Creating Custom Elearning Development - Image Consciousness
http://www.bizarticlesonline.net/articles/21309/1/Creating-Custom-Elearning-Development---Image-Consciousness/Page1.html
Christine OKelly
Christine O'Kelly is an author for IBD Insurance Services, an authorized agency for BCBSNC. The company is passionate about its goal to provide individuals and businesses with the most options for affordable health care in NC. By Christine OKelly
Published on 10/6/2008
Discrimination is rarely included in a custom elearning development program on purpose, but its distracting and disturbing effects are very real. The value of an elearning course can be completely lost when this element exists. Here are several ways around this problem that may even improve the program.
Custom elearning development courses add convenience and increase the absorption of information for many educational programs. Unfortunately, even the most creative and well-designed programs can be defeated simply by not evaluating how various demographics are portrayed throughout the video and scripting. This not only includes race, but gender, age, and ethnicity as well.
Each demographic has to be equally represented throughout the program to prevent the devastating effects of even the most unintentional discrimination. How perpetrating individuals, social status, and roles are portrayed in any type of program requires a delicate balance. With a few creative ideas, you can eliminate this element and may even improve upon an already great idea.
Remove Discriminating Factors
One of the easiest ways to prevent discriminatory factors is to remove human characters from the custom elearning development process all together. To emphasize and express ideas, consider using animated text, graphs, charts, and process demonstrations through 3D animation. You can intensify sound bites and add energizing sound tracks to bring added attention to the program. This is particularly helpful in fields like science, finance, and others that involve a number of processes and formulas. Eliminating characters from the course is also beneficial to organizations that already have custom educational programs that need some variety.
Instead of human characters, try using other objects or even animals to carry out the script in a custom elearning development program. While these things aren't often thought of as appropriate for adult educational courses, these types of elements can be far more effective than human characters if they are delivered correctly.
Television advertising is a great example of this. The amount of information retained from the course is considerably higher when the level of enjoyment is increased. This makes it easy to incorporate a small amount of lighthearted humor into the program. If you are looking for inspiration, look no farther than your company brand and its colors, images, and logos.
Alter Human Characters
Using illustrated or cartoon-like human images to express ideas and information allows you to keep the human element for association purposes while eliminating discriminatory elements from the storyboard. This does require some attention. For instance, you may want to have all the images wear similar clothing to eliminate gender. Removing facial features can also help to prevent group misrepresentation. This transfers attention to the other elements in the program and cuts down on the representation of race and gender.
Sometimes, all it takes to balance various groups in a custom elearning development program is to remove the identifying details from the characters. One great example of this is to use silhouettes of various colors to play out the roles in the course. This works best with a full range of colors, company colors, or neutral tones such as green, purple, or blue rather than race or gender associated colors such as brown and pink for instance. If the video needs added interest, use patterns and color gradients that stand out from the background. This type of character will increase the amount of attention given to key points and other text included in the program because the 'actors' require less attention.
The only way to prevent the chance of misrepresenting a group of people in an educational program is through diligence and careful consideration during the design process. While eliminating this concern, you may also be able to add elements that further heighten the success of the course. Custom elearning development puts you at the forefront of the design, giving you the opportunity to deal with discrimination and many other elements in a way that meets your particular needs.
Each demographic has to be equally represented throughout the program to prevent the devastating effects of even the most unintentional discrimination. How perpetrating individuals, social status, and roles are portrayed in any type of program requires a delicate balance. With a few creative ideas, you can eliminate this element and may even improve upon an already great idea.
Remove Discriminating Factors
One of the easiest ways to prevent discriminatory factors is to remove human characters from the custom elearning development process all together. To emphasize and express ideas, consider using animated text, graphs, charts, and process demonstrations through 3D animation. You can intensify sound bites and add energizing sound tracks to bring added attention to the program. This is particularly helpful in fields like science, finance, and others that involve a number of processes and formulas. Eliminating characters from the course is also beneficial to organizations that already have custom educational programs that need some variety.
Instead of human characters, try using other objects or even animals to carry out the script in a custom elearning development program. While these things aren't often thought of as appropriate for adult educational courses, these types of elements can be far more effective than human characters if they are delivered correctly.
Television advertising is a great example of this. The amount of information retained from the course is considerably higher when the level of enjoyment is increased. This makes it easy to incorporate a small amount of lighthearted humor into the program. If you are looking for inspiration, look no farther than your company brand and its colors, images, and logos.
Alter Human Characters
Using illustrated or cartoon-like human images to express ideas and information allows you to keep the human element for association purposes while eliminating discriminatory elements from the storyboard. This does require some attention. For instance, you may want to have all the images wear similar clothing to eliminate gender. Removing facial features can also help to prevent group misrepresentation. This transfers attention to the other elements in the program and cuts down on the representation of race and gender.
Sometimes, all it takes to balance various groups in a custom elearning development program is to remove the identifying details from the characters. One great example of this is to use silhouettes of various colors to play out the roles in the course. This works best with a full range of colors, company colors, or neutral tones such as green, purple, or blue rather than race or gender associated colors such as brown and pink for instance. If the video needs added interest, use patterns and color gradients that stand out from the background. This type of character will increase the amount of attention given to key points and other text included in the program because the 'actors' require less attention.
The only way to prevent the chance of misrepresenting a group of people in an educational program is through diligence and careful consideration during the design process. While eliminating this concern, you may also be able to add elements that further heighten the success of the course. Custom elearning development puts you at the forefront of the design, giving you the opportunity to deal with discrimination and many other elements in a way that meets your particular needs.