What did a waterpark and corporate learning have in common…? Frankly, I assumed, very little. So why I ask the question? Simply, the life-long learner in me was fascinated by a recent visit to a Florida theme (water) park, not named after Walt. My family and I went to Volcano Bay a Universal property and (I believe) the only park we hadn’t visited on at least one previous trip down south. I have to be honest, early reviews on the park did not seem especially promising. So, we

Continuing from where we left off in the last post, in which we were discussing the 3 different stages of a video production, let’s discuss now the second stage: Production. Production After you have everything ready, like scripts, equipment, location (studio booked), actors, etc., it is time to go on location and film your videos. Depending on the type of video, if it’s very dynamic, or like in our case, a more straight-forward video, you may need to secure your location (wh

In the past few days, we have been working on an exciting project for one of our clients that involves creating eLearning that has video hosts. This requires filming acting talent in studio before animation can be added and a SCORM wrapper to the final eLearning course. and the In order to create thist type of eLearning module there are several phases, from video production, to creating tests in eLearning format for tracking results. It all involves a great effort to achiev

In the next few weeks the Pathways Training & eLearning team will be shooting a series of videos for a one of our valued clients. The “shoot” will involve volunteers who are not necessarily used to being in front of the camera, and will require three long days to complete. Considering both circumstances, there is the potential for roadblocks which could in turn mean the difference between success and failure. As such, in meeting with the production team last week, we

Here at Pathways, we offer an impressive array of products and services, from traditional eLearning modules, to classroom training sessions. Among those products and services we offer the production of training videos, and the process goes from scripting, planning, location scouting, to production and post-production, and as the stages of the training video projects have an incredible amount of work associated with them, so does the aftermath of the project itself. A few days

In the upcoming weeks, the Pathways Training and eLearning team will be starting a large project that will require a significant amount of “live action” filming, and by that, I mean filming actual people as opposed to creating an animated video. These types of “shoots” typically involve volunteers who are not used to being in front of the camera and are not always aware of the need to follow a tight schedule or the ramifications of not showing up at all.,. Considering these

As we approach to the final stages of the production of our first virtual reality (VR) enabled eLearning module, it is important to create a list of lessons learned that will make things smoother for future projects. When using this technology, one thing that stands out from a technical and user experience perspective, is the file size of the assets used in the VR-enabled eLearning module. In our case, we are hosting the VR eLearning module on our webserver, which means that

Continuing with the train of thought of training videos, in previous days we engaged with a client on a project that involves videos used as part of eLearning modules, and one of the questions the client asked me was “what format do you want us to give you the videos in?”. Right at that moment, I thought “wow, that is actually a good question!”. So, how do you answer that question if it’s ever asked to you? Well, I would say, it depends on the tools you are using to develop y

Recently the Pathways team took part in an exciting project in creating one of Canada’s first 360 video eLearning modules. For the past two weeks I have written about this experience, including a discussion on the lessons learned related to camera movement and lighting and on our discoveries around the camera hardware, sound and available post production software. To conclude the discussion, this week I will talk about the outlook for 360 video technology as it relates to

Moving forward with the development of our 360 eLearning video, we have found along the way that there are lots of opportunities to improve the learning experience by teaching the content in a more interactive way. However, and unfortunately, given that 360 eLearning videos is still a technology in development, we have also found several challenges and limitations, especially when it comes to deploying this product on mobile devices. And even more specifically, deploying then

On a previous post, we discussed how to stitch and edit your 360 videos for eLearning modules. Let’s remember that, at the end of the day, when you edit the 360 videos, you are doing so on a 2D space, so they will look like this:On a previous post, we discussed how to stitch and edit your 360 videos for eLearning modules. Let’s remember that, at the end of the day, when you edit the 360 videos, you are doing so on a 2D space, so they will look like this: Let’s also remember t

As per some of our previous posts, here at Pathways we have embarked on this amazing journey of creating 360 video for eLearning purposes. About two weeks we traveled to Vancouver, and with the help of St. John Ambulance, we had the opportunity to shoot our first 360 video for eLearning purposes. For those of you who don’t know (and for those who do), the output from the 360 camera (depending on which one you are using) in its raw format, looks like the feed of 2 different ca

360 videos are the next step in the evolution of training and eLearning. When 360 video is added into an eLearning course, it allows the learner to interact with the video and to scroll around and to see a complete 360 view of everything around (beyond just what the camera was pointed at, at the time of the video shoot, like with traditional video). At Pathways Training and eLearning, we believe that by adding HTML5 interactivities into the 360 video (like “hot spot” and cli

This week the Pathways team were at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, partnering with St. John Ambulance, to record a 360 degree interactive video to be embedded in eLearning, to teach the correct procedure on assessing casualties after a disaster. I have to admit, we are very excited to have the opportunity to implement new technologies in the eLearning field, leaving a bit behind our usual eLearning module development, because 360 video is a technology that, in my opinion, can

Of the many projects we work on at Pathways, one that continues to provide unique challenges and opportunities is a new system launch initiative for which we will be developing and delivering all of the training. (eLearning, ILT, job aids, video, etc.…). This training will be provided to employees all over Canada in each province so while there have been a few unique challenges as I mentioned above, overall it has been exciting! After several weeks of conferences, focus gr

My daughter has asked for an American Girl motorcycle for Christmas this year. For any of you that have young daughters, grandchildren or young female nieces, you may be familiar with the American Girl craze that is sweeping across North America. American Girl is every young girl’s dream. In the U.S., American Girls stores are multi-level experiences where you can purchase dolls that look like your child, and all accompanying accessories (you can even buy pets and dolls fo