Monthly Archives: September 2015

Game Based Learning – The New Approach to eLearning

Sep 22, 2015

Playing comes naturally to humans especially during childhood and young age. Education scientists have found out that teaching through games can be an excellent method of ensuring high learning outcomes among young pupils.

In light of this understanding, many digital learning developers are developing games that are able to convey specific learning outcomes. This technique proves especially useful in case of young audience profiles. The cost and time involved in its development is typically high.

So what can be the optimum solution in case of matured audiences and advanced educational content? The solution is gamification. There are distinct factors that make gamification different from game-based learning.

  • The gaming element can be added to an existing eLearning module in the form of a set of rules and reward points.
  • It is usually easier and cheaper compared to game-based learning.
  • May not require changes in content while game-features can be applied to the LMS itself.

Any quality digital learning solution contains 2D/3D animations with amazing imagery and an English voice over to help pupils learn easily. Yet there are times when it can get too technical and less engaging. In such scenarios, gamification can be an excellent means of ensuring learner interest and engagement.

Gamification is about adding gaming principles to an existing learning context. These can be in the form of new rules, reward points and achievement levels. The benefits range from higher engagement levels and improved retention to better application and practice of skills. The key advantage of gamification is that it can be applied to all genres of eLearning even including technical content such as engineering education.

There are certain parameters that define a successful gamification eLearning strategy:

Simplistic approach: The rules and policies applied via LMS should not be so stringent that they take away the key learning objective. The explanation and overall strategy must be kept simple.

Focus on learning outcome: It must be kept in mind that gamification is just an enhancement to ensure that leaner is able to acquire the intended skill. Therefore all its dynamics must tie to the overall learning outcomes your learner intends to achieve.


How to Brace up for an Enriching eLearning Experience?

Sep 10, 2015

Congratulations if you have made the decision to opt for eLearning to complement your academic engineering education. Even better if you have done some research to identify the optimum vendor for the same.

However no matter how good your digital learning program is, you do not benefit until you are personally prepared to receive the benefits thereof. In this blog, we discuss the various ways through which you can obtain the best value on your time and effort spent on digital learning

Set the right expectations: Even before you set the ball rolling, it is important that you set the right expectations about the level of learning support that you expect from the program/portal. At this level, you will benefit from the pre-research that you have done before identifying a specific digital learning option.

Study the learning outcomes: Each eLearning module has a set of pre-specified learning outcomes for the learner. As a professional and well-aware student, it is imperative that you study the learning outcomes so that you are well versed with the flow of the program and are able to make the best use of it.

Prepare your learning device: Ensure that you have the right device ready to study the eLearning program for your engineering subject. The device may be PC, laptop or a tablet, depending upon the technical specifications of your digital program. The hardware specs mentioned will guide you towards confirming if your hardware is ready to host your selected eLearning Program. There are some cases in which certain graphic-intensive animations of a digital learning program require specialized hardware in the form of graphic cards/sound cards.

Form a study group: While eLearning does provide the option to study at your pace and comfort, yet for technical programs like engineering, it is a good practice to form a study group of select peers who share the same ethos towards learning and can be a robust support group for mutual learning and query-solving.

Complement with the right reference material: An eLearning or digital learning program cannot be studied in isolation and it is always worth referring professional reference material to obtain the best results. These reference sources could be online or offline such as books and whitepapers. In fact, many online learning portals provide the option of contacting them through email or chat to address specific queries and doubts.

Among the fastest growing providers of online education, Magic Marks offers digital learning solutions for students undergoing engineering courses in Indian colleges and universities. Their video tutorials and materials can also be used by students studying for competitive examinations. These are entirely visual training videos powered with 2-D animations and an English voice over to help students learn and grasp concepts easily.


How to excel in engineering education

Sep 3, 2015

With thousands of engineering colleges the world over, there is immense competition among engineers for jobs and opportunities. The key to becoming an outstanding engineer and to stand out from competition lies in how you approach the period of education itself. Whatever may be your subject of engineering – civil, mechanical or electrical – these best practices hold true for all.

Insist on the best reference material: In technical programs such as engineering, a student cannot afford to remain restricted and in fact, learning needs to be acquired from multiple sources. It is advisable to consult your peers and professors and take their recommendations on the best reference material that is relevant to your engineering subject.

Go beyond classrooms & chalkboards: While classroom learning has its own importance and has always been an intrinsic part of education the world over, a modern age student cannot afford to ignore newer media like online and digital learning. Studying engineering online is also a brilliant option for students today with many vendors providing high quality animated engineering study material on their websites. The best part about online engineering tutorials is that the student can learn at his/her own pace and convenience.

Moreover, with the advancements in technology, eLearning is now available in multiple formats and devices such as tablets, laptops and even smartphones offering a world of convenience to students. One just needs to ensure that the vendor offering digital learning for engineering is a reputable one with content mapping to the relevant university curriculum.

Network well and abundantly: Image management is relevant in every scenario including engineering education. If you are on the good books of your seniors and professors, you will benefit from their time-tested tips and also the references they can provide in terms of books, study material and online study portals.

Collaborate with bright fellow students: Form a mastermind with other sincere and bright students of your college. Studying together is often beneficial as the problems can be shared and there is enhanced motivation to study longer. Success in any scenario today is a team effort.

Be inquisitive and alert: Technical subjects are best understood by asking questions of the right kind. Whatever doubts that you have during your self study period, make sure to clarify the same from your professors in college or by taking the help of your seniors. You can also leverage the internet to find information for your subject areas.

Eat smart and remain active: The brain needs nutrients as much as the body. In order to make the best of your brain capacity, ensure eating a balanced diet. Eat healthy but not heavy – go low on calories and avoid junk food from outside.

Good health is not just about food. It is equally important to do regular meditation and exercise. These are activities that not only calm you down but also improve your ability to concentrate.

Among the fastest growing providers of online education, Magic Marks offers digital learning solutions for students undergoing engineering courses in Indian colleges and universities. Their video tutorials and materials can also be used by students studying for competitive examinations. These are entirely visual training videos powered with 2-D animations and an English voice over to help students learn and grasp concepts easily.


Ensure the Right Features in Your Digital Learning Solution

Sep 1, 2015

If you are among the well-informed engineering students who have recognized the importance of digital learning for your career – congratulations! You have taken the first step towards excelling as a student and refusing to be run-of-the-mill stuff by just depending upon textbooks and chalkboards.

However it is at times a challenge to make the optimum decision when it comes to choosing the best digital learning vendor for fulfilling your requirement. We bring you a few basic guidelines that can help you make the right decision before committing your time, money and effort.

Check the popularity: The safe bet is to go for a vendor that already has an established goodwill. This way you won’t get many surprises and you can be assured of certain basic quality benchmarks. However in certain cases, you may end up paying a higher amount for an already established brand. Moreover, being a popular brand may be a safe bet, but it is not a fool-proof assurance of quality.

Seek references: It always pays to consult your peers and professors about the best option for eLearning for your specific branch of engineering – be it electric, civil or mechanical. A co-student who has already enrolled for a digital learning program on a certain portal can guide you about the various pros/cons and the overall experience it offers.

Take a demo: Digital learning is not just about acquiring knowledge but about the overall experience it entails. Most providers of digital learning offer a demo option wherein you can check for the accuracy of information, quality of their graphics & voiceover and efficacy of their assessment modules. This demo can help you decide if it is worthwhile to continue with a specific vendor.

Curriculum mapping: Before you register for an online training for your engineering course, make sure to confirm if the topics strictly match your university curriculum. This is important so that your digital learning is able to complement your academic studies and also help you score better in your exams.

Hope that the above mentioned guidelines help you make a confident choice while deciding upon the right provider for your digital learning requirement for engineering.

Among the fastest growing providers of online education, Magic Marks offers digital learning solutions for students undergoing engineering courses in Indian colleges and universities. Their video tutorials and materials can also be used by students studying for competitive examinations. These are entirely visual training videos powered with 2-D animations and an English voice over to help students learn and grasp concepts easily.