In this Internet age that we live in, digital technologies are taking control over everything. Everyone is online today. Individuals and organizations perform various actions on the web using various apps, tools, software solutions, and so on. Digital technologies have gone so far that eLearning is slowly taking over traditional learning methods.

Today, there is varied comprehensive LMS software that can handle creating and managing various learning and training courses, which bring amazing results. They make the whole process easier for teachers, managers and for students or employees as well.

The three most important things in an eLearning course are quality content, simple navigation, and great design.

However, many people don’t understand that one of the key benefits that this type of learning and training can bring to the table is amazing interactivity that keeps users engaged, allowing them to learn more efficiently. If the person learning is not motivated and engaged, even the best courses will fail to deliver and this is why we will talk about how to create interactive content.

Stay on topic and be relevant

By providing your learners with meaningful and quality content, you will make sure that they are always motivated and engaged completely during the process of learning. Avoid inserting information which is not specific and that talks in general, as it won’t improve the value of your eLearning course.

People tend to lose motivation when they are learning about something which is not meaningful to the whole topic, and it might even cause them to doubt the whole learning course as well. This is why you need to make sure that you stay on topic and that the information you include is closely related to the topic.

However, this is not always a simple thing to do. Most people commit the mistake by including things which they think are relevant, instead of thinking what learners could find valuable in an eLearning course. The best learning course will be somewhere in the middle, as everyone involved will benefit from it.

Allow learners to explore

One of the key aspects of effective learning is about learners creating a hypothesis and proving it. In most cases, learners fail but this process of testing ideas is how people learn no matter if they are right or not. By giving learners the ability to explore content and find places where they can test ideas and reflect on them, you will keep them engaged to the fullest.

Yet another benefit of such learning that users will be able to determine which information is important and which is not on their own. For instance, if the learner knows some part already, he or she can quickly skip over that part of the content and get to the information that is unfamiliar.

Sadly, in most cases, eLearning lessons are quite linear and this is not interactive enough. Don’t get me wrong, linear is not always bad, but when the navigation is strict and the user must follow a single pre-designated path, he or she might be worried due to not grasping every piece of information well, or limited.

Emphasize on collaboration

Collaboration is a very important aspect of a learning course. People need to communicate with each other during their learning process, even if the course is focused on improving individual skills. Create group discussions, tell learners to try and chat online and work on problems together, share their findings, talk about what they retained and even integrate social media to your elearning.

When they can collaborate as a group, they will be able to feel the human factor within the course and understand that they are not alone in this. Even though people won't be able to see each other face to face, they will feel much better when they learn that others are going through the same things as they are.

People can learn from each other, share knowledge, and advance more quickly. Sharing new realizations with peers is a great motivational factor, as well as realizing how much you are already advancing. This is a great motivational trigger for learners to keep on improving their knowledge and becoming better.

Implement branching scenarios

By implementing branching scenarios within an LMS, employees will be engaged because of the fact that these scenarios simulate customers and interactions which occur with them. With branching scenarios, actions that learners take have direct consequences to the outcome of a situation and this is what great training content is all about.

For example, a scenario can simulate a situation where some customer is complaining about a bad service, and if an employee is unable to handle the simulation well, he or she will acquire valuable feedback and knowledge on where that person went wrong and how to improve in the future.

Additionally, learners will see how varied behaviors and actions lead to different results and logically determine what their mistakes were. This kind of training is action based. Simply put, people learn by doing and this is quite engaging. Still, the scenario needs to be realistic and relatable to your learners so that they get properly engaged.

Adding different types of content will help engage learners and create a more realistic setting. By including dialogue, images, and videos, a branching scenario can simulate a real situation. It’s important that you try and recreate something that can happen in reality, to make the training course even more effective.

Conclusion

These were some of the steps you need to take to make your eLearning courses more interactive so that you are able to engage learners and able to get the most out of each lesson. Make sure that you support your lessons with graphics, visuals and create a structure which is constant. With this formula, learners will stay engaged with your training content.