Make Your eLearning Experience Fun
Without knowing it, most of us will learn something new every day. Although our real-life experiences equip us for common challenges, many of us also need to use formal education to advance careers and acquire new skills. If you’re in the throes of creating an eLearning package, knowing full well that there’s lots of competition out there, you might want to make your course fun. Rest assured, your efforts in delivering an exciting eLearning experience will come with plenty of rewards.
Creating a fun eLearning experience increases participation, boosts your reputation, and retains students so that they reach the program’s outcomes. Before you start creating your online learning package, it’s time to educate yourself on why fun content is necessary, how to achieve it, and where it will lead.
What Do Current Statistics Say About eLearning?
As one of the fastest growing sectors in the world, online education attracts significant attention from individuals and businesses each day. Globally, it’s thought that the industry will be worth $2.9 billion US dollars by the turn of 2019.
Those figures are probably great news whether you’re currently delivering eLearning packages or you’re in the midst of the creation process. But online learning is about more than sales. Your course’s success depends heavily on several factors:
- Student engagement
- Your students’ ability to complete the course
- How much they enjoyed the course
- How useful the course was
Underpinning all of these processes is a word that hasn’t always been present in education: fun. It’s worth understanding that most individuals who pursue eLearning are adults who have responsibilities elsewhere. When the courses they take feel less burdensome and more enjoyable, their drive to participate grows. As a course creator, it’s your responsibility to develop a package accordingly.
The Need To Create Accessible Learning Experiences That Benefit The User
Don’t underestimate the power of supposedly bland features. They’re often what makes an eLearning package accessible. Accessibility is a necessity, which means it’s a hurdle you must overcome before focusing on fun content.
If you’re creating a package that complements your brand, it’s essential to never prioritize aesthetics to the detriment of readability. Focus on warm shades of the colors you prefer, as those that are bright make it difficult to stare at a screen for long periods of time. Additionally, the salient points of your written content will always benefit from fonts people can read with ease. Sans-serif is popular throughout web-based content for a reason: it’s simple to digest, and it won’t turn learners off.
It’s possible to limit accessibility in lots of ways. Therefore, you should aim for easy-to-use and non-frustrating assets such as quick load times, clear layouts, and the ability to access content across multiple devices.
Your Online Courses Need To Move Beyond Accessibility And Into Convenience
Expanding a course’s accessibility so people can use it across a range of devices is crucial if you’re going to broaden your target market. As of 2018, the latest smartphone platform device statistics are:
- 53.5% IOS
- 45% Android
- 0.24% Samsung
- 0.24% Windows
- The remainder: other
Using a course creation platform that makes eLearning content tablet- and mobile-friendly ensures participants can learn on the move. Those who commute via public transport can transform their unproductive journey into one that enhances their future. Similarly, it’s possible to receive an education during the working day, without spending lunchtime attached to a desk.
For the sake of branding and to make accessing course content extra convenient, creating an app is always advisable. The mobile learning world is growing at an astonishing rate, and today it serves courses and institutions of all kinds and levels. Being able to download an app makes accessing content faster. Additionally, users can track their progress in an instant. When you consider how most web users rarely wait more than a few seconds for a page to load before heading elsewhere, it’s clear that fast accessibility is crucial in the eLearning world.
Mobile learners typically study 40 minutes longer per week than those who don’t have the option. As extra study hours are often conducive to great learning outcomes, creating a fun app that’s available via major operating systems is essential.
Bring Your Brand And A Human Element To The Game With Video Learning
One of the greatest must-know eLearning stats concerns video content. By next year (2019), video content will account for more than. Such statistics suggest that online learners crave visual tools. Rather than seeing videos as a chore to tick off, it’s a good idea to look towards them as opportunities to inject fun, personality, and branding into eLearning packages.
If you’re using a particular expert in your organization to deliver the content, ensure they introduce themselves, and why they’re the best people to teach the content. This is crucial if you’re going to build a sense of trust with your learners before delving into the fun stuff. Then, it’s time to focus on the use of videos to make eLearning fun.
Short And Sweet Wins The Game
One way to dull any learner’s experience is through dodging brevity. Short and sweet videos with rapid bursts of information will always translate better than those delivering thick layers of data overload.
Include Fun Facts That Stand Out
Don’t be afraid to inject pub quiz-style knowledge to grab a learner’s attention. For example, using how Guinness's founder purchased a 4,000-year lease to the tune of £9 a year to open a discussion on excellent business decisions will grab students' attention. Exciting stories don’t just grab attention, they keep it.
Consider The Use Of Interactive Paths
At the end of each video, you have the chance to take your learners on a journey. Offer them the opportunity to choose where they go next through interactive decision-based questions. One way to achieve this is through providing several correct options to course questions that could lead them to other videos that build on their knowledge. However, while trying to do this, you need to remain mindful of the need to create ways for participants to cover all of the course’s knowledge.
Prevent Learners From Feeling Alone
Online learning requires self-direction by the bucketload, which can sometimes make the experience feel lonely. Although some participants will happily remain as lone wolfs, others will want to meet the voices and faces that are choosing the same path. Consider optional online seminars to stir debate, offer ideas, and provide solutions. Maintaining an informal tone makes wholehearted engagement easier. If participants leave your program feeling as though they were part of a thriving network, there’s a stronger chance of them coming back for more.
Why Learners Need All Of The Above Features To Engage And Succeed
It’s easy to wonder why there’s a need to make eLearning fun at all. Surely, throwing the right information out there in an online format from a reputable provider is enough, isn't it?
Almost all modern evidence points towards the need to avoid exposing students to a life of challenging texts and knowledge absorption. For example, one study shows how those who have the chance to learn in a fun way are less likely to encounter mind wandering than those who attempt to study dry texts. In younger populations, who admittedly don’t use eLearning, it’s well acknowledged that the excitement that accompanies fun experiences acts as a great motivator for attaining excellent scores. It’s unfair to assume that the same drive for excitement won’t stimulate motivation amongst adult learners also.
Fun eLearning packages start with accessibility and convenience as their most vital foundations. From there, exciting learning modalities such as video and interactive delivery paths provide the fun that maintains engagement. With a social aspect comes the chance to experience the camaraderie that makes classrooms enjoyable. Without a little fun, mind wandering ensues. When you prevent it, online learners are far more likely to succeed.
