Top Tips for Engaging eLearning!
At Access, we’re always looking for creative ways to make our eLearning courses more exciting and helpful for you.
So to help us find out what makes for a captivating eLearning course, we ran a mini online survey of 25 people. Here’s what they thought makes eLearning more engaging.
Bite-size learning
Almost everyone has had the experience of sitting through an eLearning course that takes hours to complete. These courses may provide a wealth of information, but maintaining concentration and retaining information over the course of a few hours is difficult for even the most focused amongst us.
That’s why bite-size learning, also known as ‘microlearning,‘ is now increasingly popular in the world of eLearning. By completing learning in short bursts, you’re more likely to engage with the entire course and remember what you have learnt.
Gamification
Gamification of eLearning, which applies elements of game thinking and playing to courses, has become increasingly popular in recent years.
Research continues to show the benefits of gamification and how it can motivate you to learn. When gaming elements like a badge, sticker or ‘level up’ achievement are introduced to eLearning courses, it helps you become more engaged. These reward-based elements compel you achieve the next level and stay focused.
Kevin Ashley, Operations Director for eLearning For You, says that gamification helps transform training from a dull task into something that employees look forward to.
“Gamification can make tedious and repetitive tasks such as online learning more engaging, fun and competitive. When delivered in the right way, gamification encourages learners and teams to be more productive and engaged,” says Kevin.
Captivating content
How many times have you participated in eLearning and thought, ‘this is going on forever!’ To prevent thoughts like this and ensure eLearning is engaging, it’s important for course content to be:
- Relevant: It’s almost guaranteed that if you read something in your course that doesn’t seem relevant to the topic at hand, your brain will switch off. Instead, you should be reading information that not only directly relates to the course, but is relevant to your role.
- Short and punchy: An eLearning course that drags on will almost always disengage your brain. But if information is presented to you in a creative way, with content kept to the most relevant topics, you’ll more likely stay focused.
- Simple to follow: eLearning courses that feature too much technical language may confuse and potentially cause you to lose focus. By using simple language, it’s easier to follow the course content and gain a better understanding of its learnings. You’ll be a walking encyclopedia in no time!
Learning at a reasonable pace
Did you know that our brains find it almost impossible to multitask? The brain isn’t designed to complete several tasks at once, and when we do, we may not hold the information properly.
It’s therefore important that we don’t overload ourselves with new information and instead, give yourself the chance to take in what you’re learning. This can help ensure that you remain focused and gain a greater understanding of what you have learnt.
Are you looking for captivating eLearning courses?
Being the creative bunch that we are, Access offers a large variety of courses designed with the aforementioned principles in mind, to ensure they provide an engaging eLearning experience.
