e-Learning Disasters

	Nobody wants to think it could happen to them, but some customers become victims of multimedia mishaps after choosing the wrong e-Learning developer. Here are some issues you can avoid by choosing Left Brain Media as your solution provider.
	Slow Production Schedule Corporate information changes on a daily basis, and it is critical to disseminate that information as quickly as possible. Multimedia training is useless if it takes months to produce. With Left Brain Media, some solutions take as few as five to ten business days to produce. Expensive to Create Many e-learning companies use methods and processes that are way too expensive and certainly not cost-effective for most training needs. We have a variety of solutions and cost-effective ways to produce and maintain training modules. We have already developed a set of tools to allow users to interact with material in a variety of ways. That means a lot of the development work is done before you entrust your project to us. Not only does that save time, but it also means that your training dollars go further and are spent developing your unique content. Boring… Really, Really Boring Unfortunately, many e-learning companies use bandwidth and production restrictions as an excuse to produce e-Learning that is nothing more than text and a few images posted online. Putting manuals online is NOT e-Learning; it is nothing more than e-Reading. We develop courses with rich content, professional audio, eye-catching and informative visuals including animation and video, and learning checkpoints. We do all of this in a way that works on both low and high-bandwidth connections. Our goal is to make e-Learning the most attractive way to cover any content. Ugly How many times have you looked at a training presentation with poor quality animation, outdated graphics, or unprofessional images? What kind of message does sub-standard production send? Unfortunately, this problem occurs frequently. That’s because many training companies expect left-brained programmers or instructional designers to also do right-brained graphic design work. We combine the skills of award-winning graphic designers with our experienced, professional instructional designers. This ensures the finished product has the professional look and feel that your organization expects. We are committed to quality in every aspect of multimedia development. Too Much Cute and Not Enough Content Some e-learning programs are beautifully designed from a graphics perspective, but are extremely weak at training people effectively. These courses often use an overly stylized theme and interface. The user may end up having to click on the virtual glove box in the virtual car they are driving to pull out a virtual notepad so they can take notes as they drive down the virtual road to training. It’s virtually corny. We have also seen multimedia training programs with an incredibly flashy introductory screen followed by pages and pages of boring, ugly content. Then there are courses that take a simple concept that could easily and effectively be taught in two minutes, and turn it into a 20-minute game. Where is the value in wasting your employees’ time? Themes, games, and flashy intro screens are fine. We use them all, but only when they add to the learning experience instead of distracting from it. We can help you focus your training dollars where they need to go: toward making your content clear and presenting it in an engaging manner that saves time instead of wasting it. Hard to Use “Why won’t it let me…? Why can’t I find…? What are all these buttons for? Help!” Technology is supposed to make things easier, not harder. Too often multimedia training is more frustrating than it is helpful. Even if the content is good, if the user can’t navigate through it easily, it’s useless. Our multimedia solutions are designed with intuitive navigation and a friendly user interface to enhance the learning experience. Even a computer novice can easily advance through a program and quickly locate a particular topic. Meanwhile, the full functionality impresses the most advanced users. Slow Often, companies develop or buy training modules with rich imagery that can only be transmitted over dedicated networks with high-bandwidth connections. Employees accessing the programs from other locations using standard modem connections waste precious time waiting for screens to build. We don’t alienate the employee who wants to view a program from home, or a remote office location. LBM uses Flash technology to make each program accessible from both high and low-bandwidth connections. Even the most complex animations can be quickly transmitted over a 56K modem. Our programs can also be distributed via CD-ROM. Plug-in Craziness Some e-Learning requires the user to download and install multiple plug-ins. This leads to configuration problems, help desk calls, and wasted time. Almost all of our courses are built to run on the most popular plug-in in the world -- Macromedia Flash. Virtually all browsers come with it already installed, so you don't have to worry about software or hardware problems when you use courses we develop. Summary The best way to understand the quality of our work, is to sign up for access to our online samples. Related Links
		Barriers to Effective e-Learning http://advisor.com Web Course Usability: www.learningcircuits.org