​Hello, everyone!  Today, I want to share a link to something pretty exciting to me - a podcast that I was interviewed on!

Several months ago, I discovered the Roundabout: Creative Chaos podcast that is created by, for, and with, creative folks ranging from professional artists to humble authors (guilty as charged), and everything in between. As I listened to episode after episode, I began to realize that there are countless people out there whose lives heavily revolve around being creative, professionals and hobbyists alike!

So if you are a Creative, I promise you’ll enjoy the Roundabout: Creative Chaos podcast. Click the image below to listen to my episode, but don’t stop there…you can subscribe on any major podcast app (iTunes, Overcast, etc.) so you never miss another creative dive into a creative mind!

Until next time, go BE the YOND!

Hello, everyone! With the holiday's officially upon us, and the countdown to Christmas underway (at least in my house!), I thought now would be the perfect time to talk about a special little surprise found in Captivate.

And quite fittingly enough, it's called GIFT, or General Import Format Technology to be precise. But me? I'm sticking with GIFT. That said, let's take a quick look at the words that define the acronym to get a better understanding for what it can do for your eLearning project.

GENERAL - Think of this word as 'Universal', meaning it is generally recognizable by most programs.
IMPORT - A great techie word that means I can bring something pre-existing into my project.
FORMAT - Like formatting you've done in Microsoft Word, except less alignment and more symbols. 
TECHNOLOGY - Electronic. Hmm, maybe they just needed another word because GIF was taken?

In a nutshell, GIFT formatting allows for the incredibly simple addition of quiz questions into your project. Yes, simpler than what you may be thinking! (NOTE: While this blog pairs GIFT formatting to Captivate, it is by no means the only program with which GIFT can be used; some learning management systems allow the use of the GIFT formatting as well.)

So, how does it differ from the typical quiz layout you've likely seen hundreds of times? To answer that, let's take a look at what some GIFT-formatted questions look like.

MULTIPLE CHOICE EXAMPLE
What is the largest planet in our Solar System?{
~Earth#Sorry, Earth is not the largest plant in our Solar System
=Jupiter#Correct! Jupiter is truly massive!
~Pluto#Sorry, Pluto is incorrect. In fact, Pluto is no longer even recognized as a planet.
~The Sun#Sorry, that’s incorrect. While the sun is in fact the largest celestial body in the Solar System, our Sun is a star, not a planet.}

TRUE/FALSE EXAMPLE
Jupiter is the largest planet in our Solar System.{TRUE#Wrong, that's incorrect.#Right, well done!}

MULTIPLE ANSWER
What are the two largest planets in our Solar System?
~Earth#Sorry, Earth is not one of the two largest planets in our Solar System.
%50%Jupiter#Good job! Jupiter is the largest planet in our Solar System.
~Mars#Sorry, Mars is not one of the two largest planets in our solar System.
%50%Saturn#Good job! Saturn is the second largest planet in our Solar System.}

As you can see, GIFT-formatted quizzes rely on symbols, like the equal sign (=) to identify correct answers, the tilde (~) to mark incorrect answers, the percent sign (%) to note partial credit, and the pound sign (# ...yes, that is a pound sign folks) that precedes unique feedback for each answer choice.

What you don't see, are question numbers, lettered answer choices, and feedback appearing on a different lines than the answer choice.

So now that we know what GIFT Formatting is, let's see what Captivate can do with a file formatted in this fashion.

• Open a Captivate project
• When you are ready to add your quiz to the project, click the 'Quiz' tab at the top and scroll down to 'Import GIFT Format File', like you can see in the image below.​

• ​Presto-chango, ​your quiz has been imported into Captivate! 

Allow me to point out that the correct answer is selected, and all unique feedback has also imported over - appropriately paired with each answer choice (NOTE: True/False answer feedback does not import into Captivate, likely because learners will know without a doubt what the correct answer is if they get it wrong initially). 

From personal experience in the pain-staking process of writing quizzes over and over multiple times, the GIFT Import feature will certainly save you time, and most likely frustration to boot.

To learn more about GIFT formatting, click HERE.
​
Until next time folks, go BE the YOND! 

For this post I'll be talking about video games and their impact on instructional design. This idea came to me earlier today while playing Mario Kart Wii with my son. At 36, I'm three decades older than Avery, but as I watched him play, I couldn't help but find a new appreciation for the Mario Kart franchise that I, too, played when I was younger, in that it serves as a great generational equalizer. You may have another game that allows you to relate to younger ones just as I have with my six year old.

Watching him have so much fun with a game I also love got me thinking about how this phenomenon can be applied in the work place.  And there's no mistake about it, it is a phenomenon. As a father, I'm in uncharted waters in my family in exploring this method of connecting with Avery. When I was his age, video games were just coming to market (The Nintendo Entertainment System, for one). And sure, my dad could play the games with me, but he didn't have the nostalgic privilege of reacquainting himself with characters he met as a child.

The same is true for today's workforce. With millennials on the rise in the workplace, I would be a fool not to consider ways to lessen the generational gap when developing corporate training modules. Take a look at the image below (from Mario Kart Wii) that players are presented with after a Grand Prix - a series of four cumulatively scored races - and try to pick out the instructional design concepts that are in play on this screen alone. Then, read on to learn my take on it. 

Here's what I see when I look at this image:

1. Object States - Think of each box that displays a character name as an object. After scanning all of them, you'll see several differences. Each difference, no matter how minute, is considered a different State, and serves as a way to provide meaningful information to players...I mean learners.
2. Opacity - Still looking at those objects from item 1, let's 'focus' on opacity!  And that's just it; altering opacity allows designers to direct learner's attention, or focus, on a particular area of the screen.  In this case, Adam (the player) can find himself among several others with a quick glance thanks to his solid color state which really stands out among the other transparent ones. 
3. Alignment - Naturally, our eyes initial scan anything we look at until something 'catches our eye'. And we do so primarily in a left-to-right fashion. Notice how the winning team (red in the image above) is positioned on the left of the screen. Upon this screen loading, our eyes don't need to scan for too long before their attention is caught!
4. Animations - Even though the image above doesn't show motion, I assure you that fireworks flew in celebration of Avery's top score. If you don't believe me, see that pink streamer coming up from the bottom right of the image? Boom. I wonder if fireworks would bombard the screen in the event that Avery lost the race, or if there would be a gigantic trophy rotating triumphantly in the background?
5. Audio - Ok, so maybe this was a bit of a trick! The image doesn't have any sound, but the game certainly does. And for winning the race, any guesses on whether the jingle was of a celebratory or ominous tone? (HINT: 'Ding, ding', as opposed to 'Dum, dum, dummmm'.)
6. Leaderboard - In addition to all of this, we are presented with a leaderboard, which allows learners to gauge their progress among their peers. I realize, as a designer, the potential implications with displaying other's scores that may land a bit scornful on some learners. But take it from me, consider de-identifying learner names in order to build anonymity into a scorn-free leaderboard you can present to users. Talk about 'Ding, ding'!  
7. Branding - Here, I'll reference the Mario Kart franchise as doing a great job in branding their characters, courses, and clickables in a way that a 36 year old who hasn't played Mario Kart in over a decade, can easily recognize the brand at a glance!
8. Consistency - The image above is just one of the over five dozen different race results screens in the game. Is there any question that any of the above would differ in any way, shape, or form in the many other results screens? My point exactly.

Lastly, by no means do I claim this to be an exhaustive list, and am certain I've overlooked or missed some things entirely. Let me know what you see, or your thoughts on my explanation, by leaving a comment below.

Until next time, go BE the YOND!