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Exciting features of Totara v18
As a Totara Gold Partner, the Synapsys’ team is excited to work with the latest Totara v18! Among numerous new features, two stand out as particularly exciting for us! Firstly, the capability to duplicate learning programs significantly reduces administrative time. Whether you are a course administrator, a system administrator, or a course creator, you can…
AI Image Generators: Their Potential and Impact in Creative Work
We have been exploring Artificial Intelligence (AI) image generators – how they work, what they do, and if we can see a potential use of them in our work. AI content tools are currently a subject of discussion, and it is important to understand their functionality to make informed decisions about their usage. AI generators…
The SOLO Taxonomy; finding the Goldilocks Zone for learning activities
We believe that understanding the goals of a workplace learning solution is essential for creating the best experiences. If you’re clear about why your organisation wants your team to learn something, you’re in the best place to choose the optimal learning activities. It is helpful to determine how much depth of understanding is required for…
Engage and Collaborate: Miro’s Role in Online Workshops
As online workshops have become more common, an ongoing challenge has been how to engage learners in the sessions. How do you recreate the participation and collaboration that happens when people are learning face-to-face? Miro is a really useful tool for online facilitation, we’ve been using it in workshops for project managers. Miro is an…
How long does it take? – Navigating learning design timeframes
One of the first conversations we have with many of our clients starts like this: I’ve already done a full learning needs analysis and gathered all the content; Can you start building learning content for us? People seem quite surprised when we still want to go through a discovery process before giving a final answer…
The Curse of Knowledge
Experts sometimes do not have good insights into what support is required by beginners. It’s natural when you think about it. Experts are experts because they’ve been working in a particular space for a long time. Think of something you can do extremely well. Can you remember what it was really like when you knew…
Constraints, used properly, are the true drivers of innovation.
Constraints, used properly, are the true drivers of innovation. We always take the time early in the design process to establish a project’s real constraints and goals. Goals are great; they help us get clear on what we’re doing – they feel good. Constraints can be frustrating. They limit our thinking and sometimes mean exciting…
The Importance of User Testing
Have you ever thought how user testing can help learning designers improve their skills? We recently had an excellent experience that not only reinforced the importance of user testing, but also helped us understand learners’ needs better. Trust in the process enhances outcomes We were working on materials with Silver Fern Farms who have a…
5 tips to kick off a foolproof learning project
Great ideas need excellent execution. We asked our project managers for their recipe for starting a successful learning project. 1. Identify your subject matter experts (SMEs) early to ensure they have time available for the project. 2. Get SMEs involved early so they understand the planning process and can come on the…
Unlearning – where does it start?
A huge proportion of our learning experiences start with unlearning. Debunking myths, learning new tools, new processes… Pretty much any big systems implementation will require unlearning. It’s great when your learners are already open to new ideas and have a growth-oriented mindset. But how do we help them get there? We recently came across this…
Learning Objectives as a House Design Metaphor
The thing about learning objectives is that they can be compared to designing a house. Just as you need to know the specific requirements of a person when building a house, you also need to understand the needs of learners when defining learning objectives. For instance, consider a family with three children, who are…
RNZCGP enhances learning experience for registrars with Totara TXP16
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP) recently upgraded their Totara TXP to boost their capability to deliver learning programmes to their registrars in a more accessible, engaging, and fulfilling way. The College uses the Totara platform to deliver General Practice Education Programme and Rural Hospital Medicine Training Programme for doctors who would…
The limits of visual working memory and how we apply it in learning design
We all know that our ability to keep multiple things in our mind is limited. Four things is a common benchmark, and the article “When four is not four, but rather two plus two” suggests it might actually be two on each side of our brain. And yet we see so many learning experiences ignoring…
Need to get out of a Pickle?
Do you remember the super fun and engaging microlearning project we did with WorkSafe New Zealand and AKQA called “Pickled”? It was a series of learning games that made it to the finals of the Mobile Experience category at The Webby Awards, which received over 13,500 submissions from over 70 countries. That’s right, Pickled was such a hit! Guess what?…
Supporting Farmlands Co-operative with their transformation
Farmlands Co-operative is taking their employees’ development and growth to the next level with a whole new learning experience to be rolled out this year, and it starts with Totara 17. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be partnering with them and support their vision to become reality as they roll out new functionality this…
Articulate’s new microlearning option in Rise 360!
We are really happy to see Articulate‘s new microlearning option in Rise 360! Our learning designers love its simplicity. The one-click access to #learning activities allows learners to quickly get into the learning instead of negotiating multiple layers of navigation. This approach is particularly valuable for busy professionals who want to maximise their time. Whether you’re on…
Z Energy responds to new supply chain opportunities
How do you measure learning experience going forward? That was the big question for Julie Fitzgerald from Z Energy when partnering again with Synapsys in 2022 – this time to help develop a company-wide learning and training platform with a focus on understanding supply chain models. Our Managing Director, Phil, recently sat down with Julie…
Gamification in Learning: Partnering with Z Energy
Z Energy is one of New Zealand’s largest fuel distributors, and a long-term partner of Synapsys. Z Energy first engaged Synapsys’ services when Z took over the company from Shell, and were responsible for developing a learning and training platform for pilot Z Energy sites around the country. Having now established themselves fully –…
Synapsys on partnering with DIA: NZLPP Project
“This programme is an exemplar for Synapsys in how genuine partnerships with our clients can contribute to significant positive impact across a sector in challenging times.” The Department of Internal Affairs (“DIA”) is New Zealand’s public service department, responsible for issuing documents like passports, citizenship grants, registering births and deaths, and more. They also advise…
Raising-the-bar on accessibility
We are excited to announce we are taking home an Initiative award for Accessibility at the 2021 NZATD Learning and Development Awards. The award acknowledges work that creates accessible learning and encourages best practice. We are receiving this award for the online module Demystifying Procurement, which we developed and built in collaboration with MBIE. The…
Shining with Rise
In the last few months, we’ve worked with several clients
to make e-learning modules in Articulate Rise, where previously we would have
used Storyline.
Right now seems a good moment to look back and think about what made Rise the best solution for these projects, how to get the most from it, and what pitfalls exist for the unwary.
Practical Microlearning
Microlearning isn’t just about taking your large learning objects or courses and breaking them into smaller ones. Microlearning is small but self-contained pieces of learning. With our fast paced world and lack of time to spend more than a few minutes learning before performing tasks, microlearning is a must-have for most modern businesses. The problem…