Engaging Learners: Steps to Implement in an eLearning Program

Companies around the world invest heavily into Learning And Development Programs so that their workforce can get used to new processes. The investment is also visible in the companies that are adopting a new technology to provide modern features to their products and services. 

However, it has been observed that not many companies are able to get the best out of the professionals following a training workshop. This became apparent to some companies after an assessment was conducted at the end of the training program, or after checking the productivity of the employees who had undergone the training session. One of the primary reasons for this is that employees do not remain focused during a training session. 

Reasons why employees do not remain focused during a training session

Some of the reasons why a training courseware fails to appeal to professionals are as follows:
?    There is overuse of text and irrelevant images, without proper explanation of the concepts.
?    There are very few images relevant to the content
?    The content lacks consistency in terms of how ideas are arranged and presented to the readers.
?    The flow of ideas lacks cohesiveness

Measures to motivate employees to remain focused during a training session

 Making use of an e-learning solution is one of the best ways of motivating employees to remain focused during a training session. The reason for this is that e-learning courseware such as corporate e-learning solution encompasses all the required features in the form of relevant content to help the professionals understand different concepts easily. 

However, if your eLearning content lacks the ability to engage learners you can implement the following measures to improve its engagement factor.

Start with an audience analysis

Audience research is one of the first measures required to enhance eLearning participation. Finding a strategy to boost user engagement on a current platform is just as important as finding a method to improve user engagement on a new product. 

Audience analysis assists in comprehending people's motivation, objectives, and behavior, as well as the causes behind dropouts. You may then utilize these findings to determine what tactics to use to retain students in online classes.

Visuals are crucial to the success of any eLearning course

A significant proportion of your eLearning students will be visual learners. According to studies, images help individuals to recall new knowledge more effectively than words, figures, or anything else.

So don't scrimp on graphics, whether you're building an elearning course or a presentation for your firm. Nevertheless, not all images are equal, as some concepts need more images than other concepts and images have to be placed based on the learning style of the learners.

Understanding which images perform best for your eLearning materials is essential for successfully engaging learners.

Maintain simplicity with relevant content 

Remove any unnecessary graphics, photos, and text, restricting them to a handful of elements that are appropriately organized, relevant, of good quality, and placed in an orderly manner. 

You will have to understand that only relevant images related to the text will be useful for the professionals rather than a host of images that are unrelated to the content. 

A decent rule of thumb is to favor white space over distracting and unneeded clutter. And for clear visual organization, utilize headers, bullet points, and short paragraphs so that eLearning learners may immediately identify the text's key elements.

One of the best ways to present relevant content to the learners which may help them to understand different concept seasily is by incorporating microlearning technique. The micro learning technique focuses on dividing a large complex content into small modular content which may be easy to understandand and may not be time consuming.

Select Appropriate Colors And Fonts

The fonts that are used must be neat and uncomplicated, devoid of any distracting aesthetic aspects. 

Arial is the common typeface that the majority of readers prefer. It is a modern, sans-serif font that performs very well for body writing.

Due to its widespread use and familiarity, Arial adapts effortlessly to any style. And science it is so pervasive, you will likely have little problem obtaining it for use in your designs.

Serif fonts can also be an alternative option to make reading easy for learners. 

The main advantage of it is that it doesn’t draw excessive attention to itself. Think about the people you're communicating with, the point you're trying to make, and how you might simplify things.

The same holds true for colors as it does for typography and the less-is-more philosophy about graphics. For instance, the color red is known to inspire enthusiasm whereas the color green is connected with calmness. In the past, red was considered a powerful, manly color, whilst blue was considered a feminine, girl-appropriate hue.

Therefore, make sure your logos, photos, links, text, and beyond are designed with appropriate color in mind based on the content and the message you want to convey. Consider that certain colors increase the response of learners while others may have a relaxing impact. 

Offer adaptable learning pathways

Learners face a variety of factors that might directly impact their motivation. Some learners are able to commit at least a half-hour every day to eLearning course, while others prefer to study on weekends. And there is a sizable group of students whose poor participation is often attributable to a busy schedule that does not align with the course timetable.

How may such learners boost their engagement with eLearning? Self-paced, modular elearning courses are designed for a large population that cannot study consistently. They enable learners to incorporate e-learning into their life with flexibility, adjusting the pace and learning path based on their surroundings.

Nevertheless, even self-paced courses sometimes include milestones such as peer-to-peer collaborations and instructor evaluations. There are tools and methods that enable students to customize their learning flow across planned events, including shared calendars, drag-and-drop itinerary builders, reminders, in-built messengers for peers, and contact with instructors.

Continuously solicit and share feedback.

Learner feedback is one of the finest sources of information for enhancing eLearning learner engagement. Consequently, it is typically a good idea to design an eLearning system that provides learners with communication channels and features that enables them to give direct feedback, raise concerns, and discuss the course. These technologies include online questionnaires, peer discussions, rating and review sites, and even social network linkages.

You are obligated not just to receive feedback but also to offer input to aid in the development of your trainees. It motivates learners to continue learning when they receive positive feedback via an eLearning platform.

Feedback can be provided in a variety of ways, depending on the platform or Learning Management System (LMS). Gamified courses, for instance, make use of reward bars and leaderboards to motivate and reward top trainees.

If you are looking out for an elearning solution that incorporates the above features, you can contact VK Creative Learning (VKCL).