7 eLearning Tips You’re Missing

One quick Google search of “eLearning design tips” or something similar will pull up a lot of very similar articles dating back quite a few years when eLearning really started to boom as a career path. Anything from how to choose a helpful project management tool to how to write effective objectives are sure to be in the search results.

And they should. They’re important.

But after hours spent flipping through super short articles that are saying a lot of the same things, it’s easy to get a sense of what we aren’t seeing in the search results. As a new instructional designer to the field, I have the advantage of knowing what I’m not finding. I haven’t been fully brainwashed or indoctrinated into a certain habit or process. In fact, I enjoy taking risks and trying out new things and researching trends.

I’m new to ID but I’m not new to education. Before receiving my M.Ed. in ID, I earned a B.A. in English Education and have taught secondary and higher education. That experience led me to ID and shapes how I incorporate ID theory into my designs.

So with all of that in mind, here are my 7 eLearning tips for designing and developing successful eLearning content:

1. Know the Audience. Knowing the audience for which you are designing your eLearning content is vital. They are the reason you are designing the course.
   
   When thinking about who your audience is, consider the following:
   -What do you think the demographic is?
   -How old are the learners?
   -Are they in college or are they in the workforce?
   -How much time do they need to complete the course?
   -What device do you think they will be using?
   -How dated or relevant are your resources?
   
   When you have a learner-focused course, you increase your chances of encouraging engagement, motivation, and retention. When I taught middle and high school English Language Arts, I taught literature on their level. I incorporated young adult novels that they would relate to. I purposefully selected stories that they could see themselves in. By doing so, I created a pathway for the learners to feel connected to the story. This brings me to Tip #2.
   
   

2. Incorporate Storytelling. Similarly to knowing who your audience is in order to create meaningful learning experiences for them, I recommend adding in storytelling elements to your course. You don’t have to have an English degree to do this. Let’s start with the basics.

   
   What does storytelling look like?
   Think back to your favorite stories, movies, TV shows. What made you enjoy it? It could be the characters, the setting, the relationships, the conflicts, or the ending. All of these things make up the story.

   
   The development of the character or setting and all of the events of the story is what makes it stick in your mind. By developing those elements with detail, consistency, and a voice, those pieces of the story imprint on our mind and tap into our emotions and memory. These are the elements of storytelling I believe can make eLearning enjoyable.
   
   -Bring it to life. Instead of boring and dull introductions and lists, bring your course to life by creating a strong teacher presence by inserting yourself into the course as a leading character. The learners can get to know you and engage with the material directly because they recognize there’s a person on the other side of the design, that even an online format can be relatable and engaging.
   
   -Hook and cushion your learners. This is a creative writing practice: hook your learners immediately they same way you want to hook a reader in the first chapter. Think about the first thing they see when they begin your course, whether it’s a visual graphic or your introductory text. What catches your attention when you read? Consider those elements and apply them in your design.
   
   -Use Scenarios. Storytelling is basically role-playing, except an author is in control of the outcome. In eLearning, instructional designers can incorporate scenario-based activities that require the learner to participate in the outcome of the activity, inserting them into the story and giving them an emotional connection to the course.
   
   

3. Think Like a Graphic Designer. This is the visual part of storytelling. We’ve come a long way from oral folktales. Storytelling now exists in a digital and multimedia realm, and part of the creation of that is graphic design.
   
   Colors. Font. Spacing. Blank space. Graphics. Videos.
   
   Many elements of graphic design have the power to make your eLearning content POP! You already have the idea and the objectives, then you added in storytelling elements. Now it’s time to apply those principles to the overall aesthetic of the course.
   
   

   Cross-Compatibility

   
   When you’re thinking about the audience, you asked yourself what devices they may be using to access the content. Now you need to ask yourself if the aesthetic and graphic elements will work appropriately and look attractive on multiple devices.

   
   For traditional online classes with an LMS, I design the course for the desktop first and the smartphone second. Some LMS don’t load well on phones, or the text is too small. Most traditional online classes cover a lot of information and incorporate discussion boards as well. For this reason, I anticipate students pulling up the content on their laptops when they can, but we are moving into an even more mobile era with better phones and smarter LMS. It’s time to start thinking about designing for the smart phone first and the desktop second, really paying attention to the limited screen size and how microlearning can be a good fit for that design.
   
   

4. Try Microlearning. As learners become more mobile and busy in the workforce often while finishing school, on-demand learning has become really important for continuing professional education and increasing retention.
   
   Bite-sized learning doesn’t have to be shallow. Instead of removing depth, the idea is to remove the fluff. Microlearning follows the concept that the topic can be taught on a need-to-know basis, cutting right to the chase in condensed bite-sized lessons or modules. And by applying the principles above, an instructional designer can create content that has a bang for its buck!
   
   Because the content isn’t overloaded, it’s common to see microlearning in interactive apps or engaging interactive platforms like Articulate Rise 360. This method puts the content right in the hands of the learner and allows them to access and complete the course completely on their phone or tablet.
   
   For the working professional, this means more time investing into their education and less time looking for a quiet place to plug in their laptop.
   
   

5. Apply Theories. An instructional designer’s toolkit should not be full of information solely on design tools. That’s just a graphic designer. An instructional designer also needs emphasis on the instructional part.
   
   -How do people learn?
   -What motivates online learners?
   -How do you engage learners virtually?
   -How much is too much visual aid?
   
   These are only a few questions to consider when researching what it takes to be an effective instructional designer. Do your research. Apply learning theories. What interests you might not be engaging for the demographic you are designing for. It’s important to know your audience, as I mentioned first, but it’s important to apply those learning theories with them in mind as well.
   
   Here are some common learning theories and theorists for eLearning:
   
   -Bloom’s Taxonomy
   -Constructivism and Jean Piaget
   -Design Thinking
   -Cognitive Psychology
   
   Ultimately, educational psychology tells us that we know learners learn the best when they are involved, collaborating, and working to solve real-world problems. We know that positive reinforcement and rewards encourage repeated good behavior. And most importantly, we understand that learning is an essential evolutionary trait that ensures a smarter, stronger, and more successful generation of people.
   
   

6. Document Everything. You’ve put so much thought and work into your course, you’d think it would be automatic to save everything. For me, I didn’t start saving my notes and ideas into an organized system until the beginning of my third course. And here’s why:

   
   -your stakeholders, supervisor, or team may want to see your progress along the way
   -your client may need to see the “big picture” to answer some of their questions
   -you may find a resource while researching for one course that would be better for a course later on
   -you may want to come back and edit your course years later with up-to-date content
   -you may be working on numerous projects at once
   
   Life happens and we get distracted. Whether it’s an unplanned project you have to take on or a project that needs to be put on hold, having your notes and storyboards saved somewhere (I use Google Drive folders and DropBox) will help you get back to work without missing a beat.
   
   Just like planning a long research paper, an outline or storyboard can help organize your thoughts. Documentation can guide you and prevent you from getting off track, or it can reveal where you may want to adjust the content.
   
   Also, holding on to those items can be a great way to get started on a blog post, conference presentation, or course!

7. Evaluate your Work. It’s not enough to put all of this thought and planning into the course and then forget about it when you’re done.
   
   Remember that the first tip is knowing your audience. So from the beginning to the end, your learner is the most important.
   
   -Was your course effective?
   -Do you need to make changes?
   -Which elements were engaging and which were not?
   -Survey the students
   -Assess learners with quizzes and activities
   
   The most important part of an instructional designer’s job is designing for the learner. They are real people with real lives, problems, distractions, passions, and goals.
   
   We have an opportunity to help learners better themselves with education. Use evaluation methods to determine what changes, if any, need to be made to ensure you are providing the most effective designs.
   
   Instructional design should be circular, looking at the end from the beginning with clear goals, consistent aesthetic design, theory-based activities, and a learner-centered foundation.