Html5 & mlearning: The rapid interactivity approach

Contents
HTML5 & its Role in eLearning .....................................................4

The Case for HTML5 in mLearning ............................................... 5

Importance of Rapid Interactivity in HTML5 and mLearning ...... 6

Using Raptivity® in mLearning .....................................................7

Copyright © 2012, Harbinger Knowledge Products Page 2

“New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile
devices (and PCs too)”

- Steve Jobs

“We see HTML5 as a critical component of the future web, and a great technology for
delivering interactive learning content.”

- Vikas Joshi, chairman and managing director of Harbinger Group

"You can't teach people everything they need to know. The best you can do is position
them where they can find what they need to know when they need to know it."

- Seymour Papert

Figure 1: Evolution of Learning Channels


HTML5 & its Role in eLearning1

HTML5 is technically the latest version of the HTML specification, but it's commonly
used to refer to the combination of three technologies together: HTML5, CSS3 (the
latest version of Cascading Style Sheets), and JavaScript.

While the larger issue is how HTML5 impacts the future of the Web, there are many
discussions about how HTML5 impacts the future of Flash. The very prospect of better
interactive support in browsers is a positive sign for the future of the Web. Interactive
applications will be easier to build and deploy - and users will find the Web content
more engaging.

The technology sure has a lot going for it, given that Google, Microsoft and Apple
agree to the direction it is taking. A short tour of the key features of HTML5 should be
enough to convince ourselves that support for greater interactivity is getting
entrenched within the browser. All the browsers, including IE9, Mozilla Firefox, Google
Chrome and Apple Safari now support HTML5, even if it is to varying degrees. HTML5
is making it to mobile devices like iPhone, iPad, Android and others very quickly. As
older browser versions are replaced with these newer ones, HTML5 will truly become
mainstream. Within eLearning, it can be used for On-the-field training (Mobile
learning), Edumercials, and to support SCORM using JavaScript.

1
This is an abstract from the Raptivity presentation, “HTML5 and its role in eLearning”:
http://www.raptivity.com/resources/insights/presentations-and-recorded-webinars


The Case for HTML5 in mLearning

The advantages of using HTML5 get more important once you include mLearning in
the context. mLearning designers and developers – and mLearning itself – have
suffered for years because developing mLearning is like trying to hit a moving target;
once you have a product out, the devices it was designed for are obsolete, due to the
very short lifespan of most mobile device product cycles.

If those developers were developing desktop-based eLearning instead, they would
have a pretty good solution to this compatibility problem: Flash. But Flash Player’s
ubiquity on desktops and laptops doesn’t extend to mobile devices. Importantly,
iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices, do not support Flash.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs says Adobe’s Flash platform, like floppy disks and serial ports
before it, is a technology that has outlived its usefulness. But according to Adobe,
Flash has some legs yet. Anup Murarka, director of technical marketing for mobile and
devices at Adobe (ADBE), claims 53 percent of all smartphones shipping in 2012 will
support Flash.

“You’re going to see Flash not only on *Google's+ Android. Consumers will see devices
from Palm (PALM), Research in Motion Ltd’s (RIMM) Blackberry, Nokia’s (NOK)
Symbian and Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Phone 7 support the full Flash Player,”
Murarka said. “Maybe we don’t get to the iPhone or iPad. If anything, we’re seeing
continued growth in the install base and the usage of Flash and we see that continuing
to grow.”2

Mobile platforms do have the benefit of starting afresh with support for HTML5 on
their browsers. It is also an obvious choice for mobile devices because rendering
HTML5 code is generally not very processor-intensive compared to alternatives, and
mobile device manufacturers are always pushing the envelope to accommodate user
demand for increased speed and multitasking. To top it off, with HTML5, mobile
devices' short product cycles become a boon instead of a liability because new devices
generally mean new and more updated browsers.

2
Source: http://allthingsd.com/20100610/adobe-flash-on-53-percent-of-all-smartphones-shipped-in-
2012/


Importance of Rapid Interactivity in HTML5 and mLearning

Rapid interactivity building has proven to be an efficient and cost-effective way of
creating interactive learning courses in desktop platforms. HTML5, being a
combination of HTML, JavaScript and CSS, is more complex than the plain markup that
HTML is. In many respects, it is as powerful as Flash, and by the same token, is difficult
to program compared to plain HTML. Clearly, rapid interactivity has a role to play in
building HTML5 interactions.

Mobile devices themselves and their capabilities are highly fragmented not only due
to the different available platforms, but also because devices from even a single
platform span the gamut. The ongoing tablet revolution exacerbates this
fragmentation even further. Mobile learning content should be engaging, light on text
and graphically rich. All this fits very well with the rapid interactivity metaphor, rather
than traditional navigation and page-turning.

All this puts a premium on efficient and cost-effective development, and indeed
makes rapid interactivity a critical factor.


Using Raptivity® in mLearning
Mobile learning can benefit from a large variety of interactions that Raptivity users
routinely build as part of e-learning. The Essential Pack and HTML5 TurboPack from
Raptivity include a total of 41 interactions. These interactions can be published as
HTML5 and Flash output.

Raptivity Essential Pack includes the Raptivity software and a set of 35 interaction
templates that can be published on devices that support HTML5 and Flash technology.
The interactions thus published will work on devices such as Android and BlackBerry.

The Raptivity HTML5 TurboPack includes 6 important and meaningful interactions
for engaging presentations. Interactivities from this pack can be published in HTML5
as well as Flash. The HTML5 TurboPack interaction models are as customizable as the
Flash ones. The course creator can develop interactivity once, and Raptivity takes care
of building these two versions, enabling Android, Blackberry, iPhone and other smart
phone devices to play Raptivity content seamlessly.
Learn More…

HTML5 Essential Pack HTML5 TurboPack

Rapid Interactivity, the Raptivity Way
Raptivity allows you to quickly and easily create learning interactions
such as games, simulations, brainteasers, interactive diagrams, virtual
worlds and more.

Fast and Easy: Configure each interaction model extensively, plug in
your content, and have a Flash-based interaction within minutes.

Maintainable: Driven by t e mp lat e s , and e a s y to update and
maintain.

Based on Instructional Models: Raptivity s upports Bloom’s
Taxonomy, Gagne’s Nine Events, Keller’s ARCS model and Experiential
Learning.


Html5 & mlearning: The rapid interactivity approach

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