http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_learning
I've heard of "Rapid Learning Development", not of Rapid Learning
Rapid learning
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Rapid learning (or Rapid eLearning) is a methodology to build e-learning courses rapidly [1]. The term "rapid" does not describe the speed of the learner but the speed of the author. The expression is for this reason unclear but has spread around.
Typically the author will create slides in Powerpoint, record narration on top of the slides, with some softwares he/she will be allowed to add tests, or even collaboration activities between the slides and then send the whole package (most often as an Adobe Flash file) to a learning management system or a website [2].
E-learning has grown rapidly since the 90s but authors and organizations were confronted to the complexity of authoring processes. It is hard and expensive to build online courses from scratch. Hence the idea of recycling existing resources like Powerpoint presentations, and transform them into e-learning courses.
Contents [hide]
1 Limits of rapid learning
2 Best practices
3 Software
4 See also
5 References
[edit] Limits of rapid learning
After 2000 a series of rapid learning tools (see below) were proposed on the market and became popular because of their simplicity and the feeling that anyone can build an e-learning course from a simple Powerpoint presentation.
Some experts have highlighted the limits of this method [3] or even insisted [4] on the fact that rapid learning was the consequence of an attractive pedagogical fallacy of the form:
My face-to-face course works fine with Powerpoint
I published my Powerpoint presentation
Hence my online course works fine
The point is that the richness of your interaction with the students in the classroom is not encapsulated in the Powerpoint presentation file. Consequently, your online course is a mere passive information presentation but not a training activity with questions, workshops, problems. We learn by doing and Rapid Learning seems to ignore this. More globally the critics against rapid learning follow the same track as the critics on the use of Powerpoint in education [5].
The success of rapid learning has an economic reason. Many trainers and organizations are able for the first time to build their online course without the help of an e-learning team (instructional designers, art designers etc.).
The overall evolution of internet practice and the development of the Web 2.0 collaboration scenarios might lead trainers to other scenarios. As a matter of fact, rapid learning is an inheritance of the CD-ROM model and the idea that e-learning consists in an individual self-paced practice.
Students have complained for long that self-paced individual learning can be boring and offers little chances of interaction, correction and success. But one can imagine mixed scenarios where the information is presented as rapid learning modules encapsultated in Flash SCORM packages or distributed on Learning Management Systems, and the learning activities developed through other tools : blogs, wikis, forums, videoconferences etc.
[edit] Best practices
Now that rapid learning has become an integral part of the authoring practice worldwide, some authors and consulting companies focus on how to reach the optimal compromise between the economic need for rapid learning and the pedagogical objective of a good instructional design[6].
These best practices recommendations include:
proceed to needs analysis and instructional design before building the online course so as to define the required learning activities to integrate in the course
needs analysis should decide whether the course is a blended learning course or all online
instructional design should decide which part of the course are online, which parts are face-to-face
articulate Powerpoint-based content with tests and online activities
web 2.0 tools and learning management systems allow to blend content modules created through rapid learning tools with rich interaction activities. The content modules make sense only if completing an interaction scenario or appearing as the feedback of tests and case studies
using Powerpoint to build the course structure but rely on mindmapping to present the information in a more synthetic and visual way [7]
[edit] Software
Several rapid learning software applications with varying capabilities are on the market. Most of them are authoring tools that include rapid learning as a feature. The list includes noticeably Adobe Captivate, Articulate Presenter, Dokeos, Lectora, Udutu and Wondershare PPT2Flash.
Some of these tools treat each slide as a learning object and allow to add tests and online activities between the slides. Some of these softwares are online services, the others are desktop applications to install on your computer.
A trend of the market is also to combine rapid learning (conversion of Powerpoint presentations) with screencast (filming your screen and your mouse movements) so as to provide both a sequence of slides and applications demos. This combination is particularly powerfull when authoring courses on how to use a software.
[edit] See also
Adobe Captivate
Dokeos
Electronic learning
Instructional design
Lectora
Powerpoint
Screencast
Rapid interactivity
Rapid application development
Web 2.0
[edit] References
^ Karrer, T. (2006). is Rapid eLearning? : eLearning Technology.
http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/
^ Crosby, D. & al. (2009). How to Convert PowerPoint to Flash Using Wondershare.
http://www.wikihow.com/Special:GoogSearch?cx=016562026678751929112%3Aohfdgqnedms&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=e-learning&sa=Search#1140
^ Brandon, B. (2005). Exploring the definition of "Rapid eLearning".
^ Bersin, J. & O'Leonard, K. (2005). Rapid E-Learning: What Works Study.
http://www.bersin.com/Lib/Rs/Details.aspx?docid=10335312
^ Jones, A. (2003). The use and abuse of Powerpoint in Teaching and Learning in the Life Sciences: A Personal Overview.
^ Van Dam, N. (2007). 25 Best Practices in Learning & Talent Development.
Nick-van-dam interviewed by Masie
De Praetere, T. (2009). From Powerpoint to Mindmaps in e-learning.
Pascale Delchevalerie
http://www.dokeos.com/en/node/561
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