5 Elements Of An eLearning Course
Although there is no one-size-fits-all when designing eLearning courses, eLearning professionals are mindful of the fundamental elements of eLearning courses in order to construct a well-structured training course. Every professional has their unique way of using these elements to design a structured eLearning training that adds value to their learners. In this article, we will discuss the important elements that you need to add to your eLearning courses.
1. Navigation
A stand-out eLearning course should have easy navigation, for example, menus; links; arrows; icons; and previous, next, and move to buttons. All this aids eLearning users to conveniently navigate through the course content. It is crucial to place all navigation elements in the right position to be visible to users.
When building the navigation element, ask yourself the following questions:
- Are your ideas in a logical arrangement?
- Are there backlinks in your course? (Also, check if they are well-reviewed.)
- Are the navigation icons well-placed and visible to users?
Consider the below tips when creating your navigation. Your navigation should:
- Enable learners to view their progress by allowing them to go between the past, present, and future modules;
- Have a drop-down menu on every page of the course for easy access by learners; and,
- Be moderate so as not to overwhelm your learners.
2. Relevant Content
Relevant content is the most crucial element in an eLearning course. An eLearning course should be short, clear, and engaging and not long and boring. An eLearning course is as good and useful as its content. If the content in your lesson is unilluminating or boring, learners could stop participating. However, your eLearning course content should provoke and challenge your learners to want to learn more.
Consider the following tips when creating realistic, concise, and engaging content:
- Verify the relevancy of all materials that are to be used for the topic
- Have one objective per module (it will help your learners memorize each goal at a time)
- Always develop content from a learner's perspective
- Maintain a personal and engaging tone
- Use stories and examples to clarify complicated terms
- Ensure course content is easy to read
3. Design And Visuals
The eLearning design is also one of the most crucial elements. The first impression matters a lot because people will judge your course based on the look before going through the content. It doesn't matter how good the content is, your learners will get bored and become uninterested if the design is terrible. A good design layout also entails using correct visuals like images, colors, shapes, forms, and tables in the right and unified way. For example, a learner may find it difficult to discover the main objective of a course if it is not well-designed. They are more likely to drop out of the lesson because of the impression of the design.
Follow the below tips on how to improve on your design:
- Always use high-quality graphics with a uniform style
- Use a consistent font and color throughout your course
- Break up the content into chunks to avoid loading too much content on a single page
- Get rid of irrelevant text or graphics that can complicate your design
4. Interactivity
Interactivity in eLearning means the dialogue between the learners and the eLearning tools. Interactive eLearning is when a learner assimilates information through video and text and also interacts with it through quizzes, games, and tasks. This element of eLearning helps capture learners' attention and boosts engagement. Recent authoring tools provide plenty of options like quizzes, pool, games, etc. Furthermore, it is rare to become distracted when an eLearning course is demanding thoughtful input.
Consider the following tips to increase interactivity in your eLearning course:
- Add gamification elements or simulations to your course
- Include an evaluation at the end of each module of the course
- Add a test and assessment at the end of each module
- Interact with your learners live or record a short video to introduce yourself
5. Track Learners' Progress
This particular element is as crucial as the above-mentioned elements, yet it is underrated. Tracking your learners' progress should be a significant thing in your eLearning course. Your eLearning course will be worthless without being able to track your learner's behavior and progress. A Learning Management System (LMS) is a tool for tracking learners' progress through data collected.
Data collected through an LMS is used to analyze learners' behavior, and this can help you to tailor your content to a specific group of students. For example, if you identify a trend from your audience, you can develop your next course to give a significant eLearning experience to your learners.