Preface
It seems like yesterday when the first edition of Michael Allen's Guide to e-Learning was published. But it was actually almost 13 years ago when the first copy was delivered to my doorstep on Christmas Day, even finding me vacationing with my family on Grand Cayman Island. Talk about your publisher pulling out all the stops to deliver a present at the best time and place!
When writing the first edition, I thought about how much I learned from very early endeavors in e-learning. Each undertaking was a serious event because expensive equipment was involved, programming took a lot of time and effort, and there were many skeptics ready to point out shortcomings. Disrupting sacred traditions of teaching, introducing cold insensitive machinery, and suggesting that teachers might better use their time as a resource to students rather than as presenters were bold and radical.
Nevertheless, there were inspiring achievements in that early work, along with many demonstrations of ineffective directions, too. The future promised meaningful, memorable, and motivational learning opportunities for all—if and when the barrier of delivery costs were overcome.
Not only have delivery costs dropped to negligible levels (something we honestly couldn't have contemplated), but the capabilities of the delivery systems are now also greatly expanded to include video, animation, instantaneous searches of live data, portability, and so much more. We now have none of the barriers we previously faced to provide excellent learning opportunities to all citizens of planet Earth—and at a very low cost, if any.
But what's happened?
Well, the situation flip-flopped. In centers where instructional technology was being developed and tested, researchers developed critical know-how regarding how to use technology effectively. But today, we have legions of people who are blithely confident that their abilities to use tools to present content and ask questions are sufficient. Instead of repeated evaluations to make certain instructional software is effective before going live on expensive delivery systems, e-learning courseware is now routinely delivered with no evaluation ever. Today, we're concerned about every minute of authoring time as opposed to the much more important volumes of hours learners spend, productively or not.
So, the mission of this book has not changed. I continue to look for simplifying methods of courseware design that can both reduce authoring time and, most importantly increase learning impact. I believe much of what I offered in the first edition remains valid, but I've gathered and share herein additional concepts and methods that are useful to my colleagues and me.
Examples are always valuable, so I've updated examples, retaining a few that seem to make some points as clear as can be and adding new ones for inspiration. Because the nature of interactive instructional designs can best be understood by describing the essential components of context, challenge, activity, and feedback (CCAF), many of the examples are presented through identification of these components.
Second Edition Examples
| Chapter | Page | Concept | Example Title |
| 3 | 36 | Experiences vs. presentations | Locating an Earthquake's Epicenter |
| 10 | 138 | Building motivation through anticipated outcomes vs. learning objectives | Expedia Travel Planning |
| 10 | 150 | Using risk to increase learning motivation | Sunnyside Grill |
| 10 | 166 | Reversing traditional “tell and test” to measuring abilities first (testing) allows subsequent instruction to be tailored to individual needs | Cooking with Flair: Preparing Fruits, Salads, and Vegetables |
| 10 | 183 | A compelling story and novel are combine to make an engaging context | Manhattan Associates: Supply Chain Training |
| 10 | 187 | Using a novel context to make learning experiences memorable | Why Does Glue Stick? |
| 10 | 193 | Authentic multistep tasks engage learners more deeply and help transfer learning to performance | POST LERT First Responder |
| 10 | 205 | Delayed judgment is more representative of the performance feedback learners receive on the job | AutoNation: Customer Care |
| 11 | 218 | Allowing learners to browse and assess courseware as easily as they would a book | ZebraZapps “Sneak Peek” feature |
| 11 | 227 | Multifunction navigation bar provides controls and status information | NYI Medical Center: ICIS patient records |
| 11 | 228 | Reusable model implements all navigation imperatives | American Airlines WorldTutor |
| 12 | 238 | Primary components of instructional interactivity (CCAF) | Supervisor Effectiveness: Employee Security |
| 12 | 244 | Second example of CCAF | Railroad Safety for Professional Drivers |
| 12 | 260 | Varying complexity of user gestures doesn't equate to more effective learning experiences | Deciduous and Coniferous Trees |
| 13 | 268 | Models That Work: Increased incentive to learn when available help takes more effort to access | Airline Reservations and Ticketing |
| 13 | 271 | Models That Work: Task Model | NYU Medical: Integrated Clinical Information System |
| 13 | 278 | Models That Work: Corrective Feedback Paradigm (CFP) | Who Wants to Be a Miller? |
| 13 | 284 | Models That Work: Problem-Solving Investigation | Corning Substance Abuse |
| 13 | 288 | Models That Work: Discovery learning | POST-LERT—Recognizing and Reporting |
| 13 | 293 | Models That Work: Storytelling | In Their Virtual Shoes (Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence) |
| 16 | 349 | Integrating games and learning content | Sunnyside Grill |
| 17 | 361 | Using extrinsic games for drills and practice | Modified Jeopardy Board |
I hope you'll agree this edition digs to the roots of excellent learning experiences, identifies and clarifies the critical components, shows how to match instructional strategies to identified types of targeted outcomes, and simplifies instructional design in valid, practical ways.
I'm so grateful for the great flood of feedback from the first edition. It has inspired me in countless ways, and I've learned so much from readers and their feedback. Please, do let me hear from you!
Michael Allen
February 2016