6 Tips For More Effective E-learning

E-learning is becoming increasingly popular nowadays as an alternative to classroom learning. E- learning helps learners to learn at their own pace and in their own time. E-learning software needs to be designed keeping in mind the specific requirements of the organization, and the goals they hope to achieve with the e-learning module. However there are a few general rules that need to be followed in order to build effective e-learning software.

1. Know your audience

It is essential to know exactly who your audience is, their skill levels, their designations, their aims, and so on. Talk to a subject matter expert so that the content is perfect, and helps the trainees to actually learn without ambiguity. Empathize with the students, and tailor the content as per their capacity, and patience in addition to skills and needs – and make sure that it is enjoyable, and fun – nothing drives away learners more than boring courseware. You can talk to either the person in charge of the training in the organization or ask for suggestions from the actual learners via a discussion forum. There are likely to be a number of learning styles among the learners in a particular audience – you need to include various elements so that the course appeals to everyone.

2. Create Scenarios

Creating real-life scenarios helps learners visualize and understand better, and gather the requisite skill sets they will need when they work. This will make the e-learning experience more engaging, and effective, as the learners can directly benefit from the scenarios. It can motivate learners and help them learn quickly. However, care must be taken to avoid creating overly complicated or confusing scenarios, as this could have the opposite effect.

3. Make it visually appealing

In addition to ensuring that it has the necessary modules and functions as per the organization’s request, you also need to make it look attractive. Pay attention to the aesthetics as well as the navigation; UI/UX is important even for an online learning tool. How the content is presented, is critical. You don’t want huge text blocks. Keep the design uncluttered and present the content in short, digestible blocks. Talk to the designer about this, and decide how you will portray footnotes, additional explanations of some points in the main copy, and so on. This makes it easier for the student to follow. Also see if any text can be presented interactively, and write the content in such a way that you can leverage modern technologies like vector and bitmap graphics, rich interactivity and more.

4. Make documentation available to everyone

This is very important – and often overlooked by learning management system providers. You need to make sure that course documentation and handouts are ready and distributed to the learners throughout the course duration. It goes without saying that the course syllabus must be included right at the outset as a guide that will help them prepare for lessons and stay on track. This is also helpful for trainers.

5. Think Differently

It is very likely that you will face frustrating or complex situations which may seem hopeless – for which you are not able to provide the right solution. It could be any of these: presenting a complex and difficult subject or topic, illustrating a point, need to present material in a manner for which your eLearning solution is not equipped, or anything else. It’s important to not give up at this stage. Hold a brainstorming session with your team, abandon the beaten path and think out of the box. You may still not find a 100% perfect solution – but thinking creatively can help you come up with a good fit still. This will help in making your LMS software more engaging and effective for the learners.

6. Be Flexible

It may not be necessary in every circumstance to compel learners to complete the entire course without skipping anything, or to score above a certain percentage. If your primary learners are employees of an organization, it may be sufficient that they learn enough to gain the skills they need to increase their productivity or be able to provide better customer service. Avoid overwhelming employees, and allow them to pick up a few skills instead, that will help them be better employees.

If you need an effective, scalable, reliable and affordable e-learning system for your organization, IPIX LMS is the ideal one. Contact us for more details.