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.