Learning Interactions in PowerPoint: Add Engagement to Instructor-Led Training

e-Learning course designers have traditionally turned to traditional classroom instruction for insights in instructional design. Now with a couple of decades experience of e-learning, classroom instruction can incorporate some of the best practices in e-learning. The use of learning interactions is one such example.

Self-paced e-learning courses employ learning interactions that allow learners to engage with the course materials in interesting ways. Interactions include games, exercises, simulations, drill-downs and so forth. Course authors typically use ready templates of such interactions, and add content as appropriate. When effectively incorporated, interactions make learning more engaging and memorable, provide a change of pace, and improve outcomes.

In the classroom environment, too, there is a need for enhancing outcomes. Since PowerPoint is one of the most commonly used presentation tools, I will limit my comments to a typical PowerPoint presentation here.

All of us know that slides after slides of ‘training’ content can be boring. The way to overcome this is adding interactivity. If you incorporate a quiz game, a quick exercise, a brainteaser or even a few trivia questions, the classroom comes alive. To make this process simple, Raptivity, the leading interactivity builder, recently released a PowerPoint add-in. This free tool installs a menu for interactions inside PowerPoint. Using the add-in, people can search and add interactions to their presentations in a single click. To know more, write to info@raptivity.com.

eLearning Shows the Way!

A digital cinema provider from Hollywood will soon start using Raptivity for sales presentations. The owner of a Spanish humanities and technology web site has plans to use Raptivity for enhancing his web portal.

Raptivity, the e-learning tool? Yes, and no. Yes, because in essence, both will use the same Raptivity software we use in e-learning. No, because their versions of Raptivity -Raptivity Presenter and Raptivity Web Expert - are specially adapted to support presentation making and web development respectively.

What is happening here? Rapid interactivity building, which started in e-learning, is now spreading to presentations and web development. Boredom is a common problem, except e-learning professionals were the first to address it using rapid interactivity. Now presenters and web developers are realizing they too can fight the affliction this way.

The history of human innovation is full of stories where an idea took root in a niche, and soon broke out into the mainstream. For example, Nike air cushion shoes use a technology that was designed for Neil Armstrong's first expedition to the moon.

How does this process work? It all starts when several market segments begin to suffer from what could be a common pain point. However the awareness of the pain is at varying levels - some markets feel it more than others. Accordingly, the willingness to do what it takes to fix the pain also varies.

Sooner or later, one market segment can bear the pain no longer. At this point, if an innovator introduces a solution, it creates tremendous value for its users, who respond overwhelmingly in favor of the new product.

Sooner or later, this success is visible to other markets, and they realize that their risk in adopting the innovation is only incremental. With relatively little effort, they derive benefits of the new technology, and spread the buzz. Thus, it is a matter of carefully adapting the innovation to new markets, to start a virtuous circle of innovation and market response.

So much for the process. Why should this should bring cheer to e-learning professionals? Well, when rapid interactivity spreads to other applications, some innovation historian will remember e-learning's pioneering role in its development. It doesn't hurt to say we showed the way, does it?

Where Did YawnBuster Come from?

When someone is addressing a group, a yawn serves two purposes. One, it tells the speaker - the rare one who cares to notice it - that someone is bored. Two, it produces more yawns, which in turn tell the speaker... well, you get the picture.

I was fortunate to be part of the innovation process that led to YawnBuster, and in this post I'll try to capture some of it.

When one person speaks and others listen in a moderate size group, one thing that often breaks down is two-way communication.

Suppose you are in the audience. If you let this person go on rambling, you get one-way monologue. If you interrupt too many times, the speaker may lose the thread and everyone ends up in a mess.

Now let's see this from the speaker's perspective. If I talk non-stop, I may end up getting bored of my own voice. If I encourage people to talk, someone could easily go off on a tangent.

Clearly, what is needed is a way to present, where four conditions are satisfied.

1. The speaker can control the amount of interaction
2. The interaction serves a specific purpose: energizes the audience, creates fun, provides a breather and so on
   
3. Everyone has a way to participate
   
4. The interaction is organized and guided by some kind of a structure. (Sometimes, stating it negatively is more emphatic. So let's just say: No chaos.)
   

These conditions point to a non-trivial problem. One needs a concept that helps us put our heads around this problem. One such concept is a Group Activity.

A Group Activity is initiated by the speaker: "Okay, let's play a game of Bingo!" The design of the activity is based on its purpose: "We're going to get you thinking with this brainstorming session", or "We will cool off a bit with this trivia game". Everyone can participate - directly, or indirectly : "Let's have a show of hands". The Group Activity's structure guides what happens next: "Now, it's Group B's turn." A certain order prevails, even as people participate: "Your time is up", or "Let's put together all the key takeaways now".

With the idea of Group Activity at the center, a framework for group activity facilitation evolved. The facilitation framework minimizes the speaker's workload, by doing many of the things that involve keeping the audience on track.

How do you classify myriads of Group Activities that are possible? A taxonomy of group activities fell in place: participation enhancer activities, collaboration activities, breather activities. Trainers could choose from icebreakers, activators, group exercises, energizer games and closers.

Research by eLearning Guild shows PowerPoint to be the tool most commonly used by trainers. This should surpise nobody, we all do it. It became clear then, that the best way to provide this technology was as Flash templates for PowerPoint.

In short, we had created a way to easily build and also to professionally facilitate group activities with minimal effort.

The last act was to pick a name for this software. What's in a name? A lot, one would think, especially when you stumble upon a name like YawnBuster. So we chose it, and YawnBuster was born.