Instructional designers often search for ways to gamify their eLearning courses quickly and efficiently without hiring professional developers and graphic artists. We all know that gamification can get expensive! So, what can you do if your client wants to get an engaging product and, at the same time, does not want to pay a fortune? Luckily, there is a rapid solution that can make everyone happy. Virtual Worlds have been around for quite some time now and many designers have been successfully incorporating them in their eLearning lessons. With Virtual Worlds, the sky is the limit. There are many avatars and settings that you can choose from. All you have to do is choose a Virtual World you want, find the characters that best meet your needs, find settings and create your story around that setting. One of the best features of Virtual Worlds is that you can maneuver your camera very quickly to capture your characters at different angles. You can easily change and capture their … [Read more...] about How to Gamify ELearning Courses through Virtual Worlds
The ELearning Course Designer’s Blog
5 Considerations for Designing Amazing ELearning Courses
As instructional designers create courses, they rarely have the luxury of working at their own pace, and incorporating the elements they feel are truly needed. The reality is that most of the time, instructional designers have to work around pressing deadlines, and under a tight budget. Yet, they are still expected to deliver quality courses. Regardless of the time, or monetary constraints, course designers should consider the following five elements: ISD methods and principles – As we all know, ADDIE is the most popular ISD model; however, many instructional designers prefer a more rapid approach, so they tend to use the RID model instead. Yet, there are other designers who use a combination of different models and approaches. When you select the model to use for designing a particular eLearning course, be sure to shape it around your learning objectives. Language – The language you use in your eLearning course is your key to success. The rule of a tomb is to avoid … [Read more...] about 5 Considerations for Designing Amazing ELearning Courses
Instructional Design for ELearning Course
Two months ago, I announced the launch of my Instructional Design for eLearning Course. Unlike many other generic courses available on the subject, this course has been designed from ground-up, and takes a down-to-earth, practical approach to Instructional Design in an eLearning context. Whether you are an aspiring Instructional Design professional, new to the field of designing eLearning content, an instructional design guru looking to familiarize yourself with the latest developments and best practices of the industry, or a Human Resource specialist– you’ll find this course an invaluable resource. Based on my highly popular book on the subject, the course has been specifically structured to: Explore the basics of online learning theories, principles, techniques and methodologies Help you develop highly personalized eLearning content to meet the unique needs of your students/learners Enable you to master the skills needed for producing highly interactive eLearning courses … [Read more...] about Instructional Design for ELearning Course
ELearning Gamification Techniques That Work!
As eLearning specialists, we always look for ways to make our courses fun and engaging. Many eLearning specialists find that by gamifying their courses they can achieve the desired outcome and increase content retention. In this article, we will look at some of the popular gamification techniques. Narrative – This is the key to successful gamification. Not only that narratives tell stories, but they also offer real life examples that help learners understand main concepts that games are trying to teach. The art of storytelling is the main challenge that instructional designers face here. Not only that they need to think of a plot relevant to what is being taught, but they also have to incorporate protagonists and antagonists to ensure proper flow of the game. Rules – Just like any other type of activity, games must have rules. Without rules, learners will not know what to do and what to expect. Instructional designers should make sure that all the instructions are clear … [Read more...] about ELearning Gamification Techniques That Work!
5 Suggestions For Designing Motivational ELearning Courses
We all know that motivation plays a very important role in learning. While motivating learners in a regular classroom setting is relatively easy, doing so in an eLearning course, may be challenging. In this post, I want to look at some ways you can motivate your learners. Always use more than one way to present instructions/directions- Remember, your learners will not have an instructor who will be able to provide further explanations. Therefore, when you want learners to do something, you need to be as clear as possible. When it comes to instructions, more is better than less. Be as specific as you can, and don’t forget that all people learn differently. In addition to written instructions, consider offering instructions in the audio format. Try to provide clear examples of what you want your learners to do. Lastly, always use plain language when writing instructions. Your learners should not spend too much time thinking about the assignment. In fact, your instructions should be … [Read more...] about 5 Suggestions For Designing Motivational ELearning Courses
How to Apply Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy to ELearning Courses
Oftentimes, when instructional designers are tasked with designing a course, one of the challenges that they face has to do with the design approach they take. While experienced instructional designers seem to have a better grasp of this, novices often struggle with selecting the right activities and exercises that truly reinforce learning. One of the best (and probably easiest) approaches to figure out the activities for the course is to use Bloom’s Taxonomy. Since Bloom’s taxonomy was created for traditional classroom training, there was a need to reconstruct it to fit modernized approaches to training. Therefore, in 2009, the Taxonomy was repackaged to reflect current needs. In this blog post, I want to take a brief look at the repackaged Taxonomy, and see how instructional designers can apply it to their eLearning and Blended learning courses. The best way to use Bloom’s taxonomy is to use the content of the course to develop measurable learning objectives. Then, categorize … [Read more...] about How to Apply Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy to ELearning Courses