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WWW.eLearningGuild.com
411Using Avatars to Enhance Learning Comprehension
Jennifer Hoch
Instructional Designer, Intuit
Dan Karwoski Senior Media Designer, Intuit
WWW.eLearningGuild.com
November 5-8, 2007 San Jose, CA
Page 1Session 411 – Creating Virtual Environments for Technology Training –Jennifer Hoch and Dan Karwoski, Intuit
10/24/2007
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411 Using Avatars to Enhance Learning Comprehension
LearningDevelopment
Providing World Class Learning Experiences
Using Avatars toEnhance LearningComprehension
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411 Using Avatars to Enhance Learning Comprehension
LearningDevelopment
Providing World Class Learning Experiences
I’m Dan Karwoski the Senior Media Designer at Intuit Corporation in Tucson Arizona. I’ve been building interactive, media rich web based training for the past 6 years and have spent 17 years working with different types of online media.
I’m Jennifer Hoch I’m an Instructional designer at Intuit and I have spent the last 15 years working in learning and development in both the Academic and the corporate environments.
Introductions
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In this session, you will learn: • Design considerations for including virtual characters in
Web-based learning• Best practices for embedding avatars in learning• Tips and tricks for successful design and
implementation of avatars• How virtual characters impact course completion,
knowledge retention, and job performance
Objectives
November 5-8, 2007 San Jose, CA
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411 Using Avatars to Enhance Learning Comprehension
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Providing World Class Learning Experiences
How many people have investigated using avatars for their training?
Has anyone used any third party tools to build avatars?
If so, what product did you try?
Background
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What expectations or goals do you have for incorporating avatars?
Background
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What is an avatar? Let’s have our avatar Rod explain.
What is an Avatar?
http://www.learn2design.net/intuit
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What type of character should I use?Choose an avatar whose style, voice and look best represent your company, product or content.
http://www.learn2design.net/intuit
Design considerations for including virtual characters in Web-based learning
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Providing World Class Learning Experiences
How much work does it take to build an avatar?Using a third party program automates the avatar construction process
Expect to spend $10K or more for a one year license.
Hiring a skilled 3D artist would be much more expensive
Design considerations for including virtual characters in Web-based learning
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411 Using Avatars to Enhance Learning Comprehension
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Providing World Class Learning Experiences
What type of character should I use?Choose an avatar whose style, voice and look best represent your company.
Let’s return to the website for more information. http://www.learn2design.net/intuit/two.htm
Design considerations for including virtual characters in Web-based learning
November 5-8, 2007 San Jose, CA
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411 Using Avatars to Enhance Learning Comprehension
LearningDevelopment
Providing World Class Learning Experiences
Let’s have the avatars discuss this issue.
Let’s return to the website for more information. http://www.learn2design.net/intuit
Best practices for embedding avatars in learning
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Your ObjectiveDoes your design tell a story with a human element?
Are you just adding an avatar make the visual elements more interesting?
Are you trying to "liven up" a page turner?
What specifically do you want your avatar to convey to learners?
Best practices for embedding avatars in learning
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Your Avatar CharacterHave you created an authentic character that is likeable or unlikable?
Where does the character exist? work? live?
What contextual background can you give to make the character more realistic? A job? A title? A family? A work/life balance?
Best practices for embedding avatars in learning
November 5-8, 2007 San Jose, CA
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Providing World Class Learning Experiences
The Tone of the WBT
Choose a tone that best re-enforces the content.
Typical tones:Happy NeutralSad LightheartedSuccessful UnsuccessfulFrustrated SeriousPositive NegativeTense
Best practices for embedding avatars in learning
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Design ConsiderationsConsider beginning the storyline with a description of a past or current problem and then illustrate the desired state.
Ask your consult team members to contribute to the storyline
One common format for storylines depicts a three-act play: (1) A hero... (2) has a problem... (3) and solves it (or not)
Best practices for embedding avatars in learning
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Let’s have the avatars discuss this issue.
http://www.learn2design.net/intuit
Tips and tricks for successful design implementation of avatars
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Providing World Class Learning Experiences
How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact StudentsHere's how media impacts the student: • Provides different types of content
delivery that address different learning styles
• Creates a higher degree of student engagement, Introduces a different level of engagement that breaks the monotony
• Increases the ability to learn complex information, increase intrinsic motivation
• Elevated emotions
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How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact StudentsLearners respond much better to interactions that reflect or mirror real life social interactions.
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How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact StudentsIf we can create learning that helps mirror social interactions it helps to engage the student.
November 5-8, 2007 San Jose, CA
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411 Using Avatars to Enhance Learning Comprehension
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Providing World Class Learning Experiences
How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact StudentsWith interactive media:
People take turns in conversations
Receive information personalized for the moment
Listen to people speak
Give input that is expected to change the course of an interaction.
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How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact Students
Use more than printed words to deliver content.
Showing an image conveys a more exact interpretation.
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How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact Students
Mixing different types of media introduces different types of learning opportunities and this helps break the monotony.
November 5-8, 2007 San Jose, CA
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How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact Students
Use both visual and auditory channels simultaneously.
People rely on the redundancy offered by multiple channels.
Redundancy is a special case of overlap between channels.
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How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact Students
The avatar tutorials you’ve been viewing are a perfect example of redundancy. You can watch the avatar you can read the text and you can hear the audio.
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Providing World Class Learning Experiences
How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact Students
Avatars help set the mood and can create a positive environment that benefits learning.
Emotions play a key role in every human transaction.
November 5-8, 2007 San Jose, CA
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How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact Students
Teaching and business decisions are always emotionally charged.
Emotional intelligence is a critical component of intellect.
Emotions are powerful cues that convey what is important and the intensity with which people should pursue information presented to them.
Emotions are the engine for behavior.
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How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact StudentsThe management of feelings is critical for effective teaching and business communication, and this includes communication with technology.
Presenting content in a non-textual way has a higher impact on the student’s ability to absorb information.
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How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact Learning Development
Since the media is no longer the sole responsibility of the Instructional Designer production times are decreased since both content and media can be developed at the same time.
An additional designer media review is required in the development cycle.
November 5-8, 2007 San Jose, CA
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How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact Learning Development
A higher level of quality is attained.
Media rich learning environments engage the student as well as create a more effect learning experience.
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How virtual characters impact course completion, knowledge retention, and
job performance
How Avatars Impact Learning Development
A higher level of professionalism is achieved.
Adding avatar media increases the perception of a professional learning experience.
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Let’s Build an Avatar!
We need two volunteers:
One man
One woman
Let’s Build an Avatar
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Here are a couple avatar based courses that we have built.
Let’s take a couple minutes to exam them.
http://www.learn2design.net/intuit/sample1http://www.learn2design.net/intuit/sample2
Sample Courses
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Studies show that the addition of a virtual character to web based courses impacts:
• knowledge retention
• course completion and recall of content
According to research by the University of Alberta, as many as 92% of trainees who start online training courses fail to complete them.
Studies
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Other research shows that 80% of all online training courses are regularly abandoned.
By interacting with a character in a virtual world, students become more engaged in the subject matter, helping them learn more effectively.
Studies
November 5-8, 2007 San Jose, CA
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Let’s talk about some specific studies conducted by some major US corporations.
Studies
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McAfee Case StudyNot all of the www.shopmcafee.comvisitors got to see the new character. This innovative online salesperson was randomly assigned –50% of site visitors got to experience the VHost™ character while the other 50% were served the same page minus the character. This provided the teams with a control group so that ROI could be easily measured.
Studies
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McAfee Case StudyThe results speak for themselves –The close ratio for customers that experienced the VHost™ character was 10% higher than those who did not experience the character. The numbers were even more impressive when they were analyzed against past sales data. The increase in average daily sales went up by over 10% during the time that the VHost™character was deployed on the ASaPVirus Scan product page (from 9/29/04 – 10/11/04).
Studies
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Killington Ski Resort StudyClick-Throughs and ImpressionsSince the campaign began, the banner has been opened, on average, 3% of the time, resulting in strong panel viewings and rich branding impressions. Of users expanding units, an extremely high percent are clicking through to "The Buzz" landing page, 1300x more than historically received for Killington's standard .gif banners.
Studies
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Killington Ski Resort StudyROI and RevenueWithin the first 4 weeks of the campaign, "The Buzz" units have helped raise awareness and delivered a 3 to 1 ROI for the overall campaign. The increase in awareness has resulted in additional business transactions through the website for not only lift tickets, but also ski packages and lodging. The reports also show that over 70% of revenue is being generated through the retargeting of ads to prospects that have previously visited a tagged Killington Web page.
Studies
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“Our course completion rates are averaging 60% vs. the industry average of 10%. We attribute a good portion of those high rates to incorporating Learn.com’s LearningAgentsinto our courses; the difference in the learning experience with a LearningAgent is night and day. Additionally, the technology behind it is unbelievable, streaming audio synched up to an agent at 28.8 with no download time, it’s amazing.”Mitch BardwellDirector & Assistant General Manager Sales Training DivisionCanon
“Immersive learning, like flight simulation, is arguably one of the most effective learning techniques. And for teaching soft skills, animated characters can help create animmersive environment that elicits a learner's social responses.”Peter Orton, Program DirectorIBM’s On-Demand Learning Group
“Virtual Agents provide a capable, useful, and increasingly acceptable personality that can stand in for a human teacher to provide an engaging, personalized, and simple interface.”eLearning Developers Journal 2003
Quotes
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http://www.codebaby.comhttp://www.agentland.com/http://www.netspeedfasttracks.com/http://www.pulse3d.com/http://vhost.oddcast.com/vhost_minisite/http://www.dagroupplc.com/http://www.oc3ent.com/
Avatar Resources
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Conclusion
