cost, Improvement in access to training material, process efficiency?

There are obviously many other things to consider, some of which will be specific to your organisation but but hopefully this will give you  a starting point.

During Learning Technologies earlier this year I listened to several seminars on the use of virtual worlds and game devices with the work of the Royal Navy and Imperial College London being of particular interest. Imperial College were using Second Life as part of their medical training and the Royal Navy were using the PSP as a delivery mechanism on submarines. During the 90’s I’d worked on a number of educational cd-rom projects many of which used games and games theory but back then it wasn’t titled game based learning and there wasn’t anything as accessible as Second Life. Worlds were painstakingly created by filming actors against blue screens and creating lavish backgrounds to place them against. The results were fantastic and still look good today (even if they are at 480×640!). Even since then I’ve been interested in Game Development and I think it is fantastic that the Royal Navy have taken the PSP as a learning device. In the past 10 years the growth of game development courses has been rapid and they are providing some interesting opportunities for students. This is also combined with the increased access to getting content onto the game devices, its like a return to the days of the spectrum where people were coding games from their bedroom! This led to several people making their fortune and setting up fantastic companies like the Darling brothers who set up Codemasters. Who doesn’t remember Dizzy!

As well as Second Life there are a number of other Virtual World development tools, some of which are suited for e-learning. We’ve been using the Thinking Worlds tool for several months with our own development team and also students from Norwich University College of the Arts. I’m really impressed with the results from a technical, gaming and learning perspective. There are people who will find the development tools have a steep learning curve when compared to the traditional tools that they have used but in the hands of a games designer we’ve been able to rapidly produce things! I say things because I’m not sure what to call them, learning module, game, serious game, simulation, virtual world? Perhaps its all of these things? There have been challenges along the way as we’ve got to grips with using a new tool and understanding how to get the best from it. The reaction from clients has been really interesting, they can’t believe how quickly they can be developed when they see how it works the depth of the resources. Personally I’ve found the best part of the process has been seeing how the games designers are part of our e-learning development team. There have been numerous press releases and statements about how the skills of games designers are far reaching, including a recent one from NESTA and TIGA. In our experience we know that this can work, interactive design, games design, instructional design - maybe its just design? Design for an audience, design with a purpose and design with an outcome in mind? I know that our team are increasing their skills and are great designers and not just graphic/interactive/instructional/games* (*delete as appropriate).

Kevin Mulryne from NCSL posted on his Twitter page requesting ideas for online icebreakers. Chris George from SAM Learning emailed us this fantastic website where you can make your own movies online using text that you type in. Its fantastic! A great range of features and you can publish your videos to the web. Here are the details of our icebreaker!
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?e=20090701073604115 - is the little sample we have done for you:

1: Set up an account at xtranormal.com

2: Set up a twitterfall page

3: Get the participants to email their questions to you or use the twitter feed (Take a sample of the questions)

4: Publish a question and answer session to the web using xtranormal.com

Cost: free

Duration: Pre-course

Set-up: Including account set up (45 minutes) …more if you want to do cool camera angles!

Complexity - Basic to medium depending on how hard you much you want to change the movie

Asynchronous activity in advance of course

…on a separate note I think this site is an excellent teaching resource. We’ve come up with loads of ideas this morning for how we could use it in a range of teaching enviroments.

Enjoy.

nmsdex75hf

Following on from our top 10 e-learning resources here is our top 10 website resources. These are the sites that we find useful and we use them most days. Everyone in the office has a favourite site and they all feature in the list. Today I’ve been on the Edge website and found out that the sequel to wii sports is the fastest selling game in Japan and Futurelab have more free resources that you can download….and FWA have uploaded their site of the day.

Enjoy!

Smashing Magazine

This website has a design focus but is packed full of free resources and tutorials. This is a great place if you are looking for ideas and inspiration. The free resources that have been submitted cover a wide range of uses from Wordpress themes to Icon sets.

Istock Photo

The images are not free, but the prices are low and the image quality is good. A vast range of images, icons, videos and stock assets that come in useful.

TED

TED comes up on a number of our lists but we keep on finding it useful! A great website to view some inspirational thinkers and to get inspired. Our favourites is still the Jonny Lee remote control.

BBC Learning Zone

A whole host of videos for a range of subjects. Our current favourite is the Royal Navy using computer games during submarine training courses.

The app store

You’ll need an iphone or an ipod touch but if you are ever on the move and need to find something out there will be an app for it. We’ve downloaded GPS devices, flight trackers, games, training apps, News feeds and something that turns the iphone into a torch.

Edge Online

The home of Edge magazine, if you want to find out something about the videogame industry this website has all the news alongside some great articles.

Futurelab

Innovation in Education

Offering a host of whitepapers, articles, links and a lot more. Futurelab also have a range of printed support materials including posters. We’ve just got hold of the their game based learning poster

Harvard Business Working Knowledge

Subscribe to the email for details of the latest papers or download the podcast to listen to interviews. Covers a wide range of business topics and all in manageable chunks. 

Norfolk e-learning forum

Ok, we are a little biased with this one! We are able to get some great speakers to come along to our events, some of who you might never have heard of but they all provide us with great resources from their presentations.

FWA

The favourite website awards. Every day they upload a new website for you to look at. Not strictly anything to take away or download but this site will provide you with a whole host of ideas if you are stuck on your next design project.