How to Create Effective eLearning Experience: Key Tips

‘Alohomora!’ Swing the wand and unlock the doors just like that. Things would be a bit crazy if that were to work. But a spell or two would be nice, right?

If only there was a spell to make eLearning effective. And what exactly defines the effectiveness? Is it just good design, great content or learner’s reaction and general satisfaction? It is well known that learning pattern, learner’s calibre and most importantly, the content and its presentation greatly influence eLearning. While learning theories, instructional models etc. play critical role when it comes to creating eLearning, its effectiveness is hinged on various factors ranging from content relevance to the organization’s learning environment and more.

Creating effective eLearning takes time and experience, many aspects are revealed each time a new learning module is created. Based on our experience with creating custom eLearning, mLearning, microlearning and more, here are a few tips for creating effective eLearning experiences.

Tip 1# Know the Learners

Analysis of the target audience or the learners is where it all starts from. There are times when organizations rush in with their requirements and this step is ignored, but often such solutions have very short life and L&D professionals know this well. Understanding the learners helps in collating a learning pattern, understanding device usage and preferences, freedom in terms of time and interactions etc. which in turn can shape a personalized learning experience.

Tip 2# Be Contextual

Gone are the days when training was undergone, just because they had to. Nowadays, learners prefer to know why the training is required, what kinds of benefits it can bring etc. This in turn must be relayed up and front to the learners, for ensuring that eLearning is effective.

Tip 3# Add Realistic Scenarios

A Dinosaur running wild in a corporate office- sounds implausible, right? eLearning scenarios that do not match the situation can be just like that-irrelevant and more importantly annoying. Use scenarios that the learners can relate with, add a list of probable outcomes too so that the learners can learn from their mistakes.

Tip 4# Include Meaningful Interactions

Click, tap drag, scroll, and repeat the same all over again on the next screen. Such actions can be interesting at first, but by and by it becomes boring and monotonous. More importantly such actions should deliver some learning without which it would be just irrelevant action with no learning outcome. Integrate meaningful interactions, wherein learning happens as a part of the activity, rather than forced reading or information overload.

Tip 5# Make it Explorative and Challenging

We have discussed time and again about millennials and their love for freedom, exploration etc. The effectiveness of eLearning too depends on those elements. Does the content allow the learners to take decision, choose a path? Does it have scope for exploration? Is it challenging enough or is it too complex to understand. Take care of those questions and the eLearning should be interesting enough.

Tip#6 Ease (Anytime) of Access

The way eLearning have changed the learning patterns of the learners also have changed. Due to mobile revolution, today’s learner is no more glued to the desktop and they are more open to learn anywhere anytime. Considering this fact mobile friendly eLearning courses are gaining popularity amongst the learners and hence accessibility of the learning contentanytime through any devise makes it more flexible to the learner and adds a great value to the overall learning experience.

An effective eLearning should ideally set the learning in motion, build in curiosity and hence trigger the path for self-paced, self-driven learning where learners look for additional inputs on their own, share what they have learnt amongst the peers, initiate discussions to find the right solution, and channelize the learning opportunities to improve performance and organizational growth,

Have you analysed the effectiveness of your existing eLearning? If not, do it now. And you know where to find us, if you need our assistance.