When school administrators and instructors first embark upon a project to embrace eLearning, the immediate temptation is to “scan everything and put it online!”. While “pure digitization” might be a quick way to introduce online learning to kids, it’s not always the best way to engage kids through eLearning. Key design and conversion considerations Unlocking the power of eLearning for kids is not just a matter of digitizing content from the existing curriculum. Kids today are extremely tech-savvy, and when they stare at an electronic version of their textbooks, it’s likely to spur immediate disengagement. ELearning designers must therefore go way beyond scanning and uploading paper content to pique kids' interest. Here are five design considerations that should help you decide whether you should design from scratch, or convert or port school curricula into eLearning courses: Enhance your content ELearning provides you an opportunity to go above and beyond what existing … [Read more...] about Converting school curriculum into eLearning: Considerations for designing eLearning for kids
The ELearning Course Designer’s Blog
Training for Agility: Understanding the new paradigms in eLearning
Dell Technologies Inc, one of the largest technology manufactures in the world, said recently that “…around 85% of the jobs that today’s learners will be doing in 2030 haven’t been invented yet.”. The new world will be based on organizations “...becoming more agile and profitable”. This bold statement was made in a report titled “The Next Era of Human Machine Partnerships”. If this prediction is, in fact, true, it then introduces a brand-new paradigm for trainers and instructional designers alike: How do you train future workforces to embrace that leaner, more competitive, agile and profitable future? Agility in eLearning The challenge with future of workforces, as laid out in the report cited above, is that information and knowledge is expected to become redundant at a much faster pace than it is today. In the new paradigm, while employers have already mapped out a new business model, they won’t have a sizable enough trained workforce to implement their vision – unless they … [Read more...] about Training for Agility: Understanding the new paradigms in eLearning
Tips for Better Presentations: Moving beyond transition effects and cascading styles and fonts
One of the most common methods of delivering eLearning content, is via presentation slides or decks. While Microsoft PowerPoint is the dominant tool-of-choice for many instructional designers, with GoogleSlides a popular choice, there are other tools available too. Options include Prezi, Haiku Deck, Visme and Emaze – some of which are free, while others are subscription-based tools. The first impulse of trainers and course designers is to master the “wowing features” of these tools, and then to develop content that leverages those features. That might not be the best way to create effective presentations. Tips and Techniques for Better Presentations Whether you use some of the tools highlighted above, or whether you rely on presentation features integrated into your Learning Management System (LMS), you should never make the power (or limitations) of the tools the focus of your presentations. The moment that eLearning content designers do that, they lose focus of that … [Read more...] about Tips for Better Presentations: Moving beyond transition effects and cascading styles and fonts
Why storytelling in eLearning works? Secrets to telling compelling stories
The best way to engage and communicate with your eLearning audience is through storytelling. Not only will you be able to connect with your learners, but if the story is appropriately framed and structured, they will be able to better relate to the content being taught. This will lead to improved transfer of knowledge and, as a result, deliver better overall learning outcomes. Why tell stories at all? In late 2013, Emory University published a study conducted by its neuroscientists that linked changes to the brain’s neural patterns as a result of reading real-life event-based stories. Without getting too technical, researchers saw extraordinary activity in the research subject’s left temporal lobe – the part of our brain responsible for processing semantics (meaning) in vision and speech. In layman’s terms, the results showed that stories created more brain connections to the events being studied, compared to straightforward facts, figures and other raw data. The conclusion that … [Read more...] about Why storytelling in eLearning works? Secrets to telling compelling stories
40 Facts About Color Psychology: How to use colors to improve your eLearning courses
Designing eLearning courses can be a challenging task. These courses are essentially a classroom, and as such, they need to be welcoming, yet authoritative; clean, yet fun and engaging. Color is one of the crucial elements that instructional designers need to understand when creating eLearning content. Color psychology and the abundance of research on the topic should be taken into consideration when making design choices. According to DesignAdvisor, smart color choices can make a brand’s message more effective, increase user engagement, and even increase revenue and conversions. In this blog post, we’ll highlight two of the most critical factors related to color choice when it comes to developing eLearning courses. Choosing the right color It’s hard to deny that colors convey a particular message: red means danger, green means go; yellow is bright and happy, grey is toned down and discreet. Color psychology focuses on understanding the most common human responses to colors and … [Read more...] about 40 Facts About Color Psychology: How to use colors to improve your eLearning courses
Leveraging Immersive Technologies in ELearning: The key to enhancing learner experience
The traditional way of distance learning is all but over! No longer do learners want to watch animated PowerPoint slides or YouTube videos so they can grasp a subject. Increasingly, instructional designers are being challenged to come up with more relevant, and highly innovative content to not only challenge learners, but to also enhance their learning experiences. Immersive Technologies – What are they? Consider this scenario: You have been hired by a large company, that has staff around the world. The company has just created a prototype of their new electric engine, and you are commissioned to develop a course on how to disassemble and re-assemble the equipment. There’s just one prototype, and there are 300 employees across the globe that need to get “hands on” training on the device before it starts mass production. How do you train a workforce so dispersed, and with such an obvious challenge? The answer: By using a combination … [Read more...] about Leveraging Immersive Technologies in ELearning: The key to enhancing learner experience