How To Help Users Get The Best Of Your eLearning Platform
Available research shows that the global eLearning industry has experienced a 9.2% five year annual compound growth rate, and data from the Babson Survey Research Group reveals a steady and consistent increase in eLearning. One thing is clear: For more effective learning experiences, users must be able to get the best from your eLearning platform. Here are 6 proven tips for you:
1. Pair eLearners Into Study Groups
One of the most effective ways to boost learning gains is through study groups -- besides the fact that members of a study group will be able to benefit from the knowledge of other members in the group, the psychology of the “Zone of Proximal Development” will come into play. In essence, this theory, proposed by Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky, states that there’s a difference between what a learner can do with or without help: Vygotsky reveals that when guided, even when we aren’t told explicitly what we should do, we develop more confidence in our abilities and actually get more done. This theory is backed up with research -- which shows that even when learners are in a group where no one knows the actual solution to the problems being studied, learning gains are documented compared to not being in a study group. It is further backed by research that showed an average increase of 5.5 points in the final exams of students who were in a study group compared to students who weren’t.
Encouraging users of your eLearning platform to join study groups where they regularly discuss learning goals and issues at hand will certainly result in an improvement in learning.
2. Encourage Interaction With Other Students
Encouraging interaction with other students will also help users get the best from your eLearning platform. This allows them to consider different viewpoints and properly consider the ideas they hold as well as their understanding of a subject.
You can encourage interaction in a variety of ways; for example, you can have a forum where users of your eLearning platform can answer questions, post updates, and interact with one another on subjects relevant to what they are learning.
3. Introduce Mobile Options To Make Learning Easy On The Go
While over one billion smartphones are shipped worldwide every year, only 25% of organizations are currently developing and using mobile learning apps. The mobile learning industry is currently worth $5.3 billion, and it is estimated to be worth $12.2 billion by 2017 -- this shows growing demand in mobile learning.
It is important to realize that majority of the users of your eLearning platform are always on the go, with their mobile devices, and it is essential to plan for this; create mobile learning apps that let people make use of your eLearning platform on their mobile devices, and you’ll notice an increase in engagement with your platform.
4. Encourage eLearners To Journal Or Blog Their Experience
If possible, try to encourage users of your eLearning platform to keep a public journal -- possibly open a blog. Research has linked writing and journaling with improved understanding of the concepts someone is writing about, and you can take advantage of this to get users of your platform to be more engaged. You can also encourage users to comment on each other’s blogs, fostering community and critical thinking skills by considering other people’s views.
5. Include Practice Tests
We often assume that the key to understanding a topic is to study and study non-stop about the topic, but research shows otherwise. Research has found that doing practice tests is likely to help people improve their understanding of what they study and recall things by up to 50 percent more compared to if they just studied without testing their knowledge of what they studied.
It’s good to encourage studying, but testing people will help find gaps in their knowledge and make them realize what they know and what they don’t. Introduce practice tests into your eLearning platform and you’ll see a marked increase in people’s understanding of what they are taught.
6. Give People Different Study Options
The world is much more advanced, and we now have sophisticated internet technology that makes it easy to download files and stream multimedia seamlessly -- naturally, we want to include more multimedia. However, it is important to realize that people learn in different ways. Some people will prefer text to media, and giving them access to your content through the medium they most prefer will better enhance their understanding of what they are learning.
Offer people access to your materials in as many means as possible -- this way, people who want media will get it while people who prefer old fashioned text will get it, too. Since people can learn through their most preferred option, they are more inclined to learn.
