What a year 2020 has been, especially for those of us involved in L&D, and more specifically with eLearning! The rise in work from home (WFH) prompted employers to focus more on remote training and development. From onboarding and induction training to ongoing certification and compliance, training teams across all industries have scrambled to adapt to the challenge of delivering content via eLearning. 7 eLearning Trends And Predictions For 2021 As the global training industry evolves to blend into the new reality of distance learning, what’s in store for us in 2021? Well, based on what we’ve already seen in 2020, here are some eLearning trends that we are likely to encounter in 2021: 1. More Emphasis On Train-The-Trainer Programs Corporate workforce capability-building is the cornerstone for global competitiveness. According to renowned management consulting firm McKinsey, as the global pandemic hit, nearly 50% of corporate in-person training in North America came to a halt. … [Read more...] about 7 Interesting And Promising Trends To Watch In 2021
Instructional Design and ELearning
5 Tips on Editing Text for Instructional Design
There's a good chance that text is the bulk of your online learning content. Since the text is the biggest player in most eLearning courses, it’s essential to present it in the best way possible to optimize the instructional design. Here are 5 Tips to edit and present textual content for your online courses! 1. Line Length The optimal line length should be around 60 characters for the best reading experience. Too short, and the reader must constantly scan back and forth quickly, which can be quite frustrating and cause eye strain in bigger chunks of content. Too long, and you risk losing the reader's focus as they try to digest a lengthy string of text. Of course, you don't have to do a character count on each line, but be aware of this guideline to get a feel for what 60 characters of text actually look like when you preview your content. You can play with margins, text boxes, and design elements to shorten/lengthen this. 2. Paragraphs Justified blocks of … [Read more...] about 5 Tips on Editing Text for Instructional Design
5 Quick Tips – How To Pair Text With Images To Create A Great User Experience In eLearning
How you pair textual content with graphical content in course design is important. If you get it right, it will help the learner have a great experience with the course. If you get it wrong, it will leave them confused and frustrated. Here are a few quick tips on how to marry the two correctly. #1 Focus on context Your visual content always needs to be relevant to the subject. More specifically, any graphics you include should be directly related to the topic currently on the screen. In adding images, ask whether they'll help the learner digest the information. If they are being added simply because they're pretty or used as a filler - remove them. #2 Optimize placement Images should be placed as close to the relevant text as possible. This helps the learner comprehend the content much easier. Additionally, if your screen has multiple graphic elements, consider placing the most important ones near the top of the page. #3 Don't embed text in images Avoid embedding important text in … [Read more...] about 5 Quick Tips – How To Pair Text With Images To Create A Great User Experience In eLearning
The Do’s and Don’ts of Filming Videos for your Online Courses
You likely have the technology you need to shoot great videos for your online course in your pocket right now. We all know that video is key when it comes to engaging and sticky content for eLearning. But, how do you actually capture the video using your phone so it looks professional? I've seen some really bad and some really fantastic DIY attempts at this! Let's look at several tips (along with a few gear recommendations) that will help you land on the side of fantastic. Framing If you're speaking into the camera (lecture style), frame your shot appropriately. In most circumstances, you'll want to shoot the video in landscape (horizontal). Viewers associate this with a more "professional" and polished format. Use the forward-facing camera lens (not the selfie one). This will shoot in better quality. Leave headspace at the top of your frame. Ideally, your eyes should fall within the top third of the frame. It's the most natural and … [Read more...] about The Do’s and Don’ts of Filming Videos for your Online Courses
4 Quick Tips – How To Incorporate Social Learning In eLearning
While we may have not put a name to it growing up, we began social learning at the earliest of ages by mimicking adults, playing on a team, and learning from our parents and family. Social Learning is simply learning with and from others. If you’re having trouble figuring out effective ways to incorporate social learning into your eLearning curriculum, think about the techniques, interactions, and behaviors that would be observed in a live classroom and emulate those. Here are four ways that you can initiate or ramp up social learning immediately! #1 Gamification Try incorporating games among peers to promote social learning. Humans, by nature, love to compete! This reinforces rewards for positive behavior and can really hook your learners into engaging with both the content and other “players”. Build these elements directly into your course content, and create leaderboards with daily/weekly rewards for the … [Read more...] about 4 Quick Tips – How To Incorporate Social Learning In eLearning
Examples of Highly Effective Use of eLearning Scenario-based Training
Scenario-Based Learning (SBL) is a powerful eLearning strategy that many L&D teams use to create highly engaging and effective learning content. Not only does SBL enable exploring of common work-related situations, but scenarios can also prepare learners for unexpected, rare circumstances that are highly unlikely to occur, yet devastating to the organizations if they do transpire. Best of all, eLearning scenarios are a low-cost, low-risk approach to equip learners with skills required to deal with real-life problems, through an interactive, immersive and safe environment. eLearning Scenario Use Cases So, what are some specific examples where scenarios might be a great way to deliver eLearning course objectives? Well, here are some use cases of the successful application of SBL: Skills development One of the most prolific uses of eLearning scenarios is in the development of new skills, or upgrading of existing ones. A great example of the application of SBL is in the … [Read more...] about Examples of Highly Effective Use of eLearning Scenario-based Training