With the vast number of awesome features included in Adobe Captivate, it can quickly become overwhelming to identify which approach to take on a project. Should you utilize screen capture, program simulations, create a page-by-page presentation, maybe use videos and audio? Don’t get me started on activities and quizzes! And what about the new VR functionality Captivate offers?

Choosing a new learning platform is a little bit like falling down a rabbit hole. With more than 700 platforms from which to choose, getting lost is easy. Why not learn from the soul-sucking experience of those who have traveled this journey before? 

The effectiveness of any eLearning experience is only as good as the instructional design put into it. But can instructional design alone make eLearning engaging and effective? The truth is, good eLearning design is more than just instructional design. An engaging eLearning experience uses visual design, graphic design, and user interface design to help elevate the instructional design and learning experience.

It's a common problem in learning organizations…not enough skilled instructional designers to go around. Building or enhancing instructional design skills quickly and cost-effectively can be a challenge for both small and large learning teams. At PwC learning & development, a recent organizational change found our digital design & development team with varying levels of instructional design skills, and a need to upskill those with little to no experience.

Supporting the diverse learning needs of an organization where time is money can be challenging. The goal of most learning organizations is to drive content and "foot traffic" into their LMS. Today, gains in technology offer more efficient methods to complete tasks. Corporate learning organizations need to examine their goals and determine the best way to support employees in an era of shorter duration learning content, mobile-friendly options, and a workforce that takes ownership for their own learning. During this session, participants will follow one company's journey from LMS to LXP. Topics covered will include the process of finding, implementing, and launching a learning experience platform.

You've attended a great eLearning conference, read some amazing articles, and participated in some inspiring webinars. You're bursting with ideas to invigorate your team's eLearning offerings, but how do you persuade your department or client to share your vision? It's seldom enough to simply tell what you've learned and describe the possibilities. A successful pitch will show how your idea will come to life and improve eLearning performance. With both time and money at a premium, developing a successful pitch, especially one that includes a POC, can be difficult. But by investing in the effort and correctly framing your pitch with a clear "hook," you'll increase your chance of success.

As eLearning professionals, we know gamification helps make learning fun and engaging. It can be a challenge to find the right authoring tool to maximize gamification, while meeting your institutional needs of flexibility, quality, experience, and price. Look no further—the world of video game development has new authoring tools that eLearning professionals can adopt for amazing gamified learning creation.

One of the most sought after uses of artificial intelligence is a system that can continually assess learners and recommend the right content at the right time, adapting with them as they progress. While this description of a recommendation system sounds simple from a user standpoint, it is extremely complex in practicality.

Many L&D organizations are struggling with how to evaluate virtual and other immersive technologies for their learning and training initiatives. Options abound, and with a lot of pressure on corporate training organizations to include VR in their training, today's learning leaders need help in choosing the right solution. A successful evaluation process includes: 1) understanding of how to establish organizational and learner needs criteria to evaluate the immersive technology options, 2) knowing the strengths of the different approaches from both a cognitive science and technical perspective, and 3) recognizing the impacts of how the technology is brought into the organization. The best way to illustrate this process is through hands-on examples in diverse learning situations.

If they're going to work in a virtual classroom, your traditional learning methodologies need a makeover. A virtual session is more than lecture and uploaded PowerPoints. Unique techniques must be used to engage learners throughout the session. A common pitfall is to focus on the technology and forget about the design—often resulting in unengaging sessions focused on using the tools and not meeting the needs of the learners.

The two goals of any training program are to teach employees new information and then to enable them to transfer their new knowledge into their workplace. But learning transfer is a complex process, and most trainers do not understand the simple steps that they can take to ensure that knowledge transfers from the computer where it is learned to the workplace where it is needed.

Imagine you're about to build a house with all the bells and whistles. Now imagine building this house without a set of blueprints. Would your contractors know what to build, and where? Would the city be able to approve any additions or modifications you want to make? Like the blueprint for a house, your eLearning storyboard outlines everything about the training you're creating. This same concept applies to eLearning and training as a whole. It's important to create a storyboard that can be easily understood by everyone in the project process, so all are "in the know" on what the final product will look like.

Creating an exciting experience in the VR headset is only part of the solution. How do you ensure that it’s instructionally effective? The ability to produce artificial environments that are believable enables us to produce an authentic context well beyond anything we’ve ever achieved in eLearning. We can produce fully immersive experiences that feel like real life, both in the environment the user experiences and the tasks that they must perform. With an effective ID framework, we can elevate human performance to produce true behavioral change. These aspirations are vitally important in subject matter that requires human interaction, empathy, and decision-making–topics such as sexual harassment, customer service, and negotiations, to name a few. These solutions are possible through a balanced application of instructional design and game design.

What's the best eLearning authoring tool out there? That's a lot like asking, "What's the best car on the road?" The answer can be very subjective, and in the end it's based on what matters most to you. Identifying key features and characteristics that differentiate tools—such as price, ease of use, interactivity, accessibility, and mobile compatibility—can help you can make the best choice to meet your needs.