It’s easy to whole-heartedly sing the praises of eLearning, and that’s something were often guilty of ourselves. But the truth is, as in classroom training, the benefits of eLearning are few and far between if your instructor isn’t up to the scratch, the course you’re running is poorly designed or(exclusive to eLearning) the LMS user interface is not up to the job.
Either one, or a combination of these is a sure fire way to see a high dropout rate and low levels of completion. If you want to ensure your clients or staff experience the full range of benefits that come with eLearning, not just reduced cost and running time then here are 5 handy tips to follow:
Take expert advice
Remember to listen to the experts, as your designing an eLearning course make sure to keep in regular contact with those who know best. By listening to the experts you can ensure that your course cannot be surpassed by the competition and that you will remain on top. A good way to ensure this is to schedule weekly meetings with your design team and the experts. Keeping each other up to date on what you are working on is a great way to soundboard ideas and check facts; collaboration is often the best way.
Set goals and timeframes
During these meetings you also should not be afraid to set regular goals for you and your team. Small realistic goals that can be ticked off regularly are a great way to ensure that things are getting done and will keep everyone focused on the task at hand. This can be a great boost to moral to see things getting done in a systematic and consistent fashion. Don’t be afraid to make your goals too small or too specific but keep a tight focus - keeping your course organised and on point stops your learners becoming impatient an overwhelmed with the content.
Structure wins every time
Any course should aim for a 100% success rate, so making sure that content is not jumbled, overcomplicated and cluttered will help guarantee that all your learners make it to the final stages. Breaking content into manageable chunks is also an effective method for keeping your learners happy and focused.
Ease of delivery
The beauty of eLearning for the user is self-delivery. The ability to undertake training at a time suitable for the learner and in a place of choice can make all the difference. So not only should the user interface be easy to use, have the ability to deliver and record all training, but the LMS portal should be fully responsive to mobile and tablet.
Take a look at My accessplan 90 second video which demonstrates interface functionality or download the ebook
Reward success
Keeping the pacing of your course at a level everyone can be comfortable with and rewarding completion of sections with encouraging words will help motivate learners to see the course through. And when complete, automated personalised certificates should be issued through the Learning Management System.
If you follow these simple tips from the design stage, through to implementation of your eLearning course, then you should be one step closer to experiencing the full benefits of eLearning.
