Case Studies
Two examples of the kind of problem I’m brought in to solve. Client names are withheld; the work is described as it happened.
Case study 1 · Learning systems
Two training modules linked into one game
A large Canadian financial services company wanted two related internal training modules to work as one. I rebuilt them as a game-style experience in which a learner’s character, points and progress carried over from the first module into the second. The department loved the result.
The problem
The two modules covered connected material, and the team was asked to make them speak to one another. The original training was dull, and at the time Captivate had no straightforward way to pass data from one module to another.
What I did
I was the architect: I designed the interface, the code, the database and the connectors that made the pieces work together seamlessly.
- Connected both modules to a shared database that each could read from and write to.
- Let each learner pick a character that followed them through the training.
- Added a points system and a view of learning progress, both stored in the database for each learner.
- Had the second module read the learner’s data from the first and continue the story from where they left off.
What changed
- A static module became a game that learners played through instead of clicking through.
- Finishing the first module gave learners a reason to start the second, because their character and score were waiting for them.
- The department loved the result. It was a refreshing break from the training they were used to seeing.
Why it works
A character, a score and a continuing story give people a stake in what happens next. The same shared-data design also shows what is possible when a training tool cannot do something on its own: connect it to a system that can.
Case study 2 · Instructional design
30-minute modules as three-minute episodes
Departments at a large Canadian financial services company were training their employees with modules of about 30 minutes each. I rebuilt them as series of episodes of three minutes or less, in the style of a streaming show. Demand grew until it became the team’s standard format.
The problem
Internal departments brought their training material to the learning team. They had noticed that employees lost interest partway through long modules and could not take in everything a 30-minute sitting gave them.
What I did
I was the architect on these projects: a department came with a problem, and I designed the solution.
- Built a storyboard from each department’s source material.
- Split the content into episodes of no more than three minutes, each covering one idea. Three minutes is about the length of a song, which most people will comfortably sit through.
- Chose the structure to suit the subject: a fixed sequence where the order mattered, or a choose-your-own-path layout where it did not.
- Chose the format for each episode: video, a Captivate module, a quiz, or a mix.
What changed
- Employees could concentrate on one topic at a time instead of a whole subject at once.
- Departments got training that could be taken in order or explored freely, depending on what was being taught.
- Requests kept growing as more departments asked for the format, and it became the team’s standard way of building training.
Why it works
Three minutes fits into a gap in a working day, and a series gives people a reason to come back for the next part. Training people choose to finish does more than training they are made to sit through.
Have a learning system that isn’t pulling its weight?
Learning systems that work. Training people actually want.