Learning Solutions Motivating Learnings to Learn

8/14/2019 Learning Solutions Motivating Learnings to Learn

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August 10, 2009

This weeks article looks

for an answer to the ques-

tion, How can you create

courseware that your audi-

ence will enjoy and want to

come back and experienceagain and again? Motiva-

tion is a complex problem

for designers, and here are

some answers.

Five Strategies to Enhance LearnerMotivation in e-Learning DesignBy Joe McCleskey

Heres one of the biggest problems we face as de-

signers of e-Learning content: without the luxury

of face-to-face interaction with our audience,

how can we keep our audience motivated enough to notonly complete the courses we create, but to actually enjoy

learning the skills and knowledge we set before them?

In this article, I offer a close look at some successful learner motivation meth-ods that for many years have helped instructional designers enhance the learn-ing experience. You can incorporate these into your e-Learning courses.

Strategy 1: Learn the basics of motivation

Before I begin discussion of the practical techniques you can use to increaselearner motivation, heres what the experts have been telling us on the subjectfor the past couple of decades.

Any serious discussion of learner motivation should include at least a curso-ry look at the ARCS model. Originally published in 1987 by psychologist JohnKeller (See the References at the end of this article), ARCS is an acronym thatidentifies four basic elements of motivation:

Attention. This is essential. If you cant gain and keep the learners atten-tion, you have no hope of motivating them, much less teaching them anything.With e-Learning, we must employ tricks like animation, emotional stimuli, andstorytelling to maintain learner attention (more on these below).

Relevance. There is also little hope of success if the learners dont knowwhy its important for them to learn the information contained in your e-Learn-ing courses. As with traditional face-to-face learning, its best to make it clearup front why its important to know this information (and because your jobrequires it doesnt count).

A publication of

THIS WEEK: Design Strategies

The eLearning Guilds

Practical Applications of Technology for Learning

SM

Book Review

Visual Language for Designers

Page 7


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Design Strategies

2LEARNING SOLUTIONS | August 10, 2009

So how do you tap into your audiences intrinsicmotivations when youre designing e-Learning? Howcan you create courseware that your audience willenjoy, and want to come back and experience againand again?

Strategy 2: Think structure

A well-structured e-Learning piece is more motivat-ing because it addresses the C in the ARCS model:confidence. Your audience will feel more confidentabout completing the learning session if they can visu-alize the overall structure of the piece. Put simply, ifthey can see where you're going, they'll be more moti-vated to head in that direction.

Also related to learner confidence is the length ofthe sessions you create. Research (Hartley and Davies,

1978) shows that on average, your learners will onlybe able to pay close attention to your content forabout nine to ten minutes at a time. This means thateach segment of your e-Learning content should takeno longer than 10 minutes to complete. Does thismean you have to be concise, and stick to the essen-tials? You bet it does! If your topic requires more,chunk it into multiple nine- to ten-minute sessions, andcreate reproducible printed materials (PDFs prefer-ably) for a more elaborate reference, if necessary.

There are many different kinds of structures you canuse to build your e-Learning courseware. Here are afew examples:

Learning Solutions e-Magazine is designed to serve as a catalyst

for innovation and as a vehicle for the dissemination of new and practical

strategies, techniques, and best practices for e-Learning design, devel-

opment and management professionals. It is not intended to be THE

definitive authority ... rather, it is intended to be a medium through which

e-Learning professionals can share their knowledge, expertise, and expe-

rience. As in any profession, there are many different ways to accomplish

a specific objective. Learning Solutions will share many different per-

spectives and does not position any one as the right way, but ratherwe position each article as one of the right ways for accomplishing an

objective. We assume that readers will evaluate the merits of each article

and use the ideas they contain in a manner appropriate for their specific

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The articles in Learning Solutions are all written by people who are

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ers. Submissions are always welcome, as are suggestions for future top-

ics. To learn more about how to submit articles and/or ideas, please visit

our Web site at www.eLearningGuild.com.

Publisher David Holcombe

Editorial Director Heidi FiskEditor Bill BrandonCopy Editor Charles Holcombe

Design Director Nancy Marland Wolinski

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Copyright 2002 to 2009.Learning Solutions e-Magazine (formerly TheeLearning Developers Journal). Compilation copy-right by The eLearning Guild. All rights reserved. Pleasecontact The eLearning Guildfor reprint permission.

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Confidence. If learners do not feel theyre capableof achieving the learning objectives, their motivationlevels will decrease. To help with learner confidence,always indicate up front how long it will take them tocomplete the session.

Satisfaction. Learners feel a greater sense of moti-vation when they anticipate some reward for theirefforts. This could be a simple certificate or verbalrecognition from a superior, or might include stepsalong a path to a raise or promotion.

Along with the ARCS model, motivational psycholo-gists have also identified two types of motivation, basedon the motivating factors relationship to the learner.These are intrinsic motivation, which originates frominfluences within an individual (such as pleasure ormorality), and extrinsic motivation, which comes from

influences outside the learner (such as cash rewards,promotions, punishment, grades, praise, etc.). Of thetwo, intrinsic motivations are generally more interestingto the e-Learning designer, because designers oftenhave no control over the extrinsic factors that motivatetheir audience, with the exception of the occasionalword of praise or passing grade. Also, research indi-cates (Malone and Lepper, 1987) that intrinsic motiva-tion is much more successful at reinforcing desiredbehavior than extrinsic motivation. Put simply, intrinsicmotivation is what makes people do the things that theynormally would do on their own, whether or not youcoerce them with external motivators.

Along with the ARCS

model, motivational

psychologists have

also identified two

types of motivation,

based on the motivat-

ing factors relation-

ship to the learner.

These are intrinsic

motivation, which

originates from influ-

ences within an indi-

vidual , andextrin-sic motivation, which

comes from influ-

ences outside the

learner .


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ectly represent one or more key elements of your con-tent. Just putting a pretty picture in each slide won'tdo the trick. How many times can we look at the sameprofessionally-dressed, multi-culti group of peoplesitting around a table? That's the problem with stockphotography: the good images get used over andover, and people get this sense of deja-vu when theyview your work ("Didn't I see that woman in a Webbanner ad earlier today?"). When done well, however,a quality photograph that actually portrays one of theconcepts you're trying to teach can be very effectivein enhancing learner motivation.

Video. If done correctly, a short video clip greatlyenhances an e-Learning production. There are a lot ofpitfalls in the video approach, however. Video produc-tion is expensive, difficult, and time-consuming. Todays

audience has very high standards they tend to ex-pect everything to have the same production value asthe Martin Scorcese film they just watched. One ap-proach that doesn't work very well from an instruction-al perspective is the talking-head approach; simplyputting someone onscreen to speak the lines youraudience could just as well have read for themselvesdoesn't enhance learner motivation much. The lessonhere is to make sure the visuals support the messageof the content. Dont just add video for videos sake.

Graphics. A nice visual display of quantitative infor-mation (Tufte, 1983) can be very effective at increas-ing the visual interest of your work. It can be as simple

Move from general to specific, Move from abstract concepts to concrete exam-

ples, and Have an introduction, body, and conclusion.More important than the kind of structure you use,

however, is to simply have a structure. A random as-sortment of facts can be very dull, but interest levelsincrease rapidly once you put them into a logical, co-herent structure.

Strategy 3: Increase visual interest

Perhaps the best way to enhance learner motiva-tion is to make sure the courseware you develop looksappealing to the eye. This can be as simple as a niceHTML treatment based on the principles of goodgraphic design, or as elaborate as a fully scripted vi-

deo with professional actors and high production values.In the end, the degree of visual interest you add toyour production all depends on your budget and sched-ule, but the good news is: if you plan carefully, a littlebit of visual variety can go a long way toward givingyour learners the desire to complete the course.

The most common ways of adding visual interest toan e-Learning program include the following:

Photography. The use of photographs especial-ly stock photography is one of the most commonways that e-Learning designers add visual interest totheir programs. Unfortunately, it's often not done well;in order for a photograph to have impact, it must dir-


Design Strategies

A well-structured

e-Learning piece is

more motivating

because it addresses

the C in the ARCS

model: confidence.

Your audience will

feel more confident

about completing the

learning session if

they can visualize

the overall structure

of the piece.

Early Bird Registration

Register before Sept. 25 and save $100!Go to: www.DevLearn2009.com


4/9

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Design Strategies


as a two-dimensional Excel chart; indeed, the bestrule to follow with graphics is, the simpler the better.Even more effective is a simple ideogram, or graphicsymbol that represents the idea or concept you're try-ing to get across in your e-Learning content. Think ofstick figures and those international symbols you seein airports, and you're well on your way.

Animations. Perhaps the best way to increasevisual interest while enhancing learner motivation andretention is through the use of simple animations.Jonathan Jarvis's 11-minute animated video about the2008 financial meltdown (www.crisisofcredit.com)illustrates how animating a set of simple graphics tovoice-over narration can be very effective in conveyingcomplex information in an entertaining way. Jarvis'svideo quickly went viral, and it's now been viewed

over a million times on YouTube and Vimeo. WhileJarvis's video undoubtedly took a very long time tocomplete, and making such animations requires mas-tery of programs like Adobe After Effects and AdobeIllustrator, the good news is you don't have to go thisfar to make something that's very appealing to youraudience. Start simple: start with a voice-over audionarration, make some basic graphics, add a little mo-tion in your rapid e-Learning tools (even fading pictureelements in and out is a good start), and start enhanc-ing the key ideas in the narration with a little visual piz-zazz.

Strategy 4: Incorporate emotion

Neurologists have grappled with the idea of emo-tion for many years what, exactly, is it? And what

role does it play in giving humans an edge in survival?The jury is still out on that question, but some neurolo-gists suggest (Medina, 2008) that emotion plays animportant role in memory. The theory is this: we tendto experience emotions when we're in a situation thathas some kind of bearing on our survival, and this makesthe experience worth remembering: fear helps us re-member situations that threaten our safety, angerhelps us remember situations when others threatenour interests, and love helps us remember the joywe've felt when we've successfully cooperated withfamily and friends.

Psychologists have a name for an event that trig-

gers an emotion: it's called an emotionally competentstimulus, or ECS. To unleash the power of emotion inyour e-Learning content, you simply need to incorpo-rate an ECS now and then not just any ECS, butone that fits nicely into the subject matter you'reteaching. Perhaps the simplest way to do this is toincorporate images that have a mild emotional impact.I say mild because, as with many aspects of e-Learn-ing design, it's best to use a light touch. With emo-tions, a little goes a long way, but a lot can turn youraudience against you. Examples of images with mildemotional impact could include a young couple hold-

Research shows

that on average, your

learners will only beable to pay close at-

tention to your content

for about nine to ten

minutes at a time. This

means that each seg-

ment of your e-Learn-

ing content should

take no longer than 10

minutes to complete.


5/9


Design Strategies

Psychologists have a

name for an event

that triggers an emo-

tion: it's called an

emotionally compe-

tent stimulus, or ECS.

To unleash the power

of emotion in your

e-Learning content,

you simply need to

incorporate an ECS

now and then not

just any ECS, but onethat fits nicely into the

subject matter you're

teaching.

ing hands, a child playing on a swing, or an athletereceiving a trophy.

Emotions don't just play a role in making your con-tent more memorable; they also can help make yourcontent more interesting and engaging. Isn't that atleast partly why we sit through films for two hours at atime, or read hundreds of pages of novels in a singlesitting? Theyve successfully appealed to our emo-tions as well as our intellect. And that brings us to ournext strategy for increasing learner motivation: telling astory.

Strategy 5: Tell a story

When I tell people that I have a Masters degree inhistory, they often say something like this: "History?Really? I never liked memorizing all of those names

and dates." And I always reply with an explanation ofthe difference between history and chronology: thelatter is just a list of dates and the people and eventsassociated with them, whereas the former is moreconcerned with the underlying story that weaves allof those dates, events, and people together. A seriesof events has no meaning by itself, but the story ofhow all of those events relate to one another can bevery powerful.

One of the reasons why stories can be such pow-erful tools in motivating your audience is because sto-ries help fulfill the R in ARCS: they help people seewhy something is relevant to their experience by mak-

ing it more concrete for them.Here are a few examples of simple ways to bring

the power of stories into your e-Learning content:Anecdotes. As you write your e-Learning content,

think of examples from your own life that could pro-vide an illustration of the concepts you're trying toconvey.

Examples. After discussing some high-level con-cepts and abstract ideas, bring your audience backdown to earth with a story of a real-world situationthat incorporates those concepts and abstract ideas.

Narrative structure. If you're ambitious, you mightconsider framing an entire nine- or ten-minute e-Learn-

ing segment as a story. Open with action; establishsome characters; move the plot forward toward a cli-max. Along the way, you can incorporate the neces-sary knowledge and skills, then quiz learners on theseitems after the story's conclusion. It might be a littledifficult to pull this off successfully, but it can be verypowerful if done properly.

A note on interactivity and game-based learning

It's become a cliche in our industry that interactivityis one of the hallmarks of creating engaging, motivat-ing content. At the same time, we must not forget that

it's possible to create an e-Learning piece that's veryinteractive but not very engaging or motivating. Inter-activity by itself is not motivating; just because you'rerequired to use the mouse to complete an e-Learningsession doesn't necessarily mean you'll want to. Andwe mustn't forget that some of the most powerful andmotivating learning experiences are not interactive atall. Some of the greatest documentary films, for exam-ple, require the viewer to sit and watch for one or twohours at a time, with no opportunity to interact withthe content whatsoever.

Having said that, we should acknowledge that in-teractivity is a very important tool in the e-Learningprofessional's kit; it gives us a chance to take the con-structivist approach to learning, and it opens up manypossibilities that only digital content delivery can pro-

vide. At the same time, however, we need to acknowl-edge that these possibilities often come at a heavyprice. Interactivity always requires more work in de-sign and development, and it places a heavy burdenon the designer to make it work for the audience.

In my experience, many beginning e-Learning de-signers tend to dream big on their first projects. They'vegot great ideas for how to immerse their audience ina full simulation of the skills they're trying to teach, yetwhen they realize that those ideas require hefty budg-ets and long production times, they get discouraged.And when the opportunity does present itself to dev-elop a game, they find that their audience has those

same high standards for games that we mentionedearlier for video productions. You're up against somepretty stiff competition when the audience expectsyour game to be just as good as World of Warcraft.

In the right environment, and with the right budget,gaming can be an excellent tool for enhancing learnermotivation. The U.S. military has embraced this ap-proach in a big way, and with great success. Studieshave shown that learner motivation for some militarysimulation programs is so high that soldiers and offi-cers alike have been caught sneaking into trainingfacilities late at night, just to get another chance torun the battle simulations. Unfortunately, few situa-tions will have the same level of excitement that astate-of-the-art battlefield simulation can provide, andfew e-Learning budgets can equal that of the Depart-ment of Defense.

The moral of the story: don't worry if your e-Learn-ing pieces don't have the same level of interactivityfound in state-of-the-art gaming simulations. Focus onwhat you can do best, given your budget and resour-ces. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing motivation inyour e-Learning development team. And if your devel-opment team isn't motivated, what hope is there ofmotivating the audience?


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Design Strategies


References

Hartley, J. & Davies, I. K. Note-taking: A CriticalReview. Programmed Learning and EducationalTechnology. 1978: 15, 207 224

Jarvis, Jonathan. The Crisis of Credit Visualized. 2009.http://www.crisisofcredit.com

Keller, J. M. Strategies for Stimulating the Motivationto Learn. Performance and Instruction. 1987a(October), 26(8), 1-7.

Medina, John. Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Survi-ving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School.(Seattle: Pear Press, 2008)

Malone, W. and Lepper, M. R. Aptitude, Learning andInstruction. (Erlbaum, 1987)

Tufte, Edward. The Visual Display of QuantitativeInformation. (Connecticut: Graphics Press, 1983)

Author Contact

Joe McCleskey has over 20 yearsof experience designing electronicmedia for education. His e-Learningcareer began in the late 1980s, whenhe scripted several multimedia CD-ROMs for use by high school stu-

dents. Since then, he has trained hundreds of K-12teachers how to incorporate digital media into theircurriculum, and has produced a number of instruc-tional videos for the education market. He was on theeditorial staff of Videomaker Magazine for over adecade, and in 2005 he was on the team that wrotethe documentation for Adobe After Effects 7.0. He is

currently Manager of Educational Development atToastmasters International. Contact Joe by e-mail [email protected].

The moral of the story: don't worry if

your e-Learning pieces don't have the

same level of interactivity found instate-of-the-art gaming simulations.

Focus on what you can do best, given

your budget and resources.

Discuss these articles in the Talk Back to the Authors

Forum of Community Connections (http: // www.elearning-

guild. com/community_connections/forum/categories. cfm?

catid= 17&entercat =y). You can address your comments to

the author(s) of each weeks article, or you can make a gen-

eral comment to other readers.

Additional information on the topics covered in these arti-

cles is also listed in the Guild Resource Directory.

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At least part of this visual impoverishment is due toa lack of graphic design skills and knowledge amonginstructional designers, and among those who useauthoring software. It is also due to a lack of knowl-edge among graphic designers about the particularrequirements and constraints involved in e-Learning.

It is not that these problems are new, or that theyhave never been solved. Medical illustrators andtechnical illustrators, all the way back to the greatLeonardo da Vinci, have long since worked out theprinciples and conventions that best support explana-tion, insight, understanding, and learning. What hasbeen lacking, until now, has been a systematic pres-entation of those principles, matched to the require-ments of the digital medium.

Connie Malamed, author of last weeks feature inLearning Solutions (Gestalt Your Graphics: Improv-ing Instructional Graphics) has done a tremendous

job of bringing these worlds together in her new

book. Visual Language for Designers: Principles forcreating graphics that people understandis a rarecombination of science and aesthetics.

There are not many resources on visual informationthat are based on solid research and that are intend-ed for e-Learning practitioners. Until now, the bestknown has probably been Clark and Lyons Graphicsfor Learning (2004), which does an excellent job ofexplaining how to use visuals, but does not offermuch help on how to create those visuals in the firstplace.

Connie Malameds book takes care of the explain-

ing, and the showing. Her book will not turn you (oryour graphics person) into a Leonardo or a Michelan-gelo, but it will go a long way toward showing youwhat is possible, what works, and most importantly,how to make graphics that achieve quick and effectivecommunication. She presents ways to design for the

strengths of human mental capacities and to compen-sate for cognitive failures.

Visual language is the interface between a graphicand a viewer. Malameds clear explanations and excel-lent organization will help instructional designers, sub-

ject matter experts, and technical specialists under-stand that there is a hidden language in every picturethat carries a message even if the message wasunintended. At the same time, her examples will showdesigners and illustrators more ways to use visual lan-guage to inform with accuracy and power. The resultis bound to be better communication between techni-cal members of an e-Learning development team and

graphic artists.This is a beautiful book. One of my frustrations in

writing this review is that I am not going to be able toshow you just how well the illustrations support thetext. The text is very brief. The book makes its pointsby drawing on the very best work of some of todaysvery best artists, photographers, graphic designers,and illustrators. Of the 240 pages, over 200 containone or more graphics in full, luscious color. (SeeFigure 1 on page 8.)

Given this, it is important to repeat that the entirebook is based on actual research, as well as on de-


Visual Language for Designers: Principles for

creating graphics that people understand, by

Connie Malamed

P

roducing e-Learning is an inherently creative activity, and one that

could make great use of visual communications graphics, photogra-

phy, and typography. For many reasons, though, e-Learning consis-

tently falls short in the visual department. Heavy use of text and audio narration,

clip art, and page-oriented layouts that seem to rely on the worst examples from

the world of textbooks are too often typical.

BOOK REVIEW

Last weeks feature

article gave you an

overview of how toavoid muddy graph

ics. Now read the

authors book on

how to design visu

that will totally en-

gage your learners

and add value to

your e-Learning

applications.

Reviewed by Bill Brandon


8/9

sign theory. Disciplines represented in the content in-clude visual communication and graphic design, learn-ing theory and instructional design, cognitive psycholo-gy and neuroscience, and information visualization.

The content comprises two sections. The first sec-tion provides an overview of how human beings per-ceive, understand, and acquire visual information. Itincludes consideration of cognitive load in visual infor-mation, an issue sometimes overlooked by designersand artists. This section starts with the basics: theanatomy of the eye, the function of the brain, memory,and the human information processing system, all asthey relate to visual information.

It is in the second (and longer) section where Mala-meds book really adds value, as it presents principlesfor creating graphics that accommodate and engage

the human mind and emotions. The fact that the auth-or specifically addresses the challenges of hookingthe emotions of the learner is, to me, one of her mostimportant contributions. People do not learn aboutthings they do not care about. (And care about caninclude emotions other than the positive ones.) If you,the designer, do not make learners care about thetopic of the e-Learning, your design and your productwill fail.

The second section is a guide, not a rulebook, todoing six key things with and through graphics:

Organizing graphics for quick perception Directing the eyes to essential information

Using visual shorthand for efficient communica-tion (reducing realism)

Making the abstract concrete Clarifying complexity Charging a graphic with energy and emotionMalamed devotes a chapter to each of these pur-

poses, and organizes each chapter in the same way.Her simple and effective approach is to:

Present the concept(s), principles, and sciencesupporting the outcome,

Explain how to apply the concepts, principles,and science, and

Present the various techniques that support theapplication.

So, for example, in presenting the techniques re-quired to organize for quick perception, some of thetechniques she explains include texture segregation,grouping, and pop out. For charging a graphic withenergy and emotion, she explains the uses of emo-tional salience, narratives, visual metaphors, and nov-elty and humor.

Connie Malamed told me, I was hoping to writea book that would stand the test of time. I alwayshad instructional designers as well as graphic design-ers in mind as I was writing it. It's heavy on the infor-

mation graphics, which very much relate to e-Learning

and training. It took around 10 years to think about,and then around a year to seriously research andwrite. (Plus work as an e-Learning consultant andWeb designer.) And it turned out completely differentthan I'd thought it would. Id say it was ten years wellspent, and the result is completely successful.

Bibliographic details

Malamed, Connie. (2009) Visual Language forDesigners: Principles for creating graphics that peo-

ple understand. Beverly, Massachusetts: RockportPublishers. Hardcover, 240 pages. ISBN-13: 978-1-59253-515-6. List price $40.00, Amazon price $26.40.

Reviewer Contact

Bill Brandon is the editor of LearningSolutions. If you are the author of arecent book intended for e-Learning pro-fessionals and would like to have Billreview it in Learning Solutions, e-mailhim at [email protected]

Book Review


Medical illustrators an

technical illustrators,

all the way back to the

great Leonardo de Vinc

have long since worke

out the principles and

conventions that best

support explanation,

insight, understanding

and learning. What has

been lacking, until now

has been a systematic

presentation of thoseprinciples, matched to

the requirements of the

digital medium.

Figure 1 Visual Language for Designers is filled with figures that illustrate tech-niques and principles. Here, an exploded view of a classical guitar is one of the

examples presented to support Clarifying Complexity.


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