A while back, when mLearning became popular, instructional designers trying to accommodate all learning modes began designing two separate versions of their courses: a regular eLearning version and a Mobile version. Since creating two different versions of the same course can be very time consuming, most courses were still created just in the eLearning format. As time went on, the need for building device-agnostic content became apparent.
So, what is device-agnostic content? It is learning content that can be accessed on any device including ipads, smartphones, laptops and TVs.
Device-agnostic content adjusts to the browser and the size of the screen the learner is using.
One of the most valuable benefits of creating device-agnostic content is that it allows learners to start their training on one device and continue on another device.
Thanks to HTML 5, eLearning developers can develop device-agnostic content quickly and effectively. The main limitation here is that not all legacy applications that were originally developed using Flash can be converted to HTML5, so instructional designers will be challenged to redevelop or modernize these applications for content standardization. Another challenge that instructional designers, may experience has to do with the actual creation of device agnostic content as it’s relatively difficult to predict how the content will appear on various screens. Fortunately, there are free websites that can help instructional designers preview how their content will look on different devices. I use this site for this purpose http://www.responsinator.com/?url
I’d be interested to hear if you design device-agnostic content and what best practices you use to create such content.
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