eLearning - Customer Service
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Summary:
This eLearning module was created as a “toe in the water” exercise to see what could be done with the Articulate eLearning Suite, which is new to the creator. The content is aligned with national competency standards and is set at a Certificate IV level. This level generally requires that the level of knowledge be centred on the procedural and factual, as opposed to conceptual or meta-cognitive knowledge which is a higher order process. This worked well for this module as the higher order processes are more complicated and time consuming to assess.
The context for this module is a customer service training, delivered to either mortgage or finance brokers.
Content:
The module comprises a number of assets such as flash animation, audio, images, text, PDF documents and quizzes. These are all housed and presented to the end user through a browser based eLearning course, with the user proceeding from slide one to completion at slide 37. Unlike many eLearning programs however, none of the navigation is locked to the user. This decision was made on the basis of the widely reported modern phenomenon of “the over-stimulated mind”. Many eLearning developers now agree that the model of prescriptive, linear and locked courses does not work in that people feel tremendously frustrated by it. This course has been built with the end user at the forefront of every decision as much as was possible.
The experiment was considered successful in that the ability to create an online module using offline materials was done in such a way as to maintain the integrity of the original content, whilst adding elements of interactivity far beyond what the participant would experience in distance education for example
The Articulate Suite is highly flexible in its ability to customise the look and feel of the end product. Whilst there are indeed elements that do not change, it is the thought behind what is written and the instruction to the end user that makes the difference. Every colour that appears on the screen is able to be customised to the corporate colours for the client. In this case, we have used the fictional organisation of OptElearn, however the branding may be customised to suit.
All interactions and quizzes may also be customised, and in this case considerable time and effort went into the creation of quizzes that brought a narrative and emotional element to the course. The best way to learn something new is to teach it immediately, so the participants are asked to attend a conference and take questions from other students about the very content they had just learned.
In this way, the course becomes more than a simple regurgitation exercise and the participant is involved, placed under a ‘pressure’ to not only learn but immediately apply their knowledge for the benefit of others.
References:
Griffin, P. (1997) Assessment in schools and workplace. Inaugural professorial lecture, University of Melbourne, September.
Gronlund, N. E. & Waugh, C. K. (2009). Assessment of student achievement (9th ed .). New Jersey: Merrill-Pearson.
Meloy, J & Chapnick, S. (2005) Renaissance eLearning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer
Misko, Josie (1994) Learning styles, National Centre for Vocational Education
Research, Leabrook. ISBN 0863971431
Vygotsky, L. S. (1986) Thought and Language. Boston: MIT Press
http://www.articulate.com/blog/using-articulate-tools-like-an-elearning-guru/
http://community.articulate.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/evo-magazine/id401980272?mt=8
http://www.istockphoto.com/ (all audio and imagery)
http://www.lynda.com/InDesign-CS5-tutorials/to-EPUB-Kindle-and-iPad/ (actual link is very long)
http://www.lynda.com/Captivate-5/essential-training/ (actual link is very long)
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html
Keywords: eLearning, online learning, instructional design, adult learning, electronic learning, corporate training, certificate IV
