4 Ways To Create Engaging eLearning Content

4 Ways To Create Engaging eLearning Content
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Summary: This article provides the best tips and guidance to make eLearning content engaging for the audiences. I have studied different approaches to online learning and course content delivery, and I am now presenting the best practices from the industry so that you don't have to look further.

How To Create Engaging eLearning Content

The internet has become a massive ever-growing database of information. According to the reports of Statista, the eLearning market is likely to reach a global valuation of USD 243 billion by the year 2022. Seamless connectivity has enabled us to send information halfway around the world in mere seconds. This has enabled potential trainers and organizations to publish educational and training contents for online learning that can be accessed by virtually anyone in the world.

As I have mentioned, the internet is crammed with eLearning contents and among this clutter, it can be quite difficult to attract the right audience. You may have the right knowledge and information to offer to your audience, but simply putting them in boring texts is not going to cut it. Even though you have the right information, you still need to convince your audience about its value. Moreover, the information should be presented to them in such a manner so that it makes it easy for the audience to learn. It should be kept in mind that the attractiveness of a learning course or content should be informative as well as easy to grasp. It should be engaging enough for them to spend their money on your courses.

I have researched various popular eLearning courses to underpin the key features that make an eLearning content truly engaging. Implementing these key elements into your content creation process should help you to engage your customers and add more value to them.

1. Focus On The End Result

Irrespective of the nature of the eLearning content (text-based, slide presentation, or video presentation) you should ask yourself about how it can be beneficial to the audiences. This is extremely crucial from the standpoint of advertising. The audiences are less interested in what your courses contain, but are more interested in knowing how it can help them to improve their performance or help them to get better jobs. Therefore, as an eLearning content creator, it is essential to keep it in mind that you need to design them that can directly communicate the utilitarian value to the potential customers.

It is also crucial to keep a close watch on the contemporary market environment. Its dynamic nature can open up new opportunities for you. The industry constantly requires new skills, to generate superior value in terms of operational excellence. Therefore, your courses should be able to educate and train the audiences so that they are able to be a part of the constantly changing market environment.

2. Know Your Audience

"Know your audience"; you may have heard this phrase a lot and that is probably because it is one of the key rules of mass communication. As an educational or informational content creator, you need to know the target audience, more specifically the target customers. Understanding their demography is essential while designing the course content and also for setting up its price. In order to engage the audience with your content, it must be easily understandable and relatable to them. After all, that audience is looking for course contents that they can seamlessly implement in their professional domain to achieve positive results.

Demographic information like the age group, professional position, income group, should be kept in mind while designing the courses. For example, designing a course tutorial on a newly launched ERP software may be targeted at the managers. This audience group is likely to have prior experience on using resource planning applications. Therefore, in your content, you can easily relate to their prior experience and highlight on the added benefits of the newly launched application. The central idea is to be able to make a robust connection with your audience, in order to build their confidence towards you or your brand. Giving them exactly what they want and interacting with them in a way that they expect, should prove to be really helpful.

3. Grab The Eyeballs

Presentation matters a lot. In fact, it can be the deciding factor for customer satisfaction. Teaching your audience does not mean writing everything in text and making it available for downloads. The presentation should be attractive enough so that it does not become boring for the audience.

Video presentations have proven to be quite beneficial for engaging the audience in a coursework. Not only does it make the learning experience interesting but it also takes much less time for the audience to complete the course. In comparison, an eBook in a pdf format can contain an exhaustive amount of information. But, the audience constantly looks for enriched course content that can be learned in a short duration of time. Creating a video-based tutorial or course content can be beneficial in several ways.

Firstly, it allows you to add a graphical presentation, to make it easier for the audience to grasp complex concepts or illustrations. Secondly, you can narrate them the concepts, ideas and instruct them through your own voice. It can be more engaging if you appear in the video from time to time during the narration. It can help to add a human touch to the learning process. It can also help to build more confidence among the audience.

Tools like screen recorder or screengrab can help you to provide them with seamless illustrations. This is more helpful when you are offering a tutorial on a software or a tool. Make sure that you break the entire course into several progressive chapters. The chapters should begin with learning outcomes and their implementation in a real-world scenario. This will help to build curiosity among the audience and make them stick to the end of the session. The consequent chapters should have continuity from the previous one, thereby allowing the audience to easily relate to what has been taught before, and how it will relate to the one they are about to learn now.

4. Practice Makes A Man Perfect

Yes, it is an age-old proverb. But is as effective and relevant as it is old. Provide practice files or tasks with each chapter. Learning is not complete unless an individual is able to implement or try it out. Offering practice files or tasks will help the audience to test anything they have learned and will also help them to identify any gaps in their learning. It will also help them to remain engaged with the course content, thereby generating more value for them. If possible, provide the customers with a chance of offering feedback. This will help you to identify where you did well and where you can do better.

Finally, all I can say is, keep it real. The customers will be attracted to your content because they are unique. The internet is full of plagiarized content which is claimed to be the best available course there is. Don't be one of them. Your content should be unique and address the needs of your target customers.

Good Luck!