Centre's Review

“Interactivity” is a something that all aspiring learning content developers strive for. In the early days of e-learning, interactive online courses were mainly “page-turners”, that is they used the Back and Forward buttons simply to let the learner control the pace of their learning. But interactivity is more than that; it is about engaging the learner in their learning, supporting them to become an active (rather than a passive) learner, and helping them to develop and apply their understanding of the subject.

Up to recently building interactivity within web-based materials was not really possible for the non-professional content developer; since to create exciting interactivity required a good knowledge of sophisticated tools (like Flash) as well as good instructional design skills. But things have changed. We are now beginning to see a number of e-learning products on the market that offer the ability to build interactive elements quickly and easily.

Harbinger’s Raptivity is one of these products. However, it stands apart from the others for a number of reasons, (1) in terms of the sheer number of interactive elements it supports (well over 200) - other packages tend to offer only a handful of interactive elements; and (2) the fact that it is a “dedicated” interactivity tool rather than being one that offers many different course development elements. Its sole purpose is to support the creation of interactive elements to enhance content created using other development tools

The software is available in a number of “packs” – the Core Pack, Standard Packs 1, 2 and 3, Booster Pack, Games TurboPack, Videos TurboPack, Simulations TurboPack - all of which can be purchased and installed separately. The interactivities can be viewed within the individual packs, but also by category across the packs, e.g. Brainteasers, Presentation Aids, Software simulations, Interactive Questions and so on.

The interactivities themselves range from quite simple ones like banners, buzzers and timers to more sophisticated ones like flipbooks, interactive questions, TV games, and simulations The interactivities are suitable for a wide range of learners – from school age students (e.g. word searches and jigsaw puzzles) to older, workplace learners (e.g. software simulations and adaptive scenarios).

What is also interesting to note is that the interactivities can also be displayed according to a number of learning models and instructional design principles, e.g. Blooms Taxonomy (Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation) as well as Gagnés Nine Events, Keller’s ARCS Model and Experiential Learning. This provides valuable support to the developer with limited or no instructional design skills to help them select the most appropriate interactivity for any given learning outcome or activity.

Once you have decided on the interactivity you want to use – all activities can be previewed - it is then very easy to work through the Wizard-based customisation to provide your own input (e.g. descriptive and feedback text, and so on) and set the parameters to create your version. A Detailed Customisation view supports more advanced customisation options.
Once you have saved your interactivity in the Interactivity Viewer you then “publish” it for use in your learning content. This essentially converts the interactivity into a Flash file, which you can then embed within learning content created using a number of other tools, e.g. course authoring tools like Lectora, Captivate, Toolbook, Articulate Presenter, presentation tools like PowerPoint, web design tools like Dreamweaver and FrontPage and course management systems like Blackboard.

This is a significant aspect of Raptivity, and as such allows you to expand the repertoire of less versatile tools.

When “publishing” your interactivity, you also have the opportunity to include tracking if you wish, e.g. with SCORM or AICC compliance for use within a learning management system. This is another feature that makes Raptivity a valuable e-learning tool.

All in all it is well worth downloading the trial version and taking it for a test drive to see how it can help you to include more interactivity in your learning materials. At the very least it will certainly help to pep up your PowerPoint presentations!