My “Design and Deliver” learning team at Providence St. Joseph Health within the HR department are discussing ways in which we can use the Augmented Portal competition to design and a develop an innovative way to engage learners into the content before they take the instructor led course “Engaging and Retaining Talent.”
I’ll post our progress here as we develop it.
That’s great to hear Johnny! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with 
I met with two of our facilitators of the Engaging and Retaining Talent course and some of our design team about how this experience could enhance the learning experience of the participants. Our basic premise that we developed is this:
Create a scenario between a direct report and his manager about a professional development conversation.
Begin with a brief animated sequence between the two to introduce the scenario.
Then use the Augmented Portal to go inside the mind of the direct report who is excited about taking on new projects. Look around the portal to see different thoughts. Then repeat to go inside the mind of his manager who is overworked and distracted.
Continue the animation as the conversation goes poorly and the direct report’s ideas are not even considered
Repeat the Augmented Portal to go inside the head of the direct report (is now thinking about leaving) and the manager (who thought it went well)
End with call to action to post responses to a survey or forum prompting them to consider what went wrong and what the manager could have done differently. This prepares the course participants to understand WHY the course content is needed and primes their own minds to think about the topic.
We drafted the script and it is being reviewed by our subject matter experts- our Instructor Led Training facilitators. They will insure that the phrasing and wording will ring true to their audience.
Today, I’m going to start coding the experience in ZapWorks. I’m going to use the steps outlined in the tutorial and then modify the code to build out my experience. I know I’ll run into some technical issues, but I’m hopeful that I’ll get the support needed from the online help and the ZapWorks team.
I completed my first portal! It works just like I wanted it to! I have a neural net in the background wall, a grid floor, a brain as the focal point just in front of the wall, and one thought bubble in each corner. You can only read each one fully if you move your mobile device around.
Now my next challenges:
I’m going to check out the forums and online documentation.
If anyone can provide me any insight or sample files to decontruct, I would be very thankful.
Here’s the script for the experience "What Were You Thinking?"
ANIMATED VIDEO
Manager (Mia) is sitting at a small conference table (with papers and a laptop on it) in her office. Direct report (Ethan) walks in and sits down
Mia: Hi Ethan, come in.
Ethan: Thanks Mia, I’ve been looking forward to our meeting.
Mia: Me too. I’ve printed your performance and development goals you wrote- so we can get started right away. Let’s look at this first one…
PAUSE THE VIDEO
Show three buttons: “What’s on Mia’s Mind?”, “What’s on Ethan’s Mind?”, and “Continue the Story”
MIA’S MIND
Augmented Portal: Brain floating in the middle with thought bubbles around it. “Back” button returns to the previous scene.
Below the brain is “Reactive Mode” and the background is shaded red.
“I have 7 more of these meetings today alone!”
“I hope this one goes quickly, so I can get a break.”
“What’s the first item to check off here?”
“Do I have everything I need for my 2:00 staff meeting?”
ETHAN’S MIND
Augmented Portal: Brain floating in the middle with thought bubbles around it. “Back” button returns to the previous scene.
Below the brain is “Responsive Mode” and the background is shaded green.
“How can I grow my career here?”
“Are you going to listen to my questions?”
“When should I say that I want to lead a project?”
“If I got a promotion, I could go on a vacation with my family.”
CONTINUE THE VIDEO
Continue the scenario at the conference table
Mia: It looks like you are on target with your goals that you stated here. Do you agree?
Ethan: Yes.
Mia: Well, we have two minutes left- do you have any questions?
Ethan: Well, I would have liked to talk about some things I didn’t write down.
Mia: OK, can you tell me quickly what they are?
Ethan: Nevermind, I’ll talk to you about it later.
Mia: OK, that sounds great- my door is always open.
Zoom in on the faces of Mia and Ethan at times to focus on their emotions.
PAUSE THE VIDEO
Show three buttons: “What’s on Mia’s Mind?”, “What’s on Ethan’s Mind?”, and “Reflect and Respond”
MIA’S MIND
Augmented Portal: Brain floating in the middle with thought bubbles around it. “Back” button returns to the previous scene.
Below the brain is “Responsive Mode” and the background is shaded green.
“Yay! That went quick. It looks like I’ll get through my day.”
“I’m in the zone- I understand what Ethan needs”
“Alright! I checked off all the boxes in SuccessFactors”
“What did I bring for lunch?”
ETHAN’S MIND
Augmented Portal: Brain floating in the middle with thought bubbles around it. “Back” button returns to the previous scene.
Below the brain is “Reactive Mode” and the background is shaded red.
“I didn’t get a chance to say I wanted to lead a project.”
“That felt totally rushed- like I’m just another nurse.”
“Maybe I’ll return the call to that recruiter.”
“Now I’ll never get that vacation!”
REFLECT AND RESPOND
Link to a SurveyMonkey page with the following questions:
I found this tutorial Using timelines to create an opening sequence and it looks like it will help me with what I want to do. Wish me luck! I’ll keep you posted
I made a new tracking image and replaced it with the original. I had to read the tutorial to find the correct procedure. It did not work at first, so I made sure I followed everything necessary. Then I needed to place my existing nodes in (not under) the root. After, I adjusted the size of the mask to match my new image perfectly.
When I tested it, it worked beautifully. Check it out below.
Now on to integrating a video before the portal (using the timeline tool).
Nice job!! Love the artwork!
I like that you are using it for real world work!
Steve
Thanks @stevesanerd!
I’ve uploaded a test video into AWS and successfully coded it to play in a separate node. I still need to change the aspect ratio, add sound, and edit for content.
I’ve run into my first technical problem (which was expected) and need support. This is the functionality I’d like to create:
I’ve added the assets to the Media Library and attempted to group them into their respective groups and created a timeline, but now I need some support to create these different scenes. Once I know how to code them, I’ll be able to create the rest of the story (Ethan’s thinking, decision 2, etc.)
Hi Johnny,
Great job with your project so far!
I’ve received your support ticket, so I’ll be having a look at your project and replying to you through that channel.
Also, thanks for keeping us updated on your progress, it’s really cool to see how your project develops from concept to finished product.
I’ll be speaking to you soon.
Thanks,
Seb
Thank you so much for the quick response and support.
Starting a project like this and entering a competition is risky- since I have not used the software before and am only minimally proficient in ActionScripting (from my days when I briefly authored in Flash). I have also announced that I’m entering this competition to my manager and my Design and Development team- I want to lead by example that to try with the possibility of failure is much better than not trying at all. Each step, whether it works out or not, is forward progress- and that is what matters most.
Johnny
@johnny.hamilton please feel free to ask for help!
I know I’m still learning the program as well but I’m getting a better understanding of it each time.
Steve
I created the final versions of the two animated videos (in square format) and uploaded them to AWS. I developed them in GoAnimate and did some post production in Camtasia (adding sound and making it square aspect ratio).
Next step is to develop the remainder of the graphic assets, which should be quite easy and quick.
@stevesanerd, I’m looking forward to reading your insights on how to make the scenes and buttons function. I hope I’ll get them in time to work on and complete this project this weekend.
I love how this is progressing. Great work Johnny.
@chris.holton,
Thanks for the feedback. However, I’ve reached a block and can’t progress any further until I’ve resolved the coding issue posted on #9 yesterday. Can you provide any support (documentation, examples, etc) that I can refer to or reverse engineer?
Thanks in advance,
Johnny
Hey Johnny,
I’m working on your support ticket as we speak.
You can expect a reply through there within the next half an hour or so.
Thanks,
Seb
Hay @johnny.hamilton
How is it going? I was going to post somethings but saw Seb did first.
Let me know if you still need some help!
Steve
Hi @stevesanerd Steve and @Seb Sebastian,
I worked through the weekend and was up until midnight last night after a full day of work trying to make the code function correctly. I knew creating a complex scenario while learning how to use Studio was a risky decision with a real chance of failure. Yet after speaking with my work colleagues about the opportunity to create an amazing experience that we dreamed up – I didn’t want to go with anything less than our best ideas.
I had hoped that the support team at Zappar would be helpful and responsive to address any technical issues that I had. I know that that is expecting a lot, especially with trying to develop something complex within a couple of weeks and with a hard deadline. There’s been a lot of frustration and exhaustion in this process, but I knew what I was signing up for when I decided to do something this ambitious.
The good news is that I’ve been able to develop the experience, although it is not coded to function correctly. Sebastian has been absolutely amazing at providing detailed guidance with my code, while walking the line of not actually providing me with any code (since this is a competition).
It is this level of support that encourages me to continue to push the boundaries of my imagination of what can be created. I know that I have a tech support team that will be there to bridge the gap between what I want to do and knowing how to code it.
I’m becoming a raving fan of the software and the team that supports it.
