It is not a secret that being a teacher is no easy feat. Teaching hundreds of learners, preparing thousands of lesson plans and presentations, staying late to prepare for the next day, and evaluating multiple assignments with a smile on your face is difficult. And it sometimes gets monotonous too. Thus, many teachers eventually begin looking for a new career. Today, with the advancement of technology and the development of society as a whole, job opportunities have grown significantly, which provides a wide variety of new jobs to choose from. One popular and ever-growing career option that many teachers are gravitating towards these days is instructional design. The simple reason for this is that it’s a rewarding and lucrative career option right up the alley for most teachers. This article will walk you through the ins and outs of instructional design and what it entails. We will also talk about the benefits of instructional design and why it is a good career option for … [Read more...] about Is Instructional Design a Good Career for Teachers?
The ELearning Course Designer’s Blog
Seven Pillars of Learning Objectives: The basis of sound eLearning course development
Learning objectives are the cornerstones around which Learning and Development (L&D) professionals assess whether learners demonstrate successful learning from completion of a unit of an eLearning course. Because of their critical nature, L&D teams must understand how to write them correctly. Improperly developed learning objectives not only fail to measure successful learning, but they often also serve to defeat overall learning outcomes. Discerning Outcomes and Objectives Newcomers to eLearning course development often use “outcomes” and “objectives” interchangeably. While to the layperson they might seem similar, to an L&D professional, they aren’t! LEARNING OUTCOMES: These describe high-level (often longer-term) behavioral traits involving a broad spectrum of skills, knowledge, and attitudes that a course desires to impart. Outcomes are strategic outcomes that a course seeks to accomplish. Example: “Upon completing this course the learner will consistently … [Read more...] about Seven Pillars of Learning Objectives: The basis of sound eLearning course development
How to Create Learner Engagement Through Micro Content: 10 Tips and strategies worth exploring
Learner engagement is the ultimate test of an L&D professionals’ ability to design, produce and deliver eLearning successfully. However, “success” isn’t just a measure of how many learners enrolled or completed the course but is also a function of the level of commitment and engagement displayed during the course. Unfortunately, traditional course content, like lengthy PowerPoint decks, 10-thousand-word text descriptions, and hours-long audio is no longer conducive to engagement. So, what’s the alternative? Microcontent! What is Micro-Learning Content? As the name suggests, micro-content is learning content that’s smaller in size and scope than its lengthier peer. Typically, traditional eLearning modules run anywhere between 30-minutes and an hour. During that time, it’s hard for L&D professionals to assure they have the learner’s complete attention. The longer a lesson takes to complete, the greater the chances are that learners will disengage. To address that issue, … [Read more...] about How to Create Learner Engagement Through Micro Content: 10 Tips and strategies worth exploring
6 Tips for Creating Visual Design in eLearning
As technology continues to advance and evolve at an astonishing rate, more and more industries are embracing modern technology and are using it to their advantage. ELearning has come on leaps and bounds over the last decade or so, thanks in part to the fact that eLearning experts have begun embracing visual design. Visual design instantly catches the eyes of the learners, it can enhance user navigation, provide an aesthetic appeal, increase learner engagement, and improve course completion rates in the process. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be a graphic designer to create a visual design in eLearning, and we’ll look at exactly why that is right now. Here are 6 tips for creating a visual design in eLearning. Try to find compelling images One of the simplest tips when it comes to creating a visual design in eLearning, which also happens to be one of the most effective, is to utilize compelling images. The image … [Read more...] about 6 Tips for Creating Visual Design in eLearning
How to Title Your Online Course, Modules, and Lessons
One of the most crucial parts of developing an online course is creating its title. We know, coming up with a name sounds pretty insignificant compared to designing all the videos, creating hundreds of graphics, and images, producing crisp audios, and doing a million other things that are required to bring an online course to life. However, no matter how brilliant it is, the course content isn't the first thing that an individual notices. The very first thing that grabs a person's attention is..., well, you guessed it right! It's the title of the course. Creating an extraordinary first impression is essential, especially in the digital world! Don't we always go on Youtube or Instagram and click the play button on videos and clips with interesting titles. No matter what people say, more often than not, we all judge a book by its cover and a video by its title. After all, there's a lot of content available online, and we have limited time. So we … [Read more...] about How to Title Your Online Course, Modules, and Lessons
Adult Learning Methods– When and How to Apply Them
Designing an eLearning module for adults is way different than designing online courses for children or college kids. The reason being, adults have different needs. They have less time and many other obligations to fulfill. Most adult learners are juggling a full-time job, their relationship, family needs, and a lot more. The stress of so many things takes a toll on their attention span and leaves them with little time to dedicate to studying and learning. Therefore, adult learners need short, crisp, engaging, and relevant courses that allow them the flexibility to learn at their own pace and time. They want high-quality and practical training content that they get to access anytime, anywhere, and from any device. All this can appear extremely tricky if you are just starting to create eLearning courses for adults. That's why we are here for you! In this blog, we will tell you about the famous adult learning theory (also known as Andragogy) and how to apply its principles for … [Read more...] about Adult Learning Methods– When and How to Apply Them