Does High-Res eLearning Really Boost Learning?

The eLearning industry is booming. Every week, new tools and companies seem to emerge, along with new guidelines for how to create the most effective training courses using the latest technology. We have so many powerful tools at our fingertips, in fact, that getting started on an eLearning course can potentially be more confusing because of all those great options. Where do you begin?

At Klixel8, we understand that learning designers and training professionals need more than gimmicks to create successful courses. There is no quick fix for workplace education, nor a one-size-fits-all tool for every educational challenge – let alone for every learner.

That said, technology isn’t just “gimmicks.” It’s the future. And that means eLearning is the future of workplace training.

By embracing this inevitability, we can better tackle the (age-old) fundamentals of learning.

High-Res eLearning is a powerful new tool in digital course design that allows for deep contextual learning. Extremely high-resolution photography, interactive module design, and backend analytics combine in one easy-to-implement design tool, making High-Res eLearning a perfect fit for “hard skill” workforce training across a wide array of industries.

In previous articles, we’ve explored the science behind how we learn and looked at some of the nuts and bolts of putting together a training course. In this article, we consider how High-Res eLearning can supercharge your workplace training to boost learning.

The More Things Change…

A picture is worth a thousand words. We’ve heard and said this phrase so many times its profound truth can be taken for granted.

There’s a scientific term for those “thousand words,” and it’s called the “pictorial superiority effect.” There are different theories for why and how it works, but it’s generally recognized that the use of images in place of or in addition to words boosts memory recall of information.

Has technology made us more visual learners, or has it simply brought the capacity for visual learning into line with our natural inclinations? Perhaps there’s a bit of both involved.

One thing is certain: the majority of people are visual learners. Studies estimate that some two-thirds of the population learn best with visual supplements to a verbal lesson or written information.

It’s a trait that’s been hardwired into human beings through evolution. Indeed, an even greater percentage of the population – as many as nine in ten – think in pictures, calling up a “mental image” when a phrase is spoken.

Although we live in a world saturated with visual information – on the internet, on television, on touchscreens in cars and checkout lines, even on billboards playing videos and flashing lights at us – the real potency of images can be underutilized where it can have the most positive impact: Education.

Technological Leaps

Let’s take a little step back in time. What were you doing in the year 2006?

Chances are, one thing you were not doing was scrolling through a social media feed on your phone. That’s because the first iPhone wasn’t unveiled until 2007, launching the “smartphone revolution” that transformed the way we access the internet, communicate, and interact with computer technology, and think.

To be sure, the current relationship we have with digital devices, the internet, and each other, didn’t just start in 2007. But take a moment to appreciate how new the technology we take for granted really is. A quarter of a century ago we were “dialing up” onto the web; today we “pinch” websites and “swipe” almost without thinking. Scrolling through highly visual media, shared in real time by thousands of people, on a powerful, touchscreen-enabled, satellite-connected computer you can stash in your pocket was largely unthinkable.

Correspondingly, tablets, laptops, and PC hardware have advanced to be more responsive and cross-device integrated. Websites, software, and apps have evolved around the user experience. Whole industries have arisen out of UX, the “internet of things,” and generally unifying what happens in the digital realm into our everyday lives.

As studies on the problems of work-life balance and internet addiction show, we are still in relatively new territory with how such technology is integrated into our work and social lives. We are also early on the road to realizing all the positive potential that such technology may hold for making life easier and richer.

The impact of all this on eLearning design, of course, has been immense. We now have the ability to design digital courses for learners that are highly personalized and interactive. Training professionals can create custom courses almost as easily as they can put together a PowerPoint presentation. Learners now have flexibility in when, where, and how they access modules to learn at their own pace. Managers can observe employee progress and success through course metrics.

Whether these potentials are realized is an open question. New “rapid authoring” eLearning tools hit the market at a dizzying pace and they don’t always play well with existing training infrastructure in a workplace.

Technological Challenges

In a multi-billion-dollar industry – Forbes reports the eLearning market will reach a whopping $325 billion by 2025 – there are bound to be a lot of flashy products.

One problem learning designers commonly encounter when test-driving these new tools is how they fit into the existing learning management systems (LMS) in their workplaces and organizations. Your LMS might be fairly well organized and cohesive. Or it might be several decades’ worth of materials in a database. The person tasked with training new employees, whether a learning designer or not, may have little responsibility for the existing training architecture in your organization when it’s time to upgrade.

The challenge is multifaceted. How many of the following questions have you asked?

  • How can a training course optimize learning for employees, without consuming hundreds of hours of time in development?
  • Can a new eLearning course utilize older materials without coming out looking like a Frankenstein’s monster?
  • Are there technologies that can create a more immersive learning environment without investing in virtual reality hardware or other expensive computer upgrades?
  • Can’t we integrate the training content already out there on the web about this equipment instead of writing a course from scratch?
  • Is there a more engaging way to present material, and show how it’s all related?
  • How can we tell if an employee is actually looking at all this stuff?

The answers to these and other questions will naturally depend on your particular workplace, the nature of the job, and the needs of your employees. However, for each of the above problems, High-Res eLearning offers a powerful solution.

How High-Res eLearning Boosts Learning

High-Res eLearning is built to work cohesively with your existing material and course design systems, to deepen the contextual learning of your employees, and measure their progress using easily interpreted visual metrics.

A High-Res eLearning module is built around a series of ultra-high-resolution photographs, up to 225 megapixels, that take a learner into the workplace in a logical sequence. The scenes allow a learner to explore at their own pace and zoom as deeply as they like to examine items down to their smallest detail. The act of zooming and panning in a scene creates an immersive environment. It also keeps every object, whether controls of a machine or tools in an operating room, in their proper context.

As a learner explores a scene, he or she encounters interactive “hotspots” assigned to areas of the photograph. These hotspots can be general regions of a workspace – an entire production line – or tiny objects measuring only a few pixels across, such as a button on a machine. Clicking on the hotspot opens up supplementary materials like descriptions, links to manuals and websites, video and audio content, challenge questions, and more.

The learner takes as long as needed to explore and work through the hotspots within each photograph. The learning happens within the context of the high-resolution image, facilitating a cognitive process known as “item-context binding,” in which new information is encoded in the brain along with the contextual images, helping the information to better “stick” in the learner’s memory.

The activity of the learner within this virtual course environment is highly assessible. Analytic tools record and measure the engagement level of the learner as they click on hotspots and spend time in the modules. The data is used to generate heat maps, scatter plots, and charts to help you visualize the success of your training program.

Create A Learning Culture

No technology can substitute for a cultural approach to education.

The most effective training programs take a holistic approach to learning. Learning isn’t a “one and done” procedure – it’s a cumulative, lifelong process. The best way to foster effective learning in the workplace is to embed it in the environment, attitude, and morale of your workplace.

A learning culture can pay dividends over time in the form of higher productivity and quality of work. Better training is associated with higher morale and thus less turnover. Less turnover, in turn, means less time and money spent on training new people. It seems like a no-brainer.

But a culture of education requires some upfront costs. It means an investment of development time, financial resources, and most importantly, a commitment by management and employees themselves to real learning – not just going through the motions of online module completions and certificates.

Training a new hire is an intensive task that may involve the attention of more experienced workers and managers as well as online courseware. In the hard skills occupations of healthcare and manufacturing, periods of apprenticeship can last for weeks or months. The value of this on-the-job training is that new employees acquire the type of immersive learning that only “being there” can provide.

The cost of providing it, however, is lost production time from experienced employees, slow upskilling of new hires, and the potential for accidents or lapses in quality control. And that’s if everyone is doing what they are supposed to.

Unfortunately, not all new employees are given the undivided attention of the best workers and managers. All too often, businesses are compelled to throw new hires into the mix and have them learn as they go. Without a learning culture in place, the training process is fraught with peril.

We’re Here to Help.

The Klixel8 team is a resource for solving the unique training challenges of your workplace. We work with you to develop your High-Res eLearning course and supercharge workplace training in your organization.

If you’d like to see for yourself how High-Res eLearning can boost learning, request a live demo. Contact Klixel8 at https://klixel8.com/#live-demo or call us toll free at (833) KLIXEL8 (833.554.9358) to learn more.

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Why the CCAF Model Works for Designing High-Res eLearning

High-Res eLearning provides a deeply contextual learning environment for hard-skills training subjects. This powerful new tool in the world of online course design activates memory-processing regions of the brain through the use of extremely high-resolution photography, interactive lessons, and multimedia. The technology enables course designers and employers to create training modules that better simulate physical workspaces and provide self-directed learning that trainees retain long after the lesson is done.

In previous articles published on the Klixel8 blog, we’ve reviewed the basics of creating your first High-Res eLearning course and the cognitive science that supports using context-based learning. In this article, we take a look at the CCAF model of eLearning, compare various course design methods, and review some time-tested principles of instructional course design.

Defining the Problem with Training Courses

Consider the following scenario. Say you’re a new employee at a small printing company, hired to prepare plates in the prepress department, to be used on large commercial printers in an adjoining facility. You’ve never performed platemaking before.

The human resources director has seated you in a stuffy corner, at a desk being used to store old computer parts, to work through a prepress training course. You’re clicking through slide after slide of an uninspired PowerPoint. This “interactive training course” consists of a monotonous audio recording, reading the bullet-pointed text in front of you. Every once in a while, a bit of ancient clipart adorns a slide like a hieroglyphic, pointing the way for you to click “next.”

Next. Next. Next. And at the end of this training module is a short 20-question multiple-choice test. You fumble through the test, and then a screen reveals your score: 17 out of 20. You passed! Congratulations! Print your certificate! Will you ever know what questions you missed, or how you guessed correctly on others? You print off your results and take them to the human resources director.

All ready to start platemaking in prepress, right?

No, of course not. It’s unfortunately understood that the real training begins only after a new hire walks onto the shop-floor and is taken under the wing of a manager or experienced worker.

The results of inefficient or ineffective training are numerous. Man-hours are lost to “upskilling” new employees. More worktime is lost by diverting experienced employees into training.

Inadequate training results in mistakes in production, resulting in compromised quality or safety. Poor training also leads to more turnover, more frustration, and lost time and profits for a company.

What is the CCAF Model?

CCAF – an acronym for Context, Challenge, Activity, and Feedback – is an instructional framework developed by learning solutions company Allen Interactions that addresses inadequacies in eLearning courses. CCAF helps designers create learning experiences that are “meaningful, memorable, motivational, and measurable,” according to Linda Rening, Director of Training Design at Anaplan.

The CCAF model in a nutshell

  • Context – a relevant framework for learning, including prior knowledge and the situation in which the lessons will be applied.
  • Challenge – the rationale behind the lesson that motivates the learner to use critical thinking.
  • Activity – a meaningful physical response to the challenge.
  • Feedback – information for the learner about their performance that helps them improve.

The High-Res eLearning approach is a natural fit for the CCAF model: A comprehensive scene provides the Context; interactive “hotspots” provide the Challenge; engagement with a virtual space provides the Activity; and instantaneous responses to the challenge questions provide the Feedback. Below, we break these elements down in more detail.

The benefits of the CCAF model become clearer in comparison to traditional eLearning formats, which all too often consist of monotonous – or worse, unchallenging – multiple-choice tests based on textual information.

Traditional eLearning models

“Traditional” may seem like an unusual word to describe eLearning, since online courses are relatively new in the grand scheme of things. Moreover, if you are undertaking the creation of a digital learning course for the first time, much of what is already well established in the eLearning realm will be new to you.

But even if you’ve yet to design your first course, you’re likely familiar with the standard instructor-led training (ILT) course design that finds expression in PowerPoint click-throughs and text-heavy modules. ILT courses are a form of direct instruction: the instructor presents information and the learner receives it.

Beyond the simplest ILT courses, traditional eLearning modules vary in complexity; eLearning consultancy Chapman Alliance defines courses by the amount of interactive content that goes into them, and by the time it takes to develop them.

  • Level 1 (Basic) consist of simple pages of content, perhaps some embedded video, slides, along with reading, followed by test questions.
  • Level 2 (Interactive) allows “learners to perform virtual ‘try it’ exercises” with more multimedia activities.
  • Level 3 (Advanced) employ “Highly interactive, possibly simulation or serious game-based, use of avatars, custom interactions, award-winning caliber courseware” content.

As you might expect, the higher-level eLearning courses require more time to develop. You might not expect how much more time is involved in the development of the more interactive traditional eLearning courses, however.

While a simple ILT course might take 22 hours of work to create one finished hour of learning – a substantial investment in its own right – according to a Chapman Alliance survey of learning development professionals, a highly developed Level 3 course could take over 700 hours of work to produce a single hour of learning! Some companies reported expending upwards of 2,000 hours of work for one hour of courseware.

For most companies and organizations in need of workplace training courses, that amount of time investment is simply prohibitive. Little wonder, then, that many companies continue to implement the instructor-led training style of courses, sitting a new employee in an unoccupied cubicle to read manuals, click through static PowerPoints, and answer test questions for their job readiness certifications.

Unfortunately, the old way of doing things, even when it is recognized as inadequate, is too often considered the best option on the table. Klixel8, the team behind High-Res eLearning, wants to change this state of affairs.

The CCAF model and High-Res eLearning

How can a company create an eLearning course that is immersive and customized to individual learners, with adequately measurable outcomes – without sacrificing hundreds of hours of time in development?

In this grid, we see a comparison of different eLearning modalities. High-Res eLearning is at the top, followed by the 3 levels of eLearning courses discussed above, along with text-based eLearning at the bottom. Across the top of the grid are considerations derived from the CCAF model.

CCAF – Context

High-Res eLearning brings the benefits of ultra-deep zooming and panning capabilities to 24-megapixel-plus images to the digital learning experience. These technologies support a cognitive process called “item-context binding” to enhance memory in learning, fulfilling the “context” category of CCAF in a way that the traditional eLearning models simply cannot.

How does it work? By using extremely large, sharp images, High-Res eLearning presents the full scene of a machine or other workspace for a learner to explore down to the tiniest detail. The act of zooming in and out within the broader context helps the brain process visual and spatial information more deeply, binding information about individual items to their proper context. Prior knowledge is also activated through this more immersive learning experience.

CCAF – Challenge

As a learner zooms into a High-Res eLearning image and hovers over objects, important portions of the scene are activated as “hotspots.” Clicking on a hotspot reveals multimedia, textual information, and challenge questions.

One immediate benefit of this format: The learner can be tested throughout the course, not simply at the end, without leaving the scene of the lesson. This better assures that the content provided is sufficiently challenging, clearly relevant to the learner, and more memorable because it takes place in context.

CCAF – Activity

Course designers have long sought to boost Human-Computer Interaction in eLearning by incorporating multimedia elements that go beyond simple multiple-choice questions or more passive forms of presentation.

Even with the higher levels of traditional eLearning, however, many courses do not go far beyond requiring learners to “click next” to activate a new portion of a module. The immersive context of High-Res eLearning, by contrast, activates a learning process similar to that achieved through virtual reality or simulators.

CCAF – Feedback

Adult learners benefit from immediate feedback during training, since the purpose of a training course is a practical one – typically to ready a learner for a new job or task.

As a learner answers challenge questions built into a High-Res eLearning course, meaningful feedback is provided instantly. This feedback serves as a guide for further learning and stimulates self-direction and fuller assimilation of the material. Interactive feedback contributes a form of guided instruction that improves learning outcomes by more actively involving the learner in the delivery of the lesson itself.

“Why do I need to know this?”

Finally, a word of advice on learning design. Learning courses should strive to answer the question that arises in the minds of all adult learners: “Why do I need to know this?”

Designing your course around the answer to that question will ensure your lessons are more “meaningful, memorable, motivational, and measurable,” in the spirit of CCAF.

Set Concrete Goals

The concepts embodied in CCAF are not new to education. The principles of creating engaging, rigorous, and measurable lessons have been around for as long as good teachers have been working to systematize lesson plans.

Even if you aren’t a professional educator, knowing some “best practices” of teaching can help you create more effective employee training courses. One important step in creating a lesson is formulating concrete goals.

Ask yourself: What outcomes would I like to see?

Goals are the big picture outcomes you want, and the point of thinking of them concretely is so you have a more formal game plan to get there. This thought process helps create a better lesson for your learner, to get the outcomes you want.

Before beginning any course design, try to put your goals into precise language. They should be specific and observable. They should also take an individual learner’s needs into consideration, striking a balance between being attainable and challenging enough to engage your learner. And perhaps most importantly, the results should be measurable.

Start by asking yourself a few simple questions: What will your learner be able to do differently after your eLearning course? Is that change measurable? How will you measure it? Your objectives should describe that change in your learner.

This planning will help you set parameters on how to create your content, and how much of it to include in your eLearning course.

Don’t tell, show

At the end of the day, your training course should be geared toward more than laying out information that an employee simply reads through, with the assumption that upon completion he or she then “knows.” The outcome of your training course is not abstract knowledge – it is the demonstration of that knowledge, ultimately through its application in the real world.

High-Res eLearning is a game-changing technology for digital courses, because its zooming and panning capabilities support contextual learning at a level unattainable through most traditional eLearning formats, without the hundreds of hours of work.

To learn more about creating High-Res eLearning courses for your company or organization, or integrating the technology into your existing workplace training, talk to the experts at Klixel8.

Give us a call toll free at (833) KLIXEL8 (833.554.9358), or register for a live demo and see the power of High-Res eLearning in action: https://klixel8.com/#live-demo.

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Do I Need a Pro Photographer for High-Res eLearning, or Can I DIY It?

High-Res eLearning is a gamechanger in workplace training courses because it provides employers and educational course designers the ability to create truly immersive environments for learners.

Unlike traditional eLearning formats, High-Res eLearning modules present material about procedures, work tools and machines, and tasks in the fullest context of ultra-high resolution images. When learners are engaged in contextually rich visual and spatial environments, information is processed more easily and fully, with better retention of knowledge.

Do you have the right equipment and skill to create photographs appropriate for High-Res eLearning course design? What exactly is “high resolution,” and why does it matter? What if you only have a smartphone?

Previous articles in this series have covered the following topics:

In this article, we discuss photographing your workplace for your High-Res eLearning modules, including what type of camera to use, lighting tips, and best practices for getting the most out of your photoshoot.

Do I Need a High-End Camera for High-Res eLearning?

As the name suggests, High-Res eLearning courses are built using very high resolution photographs, ideally between 24 and 225 megapixels (MP). This allows learners to zoom deeply into every part of an image.

A megapixel is one million pixels. That means your images will be huge – and necessarily so. High-Res eLearning is built around the understanding that our brains better process, retain, and recall information that is introduced in context, through “item-context binding” in the hippocampus. For that reason, High-Res eLearning utilizes high resolution photography as an integral part of sound lesson design, not a flashy technical gimmick.

A point about pixels: The word “pixel” is short for “pics” and “element.” And a pixel is pretty much what the word sounds like: it is the smallest element in a digital picture.

Because a pixel is a tiny sample of an image, the more samples that an image contains, and the tinier those samples are, the more accurate the representation of what you’ve photographed. If one hundred thousand pixels come together to resemble something in a blocky way, a million pixels would look a lot smoother and more accurate because they’d be a lot smaller. Makes sense, right?

In general, a digital camera’s MP rating refers to the number of display “elements” it has in the dimensions of a photo. If a photograph is 7,000 by 5,000 pixels, that means the camera that produced it is capable of 35 million pixels, or 35 MP.

A minimum of 24 megapixels will provide the framework to create High-Res eLearning modules in which the broadest regions and smallest details of a photograph can be activated as hotspots, creating a content-rich, contextual learning environment. Images of 24 megapixels will also allow for more flexibility when it comes to framing and editing your scenes.

All that said, when it comes to photo quality, all the megapixels in the world won’t matter if your camera hardware isn’t up to the job.

Not all cameras are created equally

Success in taking quality High-Res eLearning images depends on a combination of things: the quality of the camera’s internal sensor that captures the light; how accurately that light is funneled into the camera via the lens; the camera settings you choose; the lighting; and, ultimately, how well you take the picture.

Q: Do I need a professional-grade camera?

A: Yes. A professional full frame DSLR or mirrorless camera with a resolution rating of 24MP or higher is best. Second best would be a quality 24MP or higher “pro-sumer” digital camera with a full frame or crop sensor.

Point-and-shoot cameras, micro four-third cameras, and smartphones – ideal for some uses because of their portability and ease of use – cannot produce images with sufficient sharpness and resolution for High-Res eLearning.  Their sensors are simply too small and their built-in lenses too limiting for the job.

The importance of a good lens

Good glass, as professional photographers call their lens, is just as important as the camera you use. A big part of what makes a tack-sharp image is how well a lens is constructed, and how accurately it funnels light into your camera. Klixel8 recommends the following:

If you can afford the top of the line glass, purchase two or three prime lenses. Choose a prime wide-angle lens for those wide scenes where you need to photograph lots of workspace. Choose a quality rectilinear prime lens (or two) with focal lengths of 35mm and 85mm for narrower scenes or close-up shots.

If your budget is more limited, choose a well-reviewed mid-grade wide lens, plus one quality zoom lens. That combination will give you great flexibility in capturing everything from the factory floor down to the precision screws in an assembly.

If possible, avoid using a lens that comes bundled with a pro-sumer camera. These kit lenses vary in quality. Mileage will vary as to how sharp an image they can produce.

Take a stand!

Let us level with you: A sturdy tripod is a must for your photo shoot.

Even with the best camera and lens in hand, your lighting on point, and everything else in place, crystal clear images are not guaranteed. Why? Because you’ve got a heart beating in your chest, and if that camera is in your hand, the most minuscule jiggle – including your heartbeat – will introduce unwanted fuzziness into your photographs. The stabilization options built in to higher-end cameras cannot eliminate shakes, let alone prevent them, the way a good old-fashioned tripod can.

For deep zooming in an image you want those tiny pixels to be super sharp. Camera shake is your enemy. In addition to a tripod, Klixel8 recommends adding a remote shutter trigger.

Both of these pieces of equipment are low cost compared to your camera and lenses, and these two items will up your game considerably in hi-res photography. If you want to save a few bucks, skip the remote trigger and set your camera to click two seconds after you depress the shutter button.

Lighting and Photo Quality

Lighting is nearly as important as the camera when it comes to producing high-quality photos – which makes sense when you understand that a camera is like an eye: its function as an optical instrument is to process light. No light, no picture. Bad light? Bad picture.

Good light? Well, it doesn’t solve everything, but with proper lighting, you’re well on your way to producing a good picture, even if you don’t have a top-of-the-line dream camera.

Not too hot, not too cold…

Optimum lighting is the “just right” for capturing interior environments. When preparing pictures for High-Res eLearning, photographers should strive to capture scenes in good lighting. Colors will be true, and the subject of interest in your images will be neither obscured by dark shadows nor blown out with bright highlights.

From a cost perspective, natural lighting is very affordable. Unfortunately, many workplaces lack good natural light. In an indoor location with few windows, overhead lighting can offset less than ideal natural lighting. Lights near workstations and machines can also be used to help maintain detail and color fidelity in your photos.

If possible, use daylight-rated LED bulbs in light fixtures to provide natural light quality to your photos. You may also want to experiment turning on or off various lights in your work environment. When possible, avoid mixed types of light sources, especially fluorescent or sodium lights which impart greenish or pinkish tints that are notoriously difficult to correct in editing software.

Even with less than ideal lighting, using proper white balance and aperture settings on your camera, along with simple photo lights and reflectors, can greatly improve lighting conditions.

If your lighting is less than ideal, we offer an additional technical tip: shoot your high-res images either in RAW only or with the RAW plus JPG setting.

RAW photo files can be “tuned up” in photo editing software such as Photoshop. JPG images cannot. A remarkable amount of correction can be accomplished after the fact with RAW photo files and Photoshop. Shadowy areas can be made clearer, overly bright areas toned down, colors improved, and off-color tints from mixed light sources can be corrected to appear as if the photos were shot in natural daylight.

Can I Use a Smartphone to Create High-Res eLearning Courses?

Q: I don’t have professional gear. Can’t I just use my smartphone to create a High-Res eLearning course?

A: Yes, you can – as a pre-planning tool to create your course storyboard.

Newer smartphones cameras have resolution ratings of 10MP or more. A few smartphones even boast hi-res ratings comparable to professional digital cameras. But the bottom line is that they are currently nowhere near the quality possible from cameras that meet the megapixel, lens, and sensor specifications described above.

Again, a smartphone’s advantage – being a pocket-sized camera – is its disadvantage in terms of the size of sensor and lens it can accommodate. However, your smartphone is an invaluable tool when it comes to designing your High-Res eLearning course.

Klixel8 recommends taking photos with a smartphone to produce a storyboard for your course modules.

Get your story straight

Creating a storyboard brings two primary benefits:

First, the process of taking photos will give you a clearer idea yourself of what you need to include in your eLearning program. There is an axiom in education that you don’t truly know a subject until you teach it to someone else. In other words, in the process of planning a lesson, educators often hone in on what is really most essential about the information.

In mocking up a storyboard with your own images, you’ll refine what you need your trainees to learn and find the most direct way to present that knowledge. This process of getting inside the gears of the workflow has long-term benefits in developing your workplace training program.

Second, while your storyboard may not suffice as a finished High-Res eLearning course, it will serve as the perfect “shot list” for a professional photographer. Using your images as a guide, a pro can efficiently recreate your scenes in the span of an afternoon.

Many freelance professionals have the high-end gear, lighting and shooting knowledge along with Photoshop and post-production software and skills to produce great quality hi-res imagery.

Ask to see their commercial portfolio. Your eyes will tell you if they are up to the task. Most can deliver finished images that that meet or exceed the 24MP or greater requirement for hi-res deep zooming, and their prices are often quite reasonable.

The Klixel8 team can vet a photographer you’re considering, or we’re happy to arrange a site visit by one of our professional photographers to finalize your images.

Want to learn more? Our experts are here to answer any questions you have about developing a High-Res eLearning program in your company or organization.

Contact us today for a live demonstration at https://klixel8.com/#live-demo, or call us toll free at (833) KLIXEL8 (833.554.9358).

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How to Pick the Right Scenes for High-Res eLearning

Procedural training is a type of workplace and vocational education that offers lessons in context. The benefit of procedural training is that it walks a learner through a defined process step by step.

This “hard skills” education has been a challenge that eLearning designers have struggled to recreate using traditional online learning approaches, since virtual learning by computer often removes the content of a lesson from the context in which it is best learned.

The High-Res eLearning approach overcomes this challenge by providing an immersive environment where learners interact with items in a scene, simulating the step-by-step process of a procedure.

Klixel8 has showcased the application of High-Res eLearning in a dental clinic. Beyond dentistry, the technology has applications across healthcare, manufacturing, aviation, and much more.

In previous articles, we have explored the cognitive science that supports using High-Res eLearning, why learning in context is so important for workplace training, how zooming and panning in high-resolution photographs can enhance learning, how to approach designing your first course, and how to start implementing a High-Res eLearning program in your organization.

Once you’re ready to create your first High-Res eLearning course, it’s time to identify scenes to photograph for your training modules. In this article, we’ll take a look at two examples from other industries to demonstrate how appropriate framing of work scenes can provide a scaffolding for eLearning.

What makes a good scene for High-Res eLearning?

Let’s first step into the flight deck of an Embraer Regional Jet, or ERJ135. As the name suggests, the ERJ135 is a smaller aircraft frequently flown for regional passenger transport and business travel. The planes are compact and efficient, utilizing a lean flight crew and state-of-the-art controls.

Our High-Res eLearning module starts with a host welcoming the learner to explore a wide view of the cockpit with some basic introductory information and zoom, forward, and back menu options on the bottom.

In the photograph, we can see the captain’s seat, first officer’s seat, and instrument panels tightly packed with gauges and controls. This glass cockpit is equipped with a Honeywell Primus 1000 avionics suite, which consists of five CRT display screens.

All of the displays serve specific purposes with which pilots must be intimately familiar. From left to right, the system includes a primary flight display; a multi-function display; in the center, the EICAS, or engine indication and crew alerting system; and on the co-pilot side, the corresponding primary flight and multi-function displays.

Zooming in on the EICAS controls in the center, we see the information in the left panel of the High-Res eLearning module change to include supplementary multimedia materials – a video about EICAS displays and a PDF overview of the ERJ135 Cockpit produced by Embraer.

The panel also prompts the learner to select the N1 gauge located in the top left of the CRT display. When the learner hovers over the gauge, a hotspot will activate the area. Clicking on the gauge will open up more multimedia options along with a challenge question. These materials are accessed without leaving the scene of the flight deck, allowing the learner to take in information in its natural context.

Why High-Res eLearning is an Optimal Tool for Pilot Training

As airlines expand fleets to meet “surging aviation demand,” half a million new pilot jobs are projected in the next two decades. The time and cost of pilot training are exacerbating a shortage of qualified new pilots, particularly in the US and Europe where older pilots are retiring in large numbers.

Pilot training, particularly in the United States, is rigorous; new pilots must typically log upwards of 1,500 hours in flight and simulation. And while there are full flight simulators (FFS) used in the industry, the scheduling of FFS training is often constrained by lack of available time slots.

The High-Res eLearning approach is one viable preparation tool before a pilot enters the FFS. As we can see in the high-resolution images of ERJ135 flight deck.

Learners can zoom in on the panels to familiarize themselves with model-specific features and, with the guided instruction of the eLearning module, follow a preflight checklist on the EICAS.

Although there are similarities among aircraft, every make and model of plane has a different cockpit, and pilots must be deeply familiar with the craft they fly. Even seasoned pilots are required to undertake training in “zero flight time” simulators when converting from one aircraft type to another, along with regular recurrent training to retain their commercial airline pilot qualifications. Online and eLearning courseware, therefore, potentially has a place for pilots of every experience level, not only new pilots in training.

With the benefits of both highly contextualized learning and a highly self-directed and flexible format, High-Res eLearning is an optimal complement to other forms of instruction already in use in the industry.

High-Res eLearning Scenes in Precision Work

Now, let’s take a look at an entirely different kind of work. In this High-Res eLearning course, the learner is introduced to Melissa, an electrical technician who is repairing electrolytic capacitors (ECs) on a printed circuit board (PCB).

In this module, Melissa looks through a magnification tool at a section of PCB she has secured with clamps. As Melissa replaces a component of the PCB, the learner is invited to zoom and pan on the ultra-high-resolution image of the work area to locate the EC515.

After identifying the correct EC and activating its hotspot, the left side panel of the module changes to provide additional content, including a PowerPoint on how to replace the EC515, and a link to additional material on testing ECs.

Again, the content is presented directly in the visual and spatial environment of the procedure itself. In the wide view of Melissa’s workstation, the learner sees everything in context as if they were standing beside her as a trainee. Along with the PCB, the learner observes all the items associated with repair and testing in relation to one another in the workspace.

The sense of scale and relationships between different tools and components provide “memory anchors” of visual and spatial information, improving the learner’s retention of the lesson content related to each part.

High-Res eLearning is a Natural Training Tool for Electronics Manufacturing

PCBs are a booming industry, with a market of more than $60.2 billion worldwide. Electrolytic capacitors are used in power supplies for computers, audio components, and other electronic devices. ECs are among the most popular capacitors because of their small size relative to their voltage capacity.

Workplace training in electronics manufacturing is naturally geared toward precision and careful attention to the most minute components.

At the same time, this is not an artisan watchmaker’s workshop – production of electronics takes place on a mass scale requiring a workforce capable of assembly line interactions with other workers, computers, and machines in an efficient, shared space. High-Res eLearning provides the context that is critical for a learner to appreciate aspects of the work that simply cannot be conveyed through traditional online training coursework.

Using High-Res eLearning in Your Company

“But I’m not running an airline or electronic company,” you might be thinking, “so how does this apply to me?” The fact is, the challenges facing these industries cut across much of the economy. Airlines confront a “gray tsunami” of pilot retirements just as the demand for air travel and transport is exploding. Electronics manufacturers require workers who are adept at both precision linework and complex troubleshooting.

Both situations require time- and cost-efficient procedural training that stimulates higher-order thinking in employees. These are fundamentally the requirements of every company that wants to thrive in the coming decades – whether they operate in healthcare, logistics, agriculture, energy, or another sector.

In addition to the examples presented above, High-Res eLearning is ideal for providing refresher courses, periodic safety certifications, or general continuing education for all employees in a company.

For example, a High-Res eLearning module could be used to introduce new equipment or processes to employees. With the addition of a new machine to a manufacturing process, workers can safely and independently begin familiarizing themselves with its components through a High-Res eLearning module. Workers can zoom in, click on hotspots that populate the image, and learn what each element of the control panel does. As they explore, manuals, videos, tutorials and more appear in the side panel.

What are the right scenes for High-Res eLearning?

Virtually all industries require some procedural training, and High-Res eLearning is entirely customizable to meet the needs of individual companies or job positions. What makes a scene “right,” therefore, is largely dependent upon the desired outcome of a training course.

Below we discuss some features that good scenes have in common, which can help you identify the right scenes for your own High-Res eLearning course:

Context-rich

In general, good scenes capture subject matter in its context. In the flight deck, we see everything from the seats of the pilot and co-pilot down to the tiniest switches on the radio and data on screen. In the circuit board repair module, we can stand beside Melissa as she works and zoom in down to the single smallest component of an electrolytic capacitor.

In building a High-Res eLearning course, you will be creating a virtual walk-through of the relevant areas of a workplace to provide the most immersive training to a new hire. The act of visually familiarizing oneself with a place activates regions of the brain responsible for memory formation, and recall of relevant, analogous prior knowledge.

Wide-View

Photographs should be the fullest possible view of a work area to provide the greatest contextualization of information. Using very high-resolution imagery, zooming and panning can promote independent exploration and more self-direction in the learning process.

These learning behaviors can markedly improve the retention of information, with less of a burden on the learner’s “cognitive load.” Learning becomes more immersive and less rote memorization.

Well-photographed

A workstation can be captured in entirety from a direct front view, as shown in the plane cockpit example. An area can also be photographed from an angle of natural observation, with a worker engaged in the procedural task being taught in the lesson.

It seems obvious to state, but the most successful scenes for High-Res eLearning are those that are photographed using a high-resolution camera and natural lighting. The best images are captured under lighting conditions where all relevant details are clear and dark shadows are avoided. In our next article, Klixel8 will provide more tips on cameras and getting the most out of your images.

To learn more about designing your first High-Res eLearning course, contact the Klixel8 team toll free at (833) KLIXEL8 (833.554.9358). Our developers and educational experts can answer questions, provide guidance, and work with you to create a complete, custom training program for your company.

To see the power of High-Res eLearning in action, register today for a live demonstration at https://klixel8.com/#live-demo.

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We Don’t Have High-Res eLearning – So How Do We Get Started?

Many businesses struggle with how best to get a new hire up to speed. Do you treat training as a part of Human Resources paperwork? Do you sit them in an unused cubicle or workstation and have them pore over manuals? Do you tie them to the apron strings of your most experienced employee to shadow for a couple of weeks?

In the age of eLearning and online courses, much more is possible in the realm of workplace training.

Courses can be created on the computer that are both efficient from a cost standpoint and effective in learning outcomes. Both are important when it comes to your company’s bottom line. But you may feel as though you don’t even know where to begin.

In reality, you’re probably closer than you think to creating and implementing a custom training program. With High-Res eLearning and patented course technology from Klixel8, employers can develop training programs that are immersive and rigorous, facilitate self-directed learning, and measure learners’ progress at a granular level.

In a previous article, we provide an overview of what makes for a successful training course. In this article, we will explain how to get started.

How to Get Started with High-Res eLearning

Q: Does it take a lot of pre-planning or equipment to get started with High-Res eLearning?

A: No! You’ve likely got almost everything you need already. All you really need to get started is:

  • a clear idea of what you’d like to get out of your course
  • training know-how
  • a good camera and lighting

The most important aspect of developing a training program, of course, is a clear conception of what you’d like to accomplish with it.

1. Clear Goals

In teaching someone brand new to a subject, “start at the beginning” is good practical advice. Certainly, a course designer hopes to present material in a logical manner, so the learner is not overwhelmed and the lessons make sense.

Yet paradoxically, if you don’t have the end goal in mind for what you hope to accomplish with a course, your first steps might not be as well directed from the start as you need them to be. Moreover, when objectives are unclear, establishing metrics to assess learning progress is also harder.

Start with your desired outcome. What is your goal? Typically, the desired outcome of training employees well is well-trained employees, of course. Perhaps you’d like to increase production on a machine or line. Or maybe you’d like to see safety ratings improve. Maybe you just want to see employees get things done with less managerial oversight. But what is the goal beyond your goal? It’s helpful to look at the task from “35,000 feet” in answering this question because it delineates your strategic vision from your tactics.

The benefits of well-trained employees are many. More capable employees are more independent, meaning less micromanaging and more productivity. Well-trained workers are also more confident, which tends to correlate to a happier and thus more stable workforce – and that means less employee turnover and costs associated with training new hires. Well-trained workers also return dividends in the form of better workplace health and safety, and better-quality products or services.

All of these benefits ultimately translate to a better bottom line. So, in a sense, whatever your specific needs in a training course may be, the fundamental desired outcome of training is a more profitable company. That is your strategic vision.

Start at that end result, and build your training program around clear objectives that address the gap between the goals of your company and the performance of your employees. The tactical objectives that support your strategy – increased productivity, better safety ratings, more independent workers – are all good prospective goals for training courses. They are also highly assessible through benchmarks, testing, and analytics.

Now, let’s go over a few key components to building your first lesson:

2. Training Knowledge

Take a moment to audit your present training resources. If you have employees, then obviously you have some basic procedures and coursework in place to train them. Depending on the type, number, and complexity of different tasks a new hire will be doing, your training period may span a few days to several weeks. You may or may not have an assessment procedure in place – aside from performance reviews once they’re out there doing the work.

When implementing High-Res eLearning, many of the materials you currently utilize can be integrated into the system. There’s no need to start completely from scratch. Instead, we’ll be building modules that incorporate media like manuals, videos, and links within a media-rich learning environment. Perhaps your training materials consist of PDFs, printed materials, or computer course work.

Assemble all of your current materials. Create a special folder or directory in your computer to organize it in one location.

Some of your material may indispensable, but older or a little dated. That’s OK! If you have original printed material not currently in PDF, scan it.

For equipment manuals, many companies now provide digital copies on their websites or by request.

Another potential source of useful training content is YouTube. If you already have in-house training videos – great! If not, take the time to review what is freely available on YouTube. Manufacturers of specialized tools and equipment may have introductory videos of their wares online that answer frequently asked questions. Community colleges and trade schools are also reliable sources for simple video introductions to work topics.

As you compile your materials, keep in mind that your first High-Res eLearning course will be a base to build upon. It doesn’t replace other types of content; it augments what is already on hand and serves as a foundation to build more in a unified way.

Presenting all your materials within a context helps organize disparate information around the “memory anchors” provided by high-quality images in your High-Res eLearning modules. Beyond creating a cohesive environmental menu for your existing materials, the Klixel8 team offers services to help you develop new and better supplemental sources. Contact us to learn more.

3. A Good Camera and Lighting

High-Res eLearning modules are built on a series of extremely high-resolution photographs of workstations, rooms, machines, or any other areas of the workplace that employees need to learn about. These wide-view scenes provide natural context, which helps a learner better retain information about tools and procedures.

Items in the photographs are activated by hotspots that call up supplemental content in the manuals, videos, and links you’ve assembled. These hotspots can be broad regions of the photograph, or consist of an area only a few pixels across to highlight a small tool or button in the scene.

So what is “a good camera”? In general, the higher the megapixel rating of a camera, the better the photo quality. A megapixel is one million pixels. This means that when viewed on a computer or other digital screen, an image with more pixels will allow for deeper zoom before it becomes indistinct (pixelated).

High-Res eLearning courses are built using photographs ideally between 30 and 225 megapixels. To get the most out of your modules, we recommend using a camera with a minimum of 24 MP.

Lighting is one of the most important variables in photography. It can also be the most fickle, depending on the time of day, weather, and the location of your photoshoot. In an indoor location with little “natural” lighting available, good overhead lighting is still important to the sharpness of your photographs. In order to create photos that allow learners to zoom in very closely on small items, deep shadows or low light should be avoided.

In future articles, we’ll discuss more about how to pick the right scenes, and how to photograph them with eLearning best practices in mind.

Tips on Getting Started with High-Res eLearning

Once you’ve identified your desired outcomes, come up with a general outline of what your employees need to know, assembled your materials, and you’ve got a good camera, you’re well on your way to creating your first High-Res eLearning course.

The following are a few tips and insights from the Klixel8 team:

Get Camera Ready

On the day you take photographs, prepare your employees by giving them a head’s up. When the situation allows, your employees can be in the frame of photographs. The presence of people in a scene makes it naturally more memorable to the learner, research has shown. It also makes it more relatable and “real world” to a new employee to see their coworkers performing the tasks in which they are being trained.

Klixel8 offers professional photography planning services to assist you, including arranging for a photographer to capture the perfect shots on site, according to your specifications.

Take a Broad View

The scenes you capture should be the fullest views of work areas, rooms, or the shop floor as possible. High-Res eLearning allows for greater contextualization of information, with deep zooming and panning capabilities to promote self-directed learning through independent exploration.

In the next article, we will discuss more about selecting and preparing appropriate scenes for your High-Res eLearning modules.

Activate with Hotspots and Test

High-resolution photography is the foundation for creating an interactive eLearning course with hotspots. As a learner explores a scene, hotspots are activated when they hover over an item or area. These hotspots expand to reveal all the supplemental information you’ve linked, along with challenge questions or descriptions.

Behind the scenes, Klixel8’s backend technology supports powerful analytic tools to help you fully assess the learning process. Scatter plots, heat maps and other visualizations provide instant insights into learner outcomes.

Once you have the fundamentals of your course in place, try it yourself. Click on hotspots, check links, and answer the challenge questions. Familiarize yourself with the analytics by reviewing your own: How long did it take to read through certain supplementary content? What was the run-time to complete the module and examine all the hotspots?

Involve Your Employees

Have your employees do some beta testing for you and offer their feedback. Not only does this give you a better sense of how realistic your expectations are for new hires, it may point to areas of improvement in the knowledge base of your workforce overall.

Most importantly, however, involving employees fosters buy-in and a culture of learning. Employees have unique expertise to offer when it comes to workplace training. They may suggest things that you missed, or come up with a clearer way of explaining a task.

Just as training a new hire is the collective work of your company, developing workplace training is really the product of your entire workforce. Input from your employees on what new hires need to know – and how best to explain it in plain language – is invaluable for course designers.

Connect with Klixel8

Count the developers and eLearning experts at Klixel8 as part of your team. With everything from planning and creative services for supplemental multimedia course materials, to photographic services and technical implementation, we have the expertise to make your High-Res eLearning program a resounding success.

Have questions? Give us a call toll free at (833) KLIXEL8 (833.554.9358).

Want to see a High-Res eLearning module in action? Let us walk you through a live demonstration: https://klixel8.com/#live-demo

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How Does Zooming in High-Res eLearning Help Me Learn?

A key advantage of High-Res eLearning is the ability to visually frame the subject matter in its context.

As discussed in the previous article, context is what gives content relevance that helps information “stick” in the minds of learners.

In this article, we will examine some of the cognitive science and educational theory that supports using the zooming capability of High-Res eLearning in workplace training because of the immersive learning environment it facilitates.

Mental Map-making

Can the act of zooming in on an image really help you learn new information? Let’s consider a hypothetical situation.

Imagine you’re planning a visit by car to the office of professional associates, located in a downtown building in a nearby but relatively unfamiliar city.

You’ve just gotten off the phone with them and you’re looking at the street address on one of their business cards. On the back, you’ve hastily jotted down their “straight shot” directions: “Once you get into Old Town, ignore GPS. They’ve rerouted all the streets to one-ways. If you need parking, hang a left just before the former Met Life building. That’s the second tallest building you see as you’re driving in on eastbound 96.”

Huh? You load up Google Maps on your phone and look at the step-by-step directions that result from typing in their street address. Sure enough, it seems to take you to an entirely different location. You scrutinize the map for clues. Where in the world is the former Met Life building?

What most of us do in this type of situation, of course, is toggle into satellite mode, then drop ourselves into Google Street View. We familiarize ourselves with the landmarks visually, zooming in and panning around to explore.

When we do this, we are orienting ourselves with a series of still images. Those images become associated with the spatial memory we recall as we navigate in the real world.

Spatial memory is partly a function of the hippocampus, a unique region of the brain that researchers believe is responsible for much of our higher-order memory processing. This aspect of memory includes our ability to navigate in everyday life.

Because it is also necessary for survival, spatial memory is deeply encoded in our neural pathways. This makes utilizing such memories efficient on the brain; long-term spatial memories do not heavily contribute to our “cognitive load.” Indeed, in driving to work, we often “zone out” and do not feel taxed by remembering the route. We frequently unconsciously call up locations and information about physical spaces in our minds while being absorbed in other, more demanding tasks.

While other parts of the brain are also engaged in memory formation, the hippocampus is believed to be where information from other regions comes together. It provides a sort of cognitive cross-listing of item and context information processed in other regions of the brain.

Making connections to prior knowledge

The hippocampus helps us process new information by cross-referencing our memories in an analogical way.

An analogy, in the simplest terms, is a comparison between two things for the purpose of clarification. An analogy is often a shorthand way to describe something else.

In order to describe the structure of an atom, for example, you might liken it to the solar system. The nucleus in the center is comparable to the sun, with the electrons as tiny planets revolving around it. Although an atom and the solar system are really very different in their properties, the comparison has practical use. The superficial similarity of their structure allows for a vivid mental picture to be formed.

Analogies are great teaching tools because they help logically draw out similarities between two things in order to strengthen understanding of new material.

And just as we make analogies in our everyday lives, the brain has a way of mapping relationships between similar experiences. In learning, this is called analogical reasoning.

Analogical reasoning is a cognitive process in which the brain forms connections between new information and a similar situation already stored in memory. A memory, called the “base,” serves as a familiar context for new information, called the “target.”

In creating High-Res eLearning courses, designers must take into consideration how to involve both the target – which they bring to the learner – and the base of prior knowledge the learner brings into the course.

Activating the hippocampus in learning

How does analogical reasoning relate to zooming in on an image in an eLearning context?

In a sense, the brain is always learning through analogies, determining how similar new information is to what it has already encountered. This process is efficient, allowing the brain to pull from its vast stores of memories only those solutions and situations similar to present information.

Learning, like memory formation, is ultimately the connection of new information to prior knowledge.

The hippocampus compares the present with past experience, resulting in learning and memory consolidation that allows us to navigate – both in the literal sense of moving around a place and figuratively, in the way we make decisions and change our behavior to avoid future mistakes.

Most importantly, analogical reasoning, when combined with our cognitive navigation ability, enables us not only to internalize our surroundings – it also allows us to formulate new ways of solving problems.

Zooming and panning facilitate the promotion of analogical reasoning by allowing the learner to discover familiar “sub-scenes” within a larger scene. In a workplace training context, these sub-scenes could be a control panel or group of tools within a large photograph that are similar to environments in which a learner has previously worked. The sub-scenes call up the “base” of prior experiences the learner has stored away in memory, and connect them to the “target” of new information presented in the course.

High-Res eLearning Deepens Learning

Designers of eLearning courses have long understood that learners take in more information when more parts of the brain are stimulated. For that reason, photography, charts and other visualizations are highly encouraged.

In traditional eLearning formats, learners typically review several types of media including text, images and other visual representations, videos, and test questions. Learners click through a series of links or screens as they complete modules, then perform assessments at the end.

A limitation of this approach, however, is that for certain types of subjects, the separation of material across multiple screens risks disjointing the learning process.

High-Res eLearning, like Google Street View, allows users to zoom and pan to take in the context of a full scene. In manufacturing, healthcare, and other industries, employers require workplace training courses that provide immersive courses to activate visual and spatial learning in trainees.

Adult learners do best in self-directed, contextual settings. In the process of zooming and moving around in an extremely high-resolution image within a High-Res eLearning module, a learner can take their time to examine an item up close. By zooming out, a learner sees the full setting. They can click on items within in hotspots in the image to learn more without leaving the scene.

Hotspots can be associated with multimedia videos, links to reading, challenge questions, and more. When a learner reads a challenge question and answers it, they receive immediate feedback. One important benefit to this structure is that constructive feedback within the scene promotes retention of the answer.

Cognitively, the process of working through a High-Res eLearning course is closer to the experience of virtual reality than the screen-to-screen modules of traditional online learning.

Zooming and examining a scene independently in a “virtual walk-through” facilitates what researchers call “item-context binding” in the hippocampus. The more association a learner makes between items and context, the more likely the hippocampus is engaged.

In summary, the High-Res eLearning format enhances learning by processing memories of items along with the context in which they appear, binding them in memories that represent the experience as a whole. That contextual representation, when recalled in a new situation, allows the learner to leverage fuller knowledge in new analogical reasoning scenarios with less cognitive load on the process.

Take a tour

Learn more about how High-Res eLearning revolutionizes training courses, and how to get started on your first High-Res eLearning course.

If you’d like to see for yourself how High-Res eLearning is changing the landscape of eLearning, request a live demo. Contact Klixel8 at https://klixel8.com/#live-demo or call us toll free at (833) KLIXEL8 (833.554.9358) to learn more.

The Klixel8 eLearning team has learning designers and technical developers experienced in developing High-Res eLearning applications ready to show you around.

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The Big Picture: Why Learning in Context Matters

In learning, context matters.

Most of us know what it’s like to “cram for the exam.” Like hamsters stuffing their cheeks full of seeds, we humans are capable of stuffing our brains full of information – and then regurgitating all of it out a short time later.

This method often produces adequate essays or good test scores. Once our little mental seeds have been turned out, however, we tend to pack up our belongings and forget much of what we’ve “learned.”

The fact is, of course, that short-term cramming is not the same as “learning” – which is why such a method of study is wholly inadequate for the acquisition of knowledge that can be applied “in the real world.” Teachers at all levels have long grappled with how to ensure students really learn material.

In the workplace, cramming doesn’t cut it. But how can employers provide workplace training that provides genuine understanding in a timely way?

High-Res eLearning is a powerful new tool in the world of course design technology, which allows for unprecedented contextualization of learning. Combined with extremely high-resolution photography, Klixel8 has developed easy-to-implement interactive course tools and analytics that make High-Res eLearning a gamechanger for workforce training across a wide variety of industries.

In previous articles, we’ve explored how High-Res eLearning revolutionizes training courses, and how to get started on your first High-Res eLearning course. In this article, we explain the significance of a contextual approach to training, then take a deeper look at the cognitive science behind why it works.

Understanding by Learning in Context

Really learning material means understanding it. In teaching, whether in a classroom or through an online training or eLearning course, “understanding” is what happens when a learner retains information, integrates it into a body of knowledge in their memory, and builds upon it. It means the learner can demonstrate that they’ve learned by applying their knowledge.

In other words, understanding is about connecting new ideas to prior knowledge. It is also about the use of “big ideas,” not simply recall. This is perhaps more obvious in the workplace than anywhere else.

Depending upon the requirements of a job, training a new hire can be an intensive task involving more experienced workers, online courses and certifications. It may involve a period of formal or informal “apprenticeship” where a new hire shadows other employees for a period of time.

In all of these situations, the greatest value of training is found in the more immersive, contextual settings. This is one of the greatest headaches some employers face when hiring new workers straight out of college. These new hires often come with cutting edge knowledge, great energy, and passion – but lack the necessary orientation that only “being there” can provide.

Putting the puzzle together

Atomized pieces of knowledge are a little like puzzle pieces. Knowing how to operate a particular machine or perform a particular task, for example, is a valuable component of a production line. But it’s not enough for a new hire to jump into a work environment.

Think of a puzzle piece with vibrant, well-defined flowers. You may know nothing about the picture of which it is a necessary part, but you can study the piece closely and learn certain clues about its place in the big picture. Is it an edge piece? Can you tell which side faces up? How close are the flowers to the foreground?

You may be able to discover a bit about the puzzle from studying one piece, but there is so much more left unilluminated without the rest of the pieces or a reference photo of the scene.

A designer of an eLearning course must seek to provide “context clues” for their learners. Only the learner can put the puzzle together in the process of learning, but you must try to provide the proper grounding for them to do that.

When employees truly understand the context of a task – the who, what, when, where, why, and how – they are ready to take off the “training wheels” and become fully productive members of the team.

Presenting Material in Context

A traditional eLearning approach to presenting subject matter limits the ability to contextualize certain topics.

Say you’re training a new dental hygienist on how to sterilize cleaning instruments in an office. A traditional online course would introduce equipment on one screen, a procedure on another, health and standards information on another, and then test the learner on the content. Another module would review another sterilization instrument or process, and continue with screens of instructions, further reading, and a test.

To complete a training course, in other words, a new dental hygienist would need to page through numerous screens and complete knowledge checks. But how much would such a training course truly help a learner understand the context of the content they were learning?

This format may provide ample content, but because the learner is switching from one component piece of knowledge to the next without a reminder of how they fit together, the screen-to-screen movement limits the learner’s ability to absorb and genuinely assimilate content.

High-Res eLearning overcomes this limitation through the use of very high resolution, interactive images that immerse learners in real-world scenes.

Our dental hygienist can become intimately familiar with new sterilization lab equipment by seeing it in a wide view of the actual room where she will be using it, along with the tools and stations associated with it. She can zoom and pan to closely examine individual controls, calling up rich multimedia context linked to hotspots in the image.

Engaged in a responsive environment, she may explore and work at her own pace to absorb information. The act of working through a High-Res eLearning module stimulates the brain’s conversion of experience into knowledge with the help of contextual and visual anchors.

How the Brain Processes Information With Context

Cognitively speaking, learning is a complex process involving multiple parts of the brain. Learning strategies may have developed over centuries, but we’re only now discovering how they work at the neural level.

Why does this matter when designing a training course?

For one thing: The more areas of the brain that are engaged during learning, the more effective and lasting that learning is.

That means the more we unravel the complicated physiological, chemical, electrical neural process of learning, the better we can fine-tune our practical teaching techniques. In other words, understanding the science of learning is a very practical question for anyone trying to teach others.

Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why in the Brain

Research has begun to reveal how parts of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, in particular, interact to process and store memories. These parts of the brain work together to process the “who, what, where, and when” of information, forming connections for higher-order thinking – the “how” and “why.”

The cerebral cortex is the outer layer of the brain, generally understood to be where thoughts, consciousness, and so much of what makes us “human” happens. Components of this general region play big roles in how we learn and perceive the world.

Researchers have conducted MRI scans of the brain to observe at the neurological level how we learn about visual objects in their context.

The prefrontal cortex is the front part of the brain responsible for things like personality, planning, and behavior. One part of the prefrontal cortex, the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, or VLPFC, is responsible for processing the attributes of a specific item, isolated from its surroundings.

During brain scans, the VLPFC is activated when a learner sees an image of an object on a plain white background without any context. This kind of format is common in traditional textbooks, classroom materials, and many eLearning courses. It is useful for clearly labeling parts of an object or providing annotations.

When a learner observes an item in its surroundings, by contrast, several areas of the brain are engaged at once. Along with the VLPFC, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, or DLPFC, is also stimulated in this situation.

The brain is said to engage in “item-context binding” when we observe an item in its context.

In our dental clinic example, a dental hygienist’s VLPFC activates at the sight of a dental mirror illustrated in an eLearning course module. If that mirror is pictured on the dental tray alongside probes, scalers, and other instruments in the context of a sterilization room, our learner’s DLPFC is also activated.

The perirhinal cortex is where the “what” and “who” information about sensory data is defined, research suggests. Another part of the cerebral cortex, it plays an especially important role in taking already highly processed sensory information and forming memories.

The hippocampus is the location for “where” and “when” processing. Spatial and timing information is crucial for memories and contextual understanding, because they provide a sort of informational glue in the learning process.

In coming articles, we will further explore the significance of hippocampal stimulation during learning. Suffice it to say here that research suggests when the hippocampus is activated, a learner is “encoding” information in long-term memory – not simply cramming for short-term recall.

High-Res eLearning Supports Higher-Level Brain Activity

For our dental hygienist new to the job, we can easily see how important a virtual “walk-through” of a workspace becomes for processing all the information about location, tools, and procedures. She needs training that stimulates all the parts of her brain that we’ve just reviewed.

With High-Res eLearning, detailed, interactive photographs maximize the “item-context binding” process that will help learners retain and integrate new information quickly.

The ability to add hotspots to objects of special interest allows for both exclusive focus on those items, and, at the same time, the addition of even more context through multimedia links, interactive quizzes, and descriptions. As a result, more areas of the brain are active in the learning process.

Want to learn more? The Klixel8 eLearning team has learning designers and developers who can answer your questions about how to develop a High-Res eLearning course specifically tailored to your learner’s needs.

For more information and to see a demonstration of how it works in real-time, contact us today: https://klixel8.com/#live-demo. Call us toll free at (833) KLIXEL8 (833.554.9358).

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How to Design Your First High-Res eLearning Course

It’s a frustrating and all-too-familiar conundrum: In order to learn some job skills, “you just have to be there.” Yet in most situations, a new hire can’t simply be plugged into a job and expected to pick it up on the fly. For a complicated task, a written manual doesn’t cut it – employees require thorough and immersive training.

Employers, by the same token, require training programs that allow them to finely customize courses, explain procedures in intimate detail, and measure their employees’ learning progress. For a busy company, creating effective training courses can feel like an overwhelming challenge. Where do you even start?

It’s a challenge, but it doesn’t have to be an ordeal. In this article, we will explain how to create your first course, using new High-Res eLearning technology developed by Klixel8. We’ll also review a few basics about creating successful employee training courses.

Basics of Effective Training Courses

On-the-job training is one of the essential ingredients in a company’s success, across every industry. Everything from operational safety and regulatory compliance to productivity and worker retention are impacted by your workforce training programs.

Creating eLearning courses for your company is an investment. But is proven to be well worth the time and resources.

Why? Employees who are well trained are more self-directed, confident, and happier – ultimately resulting in less turnover and lower costs associated with the training process itself. The active ingredient in this recipe, however, is “well trained.”

Effective training courses are:

1. Goal-oriented

What is the goal you hope to achieve with an online course or training program? Successful company training is designed to address the gap between the goals of your business and the knowledge base and behaviors of your workers. It might sound a bit abstract, but how you approach course planning can make the difference in whether you achieve your objectives or just keep your employees busy.

Before you do anything else, take some time to hone in on your objectives. Is it to improve productivity? Introduce a new technology or product line? Better comply with safety and regulatory standards?

Once you have a clear idea of what business goals you’d like to accomplish, you can begin building your learning modules around actionable steps to get there. Beginning with the end goal in mind makes the design phase much more straightforward. It also makes measuring your learners’ progress more concrete.

Planning goal-oriented courses is a little like planning a vacation. Say you want to drive to a beach resort six hours away. What are your first steps? Probably you pull up a map and a calendar, then start looking at hotel booking options. Probably you do not start by mapping out each gas station you’ll stop to fill up your tank or grab a snack.

2. Tailored to adult learners

On-the-job training is geared to adult learners – a specific type of student with specific needs.

Adults want relevance in training courses. When you design your content, try to answer the question that goes through every student’s mind at some point: “Why do I need to know this?” Explaining why your course materials and testing are important to the job will satisfy this need for relevance.

Adult learners are self-directed. Adults are busy, and they require the ability to work independently, at their own pace. Online courses are popular with adult learners because of their convenience; they are highly customizable for flexible schedules and prior knowledge base.

High-Res eLearning technology helps meet this need for independent learning because it is built in HTML5, utilizing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create an interactive environment that works across all types of devices. The images you use for your High-Res eLearning modules can originate as JPEG or PNG, which are then loaded into tiling technology that is compatible with Windows, Mac OS, Android, and iOS platforms.

3. Assessible

If you can’t measure outcomes, it’s a little like that sound nobody heard when the tree fell in the forest. That’s as true for business ROI as it is for teaching. Effective employee training programs must have measurable results.

Klixel8’s High-Res eLearning technology offers powerful backend analytics to provide insights into learner outcomes with heat mapping, scatter plots and other visual metrics.

Crafting Your First High-Res eLearning Course

We begin from the understanding that high quality, relevant images allow for more immersion into lessons for the vast majority of learners – and that more immersion results in faster and better knowledge acquisition and retention.

High-Res eLearning involves the use of extremely detailed photographs of up to 225 mega-pixels to contextualize your lessons. With no blurring or pixelation, a learner may zoom deeply into an image and pan to learn about component parts and tools present in a scene.

By keeping all of the individual aspects of a task contextualized within a scene – as opposed to clicking away through screen after screen of text – High-Res eLearning enables the learner to retain more of the information through the visual “memory anchor” provided by the photograph.

Lights, Camera, Action!

The following are practical steps to prepare your first High-Res eLearning course:

  • Plan ahead for the day you photograph for your course. You will want to capture a logical sequence of pictures that help “walk through” the relevant section of your workplace. Make sure your employees are prepared for the photo shoot, particularly those who will be in frame! You may also want to clean the area.
  • Camera requirements: To design your first High-Res eLearning course, you do not need the most expensive, state-of-the-art camera. You will, however, need a camera capable of several megapixels in order to maximize the depth of zoom in your images. Most digital cameras, and even some newer smartphone cameras, offer 7 megapixels or more. Ideally, you’ll want to use a camera with a minimum of 24 megapixels. Alternatively, you may consider contracting a professional photographer for a few hours who uses a camera with a minimum of 40 megapixels.
  • Capture the full scene. Because one image sets the scene for a lesson about a workstation, procedure, or task, try to get a wide view with all the necessary instruments and work space visible. A wide-angle lens works best to capture a fuller view. For example, if you are designing your High-Res eLearning module around one machine in a factory setting, try to photograph the machine in the context of the broader shop floor. It is important to capture the entire context in which your employee will be working.
  • Lighting – Avoid dark shadows that obscure elements of the scene. You want all aspects of a work area well-lit.

  • Are you a people person? If your employee will be performing a task, consider including someone performing that work. People find images that have humans in them more memorable than unpeopled scenes, a 2011 study by MIT neuroscientists found.

Assembling Your Course Content

Now it’s time to put it all together. Try to think about your learner’s needs as you build the module. Does your learner require a more structured form of guided instruction, or freeform exploration?

1. Pick your images – Select the best contextual photos from your shoot. In the module, you will order them into a virtual walk-through sequence. Think of a guided tour of your facility, and how much exploration would be required at each “station,” starting from the front door or waiting room.

2. Map your scenes – Use the High-Res eLearning technology to map “hotspots” to all items identified for learning. These can be a large area like a desk or hallway consisting of thousands of pixels, or an individual element such as an instrument or gauge measuring only a few pixels across.

3. Link the hotspots you’ve mapped to additional materials. When a learner clicks the hotspots, information you enter will appear. This should include the name and purpose of an object, why and when things are used. It may also include multimedia content you already have, such as manuals or training videos, or you may choose to add new content like quizzes and links to external websites within the High-Res eLearning module.

4. Enable analytics – Believe it or not, you’re almost done! Once you have a module put into shape, it’s time to program in the analytics (either custom variables or SCORM compliant variables) that will be used to measure learning outcomes in the backend of your High-Res eLearning course.

5. Test and revise – Finally, test the course by running through it yourself, checking links and clicking on objects. Your more experienced employees can provide some of the most valuable feedback by taking the course and offering suggestions on subject areas that need expansion or clarification.

6. Prepare for liftoff – Now, make any final revisions to your module and launch. Congratulations!

A word on “final”: No training course is ever really finished. The beauty of launching your own training program is that you will build upon it. You are creating a base of completely custom, ever richer eLearning content, to use again and again with new hires.

Learn More.

Put the power of High-Res eLearning to work for you. To learn more about how to develop your first course and view a live demo, contact the Klixel8 team at https://klixel8.com/#live-demo or toll free at (833) KLIXEL8 (833.554.9358) today.

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How High-Res eLearning Changes the Industry

It almost goes without saying: on-the-job training is an essential step in creating a workforce capable of performing complex tasks and meeting regulatory compliance.

Each year, companies of all sizes expend hundreds of thousands of dollars on training their workforce. On average, US companies spent $986 per employee on training in 2018, according to training industry data. Small companies spent 61.2 hours in training time per employee. It’s a big investment.

Unless your training is well-designed, however, the process can be time-consuming and expensive – and in some cases, still less effective than it needs to be. Getting a new hire up to speed on procedures can take your more experienced workers away from production as they show a trainee the ropes.

For that reason alone, custom online courses and eLearning programs are indispensable when it comes to training new hires. The benefits of eLearning courses are well documented: adult learners can focus only on knowledge relevant to professional development, work at their own pace, and their progress can be measured by employers through module-based assessments.

Until now, one limitation of traditional eLearning has been a disconnect between the courses, taken on a computer, and the physical workplace itself. For certain types of subject matter, the natural context is a critical factor in how well lessons are truly understood by the learner.

Now, High-Res eLearning, a new approach in the world of digital learning, will enable employers to overcome this contextual limitation in workforce training.

What is High-Res eLearning?

Teachers and online course developers have long understood the power of visual learning. Photography, graphics, and interactive activities are all tools that help a learner visualize, focus, and better retain memories of the knowledge they take in. Even in necessarily word-heavy content areas, visual aids provide for variety in presentations and can help with content retention.

High-Res eLearning, with the help of a patented and proprietary software developed by Klixel8, represents a new way of interacting with images in training courses.

This new learning technology is different in the way it utilizes high-resolution digital photography to maintain contextual relationships between component parts of a workstation, process, or job. The extremely high-res photography – up to 225 mega-pixels, with no blurring or pixelation – of an entire scene helps the brain “anchor” specific learning concepts to their fuller context in the learner’s memory.

Imagine you’re training a new hire on an industrial machine. The control panel contains gauges, buttons, mechanical levers, and even some digital components. Each section of the controls will require instructions in an eLearning module. Yet in order to truly explain the purpose of the individual controls and indicators, they must be presented in context of one another – and in context of the machine, its place in the shop floor, and in relation to its operator. How can this be accomplished?

High-Res eLearning allows a learner to take in all of these levels of context through a single image. This is because the learner can pan and zoom in at great depths on the machine, accessing content and quizzes about its constituent parts, without ever leaving the scene as a whole. High quality images serve as an immersive learning experience and help the mind anchor knowledge through contextualization.

The need for contextualized visual learning extends well beyond our industrial manufacturing example. From medical facilities and dental clinics to auto repair garages, to the inside of aircraft and agricultural equipment, new employees must master highly complex machines, techniques and procedures.

Revolutionizing the eLearning Environment

Many suitable eLearning options exist for professional development, especially in computer software or “soft skills” like communication and management. Yet when it comes to training new hires on how to complete tasks or comply with safety regulations in physical spaces, most companies rely on their more experienced workers for training, or hire costly outside experts to provide training.

High-Res eLearning is perfect for “hard skills” training on specific procedural tasks. There are a number of reasons why:

1. Self-directed learning

First, a learner working through a module can zoom and pan to inspect individual items in a photograph, with no loss of resolution. This means much more exploration, both structured within the module and unstructured for self-learning.

Such exploratory freedom enhances learning at the neural level of cognition: with more self-direction, learning is less dependent upon restricted neural pathways.

Curiosity is one of the most important drivers of knowledge acquisition, from our earliest learning experiences in play and discovery of objects. Wanting to learn about something is one of the keys to unlocking a student’s potential.

For this reason, self-directed immersion in a high-resolution photo helps make learning more fun, relatable, and personal.

2. Context-rich interactive modules

Individual items within a High-Res eLearning photo are marked by “hotspots” that can be as small as a few pixels across. This allows a single button on a machine to be clickable, drawing in explanations and rich context without leaving the visual scene.

In effect, hotspots enable contextual learning without paging through multiple screens of individual machine components. For certain industry applications, learning designers and developers now have a new, powerful tool to enhance learning in the digital world.

3. Value in independent learning

As you can imagine, the level of human-computer interaction in a High-Res eLearning environment is much higher than in traditional eLearning. The customized modules are goal- and milestone-oriented, based on a worker’s own individual needs and knowledge gaps.

Because a High-Res eLearning module is built in HTML5, it can be viewed on a standard computer screen, tablet, or even a smartphone. In other words, no special equipment is needed for the technology, so learners can make progress on their training anywhere.

By working at their own pace, on their own schedules, employees maximize how learning takes place during the orientation period of the first few weeks – without taking your most experienced workers away from their own work.

In short, the immersive training environment provided by High-Res eLearning offers the potential to save man-hours lost in training, and gets new employees up to speed more quickly. The cost-savings are obvious.

It’s well worth the effort to produce custom course material, because it can be used for training future employees and developed into a comprehensive eLearning program for your entire workforce.

4. Highly assessible

The virtual learning environment is an ideal format for training a workforce on potential hazards, screening for quality standards, and taking tests on particular workstations and equipment. The possibilities are endless.

Learners may click on hotspots within an image to take quizzes, watch videos with more details, or refer to manuals and websites on specific tools.

Behind the interactive photographic presentation, Klixel8 has developed powerful analytic tools to measure the engagement level of learners as they progress through the modules. Data is collected to generate heat maps, charts, and scatter plots that help you visualize the success of your training program.

The Science of High-Res eLearning

We learn in context. High-Res eLearning utilizes a mental process of cognition called “item-context binding” to enhance memory in learning.

What this means is that images and spatial relations help new knowledge “stick” better in the memory after the lesson is done.

People learn about an item in its context, and often remember something by where it belongs in a scene. If you’ve ever misplaced your glasses or keys around the house, for example, you probably remembered where you left them by “walking through a mental picture” of which room you were in and what you were doing at the time you last saw them.

Item-Context Binding

That scene is a “memory anchor” resulting from item-context binding, with high-level associations in a part of the brain called the hippocampus.

Visual learning

The human mind is primed for visual data, and people process visual information so quickly we aren’t even conscious of it. In academic settings, up to two-thirds of students are what researchers define as visual and spatial learners. That doesn’t mean these students can’t learn without imagery, but it does mean their learning is highly augmented by visual complements to written or verbal lessons.

Good visuals improve the retention of knowledge, with less of a burden on memory recall. Visualizations and contextually rich images effectively speed up the absorption of knowledge; the memory anchor provided by an image reduces the “cognitive load” on a learner.

Spatial learning

Some learners are tactile, or “kinesthetic” learners. They learn better when engaged in a hands-on activity like a lab experiment or art project. With traditional eLearning, these physical learners may get less out of training that consists of clicking through screens and reading blocks of text.

The context provided in a High-Res eLearning photo, in contrast, provides a spatial environment that engages kinesthetic learning. The act of zooming and panning, in particular, is deeply engaging.

Tactile learners can take as long as they like to examine an item, zoom out and move around a setting, and see how items relate to the scene as a whole. The learning experience is similar to that attained with a virtual reality headset, without the need for VR hardware.

Try a live demo

The Klixel8 eLearning team has learning designers and technical developers experienced in developing High-Res eLearning applications. To learn more or view a live demonstration, contact Klixel8 at https://klixel8.com/#live-demo or toll free at (833) KLIXEL8 (833.554.9358).

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