Content Attributes
Are you planning to design a new eLearning course to ensure you create the best onboarding programs for your new hires? But do you know what it looks like? Here are some characteristics that we have observed in every successful eLearning course.
Has an Objective
Your course should have a clear objective. People would be more driven to complete your course if they know what they’ll get out of it. It also offers you a clear concept of how to instruct online learners to achieve that aim.
Every course has a certain purpose. Some are intended for basic understanding, while others provide in-depth information on a specific subject. Whatever your reason for creating this course was, make sure you stated it clearly to your audience and that your course is gradually bringing your audience closer to your objective.
Engaging Graphics
Nobody wants to gaze at simple, dull things, whether they are children or adults. Graphics are fantastic and help to make your course more enjoyable. But don’t go too far with it. Too many visual elements might cause distraction. A good eLearning course designer would also know which visuals to utilize for the type of audience it is catering to.
Clear Branding
A good eLearning course should be able to communicate the brand elements effectively. These courses are a great platform to show what your brand stands for. It will add recall value to your name. The next time when someone sees your branding, it should immediately convey that this course is going to be worth their time.
Focused Content
Relevance of the course content is extremely important. It makes no sense if your course content teaches branding and marketing to a customer care team. The content that you provide should be highly focused on the intended audience. It shouldn’t provide them with anything less or more than what is required for the objective to be achieved. Learning something that is irrelevant to them can soon reduce their motivation to complete the course.
Well Organised and Bite-sized Content
One of the biggest advantages of using an LMS or any other method of providing eLearning is that you can gather all the course material in one place. But giving your learners too much material at once can be very overwhelming.
A successful eLearning course should be able to divide information into bite-sized segments and guide learners seamlessly through the whole course. The duration of course modules should be kept short. It would be difficult for anyone to sit through a one-hour-long lecture. Divide it into steps and make it easy for them to digest.
Frequent Assessments
Having but-sized content makes a long lecture easily understandable, but what about its retention? Adding quizzes, tests, etc. after every topic is a technique many great eLearning course instructors follow. It helps in better retention of concepts and also gives them a confirmation that they are grasping some important concepts from this course.
High-quality Videos
Videos are the most preferred format in eLearning courses. If your course is using video content too, it should be your top priority to make all videos of high quality. With everyone viewing so much OTT these days, anything that isn’t HD or excessively pixelated will discourage your online learners.
Use Multiple Mediums
Redundancy is boring. This is why many successful eLearning courses use a variety of mediums. They will use videos, images, infographics, animation, podcasts, articles, blogs, and much more. The trick here is to pick the correct media outlet. It will be really tough to grasp if you use a podcast to explain certain statistical information. A video or an infographic would be a good idea for that. So be careful while choosing the media.
Facilitates interaction
Face-to-face interaction with other people is one element that virtual learning can’t fully replicate. Interaction is a necessary component of an eLearning course. Most Learning Management Systems have features for interaction. It helps to keep the online learners engaged and motivated. A discussion forum or any other community features should be available in your course to publish and discuss tasks.
Conclusion
There is no blueprint to a perfect eLearning course. As a course designer, you have to try different things, see what works and what doesn’t, and then make changes accordingly. The characteristics listed above are just some of the characteristics that we have observed in all successful eLearning courses.