Author: Shannon Fineran

Unreliable and slow internet continues to be one of the greatest obstacles for delivering effective eLearning. Not surprising, right? After all, the whole point of online learning is that it is done online.

According to the report prepared by the International Telecommunications Union in 2016, 95% of the world’s population lives in areas that are covered by a 2G cellular network and an estimated 3.8 billion people do not have any access to the internet.

It is essential that we are incorporating new ways to ensure that all learners, regardless of their ability to connect, have the opportunity to learn.

Enter: Google Chrome. Chrome’s DevTools Network Emulator makes it easy for us to test out how our online material will perform in low bandwidth settings. You can choose between a variety of presets – including fast 3G and slow 2G – and even add your own custom settings.

Want to see it in action? Let’s see how TechChange’s newest course, TC 101: How to Teach Online, works in a few different network conditions.

 

Fast 3G

The course content loads relatively quickly at this speed and the YouTube video appears immediately. The video and interactive slide do not buffer and overall, the course experience feels the same on Fast 3G as it does on our office’s Ethernet.

 

Slow 3G

There is definitely a noticeable difference between Fast 3G and Slow 3G. The slower connection requires a little more time to load the modules and static content and the YouTube video requires some buffering.

 

Regular 2G

Like the Slow 3G, the Regular 2G connection requires additional time for loading the course modules and content. The main noticeable difference here is the amount of time that it takes for the YouTube video to load and buffer.

In all, it looks like the TechChange platform performs reasonably well in lower bandwidth settings. Static content loads easily, while interactive slides, YouTube videos, and larger images tend to take longer.

Give your own course a try! For detailed instructions on how to set this up, check out this article.

What does it take to create an engaging, online learning experience? TechChange aimed to answer this question in their trip to El Salvador in 2018. The team, in partnership with USAID Domestic Resource Mobilization Project implemented by DAI, traveled to the country’s capital San Salvador to deliver a two-day workshop for government officials working to build up their local eLearning capacity.

The workshop, entitled “The Fundamentals of Online Learning,” focused on the TechChange model for designing self-paced content, leading participants through the steps in our project life cycle – from the kickoff to the finalization and everything in between.

Our team began the workshop by presenting the basic theory behind our instructional design process, sharing our templates for effective scripting and storyboarding, and moved on to introducing two industry standard tools for authoring courses – Camtasia 9 and Articulate 360 – and our best practices for using this software.

Participants integrate Camtasia screencasts into their Articulate file.

Throughout the two day workshop, participants shared the training challenges that they were facing in their daily work and used them as real-life case studies for the group. We used these challenges as inspiration for the final project and asked the participants to separate into teams and create their own short, self-paced Articulate learning solutions, complete with a script, storyboard, narration, images, and interactions.

Teammates work together to develop a self-paced Articulate project.

A lively round of presentations and applause finished out the workshop and each participant received a signed certificate of completion. The participants hope to use their eLearning skills to promote transparent government and development and create educational resources for all Salvadoran citizens.

 

The TechChange team recently returned to Maputo, Mozambique for the culmination of a two-year long partnership with the Coastal City Adaptation Project (CCAP), a USAID-sponsored program dedicated to preparing Mozambican urban centers for the adverse effects of climate change. The purpose of the trip was to deliver an intensive, three-day technical workshop on eLearning hosting and management in Articulate 360 and JoomlaLMS.

Shannon demonstrates the features of JoomlaLMS.

Our team first traveled to Maputo in January of 2017 to conduct a series of interviews with key stakeholders involved in climate change adaptation efforts around the country. After the trip, we worked closely with the CCAP staff to produce a comprehensive four-module, self-paced course that familiarized users to the science of climate change and its impacts; the fundamentals of adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and resilience. The course was developed with custom assets made by our Creative Team using Articulate Storyline 360 and localized into Mozambican Portuguese.  

Isabel assists a workshop participant with his demo course.

The objective of the workshop was to train the Knowledge Management Center, an organization sponsored by Eduardo Mondlane University, on how to edit and maintain an Articulate Storyline 360 project, and how to host the course online using JoomlaLMS. The team split the three days between teaching the basics of Storyline 360, walking through the best practices of managing an LMS, working through class activities and presentations, and troubleshooting any questions regarding Storyline 360 or JoomlaLMS. By the end of the third day, the majority of participants reported on our post-workshop assessments that they had a firmer grasp on how to manage and maintain an eLearning course.

Throughout the workshop, we captured many images and videos that will be used to support CCAP in their course promotion efforts. CCAP plans to launch the course in early spring and we can’t wait for this unique Portuguese resource to come online!

The TechChange team with the workshop participants.