How To Create eLearning For Modern Learners: 5 Tips For eLearning Professionals
The bad news? Modern learners’ attention span and desire for in depth analysis is increasingly diminishing. You now have only a few seconds to grab their attention before they click away or their mind wanders off. The good news? The methods for grabbing learners' attention and making the key points easily accessible and digestible are nothing new. They are called effective learning techniques.
The critical difference between modern learners and the rest? Modern learners literally despise waiting for information; therefore, you shouldn’t make them wait. And here is how to create eLearning that appeals to modern learners’ personalities and learning preferences:
- Engage them ASAP
As already mentioned, the first thing you need to have in mind when trying to capture your modern learners’ attention is this: Don’t make them wait. This means you have to make your point right away, otherwise they will get distracted and you’ll lose them. What’s your point? The learning objectives of the eLearning course. Instead of starting your eLearning course by listing them, present them in a way that make them relevant to your modern learners audience. Grab their attention by explaining exactly how the eLearning course will improve their individual performance and how it will benefit their personal or professional lives. In addition, make it brief; modern learners don’t have time to lose, so tell them what they need, and want to know and nothing more. This goes for the rest of eLearning course too; use bite sized chunks of eLearning content to get your message across, include only the most relevant data, and consider using infographics which are very popular among modern learners, as they make information very easy to grasp. - Motivate them to achieve performance goals
Modern learners are achievement driven; thus, they are highly interested in improving their performance to achieve success. They don’t mind working hard, as long as it pays off, that is, as long as their work has a purpose. To achieve this, you need to offer them meaningful eLearning experiences that encourage them and allow them to develop and practice creative thinking, problem solving, and decision making skills. Make clear that the eLearning course aims to help them grow; use performance goals to provide them with opportunities to practice their newly acquired behaviors and link what they are learning to real world scenarios. And don’t forget to offer your audience gratification; use a reward and recognition system that allows them to know that they are making progress. This way they will see the value of the eLearning course and become active participants throughout the eLearning process. - Let them control their pace of learning
Not only modern learners don’t have time to waste, but they also want things to go their way; this is why you need to allow them to decide when and where they can take the eLearning course, assigning them full control over their learning pace. Avoid creating eLearning environments that require a lot of seat time. Instead, design mobile learning courses that your learners can take on the go. Encourage a BYOD policy where each member of your audience can use their own device, whether it is a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, a phablet, etc., and learn within a familiar, comfortable environment. Furthermore, make sure that the Learning Management System you are using can accommodate a responsive web design, so your eLearning course can adapt to any screen size it’s being viewed on. - Make their eLearning experience informal and fun.
This audience is mostly composed of people who are used to expressing themselves in Tweets of 140 characters, and read blogs to learn new things; formal language, therefore, can alienate and disengage them. Consider using a conversational tone in your eLearning courses to attract modern learners: Avoid slang, of course, but keep things simple with an informal, more personalized, style. In addition, gamification is an excellent tool when designing eLearning for modern learners, as this generation is highly competitive, thirsty for recognition and rewards, and loves to play games. Can you think of another audience to embrace more the benefits of gamification? - Show them, don’t tell them.
Finally, forget PowerPoint if you want to attract modern learners. To engage them in your eLearning content you need to offer them interactive online activities that require them to think, act, and try out alternative solutions. Follow the “Don’t tell them, show them” approach: Use demonstration videos which allow your audience to sit back and see how things work, simulations that offer them the opportunity to practice their skills in a risk free environment, and eLearning scenarios that offer real life benefits. The more your learners are encouraged to put what they are learning into use, the more eager and motivated they will be to learn.
The traditional linear way of delivering content may not meet the exact needs of modern learners. It's time to understand what modern learners expect from a paperless class.
