Category Archives: Professors

eLearning Develpment Best Practices, Mobile Learning, Professors, Teachers

Gamification in Education: 5 ways Gamification improves Students’ Education 

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Gamification is a Meta approach to boost education & keep students sharp & engaged like nothing else.

Gamification is a buzzword that’s ringing doorbells in all the industries revolutionizing the way learning resources are created and distributed.  

Here’s what it means –  

Gamification is the process of breaking down complex learning elements in simplified fun versions using game design, making the resources super-digestible.  

It’s far more effective than traditional ways of learning with a proven impact on comprehension and speed of learning.  

Another industry that’s been heavily impacted or will be heavily impacted is education.  

It’s been static and rudimentary for quite a while and technology is here to flip that over, making changes to the core for good.  

Here are five ways gamification improves students’ education  

  1. Learning is fun, finally! 

Gamification makes learning fun and more interactive. Students finally fall in love with learning, simply because it is served to them in a form they can easily chew.  

It’s like mixing some chocolate powder into milk to give them some nutritional benefits.  

The key is to make it relatable.  

Old traditional ways of learning, though proven effective in the past, lack a very important element that can change the whole game i.e. Interest.  

The classic broadcasting and rote-learning methods are boring and unengaging.  

Gamified learning beats that focusing on all-round development of a student while they are focused on collecting points, choosing avatars.  

It’s a win-win, finally 

  1. More visible hands-on learning  

Number of challenges, percentage of progress in the game or levels unlocked. Every visible aspect related to progress is a dopamine booster for the students pushing them to work harder.  

This is one of the major problems that the traditional education system has – there’s no visible progress and students don’t really know what’s ahead of them.  

Gamification solves this mystery by making learning very visible with the use of the points system, the journey map or the levels unlocked and yet to be unlocked, progress bars & goal-setting elements.  

  1. Students are more proactive & less afraid to make mistakes 

Making mistakes and failing are a crucial part of the learning process. But traditionally, it was taboo and students went through periods of embarrassment and ridicule in front of every other student.  

It’s not the same when it comes to games. Students don’t resist a second to ‘play again’ once the game is over. Moreover, they are self-motivated to play harder the next time to beat their previous scores. 

Gamification takes the embarrassing part associated with making mistakes (a fundamental part of learning) out of the equation and empowering students to work better the next time.  

  1. Students are self-motivated to learn  

The same set of students that resist studying & finding ways to skip school every now and then are found to be excited and self-motivated to learn.  

The impact is sometimes so massive, that kids even get addicted to these gamified versions of lessons & in a sense, they just can’t stop studying.  

According to a study around a decade ago, video games were told to have three factors that made people play them again and again:  

  • Points: Students or players want to achieve more points and finish as many challenges as possible.  
  • The multiplayer: The team building factors and being the best in the competition drives them to work even harder the next time. And there always is a next time.  
  • Something new: Players discover new aspects and exploration helps them work for more.  
  1. Creative & Critical thinking unlocked!  

Creativity and critical thinking can’t be taught. But it sure can be unlocked by setting up familiar environments where students have no choice but to engage and get their creative juices flowing.   

A study in 2013, revealed that problem-solving games have a massive impact on the overall cognitive development of a child.  

Gamified learning can explore these areas benefiting students by:  

  • Increasing their info retention power 
  • Impacting their focus & attention allocation speed 
  • Making them more aware of the surroundings  
  • Giving them the ability to look at things from different perspectives  

It’s already happening  

Math blaster & Treasure mountain were the earliest evidence that validated the gamification concept.  

Now games like these have taken over the gamification revolution and are making studies fun:  

  • Minecraft (Education Edition) – lesson plans & installable worlds that integrate the game design to the classroom making it super creative and fun.   
  • Google’s read along – google speech tech to encourage elementary school students to read and follow along with stories. The assistant Diya makes it more fun and interactive for the kid helping them all along  
  • Amplayfy- Create multiple-choice quizzes. Students will be using their phones and that creates a fulfilling and exciting experience for the student. It’s one of the most direct and tangible examples of game mechanics revolutionizing the classroom.  
  • Archy learning –  Intuitive gamified e-learning platform.  

Final Words 

Education is changing. With different,  more soft-skill oriented demands of the future, the old ways to education might not be sufficient enough.  Gamification crunches the old paper ball of a broadcast education making it super-interactive & way more preferable to students. It might be the push that current outdated education structures need.  

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Corporate Learning Best Practices, e-Learning, Employee-Training, Game-based learning, Informal Learning Tips, Learning Management System, Micro-learning, Mobile Learning, Online Learning, Professors, QuoDeck, Serious Games, Teachers, Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality

Presenting The Current Trends In eLearning

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eLearning is the modern education system which copes with the busy lifestyles of the current generation. It has also a huge impact on our lives. This article discusses the current trends of eLearning including its pros and cons.

The Most Prevailing Trends In eLearning

eLearning is a new era in the learning industry. It provides an individual with the flexibility to learn based on their own time, pace and availability. There are already many number of successful e learning platforms all over the internet like Udemy, Udacity, Teachable etc. or you can even create an e learning
platform from various custom eLearning development companies. The worth of the eLearning market was measured at $2.5 billion in 2013, $7.8 billion in 2016 and, according to numerous predictions, the number will likely grow into $15.72 billion by 2021. These figures show a huge financial contribution to the distance education field, which shows the huge potential of the eLearning market. As the eLearning industry is growing among the new generations, there are many pros and cons. Let’s have a look at those:

Pros

  • Flexibility
    One of the main advantages of eLearning is that it is flexible. It helps us to cope up with our busy schedules by letting us take the courses in small sections whenever we want.
  • Mobility
    It’s something that’s more useful in our busy schedules. In eLearning, we are able to learn from any location, such as a park, a bus, train, etc, instead of a confined classroom.
  • Low Cost
    In eLearning, we don’t require trainers’ fees or equipment, so it becomes more affordable. While the cost of traveling is taken into account, eLearning is a cheaper option.
  • Performance Monitoring
    The performance result after the end of each topic and module are portrayed statistically on a dashboard. It enables learners to self-assess their overall performance and improve themselves. The instructor is able to monitor their performance more easily than in traditional, offline education.

Cons

eLearning can never replace the need for a human instructor. Even if eLearning is useful in many ways, computers are able to complete all tasks due to:

  • Lack Of Focus
    Both learners with poor concentration and those who are poorly motivated may quickly fall behind the online course. Without a fixed time schedule or a routine, it’s difficult for learners to meet specific deadlines or goals.
  • Lack Of Social And Cultural Interaction
    In eLearning, peer-to-peer communication is minimal, which makes it challenging for some of the learners.
  • Learners May Feel Isolated
    Without interaction with the outside world, there is a probability of feeling isolated.

Even though there are many cons as regards eLearning, there have already been many successful eLearning platforms all over the internet like Udemy, Udacity, Teachable, etc. you can make great use of. Learners engagement is of prime importance to the success of eLearning platforms. These can be effective only if they present something that catches the learner’s attention for more than just study materials, such as:

  1. Group Discussions
    A powerful discussion forum which revolves around the course will probably be the first option that makes eLearning interactive and much more engaging. On the other hand, simply having comment boxes on the article is unpleasant and difficult for the learners.
  2. Interactive Quizzes
    Having questions asked after each session as a module assessment and an overall quiz for topic assessment are always interesting.
  3. Make Iit A Visual Treat For The Eyes
    The use of slideshows and various multimedia gives learners the ability to stay on the task and be easily pulled into the topic.

What The Current Trends Are In eLearning

As in every sector where changes have occurred, eLearning has also undergone some. Therefore it’s high time we discussed what the current trends in eLearning are:

Mobile Learning

For the last few years, adoption of mLearning or mobile learning has been on the rise. It is flexible, the courses provided are responsive; i.e. it can run seamlessly on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. The other main advantage of mLearning is that you can learn from wherever you are and whenever you want.

Microlearning

It deals with the short-term learning activity. The course that lasts for 60 minutes can be split into more bite-sized courses. It can be easier and more affordable to produce such courses and as well as to maintain them.

Gamification

It employs gaming elements so as to improve user engagement. It is a technique of transforming learning into a game. In this way, you can create a high impact and immersion.

Interactive Videos

Learning through videos will continue to maintain its own appeal. As a consequence, the way interactive video turn the passivity of regular videos into rich interactive experiences will see a rise and will be utilized for formal training, too, in addition to performance and support.

Social Learning

While there’s a need for formal training that meets specific learning outcomes, there should be an increase in programs for casual or social learning in which students can network, discuss, collaborate, and exchange thoughts on problem-solving.

This article was first published on : eLearning Industry

By Akshay K, Digital Marketing & SEO analyst at Xpertcube

Artificial Intelligence, e-Learning, Game-based learning, Informal Learning Tips, Machine Learning, Mobile Learning, Online Learning, Press, Professors, QuoDeck, Teachers

How Machine Learning and AI are Making Online Learning More Beneficial

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Online learning (aka E-Learning) is now considered to be an integral part of the education sector. In simple words, online learning refers to the type of learning where the learning process is mediated by the internet i.e. the learners use the internet to learn.

Online learning is gaining tremendous popularity. It is also said to increase the knowledge retention rates from 25-60% in comparison to face-to-face training. Online learning owes much of its popularity and efficiency to machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI).

Gone are the days of one size fits all. ML and AI have made learning to become personalized and adaptive.

Every student has different educational backgrounds and thinking abilities. It is imperative to provide case studies and examples to them that they can best relate to, meaning that the course needs to be customized as per each student for better learning.

Such a high-level of customization can be achieved with a Learning Management System (LMS) that has machine learning capabilities.

Leveraging Big Data

AI provides insights based on the enormous amount of data it has collected and analyzed, which facilitates the creation of customized learning programs, faster than before. Access to these insights and data allows online learning platforms to develop a better understanding of learner behaviors and to predict needs by recommending and positioning content based on past behavior. Adaptive learning that is personalized to the individual is a powerful way to engage today’s workforce.

Personalized and Adaptive Learning

Apart from personalization, AI and ML also facilitate better optimization of course content and delivery. An online course on any cloud-based LMS is not a one-time activity. The course content gets revised based on the feedback that you are getting from the students. The feedback can be in the form of qualitative surveys or comments left by the students and the quantitative data like quiz results, ratings, and other course metrics that the LMS provides the learners.

Gamification

Another big factor is gamification, which makes simple activities from documentation to interaction with customers easier. Companies like BYJU’s, Collegify, and QuoDeck are doing excellent in that front.

QuoDeck’s DIY LMS is one such product which is built on mobile and game-based SaaS platform and brings cutting-edge technology at affordable costs for SMEs, start-ups and educational institutes. Presently, the platform can be deployed within an organization whose employee strength varies from 30-1000 with different work environments.

QuoDeck uses a multivariate model including clickstream data, time spent on the system, distribution of course usage, devices used amongst many other variables to uncover patterns, correlations and other insights. Read the 2019 HR Trends in the Workplace by Kamalika Bhattacharya, Co-founder, QuoDeck Technologies.

AI and ML have been exclusively used to improve resource allocation of QuoDeck’s partners, customize learning for employees and to significantly improve their courses efficiency. In the future, the company hopes to leverage AI and Ml tools to provide a pre-designed course based on the learners’ profiles before they begin their e-Learning journey.

Collegify also came up with interesting features that help the students stay engaged on the platform while taking self-paced SAT/ACT test prep courses.

Students can choose avatars, part of a “gamified” work-and-reward approach that speaks to the target age-range and encourages consistent progress. This includes the gradual unlocking of content, in line with our pedagogy of balancing performance with difficulty and avoiding inundating students.

Content is carefully categorized and separated into incremental difficulty levels, which is then driven by AI to respond to and anticipate trends in each student’s learning and performance patterns in real time. This adaptiveness not only ensures students spend their time productively, it ensures teachers, counselors, mentors, and parents also fully understand how best to support applicants both on and off the platform. 

Similarly, Byjus leverages data, ML and AI to offer personalized lessons. The focus is on making learning visual and contextual, rather than just theoretical. This helps students realize what to learn when to learn, how to learn and how much to learn. Its flexible learning style can be adopted according to the student’s learning capabilities. Now, no more mugging up, all you have to do is turn on your phones or tablets and repeat the content till you get a grasp over it.

At present, online learning, in some form or the other, is used by anyone who has access to the web. Among the numerous advantages of online learning, some of the top benefits are mentioned below.

Top Benefits of Online Learning

Easily Available Information

With online learning, information is easily available and at a lower cost. Additional costs like physical space for classrooms, equipment, etc. are reduced. Any learner from any corner of the world can have access to the global contents from anywhere and at any time. This is extremely helpful for the individuals preparing for competitive exams as they can have access to numerous study materials at the comfort of their own homes and for free.

Engagement and Better Memory Retention

The traditional education system is mostly teacher-centric and limited to only writing boards. With technology, this has changed a lot. Now, teaching is no longer only limited to writing boards. The online lessons include various animations and other visual effects to increase the engagement of the students. With better engagement, students not only understand in-depth concepts better but also retain the topics for longer.

Personalized Learning

Adaptive technology has made personalized learning possible. At present, most online learning platforms use big data and cloud computing to understand the unique learning style of the students and allow them to learn at their own pace and style.

Flexible Learning

Using online learning tools, learners can learn from the comfort of their own place, style, and time. Any individual from any corner of the world can now learn according to their own convenience. This is extremely helpful for the students as they can now download any resource, be it NCERT books, or sample papers and refer to them whenever they want.

Costing

E-learning alleviates the need for students and instructors to be located in a central place for learning to take place. This saves money that could be spent on traveling, accommodation and other uses that school-based learners cannot escape from. The time that would be spent commuting to class could be used for other duties too.

These were a few benefits of online learning. These advantages prove that online learning surely has the potential to revolutionize the education sector and can surely make learning more effective, engaging, and student-friendly.

By Tanmoy Ray, Counselor at Stoodnt.com

This article was first published on Stoodnt.com

e-Learning, Professors, QuoDeck, Teachers

7 Instructional design principles for professors and teachers looking to create effective eLearning modules

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As teachers and professors, are today begin incorporating eLearning as a key part of their curriculum, what are the instructional design principles they must keep in mind to make learning most effective?

Teachers and professors who are talking to Generation Z students in their classroom, cannot afford to only depend on conventional pedagogy. They must incorporate eLearning and mobile learning into their curriculum to ensure learner engagement and retention. It is important to note that instructional design principles for these new-age teaching techniques may be slightly different from what is conventionally used.

If you are not well acquainted with these principles already, here is a list of instructional design principles that you can use when setting up your eLearning courses.

Principle 1: Grab your learners’ attention and don’t let it go

Your content should be structured such that it is interactive and requires learner participation. Methods to do so include:

  • Use storytelling in your content. Quests, treasure hunts and journey of a hero are some examples of stories that are simple and yet, engaging
  • Intersperse content with questions that act as knowledge checks as well as those that seek the learners’ opinions
  • Use interactive content templates that reward the learner for an action that he takes. For example, make learners click on an image to learn more on what the image depicts
  • Offer visual relief through the usage of image-based content or videos. Ensure you include videos of about 5-7 minutes in every hour of content you put out. Use visuals in every 1 of 3 slides.
  • If your LMS offers the use of forums or social learning, make sure you facilitate their usage.

Principle 2: Provide learners with a clear set of objectives that the course will meet

Imagine playing soccer without a clear goalpost or basketball without a hoop. Ridiculous, right? People respond better when they are aware of the end-goal that they are looking to reach. Once you provide objectives to your online course, the learner becomes aware of where she is and how far she needs to go to meet them.

Things to do to provide objectives include:

  • Before providing any instructions, define what the course/ module will achieve and what topics and sub-topics it will cover
  • Do not forget to mention why the course topic is important and how students can apply learnings
  • Clearly put down what the minimum required performance for the online course is. This will include the percentage of content slides that need to be consumed and the minimum score that the learner must get in the assessment associated with the online course/module

Principle 3: Stimulate recall of prior learning

Help students comprehend new information by relating it to something they already know or that they have already experienced.

Methods for stimulating recall include:

  • Use anecdotes that help create analogies between what is being taught in the course and real-life scenarios
  • Ask questions to remind users of things they know where they use the concepts being taught. For example, when teaching Newton’s third law, show a visual of things hitting each other and moving back and ask learners why they think this is happening
  • Ask students questions that assess their understanding of previous concepts. In this case, if a learner is unable to answer a question correctly, she will tend to go back and brush up on her knowledge

Principle 4: Present the content in logical consumable blocks

Use strategies to present and cue lesson content to provide more effective, efficient instruction. Organize and chunk content in a meaningful way. Provide explanations after demonstrations.

Things to make content logical and consumable include:

  • Follow a simple pattern for content presentation – Definition, Description, Explanation and Evaluation. To explain any concept in eLearning this 4-step process works very well. You may sometimes choose to play around with this flow but always include all 4 steps.
  • Before getting into detailed understanding of content, include an index of key terms. This will help your learner comprehend the content better
  • Use examples generously to facilitate better understanding and retention
  • Present multiple versions of the same content. You can bolster concepts covered in decks using video, reference documents, interactive content, voice over media, etc. This addresses different learning preferences for different learners

Principle 5: Provide feedback

Provide immediate feedback of students’ performance to assess and facilitate eLearning.

Types of feedback include:

  • Confirmatory feedback – Informs students they had done what were supposed to do. For example, you could thank them for answering a survey question
  • Corrective and remedial feedback – Informs students of the accuracy of their response to something. For example, informing them that they had answered a question correctly
  • Remedial feedback – Directs students in the right direction to find the correct answer but does not provide the correct answer
  • Analytical feedback – Provides the student with suggestions, recommendations, and information for them to correct their performance

Principle 6: Assess performance

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the instructional events, you must test to see if the expected learning outcomes have been achieved. Performance should be based on objectives that have previously been stated.

Methods for testing learning include:

  • Conduct a baselining exercise with a pre-test before exposing the learning content.
  • Conduct a final assessment at the end of the online course. The average score on this will be higher, for well-presented and consumed content, than the average pre-test score. This score can also be looked at on a stand-alone basis to assess the student’s mastery of the subject
  • Embed questions in the content through individual questions or small quizzes
  • Include objective or criterion-referenced performances which measure how well a student has learned or understood a topic
  • Identify normative-referenced performances which compares one student to another student

Principle 7:  Enhance retention

To help learners develop expertise, they must internalize new knowledge.

Methods for helping learners internalize new knowledge include:

  • Use games to get learners to engage with the learning content/questions repeatedly. Try and use simple game mechanics such as those used in slot-machines or snakes and ladders
  • Use metaphors
  • Create concept maps or outlines
  • Create job-aids, references, etc. that the learner can use outside of when she is accessing the online course

Help us add to the list if you think we’ve’ missed out on any points in this article.

By Yashodeep Talele, Software Developer at QuoDeck
e-Learning, Professors, QuoDeck

How can professors use technology to boost learning?

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An overview on how much technology professors use while delivering education, and how they can mitigate their unsolved needs using available product solutions.

Last week I paid a visit to my engineering college, just so that I could reminisce about the good old days. It had been a decade since I had last visited my alma-mater. I expected things to have changed – both inside and outside the classroom.

Outside the classroom, new structures had been built where the old buildings stood. There were new amenities in the campus, the likes of which I would have only dreamt of as a student. Expecting teaching methodologies to have changed as well, I sat through a couple of lectures. Strangely, the classroom continues to function the way it used to.

In the age of mobile learning and eLearning, professors continue to follow head to head classroom learning using pen and paper. In today’s world that runs on technology, where an assessment can be conducted through online courses, I saw students writing assessments on paper and submit them offline. Instead of using a learning management system (LMS), professors only depend on the content that they deliver offline. Instead of using mobile instructional design principles, they use chalks and blackboards.

What do professors need?

Let’s put down a simple list of features/facilities that would bolster their teaching process.

  • A platform or LMS that will enable them to transform existing offline learning into eLearning modules, to enable them to deliver content from any place in the world, to a student who is located at even a remote location
  • A mobile learning system that will enable them to deliver the content on not just the desktops, but via mobile learning. This need not be different from the aforementioned LMS
  • A system that will enable them to incorporate gamification and game-based learning to enhance the student’s experience – provide a fun to do way of learning.
  • A system that will enable easy creation or upload of content eliminating dependencies on third party software products for content authoring.

Is there a solution available? Yes, there are multiple platforms available that professors can use – Docebo, QuoDeck, etc. Some of these are available for free on the internet. Give them a try today to see how

By  Yashodeep Talele, Software Developer at QuoDeck