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IMMERSIVE ANIMATED CONTENT WHY IMMERSIVE TRAINING CONTENT IS VITAL FOR CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS
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ABSTRACT
As cybersecurity training becomes more and more crucial for companies across industries,
they’re increasingly interested in which forms of training actually work. Static materials
such as emails and PowerPoints don’t engage employees, and engagement is the first step
toward sustainable behavioral change. The research suggests that immersive animated
content is the most effective way to seize employees’ attention.
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The most impactful training content is narrative-driven animation.
It has never been clearer to companies of all sizes that cybersecurity should be at the top
of their agenda. The frequency and destructiveness of cyberattacks continue to increase,
and the vast majority of successful infiltrations use some form of social engineering to coax
sensitive information out of employees or convince them to click on malware. This is why
cybersecurity training has emerged as the most effective way for companies to defend
themselves.
But not all forms of training are created equally. Many employees have grown accustomed
to (or perhaps we should say “jaded by”) training platforms that consist of little more than
email information dumps and the occasional PowerPoint presentation. Some companies
attempt to educate employees with live action content, but these videos don’t take full
advantage of the immersive digital media tools that are available today. We’ve found that
the most impactful training content is narrative-driven animation, which provides the
creative latitude to fully engage employees while simultaneously offering digestible and
actionable information.
EDUCATION BEGINSWITH ENGAGEMENT
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Without engagement, employees won’t
retain what they learn or be able to put it
into practice. This is why the top priority for
any company trying to cultivate a security
awareness mindset among its workforce
should be the development of high-quality,
immersive training content that will hold
their attention and lead to sustainable
behavior change.
We live in a world with more potential
distractions than ever before. According to
Nielsen’s Total Audience Report from fall
2020, the amount of time American adults
spend interacting with media has been
steadily rising – from just over 11 hours per
day in 2018 to around 11 and a half in 2019
to almost 12 and a half hours in 2020. A 2019
study published in Nature Communications
found that our collective attention span has
suffered as a result of the vast (and surging)
amount of content that’s being produced
and consumed every day.
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The immediate availability of information,
social media, and other distractions has
an impact on our individual attention
spans as well. A study published in the
Journal of the Association for Consumer
Research found that just the presence of
a smartphone – even if it’s not being used
– “reduces available cognitive capacity.”
Combine the fact that employees face
more demands on their attention than
ever before with the dry and tedious
workplace training programs on offer, and
it’s no surprise that almost three-quarters
of employees say the learning culture at
their companies is “less than effective.”
As Gallup has documented, a lack of
employee engagement has long been a
major problem at American companies
– only around a third of employees in the
United States report that they’re engaged
at work. This problem is particularly acute
when it comes to employee education,
which requires learners to be completely
engaged with the subject matter if they’re
going to absorb critical information and
adjust their behavior accordingly. The ability
to capture and hold employees’ attention is
the most basic element of any educational
platform – an element that’s even more vital
with a subject as urgent as cybersecurity.
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Although cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated and ambitious all the time,
companies are increasingly aware that cybersecurity should be a core part of their operations.
A 2021 PwC survey found that half of companies say cybersecurity will be “baked into every
business decision or plan.” For this to be more than an empty promise, companies have to
ensure that all employees understand how to identify and prevent cyberattacks.
This means companies are responsible for implementing a cybersecurity training program
that engrosses all employees and helps them become cyber aware as quickly and sustainably
as possible. There are several essential principles that companies should observe when
choosing a cybersecurity training platform. First, it should be narrative-driven – storytelling
has repeatedly demonstrated its value in education, aiding in comprehension, persuasion,
and engagement. Second, it should be interactive. Techniques such as gamification
(including team-based challenges, quizzes, and leaderboards) can increase engagement
while facilitating organizational solidarity. Meanwhile, these interactive resources also
increase information retention by requiring employees to recall what they learn and put it
into practice.
HOW TO MAKE CYBERSECURITYTRAINING COMPELLING
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WHY IMMERSIVE ANIMATED CONTENT IS IDEAL FOR CYBERSECURITY TRAINING
And third, cybersecurity training platforms should fully leverage the immersive opportunities
offered by digital media. This is why NINJIO uses animated microlearning episodes to teach
employees about cybersecurity. This format doesn’t just provide employees with absorbing,
narrative-driven content – it also offers the ability to seamlessly insert examples, highlight
important information on screen, and reinforce core points in other ways. While other forms
of media can be edited to provide some of these features, only animation gives content
creators the complete range of options afforded by digital media.
The biggest enemy of successful cybersecurity is the implementation of “check-the-box”
training programs that present the illusion of action but don’t actually seize employees’
attention and help them acquire the information they need to recognize and prevent
cyberattacks. The companies that are actually interested in educating employees and
establishing a culture of cybersecurity awareness go beyond these perfunctory programs
and do their best to keep employees fully immersed in their training content.
Evidence has long been mounting in favor of animation as one of the most effective
educational resources available. A meta-analysis published in Computers & Education
reports that an “overall positive effect of animation [on learning] was found in multimedia
material.” According to a 2019 study published in Research in Learning Technology, the
use of animation “increased engagement and interest, improved understanding and
[provided] greater flexibility in self-directed learning.” The researchers explain that animation
“constitutes a powerful pedagogical tool by combining audio messages with tailored visual
cues and graphics.”
The use of animation increased engagement and interest.
805.864.1999 | info@ninjio.com | www.ninjio.com
A study that explicitly focused on cybersecurity education found that animation was more
informative than static learning materials. But this isn’t the only head-to-head competition
where animation has an edge – an article published by Texas A&M researchers in
Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education reports that “Rapidly advancing
animation technology may offer multiple advantages or viable alternatives to staged
actors and static content of live-action video in creating dynamic professional learning
experiences.” The keyword here is “dynamic” – one of the most significant advantages
offered by animation in cybersecurity training is its flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and the
wide range of educational tools it provides.
An animated cybersecurity episode can show a helicopter landing on a skyscraper, a car
chase speeding down a busy street, or a rocket launch for the same cost as the portrayal
of a board meeting or a conversation in the breakroom. But this dynamism isn’t limited
to scenes and effects that can keep viewers’ attention fixed on the screen. Animated
cybersecurity content can also smoothly highlight important information, cut to helpful
visualizations (such as an image of a fraudulent email message) without breaking up the
overall aesthetic of the episode, and more easily integrate interactive content such as
quizzes.
At a time when companies are under more pressure than ever to develop a cybersecurity
training platform that will keep them safe from the rapidly multiplying and intensifying
cyberthreats out there, immersive content like narrative-driven animation will only become
more important.
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