Types of Characters used in e-learning
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This document discusses different types of characters that can be used in e-learning, including doodles, pictograms, humanoids, icons, silhouettes, cliparts, and cut out people. Doodles and stick figures are simple drawings that can represent characters with limited time and budget. Pictograms are custom characters made from basic shapes that are easy to understand visually. Humanoids are 3D characters that are gender and race neutral and allow for easy editing. Icons should be easily understood at a glance. Silhouettes focus learner attention on content. Cliparts provide inexpensive images while cut out people make courses more engaging through character packs with different poses.
Types of Characters used in e-learning
- 1. Types of Characters used in e-Learning OPEN Photo Album
- 2. Index Doodles Pictograms Humanoids Icons Silhouettes ClipArts Cut out People
- 3. Doodles Doodles, stick figures and outlined characters are the simplest drawings which we might use to represent the characters of our course. Having limited budget and time, we can quickly sketch basic shapes and lines to represent a character. These characters are used for storytelling and to explain about processes. III Doodle videos have become a popular way to explain concepts because of the graphic depiction of ideas and the movement of the hand calling viewer’s attention. Fig. 1: Static Stick figure Fig. 3. Doodle video Fig. 2: Animated Stick figure
- 4. Pictograms Pictograms are custom characters created using basic shapes. Graphic skills are not required to build them; combining circles, squares and other shapes, we can easily have our custom character. Pictograms are used in a number of situations in which verbal messages are not possible. They work great for procedural and safety training where the learner needs to follow step-by-step sequences and they’re also used for students with special needs. III Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6
- 5. Humanoids III Main advantages of using 3D humanoids: •Gender and race neutrality •Concept representation: sometimes, they’re more suitable than real people to depict abstract concepts. •Wide variaty: there is a large pool of these graphics available to choose from. •Ease of editing: adding or removing a person or an object, changing its color, it’s possible in a few minutes. •Lack of expression: their positions and actions are enough to convey the meaning. •Humor: The vector graphics are cute and, at times, even funny. Reference: Upside Learning Fig. 7
- 6. Icons Icons should be easy to understand at a first glance, this means their visual is closely related to the idea which needs to be communicated. From the simplest icons to the more detailed and coloured ones, we can use icons to represent an specific person or activity. Iconic characters also help in better communication between the users and the application interface. III Fig. 8 Iconic characters in different styles
- 7. Silhouettes Creating silhouettes is pretty easy. And using them in your elearning courses can add a little bit more visual and make the courses more engaging. The main advantages of using silhouettes: •Be politically correct: as silhouettes are race neutral, they’re a good option to make sure no one’s offended. •Focus learner’s attention on the slide: they’re nice to create contrast with the background of the slide and to help learners to focus and isolate information. •Used as icons or to create a progress meter. Reference: Rapid e-learning blog III Fig. 9 Silouettes used to represent a concept Fig.10 Silouettes used to focus attention
- 8. Cliparts Cliparts are inexpensive images; there are lot of royalty free clipart available online. It’s good idea to stick to one Style. The type of clipart depends on your audience, when it comes to developing professional eLearning for the workplace, use less cartoon-y clipart and more high quality vector artwork and silhouettes. The main advantage of using Cliparts (or any vector image) is the easy of their edition. No graphic software is required, with PowerPoint, you can change colours and background, and create the Character you need for your elearning course. Reference: Flirting with eLearning Blog III Fig. 11 Cliparts in different Styles
- 9. Cut out People Whether we decide to use illustrated or photographic Characters, cut out people images are a great way to make our courses more engaging. Character packs are sets of the same character in many poses and angles. As they have transparent backgrounds, we can easily combine them creating scenes, dialogs, presentations and simulations. Using poses and expressions makes it much easier to get emotion and give a realistic looking to our elearning stories and scenarios. III Fig. 12. Illustrated Characters Fig. 13. Photographic Characters
- 10. References The Rapid e-Learning Blog: • 5 ways to use silhouttes in your e-learning course • 7 ways to create Characters for your Training course • Create your own custom Character • How to build your own graphics for online course Blog Commlabindia: E-learning characters Upside learning: 10 reasons to use Humanoids instead of Photos Flirting with eLearning Blog: Choosing graphics for eLearning: Photos vs Cliparts
- 11. Images source: CLOSE Fig.1 Stick figure by Randy Borum Fig.2 GIF stick figure by By As09rl CC-BY-SA-3.0 Fig.3. Video The Science of Persuasion Fig.4 Pictograms by Tom Kuhlmann Fig.5 Own work Fig 6. Pictogram by Jeff Kortenbosch Fig.7 Humanoid by 123RF Fig.8 Icons by Freepick Fig.9 Meeting Silhouette by Feepick Fig.10 Silhouette screen by Tom Kuhlmann Fig.11 Cliparts. Styles 554, 1252, 1255, 1268 Fig.12 Articulate Character Male 14 in various poses and expressions. Fig.13 ElearningArt free character in various poses and expressions.