1. Aesthetics matter – Use a variety of
multimedia elements to ensure your e-learning is appealing and interactive. A great design, combined with easy navigability, fonts that are visually pleasing and videos that are engaging and attractive will make your e-learning course attention grabbing and unique, but more importantly, will help learners connect with the subject and benefit from the educational experience.
2. Keep it relevant - Offering high quality relevant content will help keep learners fully engaged and motivated to learn. On the other hand, including general and non-specific information will make the learner question the value of the e-learning course.
So, stay on-topic and always ensure that the information will help them to improve their knowledge base and learn or improve upon a desired skill set.
3. Consistency - Users recognise shapes and patterns throughout an e-learning module. It is therefore in your interests to use a consistent approach to layout. For example, if you always only use bold for an instruction, then the user will automatically take note that an action is required when they see text in bold, and may become confused if this style element is used for a different purpose elsewhere.
4. Exploration essential - It's essential that learners are given the opportunity to explore the e-learning course if you want it to be fully interactive. Including links to learn more about the topic, creating sections that they need to interact with, using visuals that make the topic more eye-catching, and encouraging them to explore the module by hyper-linking to other pages that may be of interest will help and keep them engaged.
5. Interaction - Interaction is a valuable means of keeping users interested and motivated to learn. Not to mention that learners won't reap the many rewards your e-learning course has to offer, given that they are less likely to actually acquire and retain the information you're providing. This leads us to the next key point…
6. Reality-based scenarios - Integrating real life examples and problems into your e-learning course will show how the knowledge acquired can be applied outside of the learning environment. Making these scenarios interactive by including video, images, and audio, enables you to create an immersive and effective learning environment that motivates and engages the learners.
7. Variety - Users learn in many different ways, so it can be useful to mix up media throughout the e-learning, however remember to provide a consistent flow across the module as a whole. Use different types of interactions, scenarios, case studies and games to help keep users engaged.
8. Knowledge checks - Including interactive quizzes and tests at the conclusion of each module not only allows facilitators and creators to assess the effectiveness of the e-learning course, but also offer learners the opportunity to gauge their progress and summarize the content they have learned while boosting their confidence.
9. Peer review - Always obtain a peer review prior to distribution, as a colleague may see an error or discrepancy that you have missed. It is particularly useful to select a peer who has no previous knowledge of the content, as this will also highlight whether the course makes sense.
10. Encourage collaboration - Start group discussions on online forums, encourage them to solve problems collectively via group chats online, and integrate social media sites into your e-learning strategy. Group collaboration enables you to include the human element in your e-learning courses as this gives learners the opportunity to benefit from other’s experiences.
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