When it comes to producing rich, interactive eLearning there are many authoring tools to choose from. We sat down with Christopher Allen, ZebraZapps Product Manager, to discuss cloud-based authoring tools, the importance of meeting customer needs, and why ZebraZapps was named of one of the top training tools.

What was the inspiration for developing ZebraZapps?

Over thirty years ago, Michael Allen and a brilliant team of software engineers and educators began work leading to the introduction of Authorware, a system to enable instructional designers and nonprogrammers to build a wide range of interactive multimedia applications. Authorware became the world’s most popular authoring system. Unfortunately, new owners of Authorware discontinued development. The loss of Authorware, even in the face of a plethora of tools available today, leaves a gap in the market, where one needs to either be a software coder or accept limited instructional strategies from less capable tools.

We felt it was time to start fresh with even greater aspirations—not only enabling everyone to create and share powerful interactive multimedia, but also to help each other through the exchange of reusable objects. From creative exploration, amazing capabilities, and outstanding productivity comparisons, ZebraZapps was born.

There is an element of learning involved for new users from instructional videos to webinars. How important was it to include this service to your users?

Our number one priority for user support is effective training and guidance. We continuously add to our library of online training videos, webinar classes, and self-paced instruction. Our customer support team always works to ease the challenges new users face with a new and different system or tool.

We believe that one of the most important elements to learning ZebraZapps is getting an opportunity to see new and inspiring ways of transforming common content into something truly interactive and engaging.

So our webinars give new authors the opportunity to build along and ask questions while learning new techniques. These experiences are followed by our brainteasers, which are short inspiring interactions that swizzle the new concepts covered in the webinars. Brainteasers challenge authors to apply their newly learned concepts in a completely different way.

Who is your typical customer and how are they using ZebraZapps?

Our users run the gamut. The range includes independent instructional designers and media artists, to advanced engineers and entire training departments. One thing is for certain: our users want a powerful and professional tool to build highly interactive and engaging learning events.  Right for their learners; right for the content. They want to create eLearning that leaves their learners with a long-lasting impression, that truly motivates them, and makes for high-impact business results.

What was the decision behind releasing the Professional Plus version?

Pro Plus meets several of our customers’ needs. First, Pro Plus provides users with the ability to deploy ZebraZapps applications locally or on their own servers.  Pro Plus authors can also deploy applications using ZebraZapps servers, using the 1,000 learner storage data accounts, which are part of the Pro Plus package.

Beyond new publishing and delivery options, Pro Plus comes with premium support and a hands-on training class for authors to get started building serious eLearning applications.

ZebraZapps offers ease of use and quick turnaround time; and removes the necessity of knowing how to code. Do you believe the role of instructional designers will change in response to the proliferation and popularity of authoring tools?

Not all tools are alike. For too long now, authoring tool design has been focused on creating efficiencies for the designer and not on meeting the needs of the learner. Rapid development tools on the market today are so concerned about building simple quizzes and page-turning eLearning faster and faster, design flexibility has fallen behind…if it’s there at all.

Learning effectiveness derives largely from replicating real performance contexts as authentically as possible. Contexts are content/performance-specific, but many tools force designers into selecting from a palette of context-neutral templates, rather than enabling the design and implementation of what’s really needed. Rapid authoring tools see the role of instructional designers reduced to selecting context-insensitive templates.

Instructional designers need a platform like ZebraZapps where they can practice their craft and derive the greatest benefits from each instructional event. We think designers should demand more of their tools and expect more for their learners. If they don’t, the tools will determine the role of the instructional designer and force unfortunate compromises.

How do you respond to critics who say products such as ZebraZapps unfairly dismiss the skills of learning experts?

We agree that many tools do this. That’s a primary reason we felt an obligation to develop ZebraZapps. ZebraZapps is different. It is a tool for learning experts. It’s a tool we found ourselves longing for. We built it, in fact, to meet the demanding requirements of our own eLearning design and development studios. ZebraZapps empowers learning experts to create effective experiences that motivate learners, provide authentic learning experiences, and spark performance improvement. ZebraZapps is a tool for organizations who want to create lasting learning experiences that keep students engaged from start to finish.

ZebraZapps was recently named one of TrainingIndustry.com’s “2013 Top 20 Authoring Tools”. Do you see this as a moment of validation in a crowded industry?

Absolutely. We were thrilled to be named to TrainingIndustry.com’s Top 20 Authoring Tools this year. It gives us motivation and reinforces our passion to make ZebraZapps a better tool every day.

I noticed many free and some not so free apps in Shopps. Can you describe how Shopps works and why was it important to create a marketplace, specifically from the end user’s perspective?

Our Shopps provide a number of revolutionary opportunities:

First, great learning resources are often land-locked inside an organization, because it’s hard to share something stored on an internal LMS. The Shopps make public access easy and are also meant to provide an inspiring place for learning professionals to have a real conversation about content, design, and interactivity.

Second, the Shopps provide a commercial repository for off-the-shelf learning, where individuals and corporations have equal opportunities to sell their wares, receive feedback, and be financially rewarded for their contributions. ZebraZapps provides the e-commerce engine, and authors collect the check. No muss. No fuss.

Finally, authors can also buy and sell reusable objects or “gadgets” they have created in ZebraZapps. Gadgets create development efficiencies by allowing others to simply drag and drop cool interactivity, artwork, and media straight into their applications/courses and publish. Many share their gadgets without charge, but the e-commerce engine is also available for gadgets and allows fee collection to reward the helpful work of others.

Although cloud computing is clearly the way of the future, some users are still skeptical about the security of the cloud. Can a ZebraZapps user download their files instead of solely relying on system backups?

Yes. With the release of Pro Plus, authors now have the ability to download their courses for use offline, on their own servers, or LMS. No problem.

As the product continues to iterate, what are your plans for launching the HTML5 output?

We are focusing our engineering cross-platform efforts on allowing authors to develop once and publish everywhere, natively (iOS and Android) and through a browser (HTML5.)

Authors are typically faced with too many decisions in regard to mobile deployment: Do I host my content on existing servers? Do I require learners to download content to their devices on every access (html5)? Do I create and distribute native apps where learners download content once and store it locally?

With ZebraZapps authors won’t be forced to compromise.

Let’s be honest, mobile is not going anywhere; has there been any discussion about future support for iOS and Android platforms?

Yes, there’s no doubt that mobility is enticing. From mainframe with hardwired terminals, to tele-connected workstations, to desktop computers, to laptops, to tablets, to pads, to phones, to watches, to…? What we’re sure of is that our ingenuity will lead us to new and effective ways to take advantage of technologies as they continue to be more accessible and more convenient.

We see some great successes with information retrieval, performance support, and social learning on mobile devices, but we also hope this is only the tip of the iceberg. As Don Bitzer, creator of the famous PLATO learning system, said long ago, we have to build the capabilities before creative people can determine the subset of requirements.

So, at Allen Interactions, we’re building full functionality into ZebraZapps cross-platform mobility. Designers will be able to experiment with a full range of powerful capabilities, tapping native device capabilities, native performance, and network interactivity. Although this is not a minor undertaking, impressive capabilities are already functional.

When can we expect to see these new rollouts?

We are not making release announcements until appropriate to do so, but it’s not too early to begin learning ZebraZapps to determine how you may want to use mobile access.

How to Build Interactions

The traditional, skill-based approach

Traditionally, companies have used the skill-based, team approach to build complex, custom eLearning scenarios. A skill-based team consists of an instructional designer, a graphic artist, and a programmer/ developer who all work together to create eLearning courses and interactions. Let’s look at an example of how the team approach is applied when building a course with interactive animations.

An organization needs a new course to teach employees the importance of security. The instructional designer designs the course; the team then comes together and identifies content areas where they would like to build some interactivity. The instructional designer wants a series of simulated situations with images and text and an assessment with audio/visual questions to evaluate learners. The team visualizes and designs how the interactions will work. The final step has the developer build in the interactions. At the end of the process the instructional designer uses an authoring tool, such as Captivate or Articulate, to combine the custom-created interactions—with content, graphics, and media—and turns it into a complete course.

The rapid, interactivity tool approach

On the other hand, in some companies the eLearning development group is small and solely consists of instructional designers. In this case, the instructional designers have to rely on rapid development software tools to build their eLearning courses. One such tool is an “interactivity builder,” which enables designers to build interactivity into their courses. An interactivity builder has a library of pre-built interactions, which users can view and use in existing eLearning courses. To use this tool, a user selects an interaction design template, inputs content and media, publishes the finished interaction in the desired format, and inserts it into eLearning content using an authoring tool or just plain PowerPoint.

Many companies with smaller training groups are using these tools more and more to add interactivity into their eLearning, especially when considering the costs of custom-built eLearning solutions. Interactivity builder tools can save time and programming effort that would otherwise be required to custom develop each interaction. These tools are created with reuse in mind, making them cost effective.

Here is an example of how an instructional designer would use an interactivity builder: An organization needs a new course to teach employees the importance of security.  The instructional designer works with the security team to define the learning objectives. The designer creates the content and decides to include three interactions in the course. Browsing the interactivity builder library, the designer chooses a simulated situation template with images and text and an assessment with audio/visual questions. The customized template includes the designer’s own content and media assets. The final step is to import the interactions into the authoring tool. The designer then builds the rest of the course.

Interactivity Building Tradeoffs

As you can see, the two methods of creating interactions are very different. Each may be the appropriate choice, depending on circumstances. Below is a list of tradeoffs and advantages for using either a skill-based team or an interactivity builder to create interactions.

Tradeoffs using a skill-based team:

• Resources. If you have a team in place, great! Unfortunately, not all companies keep a diverse training team onsite. If you go with this option, you will spend time reviewing and hiring trained professionals and maintaining the larger team.
• Time. Designing and developing custom interactions is a very time consuming process and can take months.
• Cost. Building and testing interactions requires a lot of development time, which adds more expense.
• Less or no interactivity. When teams are short staffed or working against tight deadlines, they often find themselves focusing on just getting the course done and out the door, thereby eliminating interactivity that may enhance learning. This is a huge risk because interactivity is too important to omit.

Advantages using a skill-based team:

• Custom designs. Working together, the team can create a fresh, new design.
• Custom design variety. The developer can create a variety of custom interactions to build interest.
• Flexibility and control. For interactions that are very specific to the course or type of training, a skill-based approach provides more flexibility and control in terms of the functionality. (For example, the U.S. Army needs a customized decision-making scenario to look like a graphic novel, which will be used to strengthen cross-cultural and peacekeeping skills.)

Tradeoffs using a rapid interactivity builder:

• Less control and flexibility. The interactions are pre-built as compared to programming custom interactions. Although a great deal of customization capability is built in, when compared to using a programming language for custom developing to specifications, it may appear limited.

Advantages using a rapid interactivity builder:

• Time. Less time is spent developing interactions, therefore the developer can focus time on building custom technical pieces for the course website.
• Cost. Lower development costs mean a large staff is not needed and, generally, courses are developed more quickly.
• Reuse. The interaction design templates can be easily reused and customized to suit your content
• Productivity. Team productivity increases. Subject matter experts and instructional designers can create an interaction and insert it themselves.

What’s the Answer?

Quality interactions are essential to engage learners. However, how you create them depends on your resources, budget, time, or need for a custom scenario. A skill-based team may be appropriate, if you have the resources and your company requires custom-build interactions. However, as often times is the case, if you have limited resources but need interactivity in your courses, then an interactivity builder is a good choice; it enables you to do more with less.

This is a guest post by Janhavi Padture on behalf of Harbinger Group.  Janhavi has more than 17 years experience in the information technology field with a focus on web development, project management and marketing. At Harbinger, Janhavi has been involved in strategy, marketing, CRM and new product initiatives including Raptivity®, YawnBuster®, and TeemingPod®. Janhavi has spoken at various industry conferences (and local groups on topics pertaining to online learning. Janhavi holds a master’s degree in computer science and an MBA.

Mindflash has recently released a new analytics tool for online training. The cloud-based software, powered by GoodData, will provide trainers with insightful information such as material comprehension and course satisfaction. By arming oneself with this data, trainers can better gauge student needs and tailor the course while training is happening, not afterward. Reports can be easily generated as they are needed.

Mindflash offers its employee and customer training solutions to more than 1,000 clients via an online platform. One of those clients is Efinancial, a life insurance company. We spoke with Andy Wiggins, Retail Sales Manager, about his company’s experience with Mindflash and the organization’s training needs.

Can you provide a brief overview of Efinancial’s  training program?

Our training falls into three areas (new hires, reps becoming agents, ongoing training for tenured agents).  Previously we conducted most of our training via PowerPoints, which I would administer myself in a classroom setting. Since our business [life insurance] requires a lot of knowledge about products, regulations, underwriting, etc. this resulted in a lot of time spent doing presentations in a classroom setting.

What’s been your experience working with Mindflash?

Mindflash has helped us take quite a bit of this training, and distribute it to the trainees to complete on their own time. Just upload the PowerPoint, give your course a title, and distribute to as many trainees as your plan allows. Essentially it’s like having two of me! While they’re completing their required coursework I can continue with curriculum development, and hands on training with my direct reports. Basically, Mindflash allows me to do more than I otherwise could have done.

How do you currently measure the effectiveness of your training program?

In addition to distribution and presentation of the materials, we have also been able to better assess what the trainees learned from the presentation.  How many trainers have to deal with trainees that are texting on their smart phone during a classroom presentation?  How much did they retain?  Were they listening? Now the agents have to prove they understand the material contained in the presentation by completing an assessment.  I just add a quiz to the training module, and set a minimum score the trainee must achieve in order to receive a completion certificate.  If the trainee fails to complete the quiz with the required score I can re-invite them to the module.  There’s even a setting that allows them to retake the module as many times as it takes to pass without having the trainer re-invite them.

Another benefit is that we can track what modules trainees have been invited to, and completed.  In the past if an employee was out of compliance in some way they loved to say “I was never trained on that.”  One solution was to keep a log of every course completed by every trainee.  Of course that generates a lot of administrative work that takes away from what us trainers do best: training.  Mindflash allows me to make sure that each employee has completed their required training.  I’m not going to lie…it feels good to come back and say, “Yeah, you were trained on that!”

Let’s talk about your overall satisfaction using Mindflash tools. Are you happy?

The staff at Mindflash has been extremely helpful any time I’ve had inquiries regarding the software.  They’re very responsive, and ready to help at a moment’s notice.  They’re never satisfied with the status quo, which any user can tell by the regular improvements and additions to the site.

So what effect has Mindflash had—more training, better assessment, and standardization of training each trainee receives.

Technology has always played a major part in education, beginning with computers supporting groundbreaking research at universities.  Later, desktop computers arrived in our schools and in our homes.  Now, mobile phones and tablet computers are used by individuals of all ages for educational purposes. Below are five of the best devices available on the market today for mobile learning.

#1 – Apple iPhone

Did you know that the iPhone (and other mobile smart phones) have more processing power than the computers used by NASA on their Lunar Missions?

NASA Lunar Mission Computer. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Presently, there are thousands of educational apps for the iPhone that let users of all ages learn all sorts of things. ITunes U, one of the now standard Apple applications, which is used at more than 1,200 colleges, allows students to access textbooks, course material, videos, and more for each class.

In addition to university level courses being accessible via the iPhone, there are apps designed to help toddlers learn their shapes and colors, which are used daily by little ones holding their parents phones.

#2 – Apple iPad

Like the iPhone, the iPad has access to thousands of educational apps, iTunes U, and a mobile browser that lets individuals connect to the endless information on the Internet.  But the iPad also has some advanced learning opportunities.

Apple has released software, iBook Authoring, that has allowed experts of all subjects to create amazing interactive books, which can be downloaded to the iPad.  Some of these books can help people learn computer programming languages, new spoken languages, or even how to improve online marketing efforts.

#3 –- Samsung Galaxy Note 10

Having one of the largest screens in the tablet market, make this a great device for learning.  The Galaxy Note 10 comes equipped with a front facing camera for real-time collaboration and rear facing camera which can assist someone with limited vision to point and shoot video and pictures.

One of the keys features that separate this device from the rest is the use of the S Pen, which gives the function of pen and paper on the large display —great for taking notes in class or even jotting down your ideas and theories while on the go.  When integrating this technology with Samsung’s Smart School solution, this allows for a truly interactive experience.

The Samsung School solution enables teachers to instantly share screen content from tablet or PC screens to an E-board and students’ personal devices— teachers have a high level of control while increasing student engagement.

#4 – Google Nexus 7

The screen on the Nexus 7 is a bit smaller than most tablets at just 7 Inches, but the price of this powerful device makes it great for educational institutions and eLearners. Unfortunately, this device only has a front facing camera, which limits its ability to conference with others for learning discussion and interaction.

It includes built in Google technology for easy and quick access to the world’s information and it also supports Google Now, which learns with its user to display the most important information at just the right time. For eLearners, Google now can deliver up to date research, control scheduling, and help manage your day.

#5 – Kindle Fire HD

This device is geared towards content more than apps, which makes it a great device for textbooks, educational movies, and access to educational PDFs. This is the least expensive tablet on the market and Amazon has been selling them at bulk discounts to schools across the country.  Additionally, Amazon’s Whispercast service allows easy management of fleets of Kindle devices.

The Wispercast service is a central management system that operates similar to a server; providing a gateway for Internet service, managing user names and passwords, and controlling content access.

Many trials are running in schools in Florida and Texas, so we shall see where Amazon takes this.  For a basic tablet that gets rid of all those bulky textbooks, this is the one you want.

We have incredibly powerful devices in our hands every day, which are prefect for mobile learning.  Find the device that works for you and your needs and start learning while on the go today.

This is a guest post by Bryan Baker.  Bryan works with LeanForward, a mobile learning company.

You don’t want to disregard this gut feeling entirely. Having a good working relationship with the people you’re going to deal with on a day-to-day basis is crucial to the overall success of your training program. Unfortunately, the salesperson is typically not the individual you end up partnering up with once you’ve signed a contract. Instead, you find yourself dealing with sales engineers or customer service representatives.

This is fine if you love the product or service you’ve purchased, but if you find yourself having trouble justifying the purchase seconds after your superstar salesperson has stepped out of the boardroom, you may want to reconsider what aspect of the product or service actually impresses you. Here are our recommendations for making a decision based on the needs of your learners, and not on your social preferences.

How to Make the Right Purchasing Decision

• Make a list. Before you step into any sales meeting, you should have articulated a precise list of needs. Be sure to think critically about how those different needs affect different people in your organization, and which needs are most important. When you come into a meeting equipped with this list, you can easily determine which products or services are a good fit based on their features rather than the face attached to them.
• Check it twice. Both before and after your initial meeting with a salesperson, you should take the time to get to know their product or service on your own. Detaching your own perception of the product or service in question from the influence of the salesperson will help you gain clarity. If you’re considering purchasing a technology product, get a demo or trial license and use it.
• Don’t go it alone. Test it out yourself, and invite other people in your organization to review different options. You may be rooting for one product that works best for you, but you’ll need participation from a cross-section of the eventual users to make the right decision.
• Beware the workarounds. A salesperson addressing your specific needs with suggested workarounds may be a red flag. If a service is appropriate for your organization’s needs, workarounds should be minimal. Make sure you understand how much you’re compromising your needs before you sign on the dotted line. When you decide to purchase from a company with their promise that they’ll implement a set of workarounds, hold them to it and get the salesperson involved if necessary.
• Check out cloud tools. Most software tools are now available as cloud services. If your company’s security and firewall settings will allow it, you’ll save administrative and support efforts by using cloud tools. You’ll be able to rely on the vendor to keep your version of the software up-to-date, reduce server costs and have more flexible access to the resources. This includes elearning authoring tools—the Adobe Creative Suite, Articulate and other popular tools are now available as cloud subscriptions.

Technology tools are a great way to expand the reach of your training programs, but since you often need to make long-term decisions when purchasing technology tools, take the time to get it right.

About the Author

Kelly Meeker is the Community Manager at OpenSesame, the elearning content marketplace, where she creates, curates and shares with the learning and development community. Find her on her blog at www.OpenSesame.com/blog, on Twitter (@OpenSesame) or at kelly.meeker@opensesame.com.

Badgeville, a behavior platform company, has found success  using gamification to incentivize learning for Deloitte and Beat the GMAT, a social network for MBA applicants. Deloitte’s Leadership Academy, a digital education program with 10,000 senior executives at more than 150 companies around the globe, tracks and rewards behaviors. The program includes completing lessons, watching full educational videos, answering quizzes, and all the way up to earning an optional diploma. Beat the GMAT empowers members to learn, share, teach, and support each other. Those studying for the GMAT are motivated to compete against their peers, driving the competition towards getting a better score on the exam.

Still not convinced?

For more on the topic of gamification, here are some related articles:

• Gamification: Using Game Mechanics to Enhance eLearning
• Book Review: The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-Based Methods and Strategies For Training And Education
• An Interview with Sebastian Deterding
• Book Review: Game Frame

LoudCloud, as you may have guessed, is a cloud based solution. It was launched in 2010 as an alternative to the traditional LMS. You can find out more about LoudCloud and its offerings next week during a webinar scheduled for December 15, 2011 at 11:00am PST. Register for free or request a demo of LoudCloud University Suite.

Link: The full press release is online.

The abacus, See ‘n Say and Rubik’s Cube were all learning tools I loved as a child. Something a parent could throw in their bag and pull out for an impromptu lesson. Now we have smart phones, iPads and Kindles. Yet there still seems to be a disconnect between these innovative tools and their usefulness for learning at an organizational level. Allison attempts to answer the question: If mobile learning and support are wonderful, why aren’t they everywhere? Take a look at the “history of mobile learning” below.

Link: Top 100 Tools for Learning Professionals 2011, Jane Hart, November 13, 2011

How about a map of the eLearning industry with all the products on the market? OK, maybe not all but over 3,000. And what if it came with a commenting tool and a way to filter tools?

From the site: “The eLearning Atlas is a free service brought to you by Rustici Software, LLC and SCORM.com. The purpose of the eLearning Atlas is to utilize our uniquely neutral position in the market to bring together all of the products and vendors in the eLearning world.”

I take back anything negative I’ve ever said about SCORM : )

Let’s hope it doesn’t get all mucked up with self-serving and/or unproductive comments.

Link: Atlas in Wonderland, Rustici Software, Jenna Lawing and Chris Tompkins 10/26/11

Photo: Toy Story, Disney