MAKING E-LEARNING BETTER
September 14, 2016
As more and more organizations continue to adopt e-Learning for much of their training, a major new development effort needs to keep pace by marrying the best of instructional design with the power of online learning.
Appropriate content, communicative design, integral multi-sensory media components, and recognition of varying facility IT environments will, eventually, become the winning combination for e-Learning.
This new courseware must be designed for “Learning Excellence.” Consideration must be given to multiple learning styles, learner control, engaging activities, retention practices, comprehensive assessment mechanisms, feedback prompting — and, all of this packaged into short modularized lessons.
These courses should incorporate full motion video, animations, graphics, optional full audio and interactive learner-involvement to augment and intensify the entire learning experience.
In addition, acknowledging the short time limits associated with concentration will allow retention to be enhanced — which is the ultimate purpose of any learning activity:
“. . . The science for reduced attention spans is increasingly solid. A 2015 report by Microsoft Canada, using information from National Center for Biotechnology Information, describes a collapse in attention span from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds, by 2013. This is particularly important when engaging younger employees which, as researchers Dr Carina Schofield and Sue Honoré explored, have lower boredom thresholds and shorter attention spans. . . .
Interactivity is also central, and increases attention spans significantly. . . .
The reasoning behind extensive, and less interesting, training programmes are multi-layered. Partially the issue lies with the customer which has long favoured the long-standing, and laborious, click-and-read style training, despite the increased content required in E-learning programmes. Additionally the cheapness of producing low-stimuli long-form content allows cheaper training packages to be offered to customers, cementing less innovative companies in the market.
This problem is worsened by a tendency for buyers to focus on the scale of the package, particularly when considering value for money, without adequate attention paid to the impact on workplace productivity. . . .” (“The problem with e-learning and attention spans” by Alex Johnston, Procurement Leaders, February, 2016)
All of these attributes can make e-Learning the contributor it is capable of being. We just need to demand of our suppliers and ourselves adherence to making e-Learning worthy of its name.
Stay tuned!
More on Monday – – –
— Bill Walton, co-Founder, ITC Learning
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Mondays & Wednesdays)