Avatar Experience. Thoughts, Attitudes?
June 26, 2008 12:00 AM
I've used a very basic form of an avatar in a project I designed for the military. The course teaches students how to use a software program. The avatar was a boss who periodically phoned the learner with realistic requests based on what they had already learned. Essentially, the learner applies what is learned by responding to a request and performing the necessary steps in the software required to answer the boss's questions. It allows you, the designer, to put a realstic spin (as Ben said, scenario-based training) to the training. All the while, it is a faux conversation between the avatar and the learner. I firmly believe that people learn better in conversation versus lecture. If the student feels that they are having a conversation with the teacher, they are retaining and applying what they are learning to their own experiences. That's really the point of teaching anyways. To get a person to modify their experience and adapt to the new experience you are introducing. Avatars are the closest form of reality we have right now for the e-learning world - outside of blended learning.
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