E Learning | Scholarships For Working Mothers

The Measurable Benefits Of Virtual Teachers In Rapid E-Learning

Access to high speed internet access has accelerated the adoption of E-Learning and Computer Based Training. It’s not a “fad” but offers many measurable benefits. Adding Avatars or Animated Virtual Teachers brings educational content to another level.

If you are an E-Learning author Virtual Teachers can raise the effectiveness of your content, it’s a fact!. In an advanced study at Stanford University their research shows measurable effects when content delivery is assisted following the integration of an avatar or virtual assistant.

E-Learning has three primary objectives;

Performance Improvement – as shown in “Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning” research performed in detail by the US Department of Education.

Increasing Access to Learning Materials – Experts can make up-to-the-minute information available internationally in an instant with minimum costs. Allowing high calibre content and knowledge to cross borders, student can have access without the conventional physical, political and economic boundaries. Furthermore; The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for example have extensive resources from its undergraduate and graduate level courses online.

Learner Convenience and Flexibility. E-Learning unlike formal educational delivery is generally self-paced and is normally available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.

With a e-learning market value in excess of 56 billion dollars it is clearly demonstrated that not only is it a standard education delivery mechanism but with an extensive market, providers are continually looking at new and innovative ways if increasing effectiveness and the introduction of “viable” virtual teachers is a single step that can offer rewarding results and allow content to stand out from the crowd.

What Avatar or Virtual Teachers options are available? Many entries into the avatar market have come and gone over the years most primarily focused upon web representatives and shop style assistants. In many cases unconvincing visual appeal and poor audio delivery proved to be a stumbling block. One of the most well known for good and bad reasons is Sitepal , however being mainly web centric its presence within the e-learning production line is limited to say the least. AlterEgos is a solution firmly positioned within the Computer Based Training environment is, giving an extensive character library (60 or so at the last count), automatic lip-synching to either your own voice or realistic Text To Speech and most importantly access to industry output video files ready to be imported directly into your e-learning creation tool.

With many excellent authoring and screen recording tools available including; Articulate Studio, Camtasia from Techsmith (now having a Mac based solution, Captivate from Adobe, PowerPoint and Keynote access to importable local media is significant. So using an appropriate avatar creation tool with Flash Video or AVI output is imperative and does not interfere with the creative workflow.

When you are looking for your own virtual teacher ask yourself the following; Is the production environment for your avatar composition flexible, does it give you different output formats for integration into your chosen e-learning solutions, can your composition work off-line, within a presentation or integrated into another video. What are the “real” costs. Can you give your potential avatar creation tool a complete test before committing to any spend!

Remember; Putting over “complex” or “very specific” information can be difficult when you are limited to just text and images, you just can’t beat the spoken word, when combining audio with a visual learning guide you have the ideal combination. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that by integrating any old virtual teacher or avatar into your e-learning content you will help your cause, on the contrary, if you integrate a bad one, it could reflect dramatically on the compelling and effectiveness of your material.

You can watch a five minute demonstration of Camtasia with embedded AlterEgos. Or you can get your own AlterEgos trail Avatar and E-Learning Tutor Solution from here.