Monsters, Ghosts & Robots - Using #Characters in eLearning, Part 2

Here is another post regarding the use of characters in eLearning. Below is a collection of some of the more unusual characters from my courses and job aids along with brief notes on how they were used. 

The ghost of Alexander Graham Bell - He floated about while coaching staff through using the new IP Phone system. 

Ossie, the robot sidekick that assists during the Office 2010 course and also keeps the course's superhero, Captain Upgrade, out of trouble. 

Zombie PC Techs instructing staff on how to prep their computers and manage files before an operating system upgrade. FYI: The zombies used in this job aid were created and generously shared by Kevin Thorn, Chief Nuggethead at NuggetHead Studioz. 

eLearning Cyclops is now my blog and Twitter avatar, but was once a friendly banker that taught bank applications. 

Some of the Interesting Things I Saw at the MedBitquitous Conference

I recently attended the MedBiquitous Conference at Johns Hopkins. This conference focuses on technology standards in health care education (conference hash tag - #Medbiq2013). There was quite a lot I saw and learned during these two days, but here just a few of the things from the conference that I wanted to throw up on the blog. 


The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a great open online learning site, CDC Learning Connection, also added it to the Free eLearning page. In addition, they have a good guide for elearning designers, E-learning Essentials Guide, which is a good resource for anyone involved in creating elearning, especially anyone new to the field.

CDC has a goal of developing a central data store for public health training in which LMSes can go. Note: They are doing some cool work with Experience API... I also learned Tin Can API is also being called ExperienceAPI, but it depends on who you talk to, ADL or Rustici.


I saw a presentation on a mobile health application called EMocha. It was developed by Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education and is used in Africa and also right here in Baltimore.

I was very impressed by a presentation titled "Teaching Clinical Reasoning Using Game Tech," which showed one of their study's applications that used game tech in learning. What impressed me the most was use of video embedded in the interface. This simulator, which included an electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) and a labor and delivery room, allows one to view and hear the learner via video embedded in sim (see pic below). Being able to view and hear the learner's immediate reaction and feedback to the simulation was great as a course evaluation tool and can be a helpful in coaching the learner too. 

If you are involved in health care education or training, the MedBiquitous Conference is a great learning event. Hope to see you there next year!