…aka BBC iStats Digital Analytix Course

Brief: To create an online learning course for Digital Analytix – the tool used by the BBC for web metrics. There is no budget available!

Multiplatform Producer, BBC Academy,  March – May 2012

• The subject matter expert wanted a different approach which wasn’t just dry screen capture to aid learning.
•  Used Mohive  (rapid e-learning content production system)  to produce the course.
• Used Camtastia to produce the screen capture which would talk the user through the istats system.
• Used Photoshop and Premiere Pro to produce animations.

Course Design

I suggested using story as a way of making dry subject matter more appealing.

I created the character of Bob who lived in Stat City and who was the only one living there who didn’t find statistics wonderful. Mostly because he just didn’t understand them.

There was no money for this course. I produced the course in Mohive, I created the animations, recorded the voiceover and did the screen capture. My subject matter expert wrote the script and did the voiceover  talking the user through the iStats tool.

Bob’s journey would mirror the staff members’  journey from indifference or ignorance through to a thorough understanding of what the tool could reveal about user behaviours and habits.

In between the videos, there were technical explanations and exercises. A selection of the animations I produced are below.

Finally, Bob understood statistics and it was time to celebrate…

Results

I neatly hit the deadline. From start to finish was approximately 4 months, in between working on other projects. The feedback to the animations was great. People were expecting a dry screen capture course and got something quite different. My subject matter expert said working on Bob’s adventures in Stat City was ‘possibly the most fun I’ve had at work ever.’