5 Little-Known Facts About eLearning Professionals

5 Little-Known Facts About eLearning Professionals
David Arts/Shutterstock.com
Summary: eLearning outsiders may already know that eLearning Professionals are the ones working behind the scenes to create eLearning courses. However, there are some tidbits about eLearning professionals that may come as a surprise to online learners, and even some industry newcomers. In this article, I’ll share 5 little-known facts about eLearning Professionals.

Little-Known Facts About eLearning Professionals

Henry Adams said that “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops”. As eLearning professionals, we can lose sight of that all-important fact while we’re busy developing our next eLearning course. But the simple truth is that we are a rare breed, indeed. We are charged with providing knowledge, skills, and insight to our audience, and we consider it a privilege. Here are 5 little-known facts about the elusive and ever-evolving species known as “eLearning Professionals”.

  1. eLearning Professionals have an insatiable thirst for knowledge.
    We aren’t satisfied with just learning the basics. If you aren’t familiar with the topic, we will go above and beyond to gather as much knowledge as possible so that we can pass it on to our learners. eLearning professionals are adept researchers who soak up information like a sponge, and every day is a new opportunity for us to discover something new and embark upon a fresh educational adventure. We even take it a step further by synthesizing and applying that knowledge in creative and unexpected ways. To us, information is a tool that can unlock problems and enable us to understand more about our learners and how they think. This particular trait isn’t always a good thing, however. When it’s time to focus on other aspects of eLearning course design, our insatiable thirst for knowledge may become a distraction that leads us down the path of discovery. Instead of devoting our time to creating the eLearning course layout or navigation buttons we may be tempted to scour the web for tidbits of information.
  2. eLearning Professionals are self-starters.
    Self-disciplined and determined are two words that aptly describe a successful eLearning professional. While you may deal with distractions, you ultimately know how to stay focused on the task at-hand and don’t have to wait around for instruction. eLearning professionals know that there may be hard work and a significant time commitment ahead of them, but welcome the challenge. Being proactive is par-for-the-course, and we are able to adapt to meet the needs of our clients and learners. If someone calls in sick, we tend to raise our hands to take care of their tasks, because we know that it will all be worth it in end when he hand over an amazing deliverable.
  3. eLearning Professionals are optimists.
    This doesn’t mean that eLearning professionals see the world through rose-colored glasses and believe that everything is sunshine and rainbows. Instead, we are realistic optimists who know how to bring out the best in our eLearning team members. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and we use our strengths to help in whatever way we can while encouraging them to do the same. In some respects, this also requires us to be mediators. If the subject matter expert and graphic designer aren’t seeing eye to eye, then we step in and try to remedy the situation because we believe that everyone plays an integral role in the process. Before we hit that publish button and introduce our eLearning courses to the world, there is a spark of hope that each of us feels. We eagerly anticipate how our work will be received and how much it will benefit our online learners. We are optimists, and we use our eLearning courses to inspire and motivate our audience.
  4. eLearning Professionals aren’t happy unless they’re wearing many hats.
    Multitasking may be stressful at times, but eLearning professionals thrive under pressure. If we can sit down at the end of the day and know that we’ve tackled every task and are still on-schedule, then it’s been a good day. We are in our element when we’re wearing many hats. From writing copy and audio narratives to developing the navigational flow of the eLearning course, we aren’t afraid to step into any role that is required of us and do the best we can with what we have. This is yet another characteristic that can get us into some trouble, however. This is particularly true for those of us who have full personal lives. Getting caught up in our work is a regular occurrence, even if that means accidentally missing a dinner with friends or a parent-teacher conference from time to time. Wearing all those hats can get a bit overwhelming, but it’s also what makes this profession so exciting. No two eLearning projects are ever alike, which means that we never have to worry about being bored!
  5. eLearning Professionals have supernatural abilities.
    This one may not be a concrete fact, but it’s true that eLearning professionals tend to be a bit psychic at times. For instance, we can look into the future and see how every piece of text, image, and interactive element is going to look in the finished eLearning project. We can also possess empathy by putting ourselves in the shoes of the learner in order to visualize their eLearning experience. Last, but not least, eLearning professionals can also predict upcoming trends and immediately get a sense for which ones are here to stay, and which ones may be short-lived.

While being an eLearning professional may come with its fair share of stress, there is nothing quite like delivering a high quality eLearning course that you know is going to change lives. Technology is changing and more and more learners are recognizing the value of eLearning. It’s an exciting time to be an eLearning Professional!

Wondering which skills eLearning professionals should possess in order to be successful? Read the article 10 Habits That Separate Top-Notch eLearning Professionals From The Rest to discover 10 habits that separate truly great eLearning professionals from the mediocre ones in the eLearning Industry.

Interested in becoming an eLearning professional but you don’t know how to start? Check The Free eBook: How To Become An eLearning Professional to read the success stories of 23 highly-skilled eLearning professionals!