The vast majority of eLearning lacks something. Learners can become hopelessly lost, embroiled in a nuanced misunderstanding of the task at hand, and many other situations that show just how dumb our current crop of tools are. The choice between a “next” button to move on or some poorly thought out help pages are not really the answer.

We promise today’s learners an engaging, interesting learning experience free from the constrictions of paper-based or class-based learning and then promptly reveal the key weakness of this new medium to them. It’s anyone’s guess how their training will progress.

So then why artificial intelligence? It’s the subject of both hyperbole and opprobrium mixed with a nagging fear of Godzilla sized robots tearing up the parking lot. If you can get past the natural concerns about something new and uncertain it can provide an interesting solution to the missing link in current eLearning.

HAL: I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.

Imagine a friendly coach watching your progress throughout a simulation. It’s always there. Whenever it senses you need help it offers that help in an understated way that gives the learner the choice of using it or continuing to try to succeed on their own.

For example in a simulation an A.I. coach can:

• Check if the learner is taking much longer than other students and offer help
• Warn if the chosen behavior is so counterproductive as to make the simulated problem likely unsolvable
• Track the learner’s route through a 3D environment and provide help to complete the task if the user’s path is being repeated more than x times
• Respond when asked for help with a video explanation of the goal of the next or remaining elements of the simulation
• Provide help based on natural language requests
• Encourage the learner with a statistical analysis of their performance compared with the average
• Provide a “debrief” about the optimal way to solve the simulation compared to their solution
• Recommend area for improvement

Coach – I don’t understand what’s next, can you help?

Before you say it, this is a lot of work for a course designer. However, it can be added incrementally as the simulation is run and behaviors observed.

The pay off is large. A much better experience for learners who are struggling. A fun and engaging additional element to simulations. The coach can have a personality, be funny or serious depending on the simulation.

If you agree eLearning is basically self-paced classroom training without the teacher, then this can be the next generation. By effectively putting a teacher/coach back into the learning experience.

Now that’s intelligent.

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Should you jump off the Flash wagon then? Maybe or maybe not – let’s look at the pros and cons. Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short. — Steve Jobs, 2010.

In the “For HTML5” corner:

There are Several Compelling Reasons to go with HTML5-Based Animation

• It’s an open standard with no licenses or royalties.
• Within reason modules can run anywhere, especially phones and tablets, and it gets better all the time.
• It is very easy to make basic modules that are interesting and visually stunning (OK it’s missing a few features).
• There is an undeniable amount of momentum behind both the standard and the tools required to develop content.

Against HTML5:

• It’s immature technology that is still a moving target (if you are missing a feature wait a weekend and it will appear).
• Things like connecting to databases and other plumbing require a different skill set than Flash did (once understood it is easy, but there is a learning curve).
• The available development tools promise a lot, but struggle to deliver in everyday use.

In the “FLASH is the way to go” corner:

• Flash has a very rich feature set.
• There are tons of experienced developers who can make really cool modules.
• Database connectivity, state management and other advanced features are broadly understood.
• The self contained nature of swf files makes asset management a snap.

Against FLASH:

• It’s proprietary and closed.
• Other than Adobe development tools are less than robust (because Adobe own the product and it is closed).
• Platform independence is a problem.
• It is very demanding for less powerful handheld devices.
• Apple doesn’t support it (even though in reality you can install support).

So, should you switch to this fashionable and seemingly worthy replacement of the venerable platform Flash? The answer is not as obvious as you think. Adobe, who are Flash’s developer, is pressing hard with it’s Edge development platform for HTML5 development as a replacement for Flash. They have seen the writing on the wall for Flash. However, in reality if you have spent $100,000 on a Flash based course then it is probably going to cost almost as much to recreate it! That means that unless you have significant new content and/or have to change delivery platforms, it is very hard to make an ROI argument that stands up. After all, if it works in your business or environment, why spend the extra budget?

The biggest risk though, is that you will run out of runway at some point in the future as LMS systems slowly stop offering support for Flash and users use platforms that only support HTML5. So, changing over is a pain and expensive, but looks like it is inevitable. HTML5 looks to be the default way of delivering training modules, video and assessment content some day soon.

If you have a need to update an old flash based training video program or need to explore the best way to implement a new program, please request a free video assessment for more details, examples and a discussion about how to implement the latest video production and delivery techniques for your next project.

The post HTML5 – Animations, Ready for Prime Time? appeared first on RCP Learning.