transitions. One refresh would roll a car across the screen and off the cliff. A second would see it plunge like Wile E. Coyote into the waters below.


I remember the fun of creating graphics and animations to liven up the dry insurance exam-related content I was trying to convert into something more engaging than a textbook. We could make a block flash on and off, great for burning factories!


Another notable feature of those old courses is the irreverent sense of humour.


from the script. The instructional designers who could take content from a technical textbook and turn it into an engaging learning experience were yesterday’s e-learning heroes – and they still are today when it is much easier to hide ID sins behind mind-boggling graphics.


Windows of opportunity


Change is nothing new to the e-learning world. Unicorn’s first decade (1988-1998) saw the arrival of Windows, a revolutionary change from DOS for all but Mac users, real sound instead of that irritating beep, VGA graphics transforming visual impact and CD-ROMs replacing floppy disks.


By the late 90s, when I moved from CII to Unicorn, the most fundamental change of all arrived - the Internet. AICC, SCORM and the LMS soon followed.


The world has changed in 25 years, and aspects of those courses might now seem patronising or un-PC to the modern eye. But there are signs humour may be creeping back into e-learning, which has got to be good news for learners. The limitations of the early hardware meant engagement had to come


Can you guess what these screenshots are?


As hardware improved and PCs became ubiquitous in offices, CBT was opened up to create much richer learner experiences. Tools like Authorware and Toolbook became more readily available and affordable, unlocking a world of creativity, flair and imagination. Or at least they should have done…


Back in the real world, corporate firewalls, restrictions on Flash use and sound, corporate fear of humour, legacy infrastructures of old hardware/software, minimalist budgets and


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