Seamless integration of existing content – a technical and educational challenge
Given the specified budget and its commitment to delivering premium quality, the Bitburger Brewery Group opted for a hybrid model. For example, it started by setting the course for the entire project, adopting an agile approach. The experience gained at this stage then served as the starting point for optimizing internal processes. This made it possible to kick-start and support subsequent series production as efficiently as possible from the outset.
Following the project kickoff, the tts experts prepared a design concept describing the eLearning course’s layout and interactive design. Existing material such as training presentations, explanatory videos, video tutorials and images served as a basis for this. In addition, all the objects required in the virtual space were defined and photos were provided for 3D modeling for the virtual cooling cellar.
To illustrate the concept, the tts learning architects prepared a prototype on which further content production was to be based. “We deliberately picked the demanding section with the virtual cooling cellar for the prototype, because the creative, educational and technical integration of the existing and new materials posed a particular challenge,” explains project manager Birgit Hisserich, Senior Quality Manager at the Bitburger Brewery Group. “Thanks to the committed teamwork of staff from both companies, however, everything ultimately worked together seamlessly,” she adds.
Merging content and adding sound with the tts performance suite
The tts learning experts then developed the storyboard for the eLearning course. This phase involved processing existing materials – editing videos, adapting image material and designing the 3D space, for instance. After that, all the content was merged in the tts performance suite’s authoring tool and sound was added on a temporary basis using the speech engine.
Implementing the three-dimensional, interactive beer cooling cellar proved technically challenging. After all, it had to simulate the original as realistically as possible while also ensuring high-performance operation, even without browser plugins. To achieve the ideal compromise between performance and level of detail, tts and Bitburger coordinated on a series of performance tests on the GastroPortal, with subsequent optimizations. Acceptance tests running in parallel with selected stakeholders helped optimize the new kind of immersive knowledge transfer and how everything was handled in the virtual space.
The Bitburger Brewery Group is more than satisfied with the outcome. “tts and the Bitburger Brewery Group worked together with mutual respect, patience and a high level of trust to develop an eLearning course with which we can both ultimately be really pleased,” says Hisserich.