eLearning training programs are highly popular with large organizations looking for a way to train their employees without taking them away from their day-to-day job. They are equally popular with candidates who can gain valuable professional qualifications by studying at a time and place that suits them. So let's take a closer look at some very insightful tips for eLearning Professionals which can help you improve both your eLearning strategy and your overall approach.
Before you do any preparation for your eLearning course, it is essential that you know who you will be delivering it to, in other words, who your target audience is. Will it be senior execs, new employees, experienced staff undertaking Continuing Professional Development (CPD)? You won't be able to develop your material to suit your audience unless you know this in advance.
Prepare all your content offline first to give you the time and opportunity to plan it logically. This will also help you decide which sections are best suited to text, images/graphics, video or podcasts. It will also ensure you have copies in individual, standard format files and documents such as Word, PDF, Powerpoint, jpeg, mp3, etc. By using individual components for your content plan, you will more easily be able to re-use certain sections in future courses.
Some candidates will be motivated for their eLearning course by the fact that they will obtain a professional qualification that will boost their career prospects. They may have actively pushed to attend the course.
On the other hand, there may be candidates who had no choice but to attend the course. It may be part of a training strategy imposed by their employer. Don't assume everyone will be highly motivated or even motivated to the same degree. Take responsibility for enthusing and motivating your candidates, and both you and they will get more out of the course.
One way of doing this is to always highlight the benefits of learning a particular topic. For instance, studying Risk Management can help Project Managers deliver their projects more successfully. The benefit being their organization will be happier, and they will develop a reputation as a successful Project Manager opening up the possibility of a promotion or other career progression.
Another motivational strategy, apart from the tips for eLearning professionals mentioned, is to highlight common problems in the working environment and show how understanding a particular topic will make people more able to overcome those problems. The personal benefit being less stress and more job satisfaction.
Whether our obsession with the internet has made our attention spans shorter is always open for debate but it's clear that the average attention span is not very long. Different sources suggest anywhere between 10-20 minutes; so bear that in mind when covering certain topics. If there are complex topics, then consider breaking them down into more manageable parts. Try even shorter than 10 minutes if that works with your course material.
Learning should, and can, be fun so add fun quizzes or mini-games when appropriate to do so. Even adding light-hearted case studies with humorous business names can lighten the mood for your candidates and help motivate them further. Humour and learning are not mutually exclusive but far too many courses end up being dull and boring.
Even the most motivated candidates will sometimes take things easy if they can to keep them enthused with reminders to complete tasks, 60-second videos for quick bursts of inspiration or short podcasts with interesting guests. A variety of media will improve your candidates' engagement levels.
Moving on to the seventh of the 8 tips for eLearning professionals, let us refer to the implementation of blended learning. Blended learning is a combination of different forms of learning such as eLearning, workshops, podcasts, and traditional classroom-based courses. They offer the best of each type of learning on one course. It's also easier to tailor a blended learning course for different requirements and organizations.
No eLearning professional is perfect at their job, so aim to continually improve what you deliver by requesting feedback from candidates who have completed the course. But make sure you take action to improve any aspects that are consistently below par.