In today’s fast-paced world, with continuously streaming media content and 10 second video clips popping up everywhere, it’s more important than ever to be able to grab a potential learner’s attention. And once you have it, you’ll face the even greater challenge of holding their interest throughout the duration of an e-learning course, ensuring they are grasping the content you’ve created and able to successfully implement the information into their future workplace functions.

With what seems like an infinite amount of content at our fingertips—via smartphones, iPads, laptops, televisions—corporate training departments and e-learning teams across the globe have the unique task of finding ways to separate themselves from other content providers. It’s no secret that an employee who is well-educated and empowered in their role is more likely to prosper and rise up within the ranks of their given field.

Using engaging training materials such as e-learning courses is an excellent method and surefire way to guarantee your learners are confident, accountable, and focused on their daily responsibilities. There are endless ways to approach e-learning creation, but using specific tactics will secure your chances of standing out.

Consider Gamification

The word “gamification” is often thrown around in the learning and development world these days, but this teaching technique—which replaces the training manual and listlessness of a long day of training sessions—does offer its users great potential for learning. And you will find gamified e-learning courses typically solicit different user experiences in the most positive of ways. So much so that 89% of employees would feel more engaged in the workplace if there were gamified activities. If you gamify the entire training process with interactive activities that allow participants to win awards and be acknowledged, the user discussions that follow can lead to even better understanding and growth for everyone.

There are several different ways to create courses that give your learners the opportunity to compete with themselves or the course creator. When those competitive juices start flowing, learners become instantly engaged and focused on the task at hand. And this definitely leads to a higher level of learner retention overall.

Of course, not all e-learning courses created with game concepts are executed well. Some courses are designed to be extremely sophisticated and include numerous interactions, videos, 3D graphics, etc., while others are developed to be more simplistic in the form of gamified knowledge checks. Everyone’s budget for creating gamified style courses will vary, and those budgets tend to drive the complexity of the course itself. But no matter the size of the budget, any course incorporating some use of game elements will surely stand out and provide a fun and unique way for your learners to experience their training.

Go Beyond The Facts; Get Creative

Objectively communicating your key learning points in any e-learning course is a top priority, but ensuring a good experience for your learner is equally paramount. Captivating your audience with well thought out creative designs, videos, games, and graphics will help you hold their attention for much longer periods of time. Don’t be afraid to let creativity take over in some of your course design elements and change the flow of your course creations. Unique designs will make your content and these courses more impactful and keep your learners excited to see what comes next.

Keep It Short and Simple

After you feel confident that you have created an engaging, memorable learning experience, make sure you fully embrace it and clearly articulate your key learning points. However, don’t get carried away in your delivery. Studying a corporate compliance document and regurgitating that information into an e-learning course can be tricky. You want to make certain you hit on all the key points, but do your best not to get overly wordy. It’s better to lay out the content in front of you and work backward by condensing your key learning takeaways.

Keep it to the point. Less is more, in this instance. Let them ask questions and then be prepared to elaborate.

Gather Feedback To Improve Motivation

Let employees have some level of control, provide meaningful feedback, encourage collaboration, and incorporate some social elements when relevant. Empowered employees who know their voices are being heard will continue to devote their full attention to the e-learning courses your training team is developing.
Soliciting the feedback of your most engaged learners will help you define the areas where your course creation may be lacking. Certainly, not all feedback will be implemented, but it doesn’t hurt you or your future course creations to have that type of information handy.
 
Don’t be afraid to be bold with your training content. Find ways to make your course creation unique and memorable. There are so many layers within an e-learning course where you can take liberties and be creative, utilizing things like gamification, videos, audio, graphics, etc. Challenge your learners while keeping them excited for what comes next. And lastly, solicit feedback throughout the year to improve your course outputs while constantly striving to maintain better learning retention for all.
If you’d like to discuss your e-learning strategy with a member of our team and create more engaging learning content, please contact us today.