There are many companies that offer uploading and sharing of PowerPoint presentations online, but Brainshark caught my eye recently because of the ease and speed with which you can create narrated, animated mobile learning content.
Brainshark’s mobile solution — Brainshark Mobile — lets you quickly transform PowerPoint content into narrated online and mobile video presentations. You can access the content directly from your mobile phone browser. When you link to a presentation via your mobile browser, the system recognizes the type of mobile device and automatically streams the presentation in the appropriate video format for that device.
For the best interactive experience with creating Brainshark presentations, download their free native apps for Apple and Android smartphones and tablets.
Getting started
I signed up for myBrainshark — which is the free version of the product — and started uploading some content I had designed for mobile learning (see Design for Mobile sidebar). I used an iPhone and an iPad and connected to content via both devices and via the mobile Safari browser. I also connected by using the native iOS Brainshark apps from the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad. (See Figures 1 and 2.) From completed content to being able to access the content via a mobile device took just a few minutes.
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| Figure 1: Mobile content in portrait orientation on the iPhone. |
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Figure 2: Mobile content in landscape orientation on the iPhone.
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Narration options
There are a few options for adding narration to your content. You can use a microphone, a telephone, or uploaded pre-created MP3 audio files. The telephone option can be useful if you need to put something together quickly and don't have a microphone, but I would recommend that you choose a good microphone in order to record quality audio. I tried the audio playback through my iPhone and my iPad and the quality was very good — much better than I had expected.
Animations
One great feature is that you can sync animations to the narration. I use a lot of animations in some of the PowerPoint-based mobile content I create, and it's essential to be able to time these correctly with an audio track. You have to specify in seconds when you want the animations to appear so a little trial and error is required. (See Figure 3.)
Figure 3: Synchronizing animations on a slide.
Attachments
One useful feature is the ability to add attachments to the mobile content. (Figure 4) These can be Word files, Excel files, PowerPoint files, PDF documents, or Web links. This is great for adding supporting content for easy access along with the main mobile content. I used this for adding PDF content that I specifically designed for viewing on a mobile phone (see Design for Mobile sidebar).
Figure 4: Mobile content showing PDF attachment below
Video
In addition to uploading PowerPoint files, you can create mobile content simply by uploading existing videos. Most video formats are supported; mp4, flv, avi, mov, wmv, rm, etc. This enabled me to upload other content I had previously designed for mobile and present it via the Brainshark mobile interface.
Publishing
Once you have uploaded your mobile content, you can quickly share a link to it via e-mail or a myriad of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, etc. You can also publish content directly to YouTube or create a link to a Podcast of the audio. (See Figure 5.)
Figure 5: Publishing to YouTube or creating a Podcast
Feedback on use
The Brainshark software also tracks the viewing stats of your content so you can view and print summary reports on how many views per module, how many views per individual slide, the date and time of viewing, as well as numerous other reports. (See Figure 6.)
Figure 6: Report of number of views of content
Tests, surveys, and other enhancements
If you want to add mobile interactivity through the native mobile apps and use surveys, polls, and test questions, you have to add the Brainshark Enhanced Mobile package, which is available to customers of their enterprise solution, called Brainshark Presentations. This also gives you the ability to add narration to questions, provide multiple attempts, allow content branching, and response-specific feedback.
Summary
You can do a considerable amount with Brainshark just using the free sign-up. If you want your learners to have their own private access to content, and you need more sophisticated reporting features, you can get their Pro package. If you wish to add tests, quizzes, and certificates of completion, or if you need SCORM packages for your LMS, you can upgrade to the Pro Trainer package. The enterprise solution gives you these, plus other features such as multi-user support, improved content management, curriculums and guest authoring.
The user interface was simple and intuitive. I didn't need to read any help instructions to be able to learn to use the tool. I could figure out how to do everything — this is always a good sign for a user interface.
Overall, I thought the Brainshark tool was a very quick, easy, and effective way to create and deliver mobile learning content via video. The ability to rapidly develop narrated, animated, mobile content using a simple tool like PowerPoint — as well as being able to quickly distribute it to many different mobile device types — is very powerful.
There is a very big difference between accessing learning content on a mobile device and mobile learning. Pushing your existing PowerPoint presentations, videos, or eLearning content onto a mobile device is not mobile learning — just as throwing instructor-led presentation content online is not eLearning.
Brainshark and other presentation-sharing tools are primarily designed for uploading PowerPoint content and providing online access to presentations. To be able to create effective mobile learning content you need to design it specifically for mobile. That means analyzing the needs for mobile delivery, thinking about the audience, and thinking about context. Are you creating a short learning bite? Content for performance support? A quick review to supplement existing learning or training? Be crystal clear on why you are providing mobile content, its purpose, and how and where you expect learners to consume it.
If used effectively — which is rare — PowerPoint can be a good authoring tool to create mobile learning content. However, you need to design very differently than you would for ILT or eLearning. You need to design for mobile. You need to design for the small screen. The content on each slide must be less than you would typically find on an eLearning screen. Any graphics need to be larger and simpler. The text needs to be large enough to be readable on a mobile device. In short — the instructional and graphic design needs to reflect mobile needs and the mobile format.
Avoid using any standard PowerPoint templates. They won't work for mobile — they were created for ILT presentations. If someone can look at your mobile learning content and not know it was created in PowerPoint then you are on the right design track. Consider starting with a blank slide and design from there. If you must use a template, then create one specifically designed for mobile.
