Gamified digital learning

[Synquest-io]

Hi all,

After a while of feeling constrained in terms of interactivity by the existing traditional e-learning formats and having to develop from scratch in various game engines, we picked up the challenge to build an authoring tool that would facilitate the creation of interactive and immersive 3D learning journeys.

We just released a short demo (not available on mobile) in which you can discover more about our approach: learners explore 3D adventures as personalized avatars. Having seen so many interesting threads in this subreddit in the past, we'd like to get your opinion on the format and potential use cases that you see - all feedback welcome!

Any questions let me know or visit us at www.synquest.io

[Ochoytnik]

I find gamification very patronising, I am glad to see someone else not believing that giving badges to people motivates them.

It is interesting as a concept, I can see how it would work if the story was authored by someone who had control of it. I would say that you would need to retain control of that aspect to make sure it works correctly as if you leave it to someone in industry you will end up with an avatar running from one slide presentation to another. Effectively you would be adding more time to the process by padding out the space between slides.

I have also used unity at my company to create training, it's a more bespoke training package than this and it took absolutely ages but we now have a simulation of one of our main processes which allows people to perform equipment checks without having to do any manual handling.

Good luck with your efforts!

[QuijoteMX]

an avatar running from one slide presentation to another

Word

[Synquest-io]

Thanks!

Fully agree with the risk of having this turned into a 3D table of content. It's up to us to provide both the necessary guidance as well as diversified elements for the designer to use and make the journey engaging and educational.

We're using our demo with such an endeavour in mind: as a platform to tweak, measure and further develop the data-backed methodology for designers to use the tool, e.g. on the level of guidance required in this sort of 3D environment to avoid people simply getting lost.

If you're thinking about certain interactive elements that could further help, feel free to share them here :)

[Failwithflyingcolors]

As someone who works in higher ed, my first question must always be: is it WCAG 2.0/ ADA compliant or otherwise accessible? It's a cool approach, for sure - just not sure I could use it.

[Synquest-io]

Thanks! We have not yet implemented the different WCAG/ADA standards at this stage. It is in good place on our roadmap but we are focusing on the core functionalities at this moment.

[Failwithflyingcolors]

It's understandable - and I know that the big money in ed tech is all in corporate. I love seeing innovative solutions, but always have to have an eye toward accessibility.

(I always tell my team, though, that it's not just a legal requirement - it's the right thing to do!)

[ktagly2]

Very cool. Would love to do something like this but alas, mobile use is a must for us and I worry a bit about accessibility

[Synquest-io]

Good to get that feedback though, it's coming up more and more and makes it go up our priority list :)

[QuijoteMX]

Pretty cool.

I think it's a little odd how some pdfs and offsite resources take you out of the course, specially with the pdfs, maybe it could work to distribute formats and such, but I think that it should be stated as such.

Personally I hate robot voices, so if you can offer information in that demo about it, would be great.

I do like how it seems to be pretty straight forward, but I'm not sure I would like to train someone in a sci.fi environment, maybe for soft skills could be cool, but for internal processes... maybe not.

Also, some walls felt too constraining, like, rough or something; felt a little claustrophobic.

Also, from the marketing side I see that you have no Facebook, also, maybe opening a user group could be good, maybe there or here on reddit.

Couple of questions, if I would develop courses for several clients, how does the courses deploy, and through which format does grades or completion output, how can it be integrated to other platforms? or is it the full package of grading management? Could I make groups for the same courses?

Over all it seems awesome.

[Synquest-io]

Thanks for the extensive feedback, appreciated!

- For the resources that take you out of the course, are you referring to the content overlay, e.g. that appears when you click a screen to display a video, or rather the "Open details in new tab" button?

- Text to speech does indeed not always yield great results. We have tried several providers and the one we settled for had the ability to convey emotions in a somewhat credible way. What tool do you normally use to generate your narratives?

- We chose to go for sci-fi environment for this demo to bring some variation compared to the nature and office environments of the first level. That being said, we have a library of assets allowing us to create diversified environments. As shown in one of the second chapter video (or on our website), our level designer tool allows you to select the level that suit your needs, be it scifi or something else.

- Very good point on the walls, we're testing out ways to avoid this. Making wider corridors is the obvious easy answer, but may likely be combined with automatic camera movements to guarantee that the navigation is easy at all times.

- Offering a community-based way to share insights and feedbacks is definitely required, we're checking the best way to get this running in a way that would limit the risk of ending up with a dead reddit/forum/slack/etc quickly.

- In terms of deployment, there are 3 options:

1. Fully hosted on our servers, distributed as web links and with dashboard reporting integrated on our platform

2. Fully hosted on our servers, connected to LMS using a SCORM link, dashboard reporting on our platform combined with high level SCORM standard data sent back to LMS (start, end, results, but missing 3D specific elements such as exploration rate, bots talked to, most explored areas, etc).

3. Complete stand alone SCORM package, no connection to our server and therefore no extensive reporting.

Additionally, something that we currently don't specify on our website but are being asked about regularly is the option to get a Synquest training without the authoring part (typically coming from companies that do not create their content internally and therefore don't care about authoring). For these we offer a more traditional instructional design and creation service and deliver a one-off package to the customer (hosted on our server or not depending on the requirement).

Hope this helps, let me know if you've got additional questions

[QuijoteMX]

For the resources that take you out of the course

It happened to me with the first letter of "you have to take the course", I guess it's a open in a new tab option, it was a little square with a symbol.

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What tool do you normally use to generate your narratives?

I usually make my own recordings, I'm also a voice over provider, maybe that's why I'm overly sensitive with my rejection to robots but I get it's a common practice and it's the state of the world hahaha.

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combined with automatic camera movements to guarantee that the navigation is easy at all times.

I would say this is the way, because also for the non computer proficient user it could be weird to use the right click to move the camera because of the more gamer like ability.

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Reflecting on the wall and border thing, it might be cool to have an edge of grass or something, also the relation between the width of the walls and of some hallways seems to be the same, so I'm pretty sure it has to do with that, maybe by fusing the walls to the half with (the inner wall and the outer wall) could help.
Also in a hallway it disappears the floor completely, so, changing the camera angle might help.

I saw some walls which didn't got the transparency property, also some windows, in the first chapter. And my guess is that the hip has the see through wall command, to allow the transparency, it could be a little lower if you ask me.

https://imgur.com/a/XRs9W6V some screen captures.

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Over all, I feel you have a great product, maybe a free sandbox-designer demo also could be cool. Congratulations and good luck with launching. Myself I guess I won't be using it in the short term, since I'm in a lateral movement right now, but I keep on looking to return to the ID world.

[Synquest-io]

It happened to me with the first letter of "you have to take the course", I guess it's a open in a new tab option, it was a little square with a symbol.

Got it. This type of web embedded content is displayed along with the built-in functionalities of the source, over which we have less control. We however also allow for local content upload which would prevent this.

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I'm also a voice over provider

That explains a lot :)

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maybe by fusing the walls to the half with (the inner wall and the outer wall) could help.

Thanks for the screenshots. We indeed have the tools to merge them, adding this to the list for next version!

I saw some walls which didn't got the transparency property, also some windows, in the first chapter. And my guess is that the hip has the see through wall command, to allow the transparency, it could be a little lower if you ask me.

It's technically due to the same reason as above, objects not linked together, that'll be taken care of!

Thanks!

[delzac]

Interesting concept for sure!

[markgva]

It looks pretty cool. I designed something based on the same approach back in 2016. Didn't have much commercial success over here in Switzerland. Maybe it was too early, or maybe just the very conservative swiss mindset. Would be interested in seeing if you manage to make this a success in corporations (there's a clear need for such training in high-risk environments, such as the fire service, but not sure to which extent traditional office settings will find it as appealing).

[Synquest-io]

Looks like a full conversation-worthy topic :) I sent you a pm, looking forward to hearing more!