Multimedia
Do you want to have a game designed? An app? A virtual classroom? Our versatile multimedia wizards have a helicopter view of the latest trends and applications in communication technologies. From Augmented Reality to 3D animations: they design and build the visuals that support your learning solution effectively and truly make them come to life.
The attractiveness and usability of a learning solution is critical for optimal learning results. Our multimedia designers understand this like no other, and design and build the right visual shell including the use of animation, video and audio.
E-learning
Publishing an E-learning without having a multimedia expert looked at it is possible. However, this often results in page turners. Didactic they may be good but because it lacks the visual attractiveness and usability that people nowadays expect from digital media the intended learning outcome is not achieved. That is unfortunate and does not have to be that way.
Our multimedia people work closely with our instructional designers to embed usability into the foundation of the development of the e-learning. For instance, navigating through an e-learning on a tablet works differently from a PC or laptop. When this is not taken into account from the beginning it is very difficult to add it in a later phase. Our experts know the pitfalls and can advise on the development.
Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of reality to which elements are added by a computer. The result is an enriched perception of reality for the participant. It is therefore a very good tool to support learning.
For their 2013 catalog, IKEA has decided to enrich the 211 million copies of the magazine with Augmented Reality. By downloading the IKEA app from the Apple App Store or Google Play store and scanning the pages of the catalogue, the reader is able to obtain additional information about the products. This information varies from displaying a video to putting 3D models of the products in your living room. The technique is more available to you than you might think.
What are the benefits?
- Enrich printed materials with digital media to reach learning goals. It also works on existing developed learning materials.
- The “coupling” between the digital and non-digital media is easy to use and intuitive. Often there only needs to be “targeted” with the camera of a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet.
- It supports inquiry-based learning, “point-and-learn”
- AR technology can add excitement and entertainment to learning solutions and thus increase the motivation of the participants
- It is very suitable to demonstrate spatial and temporal concepts and offers advantages over traditional media
- AR technology can be used as a basis for supporting constructivist teaching. It enables students to explore at their own pace information about their environment and on this basis to build their own knowledge.
Game-based learning
E-learning is media. It has to compete with other media which entertain us in our private time such as TV, movies, the internet and gaming. We learn best when we’re amused. But we also want to be entertained.
Game-based learning is a structured form of play, mostly for fun but it is also used for educational purposes. It is learning by doing.
In general, the development of games is expensive. But the use of gaming elements in learning solutions does not have to be expensive at all. For example by putting results of assessments ranked and shared among the participants can create a kind of competition. Most people have a natural urge to be “the best” and will replay the game (the assessment) to get a better result than the other players. And meanwhile they learn more about the subject. Two birds with one stone.
Video learning
A picture is worth a thousand words. And a video is worth a thousand pictures. By adding video to your learning solution it will come to life. Moreover, it uses a different cognitive skill of the participant than reading text. And that change is good for learning outcomes.