G-Cube Blog

India celebrated its 64th Independence Day on 15th August. While there are many functions organized by government to commemorate I-Day, we at G-Cube also celebrated this Day with great joy and enthusiasm.

There was a festive free spirit in the air as the entire office was decked up in tricolor theme, and all G-Cubians were wearing tricolor badges. Patriotic songs quadrupled free spirit of the nation among G-Cubians.

Inter-departmental competitions were organized for the day, which turned out to be quite a battle of nerves and skills between different teams. The celebration started with small skill based games and kite flying competition. These activities surprised G-Cubians which served their very purpose and tuned G-Cubians in exuberant mood.

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Next on the list were major competitions of the day: G-Cube’s Got Talent (wherein G-Cubians show cased the talent which makes them Unique) and Painting Competition – based on Independence theme. The competition started with our budding ID Deepak Ghosh’s song followed by Rohit Grover and Arvind Chawla’s surprise performances. Everybody was astonished by Manish Gupta’s (CEO – G-Cube) dance performance. Next performance was of Anup Singh, who stole the show with his mimicry of different Indian actors and made everybody burst into laughter.

Sayantani Kundu was the winner of Painting competition. In ‘G-Cube’s Got Talent’ Anup Singh and Deepak Ghosh were winners. The award for person best dressed in Indian colors was won by Prerna.

Kids and G-Cubian’s families were also invited for the day. Among kids, Kriti Jain amazed everyone with her mind blowing Indian Classical dance performance on Vande Matram which began with furling of flag. The sweet little girl represented true India with her Indian attire.

Last but not the least all G -Cubians wished each other Happy Independence Day and the celebrations ended with yummy snacks.

While reading my colleague Sachin’s post on HTML5 & Flash, I felt compelled to present my views on this debate from a e-learning developer’s perspective.

Stability: For all developers working in the technology aspect of e-learning (and all other aspects as well!) the most important factor is stability. Till date no browser is 100% compliant with HTML 4.01 which was released by W3C years ago.

Compliance, however, is not the only problem. Other than rendering of simple pages, every browser has a different behavior. The same goes with ECMA Script (JavaScript). Invariably every web-based application has to be programmed in a manner that a different HTML/JavaScript is generated based on the client’s browser. The long and short of it is, instability, and this causes major problems for the web-based application developers. What appears to work in Internet Explorer (IE) may not work on Firefox or Chrome and the other way around. To add to this bedlam, every browser has its own extensions – the trend which was started by Microsoft during IE 4 days.

Coming back to the question about adaptation of HTML 5 – which isn’t even fully standardized as of yet. Quoted from Wikipedia – “The Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) started work on the specification in June 2004 under the name Web Applications 1.0.[1] As of March 2010[update], the specification is in the Draft Standard state at the WHATWG, and in Working Draft state at the W3C.”

Are we talking about adopting something which isn’t fully standardized yet? Knowing the history of browsers when it comes to compliance with HTML 1/2/3/4? Today, HTML 5 is nothing but one way for web-browser providers to claim that their browser supports HTML 5 and hence, are better than the competitor.

The biggest advantage of using Flash is stability, because it is owned, maintained and provided by a single body. If some Flash animation or video works on IE on MS Windows, it will work on Firefox on Linux or FreeBSD. The developer doesn’t have to unnecessarily worry about it!

The problem with HTML is that it is a standard and every browser provider has its own interpretation and implementation. Let’s take the example of TCP/IP, something which was standardized in late 80′s. Till date every OS has its own quirks when it comes to the implementation of TCP/IP stack, and this causes problems for developers making interoperable and portable applications. Another example that will strike chord with e-learning developers would be implementation of SCORM across LMS’s and e-learning courses. SCORM is a well defined standard by ADL, but then everyone has their own interpretation of the same which causes problems all across.

Apples vs. Oranges?: A comparison between Flash and HTML 5 appears to be a comparison between apples and oranges. Comparison of Flash with MS Silverlight or Google Gears or Java Applets seems appropriate. HTML (3 or 4 or 5) is about Markup – a building-block of web pages. Flash on the other side is an extremely rich environment for creating highly interactive content, with added features of 2-D and 3-D. Video is just a small part of Flash – though heavily used. If the only consideration were video (which is not the entire debate, though a large part of it), we may compare HTML 5 with flash.

HTML video vs. Flash video: Again quoting from Wikipedia “HTML5 video is an element introduced in the HTML5 draft specification for the purpose of playing videos or movies [1], partially replacing the object element.”

A good look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video helps us gauge the vagueness of this new HTML 5 Video element – and there is a lot of uncertainty about it. A serious business decision cannot be taken based on what information we have today.

Google/Firefox/Mozilla/Opera seem to have agreed on using WebM format (a new video format http://webmproject.blogspot.com/) but what about Microsoft? Most of the corporate houses use MS Windows as the OS and IE as the browser. A lot of organizations don’t even allow installation of other web browsers because of tight integration that only IE provides with Active Directory Services.

HTML 5 on Mobile Devices and the envisaged lightweight DREAM-come-true type Web-browser: How many mobile or hand-held devices are available in the markets today that provide full support for HTML 4.01 and JavaScript? Most of the hand-held devices suffer from low computing capacity because of which some or the other HTML 4.01 feature or JavaScript feature aren’t available. Secondly, technically speaking, if there will ever be a browser with HTML 5 support (including video and all the promised goodies) it will be at least two times bulkier than today’s combination of browser and Flash. So, the entire idea of future’s lightweight web browser with HTML 5, ready for low computing capacity devices, is again questionable.

Are we back to where we began? Yes, we are. Weighing technical aspects too, HTML5 still does not have a fool-proof and water-tight case yet.

The web has gone though a metamorphosis in the last two decades to find glory in its present avatar. It is glorious indeed – Multiple browser options, varied platforms and a media-rich feel. For the learning industry, it is truly an era of looking forward to progress and innovation.

For developers, it has been good times as they have been given room to explore different mediums – including one that has shown immense success – Video. But with increased number of viewing devices, from the early desktops to laptops and now, smart-phones, there is more than one factor that influences e-learning developers’ choice of applications, software or standards used to build training.

The current debate between Flash and HTML5 rests largely on multi-media features. How do you make the choice, for both have its pros and cons? When faced with this dilemma, we debated internally on what’s best suited to create a successful training.

First and foremost, as always is the thumb rule in learning, Learner needs. If a media and interactivity rich training course is the need of the day then Flash is a comfortable choice today. But there has to be more to that decision than just familiarity with the platform. HTML5 is being hailed as equally competent in developing rich-media, adopted by Google and Apple. The list is getting longer, as HTML5 is an open-source standard. No third party plug-in is necessary to support it. This however, is generally not the problem for our learner group. With over 97% of market share (Source: http://statowl.com/plugin_overview.php), plug-in required for viewing Flash-developed content is already present on almost all PCs and laptops.

The question was what would best suit the end-user. HTML5 has to still take strides in creating a network of browser support. Right now, Chrome (Google) and Safari (Apple) support viewing of video developed with HTML5 (H.264). Firefox will most-probably support it in future and Internet Explorer 9.0 will too. But many users still use Internet Explorer 7 or below, and find it not necessary to upgrade. At over 35% of all web-browsing users (Source: http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_version-ww-monthly-200904-201005-bar), this is not a paltry percentage! So Flash wins hands down in terms of available support.

The other side of the spectrum is the Client. Specifications always dictate that the best care be taken to ensure Digital Rights Management (DRM). With Flash, DRM is protected to a large extent – at least it is not as simple as right-clicking and hitting ‘save to’! DRM with HTML5 is not straightforward as it requires special servers and settings, not available to many developers. To save your content being illegally downloaded, Flash seems to be the better option again.

The other thread of debate that HTML5 is open-source while Flash is a propriety product. Well, for developers who have been using Flash ever since it was launched a decade back, this is not an issue.

So clearly, Flash won the case today. But the emphasis is on ‘today’. Learning is changing face, and as predicted by many experts from the industry, mobile learning will be next ‘big’ thing. HTML5 has a longer pros-list when talking about viewing web content on mobile phones. It ensures higher device-performance, enhancing battery life. Viewing Flash-based video on phones drains batteries, while HTML5 performs better in this aspect.

Web-kit, which is the base of the Safari browser of all Apple products, has been widely accepted by almost all mobile giants. Android’s browser runs on Web-kit, Nokia and Blackberry are also using it. This ensures wider support for content developed on HTML5 on mobile phones.  The problem of DRM is also countered, as downloading or saving content is a phenomenon mostly associated with the PC or laptop, not so much in mobiles.

Moving ahead as ‘e-learning’ comes closer to ‘mobile learning’ we might bring you our experiences with HTML5 as well. On the other hand, as we speak, Adobe is also making efforts to come to a closer compatibility to content on mobile phones. Our next update might talk on those developments and our experiences with them.

So it is best for us, as developers, to maintain our stand of what suits our Learner best. That will always be – where we begin!

Keeping in tune with its vision of innovation, G-Cube had launched a unique training program for ID aspirants early this year. Aptly named ID-Edge, it aimed to give that much needed ‘edge’ and professionalism to ID enthusiasts for embarking on a career in Instructional Design. Our talk with Pradeep Chopra, Project Manager for ID-Edge gives us a look into the inside world of ID training.  Poised at culmination, this is, however ‘Just the beginning’, he says. ‘With more levels of training planned and new batches to start, the innovation will continue’.

Read on for a detailed excerpt.

Besides evident need for professional ID recruits, what was the thought behind creating ID Edge?

ID-Edge was developed with a vision to strengthen the pool of ID professionals in the industry. It has two components. The first one – to have a good set of ID professionals on the floor and the second – to create a team which strives to develop e-learning models which stand out in quality and are cost-effective for our clients as well.

So, while it is an answer to our ID specific needs, it has been developed to provide the trainees a 360-degree look at e-learning and its various aspects.

What was the course structure like?

The course structure was set in three broad parts – The Introduction Phase, the Learning Phase and the Evaluation Phase.

When the trainees started the course, they had little knowledge about e-learning. It was necessary for them to experience the entire process that is involved in creating an e-learning module. The first phase provided this much needed foundation.

The learning phase focused on the theoretical knowledge of ID theories, models and taxonomies. Meshed with this, was a practical aspect of training. Samples from  various projects were taken to demonstrate how the theories were used to create apt trainings, as per the requirements of the client and learner needs.

Along with this, other practical skills like client-interaction and inter-organizational communication were sharpened through interactive sessions.

Finally, all trainees were required to create training modules and were evaluated on the same. Every aspect of the training, from its conceptualization to graphics and media, the trainees did it all. This was necessary – helping us to evaluate them on the ID principles learnt as well as on all other aspects of the training. It also instilled a confidence in them to take on live-projects hence on.

ID-Edge stresses a lot on hands-on experience for trainees. Can you elaborate?

In the ID-Edge program we laid great emphasis on hands-on experience for trainees. The trainees got a chance to apply the knowledge they acquired in practice projects. They got exposure to the practical aspects and constraints of instructional designing while working on these projects. This methodology enabled them to learn from their own experience and mistakes and gave them hands on experience in instructional designing.

The ID-Edge program also expanded the scope of the training by not limiting it to storyboarding and designing but also extending it to creating e-learning trainings using a rapid authoring tools. G-Cube provided the necessary infrastructure and the trainees created a pilot project using the popular rapid authoring tool – Articulate. Thus ID Edge provided a holistic and integrated training which gave them practical hands-on experience in the field of ID.

For ID aspirants, what are the skills that you would say are necessary for consideration?

An ID aspirant should necessarily possess good writing skills clubbed with an innovative and creative mind. An inquisitive bent of mind with good analytical and reasoning skills are requisites as well. She/he should be a good listener, a good interpreter with an eye for detail and should be able to communicate verbally and visually. Most importantly ID aspirants should be passionate about eLearning and should be able to deliver effective and engaging trainings.

How did ID-Edge hone those skills?

ID-Edge program sharpened the requite skills that an ID aspirant should possess by creating a holistic training. The trainees were encouraged not to accept things basis their face value but to question and reason things before doing any task. They probed deeper into the content, enhancing their knowledge and inquisitive bent of mind. With considerate exposure to a plethora of eLearning trainings, the trainees learnt about different ways of presenting the content. The practice projects sharpened their writing and visualization skills and also enabled them to experiment and explore various avenues of creativity.

Has ID-Edge managed to bridge the need gaps many recruiters face when looking for ID professionals? How so?

The problem that recruiters in India face while hiring ID professionals is that they do not find people who are trained or specialized in the ID domain. The ID-Edge program has definitely managed to bridge the need gaps that the recruiters face. It has converted ID aspirants into ID professionals who not only have sound basic knowledge of ID but also have practical hands-on experience in various aspects of ID including creation of eLearning trainings using Articulate

How has ID-Edge helped the chosen trainees in embarking upon a career in ID?

The ID-Edge program is conceived in two levels. In the current scenario, the trainees were trained on level 1. This level has provided a sound and strong foundation to the trainees to start their career in ID. After spending some time on live projects, the trainees will be ready for the next stage.

So, on the whole, this training will definitely give them an edge over other ID aspirants in the industry.

What is you future vision for ID-Edge?

G-Cube plans to start a fresh batch soon. In parallel, innovation will continue on developing new and cost-effective ID and eLearning models.

Also, planned for the next year, is level 2 training for the current lot of trainees. Level 2 training will be designed in a workshop mode and will include topics such as designing complex eLearning trainings and providing eLearning solutions to clients.

Keeping in line with G-Cube’s vision, ID-Edge would aim to continue taking strides in innovation and new ways of imparting knowledge in ID as well as the e-learning domain as a whole.

Mobile telephony has revolutionized India over last one decade. Today, we get free incoming calls and outgoing call rates are the cheapest in the world ($0.01/minute and going down). A fully functional smart phone is available for less than $100 and mobile network is available in remotest corner of the country.

But the scene was very different just a decade back. Mobile technology was largely out of reach of common person – phones were costly, and call rates were almost 30 times of what they are today. And then some of the companies which got new telecom licenses in late 90’s changed the game by offering very affordable phones and low call rates. Rest, as they say, is history.

I think we are at same inflection point in computing and network connectivity in India. Desktop/laptop prices are coming down, but still not affordable for the masses of the country. So is the case with Internet connectivity – not so good connectivity in most Tier II cities and below and prices though reasonable are still not at a level where as a user I don’t have to think about it.

Now, I am going to stick my neck out and predict – Tablet PC’s combined with 3G/BWA networks would be game changer for computing (and technology assisted learning) within next few years.

Why Tablets? Because they are touch driven and hence easier to use, battery life is longer – so charge once and use it for substantial time without worrying about electricity supply, and with volume production they can be suitably priced to come within reach of masses (here I think it’s again going to be some Indian/Chinese company which is going to do the magic with ‘frugal engineering’ and not big boys of the world). We can also have solar charged tablets (just like recently launched solar charged phones) which would make tablets even more attractive vis-à-vis desktops/laptops.

Couple this with reasonably priced 3G/BWA packages and you have a ready consumer base of at-least 500 million and growing (total mobile users in India are around 500 million right now)!

This development according to my opinion will have biggest impact on education and training – currently an area which is vastly under-served due to infrastructural gaps and lack of quality teachers/instructors. After taking care of basic needs, India spends most on Education – so a device that can give a child in some obscure town exposure to best teaching facilities, or provide timely training to a budding professional for career growth, would take a prominent space in household budget allocation.

We at G-Cube are very excited about the opportunities this development can unlock. What are your thoughts? Does this look like a potential game changer?

‘Free will’ – the concept can be interpreted in many ways and one of that is the freedom of expression. In the Internet age, Blogs are widely accepted and appreciated medium of expression. But beyond expression, do blogs also serve an educative or business purpose? Indeed, blogs have come past the initial tag of just an ‘online diary’ of writing enthusiasts sharing their views with the millions browsing the internet. For an organization, a blog can be platform, with a million possibilities.

Business Blogs: Business blogging is now a common trend. What better platform to educate your audience and share your achievements than a blog?

Within the organization, company blogs are often the place to share views, events or even the glory of achievements. Blogs can be informal enough to encourage participation, and bring about a sense of solidarity.

For advertising and marketing purposes too, blogging is an excellent platform.

• Sharing expertise, increasing visibility and wooing prospective customers – a business blog can do it all.
• It especially makes sense for smaller or newer organizations to blog actively – it is a pocket friendly yet high-reach medium
• Short and informal – the very format of blog entries invite more views, more than a regular company website.
• Links to similar blogs are almost a norm for any business blog. This is useful for viewers looking for information on topics featuring on the blog.
• Blogs can also be utilized to share industry news. Inviting views on topics of shared interest, not only gives an opportunity to gain more knowledge but at the same time, it is a window to different perspectives. This leads to greater knowledge of the industry and more business opportunities, as a result.

Some of the interesting corporate blogs that you may like to go through -

• Articulate’s – Rapid E-learning Blog
• Brandon Hall – Workplace Learning Today
• Adobe Blogs
• Google Blog
• GE – Edison’s Desk
• Intel – Inside Scoop

Learning blogs: Blogs have proven to be a great platform for learning as well- for teachers or instructors as well as for the learners. To encourage learning within an organization, blogs have been a popular medium for many.

• For instructors, it can be a platform to raise questions and invite views. The blog can be a more comfortable place for many learners, where views can be pondered over before sharing.
• Different views or perspectives can sometimes conclude into the right answer. The learners and instructors alike can gain a lot from the diversity of opinions that a blog invites.
• Both for e-learning and traditional classroom learning, blogs have been a great medium to have the ‘after-class’ discussions. Subject matter experts, instructors and learners – can all participate.
• A blog can be a place for ‘growing knowledge’. A topic of discussion can grow from its conception to its conclusion, through various posts. Learners can look into this repository for pertinent information.
• Sharing links is also a popular phenomenon on learning blogs. This helps in attaining well-rounded information of any topic – beyond the scope or limit of only one particular blog.

Here are some of our favorite e-learning blogs (in no particular order) -

• Elliott Masie’s Learning Trends
• Harold Jarche
• Clive on Learning
• Manish Mohan – Learn & Lead
• Tony Karrer – eLearning Technology
• MinuteBio
• Craig Weiss – Elearning 24×7
• Clark Quinn – Learnlets
• Rupa Rajagopalan – The Writers Gateway
• Jane Hart – Social Media For Working & Learning

A social medium of expression, blogs encourage free-thinking. It makes us receptive of ideas, even if they differ from our own. It also gives us the confidence to voice our own views, even if they differ from the popular ones. Talking about your business or sharing your opinions – blogs make good sense!

Images and graphics have always been a part of learning and e-learning is also no exception. More than just jazzing up the ‘look and feel’ aspect, graphics can enhance learning as a whole. A common view that including graphics in a learning module is a sure-shot way of relieving tedium and doing away with ‘white space’ is outdated. It is sometimes the norm for some e-learning courses to have minimalistic graphical elements. For others, however, it can build the very essence of learning and rise above being just a sidekick to content or textual matter!

So, when sitting with the important task of thinking up the graphical angle of a course – along with a lot of creative thought and imagination, one needs to also keep in mind some of these points -

• Audience profile: Graphics do not follow the ‘one-size-fits-all’ criteria. Age, education, cultural background – the list of factors affecting the learner sensibilities is long and exhaustive. But it is, in the same time the window to what the learner expects and appreciates. Understanding the learner and learner needs is thus crucial to designing graphics for instruction. Not only does it help to anticipate the learner appreciation, it also helps to steer clear of what the learner might NOT like or understand.
• The learning platform: The kind of training – web based or computer based, or available internet bandwidth also influences the kind of graphics to be included in the training course. Graphics of web based trainings (WBTs ) are often lighter and can be viewed well, keeping in mind available bandwidth. Graphics used are often vector graphics, which can be adjusted as per screen size and are also lighter than bitmaps. On the other hand, Computer based trainings (CBTs) can support heavy graphics, with the availability of compact discs and CD-ROMs. To use the right kind of graphics as per the kind of platform available to the learner is again, imperative for the success of learning
• Limits and Constraints: While it is indeed necessary to unleash creativity, it is also important to keep practical constraints like budget, time-lines or corporate standards in mind and work around them. Most graphics professionals agree that it is better to use simple but well-made graphics rather than shabby ones for the excuse of low budgets or time constraints. The world of graphics is huge and there’s a lot one can choose from. 2D or 3D, animated or still – the choice has to be made keeping all constraints in mind. And working around them is possible. Treatment of graphics can be creative and an image does not have to literally ‘talk’ to be able to get its message across.

And while keeping the above points in mind, some of these essentials should also be taken into consideration -

• Relevance: Every aspect of design – be it the color scheme or a particular image – has to have relevance as per the learning objectives of the course. Visual appeal of the screen should communicate in accordance with the tone of the entire content and discordance in the tone of the content and graphics will be jarring.

• Placement: Some standardized norms in graphical treatment have become familiar to most learners. For instance, the logo placement in the top-left or interactive phrases like ‘next’ or ‘click to continue’ on the bottom-right. Many such norms are formed during the course of a learning module. For example, names of people or characters introduced in a certain pattern can lend them hierarchy or relevance, which the learner perceives and expects throughout the duration of the course. A deviation from this structure can confuse or distract the learner.

• Aesthetics: While we agree that graphics have to be relevant to the entire theme and objective of the learning module, at the end of the day, it DOES need to look good. Every graphical element needs to find uniformity throughout the structure of the course. This helps to build the course as a whole, where none of its visual elements stick out as the oddity.

• Fonts, size, style, color scheme: Some fonts suit the formal courses while some are suited to more informal ones. Size and styles too add to the necessary zing. Colors are also instrumental in setting the ‘tone’ of the training. Once this tone is set, it is necessary to maintain it through the course of the training. Tweaking with the elements of fonts, size, style or color can bring about the necessary changes in tone. However, this can be a ‘no-trespassing’ area! Some of the aspects like fonts and colors are pre-decided by the client and have to be worked with accordingly.

• De-Clutter: Using images, charts, graphs or interactive elements in graphics can certainly help the learner. At the same time, it is important to find a balance so that it does not become the case of ‘too much of a good thing’! Too many visuals on a single slide or page can confuse the learner. If a hard-hitting image or an informative graph is included in a page or slide, it is important that there is ample space for contemplation or assimilation of its effect. In this matter, empty space is of foremost relevance.

A world of creativity and unfathomable possibilities is the world of graphics. In e-learning, it lends its relevance best when creativity is meshed with understanding client needs, learning objectives and the learner.

Internet has had a profound impact on the way we interact and work. It started of as a medium to exchange information between computers. With increasing network speeds and wider penetration of Internet, software providers started moving their applications to the Web, and started offering their software’s as a service (SaaS). Organizations or individuals could now use enterprise level software’s for a small fee (or even for free) without having to install them on local infrastructure, and without worrying about how to maintain these applications.

But all this while there was almost no innovation on how hardware infrastructure was deployed or licensed. One either had to create an in-house data center to deploy and manage their software systems, or had to take servers on rent in a data-center managed by someone. In both cases one had to pay full server and bandwidth charges even if their applications were consuming only a fraction of these resources, or running for only few hours in a month.

Cloud Computing or Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) changes all this. Using cloud infrastructure provided by service providers, such as Amazon or Microsoft Azure, you can now –

• Choose the server configuration for your needs
• Activate/deactivate it instantly and without any charges
• Increase/decrease number of server as per requirement – again without any charges
• And best of all, pay for only what you consume (e.g. pay only for bandwidth that you consumed and not for some flat GB’s of data transfer, or pay only for the duration when your cloud infrastructure was ON and not for the whole month etc.)

Difference between self-managed server infrastructure, servers rented from data center management companies, and cloud based infrastructure can be best explained using the taxi analogy I saw in rSmart’s video on cloud computing –

If you would like to learn about ‘virtualization’ – underlying technology innovation behind cloud computing, then you may like to read the article on Hardware Virtualization on Wikipedia.

And what can cloud computing mean for e-learning industry?

Learning management systems (LMS’s) are already made available in SaaS model by many LMS providers (including us). But for most LMS providers, cost structure for providing LMS in SaaS model is currently governed by ‘old’ way of server infrastructure management (in-house or rented), which is then as-is passed on to the customer.

With cloud computing option, LMS providers will be able to create different and more flexible licensing options, such as –

• Pay $x per user per course (of a certain size) irrespective of duration for which user is registered on the system
• Pay $y per user per assessment, where assessment duration is say 3 hours, and where user may come to the system at any point of time
• Pay $z for a surge in concurrent user load from say 100 to 500 for a short duration which may be because of a timed learning event

Essentially, true ‘pay-as-you-go’ model where customer is transparently charged for the infrastructure resources consumed by their users, instead of time linked flat fee for expected registered or concurrent user load.

Mostly when one budgets for a learning management system (LMS), major emphasis is only given on LMS license cost and annual maintenance cost. However, there are many other factors, such as system software’s, server hardware, and other operating expenses etc that can have a huge impact on your total cost of ownership.

Given below is table for calculating TCO for self-hosted LMS, and for LMS made available on SaaS (Software as a Service) model.

Before calculating TCO for a LMS, it would be good if you know or if you can guesstimate what is the kind of user load that you expect on the system, i.e. how many users would typically access the system at any given point of time. Tip – Based on our experience from Wizdom LMS installations, concurrent user (CCU) load typically ranges between 0.5 to 5% of registered user base.

Case 1: Client Hosts LMS on Own Premises

Items that go towards calculating TCO are –

Assuming it’s an annual license for LMS, your TCO for 3 years would be –

TCO = (a x 3) + b + c + d + (e x 3)

Case 2: LMS Licensed on SaaS Model

Calculating TCO for LMS taken on SaaS model is relatively easier. Using the above table only, TCO for 3 years in this case would be –

TCO = (a + 3) + d + (e x 3)

You can download the above calculator from this location – TCO_Calculator. Please do feel free to edit and share this calculator as you may wish.

Game Based Learning (GBL) is increasingly becoming an alternative way of training. But how effective can this medium be – the medium which has been traditionally used for entertainment?

Our chat with Helen Routledge, GBL Instructional Design Manager at Pixelearning, revealed the answer and more. Game based learning caught her interest early on in her career and she is now held as one of the few spear-headers instrumental in building GBL as an industry. Her work with the many leading serious gaming companies coupled with an experience in the field of education, gives her an edge to understand different learning groups and how to effectively reach out to them.

An excerpt of our conversation, all about the world of GBL.

Has the corporate world truly adopted gaming as a way of learning or are serious games still referred as a pastime and the major reason that it is being adopted, is that it is something ‘different’?

It is a bit of both. Many organizations look at GBL as a differentiator between themselves and their competitors. They see it as a way of appealing to new staff members, that they are offering something new and different in the training side of business. But at the same time it has to also be accepted by their current employees.

There is a culture of being risk-averse, especially in large organizations. But then every organization is different. And in recent years, we are seeing a change in outlook and serious games are being adopted as training application. It is not just about being adopted, there is also a willingness to push the boundaries of technology and try different things in terms of serious gaming.

While most of us are aware and accustomed (even addicted) to computer games, does serious gaming cater to all learners? Is there a ‘learner profile’ for the effectiveness of game-based learning?

I would not say there is a particular profile of learner for GBL. I think the learners must have an open mind, because if the learner has negativity towards any training mechanism, it will not succeed. So, the main thing is that the learner should be open to try new things and learning in a slightly different way.

For learners, who might not be too familiar with computer games, it is kept in mind when designing a serious game – to keep it simple. Most training applications are Flash based and simple to use. Most people are familiar with the Internet and can navigate a web page. That is the type of mechanism in design which we try to use. As long you can ‘click’ and use it as an interactive mechanism in a web page, you can navigate through a serious game as well. Once we explain that to the learner, they usually understand what it is all about.

For first time adopters, game based learning might not be very easy to implement across organization. What are the major challenges one faces while implementing GBL? Does the ROI justify the change management?

If we are talking about technical changes, all our games run on a browser and are Flash based. So there is no need for new installations or plug-ins. We always keep in mind from the very beginning, which browser version our client is using or which Flash version do they have. This makes sure that we are not creating a serious game that they would not be able to use in their existing technological structure.

A serious game is a part of the LMS as any other traditional e-learning course; it brings back updates on the learner in the same way. So, in the technology side, serious game do not generally bring along a whole lot of changes.

As far as the cultural changes are required, the up-selling within the organization is the key. The people who champion GBL need to sell the concept and its effectiveness. That is where we come in, providing collateral material supporting GBL, which in turn helps them to convince their peers and superiors.

We might not be able to share actual numbers but from the qualitative response that we get from our clients, GBL definitely shows positive ROI. It allows the learner hands on experience and a chance to make mistakes before going out in the ‘real world’ and that definitely pays.

While gaming provides a highly interactive and engaging environment for the learner does the ‘fun’ part of gaming take away from the seriousness of learning?

We do get that from many quarters but less and less now. ‘Fun’ might be the wrong term, really. Sure, we like to have fun, but we should be able to engage our learner. And we do that through the narrative, the storyline and the interactive aspects of the game.

We may take the example of the ‘Leadership game’ that we have developed. One of the key criterions for it was an incredibly challenging environment, for it was to be used to train upcoming leaders. The client did not want the learners to have fun; they wanted them to be challenged. A part of the environment was such that they would experience some frustration and the aim was that they should be able to overcome that. So, when designing the game, we had to keep the challenging and frustrating qualities in the environment, and at the same time, we had to make sure that it was motivating and engaging as well.

So if you go down the path of making your serious game a 100% fun and learning is not the main focus, then it is definitely the wrong direction to take. There has to be a balance in making the game engaging as well as getting a definite learning message across.

What are the best practices of learner evaluation in serious games?

The way we look at serious games, is that it is a training mechanism to highlight awareness about key behaviors and instill behavior changes in the end user. Use of serious games as a tool for learner evaluation is an area many people are looking into right now, but is still not very evolved. Most of our serious games are mainly used to create awareness and encourage reaction or behavior in a particular situation or environment.

But if there are any key points of evaluation that the client wants, they have to be kept in mind right from the beginning when designing a serious game. They can be then treated in various ways and can vary in form. At the end of the game, the learner may get a verbal feedback or scores gathered in the course of the game.

The evaluation part of GBL, I would say is an area which is still growing and should be taken with a pinch of salt!

Do serious games provide opportunities for re-use or updating, as and when the learning objective or the audience changes? Any design philosophies one should keep in mind to increase re-usability?

It is a key factor when adopting GBL and must be considered when designing a serious game. We rarely design games which are for one-off use. We always try to build in re-usable aspects in design.

For instance, I can cite an application we built for a US company for call-center sales and service training. We built in a role-play engine and the agents were allowed to go through realistic conversations to build in skills before actually going to the front line of selling. Through traditional classroom training, they might have gotten two or maybe, three chances at the maximum as everybody needs to have a go. But what we did in this training application was that we built in conversations that lasted on an average of 10 minutes. Throughout the conversation, there was the possibility of many outcomes, many routes that the conversation could take, leading to several different endings, positive and negative. So you could replay the conversation several times, and experiment with the many ways of dealing with the customer.

Following on from that example, in all of our applications, the text and content is in XML. It makes it very easy for the client to go into the code and make small changes like changes in prices and such figures.

To be able to update or add new scenarios is crucial in GBL. Most games are modular in structure and this makes changes in environment or scenario possible. Old ones can be replaced by new, changes in existing ones can be made or more scenarios can also be added. Challenges or difficulty levels can be adjusted as per learner requirements. And all this at the click of a mouse!

While entertainment games are reaching new levels of sophistication and quality, are serious games following suit? How important is the ‘look and feel’ factor of an educative game?

We have to follow suit, to a certain degree. But we have to look beyond eye candy in serious games and focus on the learning, for that’s why we are building them and what we will be measured against, eventually. But as the sophistication of the games industry increases, serious games also have to have some of it reflecting.

There are of course, budget restrains that are bound to keep us a few years behind! But I always say, it’s always about first impressions. You should look at it and say ‘Wow… that really looks good; I want to go in and have a look’! It should have the quality to grab attention, but along with it, there should be substance. If it’s all visuals and no real message, then we will not have our desired outcome, there will be no behavioral change. It is necessary to have that balance between visuals and content

Most of our applications do not have a lot of animation; most have flat 3D still images but still gives an impression of a realistic environment. However, if you are to implement 3D animation, it has to be done very well. If it’s not attractive, it will just turn learners away. So we should take a good look into our project budgets before making the choice. In any case, there is a lot that one can do with 2D as well.

Social learning is being hailed as the next big thing in the learning industry. How does game based learning provide opportunities for social learning?

Yes, you definitely learn more effectively when in a social environment. In GBL, one of the key trends that we see coming up is multi-player serious gaming. Our first experience with multi-player gaming was with the ‘Leadership Game’ and that went really well. In addition to being able to lead real people, make mistakes and learn from them, it also gave learners an opportunity to share their experiences. The game is linked with wikis and forums so that learner can share and learn from other learners as well. So the learning goes beyond the limits of the game.

We are also looking at linking training with applications like Facebook and Twitter. A lot of these are blocked by firewalls at many corporate organizations. But we can look at the success of social games like ‘Farmville’, its addictive quality and the involvement that it encourages. It surely provides a competitive element and building trainings around them would be an interesting avenue to explore.

Finally, what are the future trends that are predicted in the field of serious gaming?

The GBL industry today is vast, there are so many different styles, different applications and the audience is huge. So there is no ONE particular direction that it is heading, it is actually exploring all possible avenues.

One thing that is surely looking up in recent years is the increase in the types of organizations that are adopting GBL. A few years ago, we were looking at schools or a few forward thinking organizations but now we are seeing growth in different sectors – both public and private. So a definite future trend is ‘Growth’ in the industry.

More and more sectors are showing curiosity and an interest in the area and we are trying to build up evidence to show the success of GBL. And as many big companies are adopting GBL for their training needs, others are encouraged to follow suit. So it’s just a rolling stone now and it shows no signs of stopping right now