About Guild Articles
Find practical, solution-oriented information—on design, development, management, technology, and executive matters—that you can use to make well-informed business decisions to ensure your organization’s success with learning.
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Once Again, Games Can and Do Teach!
In a recent article in Learning Solutions Magazine, “Why Games Don’t Teach,” Ruth Clark says it’s “not that games can’t teach, but that advocating games as a main or even frequent instructional strategy is misleading.” Karl Kapp disagrees and offers this counterpoint, including evidence from research showing that games are effective teachers.
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Tips for Using GoAnimate in eLearning
Trainers and educators have long known that appropriate, well-made video can increase levels of engagement and retention in eLearning. Technology is providing us with a set of tools we can use to create more video without breaking the bank. Here are eight tips for using one such product, GoAnimate, in your eLearning.
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Toolkit: TechSmith Camtasia Studio 8
Techsmith’s Camtasia 8 is a complete reboot, rewritten from scratch, and it is attracting attention not only from eLearning developers but also from video production professionals and even from consumer periodicals. This is a beautiful tool to add to your kit, and you can read all about it here!
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How to Engage Learners with Scenario-based Learning
The demand for scenario-based learning (SBL) is growing rapidly. Learners gather information throughout an SBL and create solutions based on what they already know and the information they find. Until recently, creating SBL could be expensive and time-consuming, but this is changing with some new authoring tools. Here’s an overview of the theory behind the method—and some guidelines.
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Why Games Don’t Teach
Ask trainers to define what they mean by the term “game” and you will likely hear a mix of features or examples. The problem is that many things that could be called a game do not necessarily lead to learning. A leader in the field of instructional technology takes on the question: Is it right to advocate games as a main or frequent instructional strategy?
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eLearning Guild Research: Reconsidering Bloom’s Taxonomy (Old AND New)
Bloom’s Taxonomy—the classification system used by countless instructional designers since the 1950s for creating learning objectives—has an updated version that brings it into the 21st century. The new taxonomy supports new methods of instruction and a new understanding of what learning is. Read about it in the latest eLearning Guild research report!
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Does Your mLearning Play Nicely with the IT Department?
When creating mobile applications, developers sometimes overlook a critical group—the IT department. The same is true when launching a mobile learning or performance-support initiative. Not taking IT’s policy management needs into consideration can lead to problems. Here are some tips that will ensure all goes smoothly!
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Marc My Words: eLearning vs. eKnowledge
Is it necessary to communicate all content in the form of courses? There are real reasons to deliver some content as well-designed information instead of instruction. Marc invites us to think critically about what fits the eLearning paradigm and what doesn’t.
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Nuts and Bolts: Seeing the Forest
Those who are closest to a situation can be the last to notice a problem when it exists. Experts can have trouble getting beyond their expertise to find a better solution. Here’s a way to solve the old instructional design paradox: When you can’t see the forest for the trees.
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Research for Practitioners: How Expert Designers Design
In many organizations, subject matter experts (SMEs) often receive assignments that involve developing training or learning materials, even though they may not understand the principles of instructional design. A team of investigators did some practical experiments and came up with ideas you can use to help your SMEs at least understand how instructional designers design.