Leveling Up - SparkLearn® 2.0 Is now Available
The Next Evolution in Float’s Mobile Learning and Performance Platform.
The evolution of digital products is an interesting topic. Software iterates and grows, morphs and changes shape over its lifespan. How do they change and what necessitates the changes? Well, at Float, we're frequently looking ahead while simultaneously appreciating where we came from. We relish being able to think and solve problems digitally through product design iteratively. When I started with Float, there was a version of SparkLearn® in place. It was a 1.0. The product showed a lot of promise. The app was already innovatively solving problems for clients through mobile learning and performance support. As with all of our products, we listen to feedback; we identify areas to improve and ideate on solutions. Given the time the product had been given to be used, get us data and provide us insight, it was clear that it was time to iterate and improve.
How We’re Changing
Evolving the product into SparkLearn 2.0, we focused on heuristic evaluations we’d recently participated in and reevaluated how the mobile app and desktop experience interact with each other and offer ease of use and utility. We focused on the two primary roles in SparkLearn - the content manager, and the learner. Both experiences were good, but both could use a shot in the arm to take them to the next level.
We started looking at how the user first experiences the mobile app. Taking an outside-in approach, we designed an onboarding experience that forms the first perception learners have with us. As the user travels through onboarding, the learner can choose from a variety of interests the content manager created; this personalizes and causes a bond for the learner's home.
A Reimagined Home for the Learner
So what is home? For this revision to SparkLearn, we took it literally. Home needs to be comfortable, familiar, and secure. Designing this beacon of the product was significant. We wanted the user to have a directed experience, but also be encouraged to wander and not feel trapped inside the navigation. We did this by using segmented design, which uses layers that are free-forming and engaging; this gives the experience an open and undirected personality allowing users to roam.
What's fantastic about the new home is that learners can swipe and discover all the content types arranged in a personalized interface. Learners encounter quizzes, tip cards, and articles that are all searchable and ready to be saved for later. We've created a familiar space that is curated uniquely for each learner, based on their choices, guided by the enterprise input and shaped by their intent. One of the most critical features of SparkLearn is the ability for learners to find resources fast and when they need the most.
A Revitalized Authoring Experience
As mentioned, there are two sides to SparkLearn; while they're separate mechanisms, they must communicate and feel similar. Float designed our content and user management system to be simple and direct, giving the managers the capability to craft content in a way that makes the most sense, without overkill. The flexibility SparkLearn provides in organizing the content can generate excitement and exploration, and that helps create really meaningful learning. We added numerous new and unique content types to powering your learning paths. You can plan how learners experience, consume and participate with your content by giving them a rich and self-directed learning experience.
We reworked the authoring experience to provide live previews. Nothing is more frustrating than creating content and not being able to see what it looks like in real life. SparkLearn 2.0 takes on this frustration by showing precisely what your content will look like directly in the authoring tool—no more guessing or leaving the tool to preview.
SparkLearn values the importance of content aggregation and distribution, as companies have various channels that are valuable and unique to their organizations. The design team empathized with this. We designed the group feature to allow companies to regulate unique structures and the content they see.
We’re Just Getting Started
Our vision for SparkLearn is only getting started. We're witnessing how companies are designing their content, improving how resources are accessed, and challenging our design thinking. We're excited to listen, learn, and work together to make SparkLearn an essential tool for your workforce.
Want a demo of the platform and see how it might work for you and your organization? Contact us today to get set up with a time.
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