#elearning course design

Effective feedback is one of the most powerful tools we have in learning design. Thoughtful, intentional feedback design can transform a digital learning experience from static content into a dynamic, interactive, and supportive journey. However, not all feedback is created equal and misplaced or badly written feedback can have the opposite effect. Why Feedback Matters in Digital…

ELearning is today’s modern way of teaching certain courses without the need to go to actual schools. With the help of the modern technology, knowing certain information will create a more fascinating and interesting way of getting knowledge.

In today’s modern, technological and busy era, eLearning development has been proven valuable to education in the sense that it increases its availability to the gradually hectic schedule of the people in the society. Sad thing is that the lifestyle is slowly lacking the time and materials for people to devote to the traditional learning experiences. This is where the significance of the eLearning comes in the sense that it highlights the quality of its contents to the learners.

There are actually two types of electronic education courses and they have different functions. Information-based contents are mostly driven by regulations and compliance and on the other hand, performance-based eLearning development courses are more focuses on the behaviour changes along with real, measurable improvements.  This is the reason why developers have to understand the importance of thorough understanding of the course type that they are to create. This will basically lead to discern and wisely make the right choices in terms of what they will do and how they can manage and use the available resources.

In fact, these decisions that have been made in the eLearning development course design and creation can greatly impact positively especially if they are used wisely. Designers have to remember here that the main priority is to make sure that the materials for the learning are tailor-fitted to the performance objectives of the company or the organization. To achieve this, developers and designers have to focus on cost, time and performance which if combined, bring value to their target learners, companies and organizations.

Before the developers and designers start working on the eLearning course design, they have to clarify and identify the best possible solutions to the goals and targets of their clients as there may be instances that training will be irrelevant and may not be the best solution to a company’s concern. It can help them save money if they are properly informed and made understand that this specific strategy may not be the best solution and choice for them.

As the progress of developing the eLearning course design is underway, it is very important to take note that these electronic learning courses have to be very engaging, interesting, informative, interactive, motivational and most importantly-relevant.  In terms of the courses being engaging, there are actually a couple of ways for the instructors to engage with their learners through the content. This could either be process of data provision or the learners themselves are using the information that they have attained to make proper and right decisions. These two ways are called active and passive engagement.

In a nutshell, passive engagement provides the learners access to what they need from books, newspapers and even television shows and the active engagement is focused more on decision-based learning which helps the learners’ process and understand what they have learned through instant feedback. It’s the real power of creating the best eLearning course design.

ELearning courses have now become significant and important in today’s modern industry. Being able to comprehend, understand and learn the lessons that are required of them will definitely help them achieve their goals and objectives.

There are a lot of things that you need to learn for an eLearning course design and development to become successful. If you have all the information that you need, all other else will remain nothing but small additions. Here are some of the best ingredients to in creating a useful eLearning course.

In eLearning development, it is always of vital importance to create relevant, creative and meaningful experience to your target learners and audiences. It is as they say, the best way to capture their attention and interests. On the other hand, if your learners do not find your courses interesting and relevant, then your courses is of little or no importance at all.

You may have heard a lot of things about how to create engaging and fascinating eLearning course design along with tons of tips and how do they build interactive learning experiences but if you are really aiming to create engaging courses, then all you have to do is to consider one main factor- that is RELEVANCE. In a nutshell, design something that compels and speaks directly to them.

Studies have shown that through trials, it has been discovered that the best and most effective way to teach the students is to basically focus on the importance of the eLearning development materials because if there too much theory will make them confused-in short, information overload. This can be very boring to them and may cause them to lose their interests in taking it.

Further studies have also identified that creating eLearning course design that is relevant is more successful in motivating a learner because they find it meaningful and interesting. This compels them to complete the course.

So how do you create relevant eLearning course design? Here are the six greatest ingredients that you should know:

•             Create clear course objectives

This is an excellent starting point and also a very important one. If the learners are not sure where they are heading into the course or at least they won’t find a sense of direction on where they’re going from beginning to end, the end result is that they will become uninterested and unresponsive to the course.

•             Be learner-centred

This is simple. Make the courses not only relevant, but at the same time, the courses should be centered towards the learner’s perspective and not the teacher. The first thing for this approach is to make sure you understand how the learning takes place and how the learners will use the material. It should always be flexible without affecting the whole the whole course.

•             The contents should be doable

Ask yourself this question: can your learners apply what they have learned from your courses in real-life and can it be actionable? In other words, make sure that your courses allow the learners to apply the information.

•             Respect the learners and users

In creating a relevant eLearning course design, make the students know and feel that they are important and why is it necessary to take the course and in doing this, always avoid pessimistic or condescending tone and honour them and their achievements.

•             Make the designs simple and appealing

Simple is always best. Doing this can help your students become more interested to finish the course. Take note, the use of too much cramming of information does not work.

•             Motivate

Motivating your learners head on is also the best way to go in creating the design. Try to put some little exercises or perhaps games and they will surely enjoy it.

ELearning is such a wonderful development that happened to today’s modern era. With the help of computers and the internet, education can really be on top.

If there are a number of eLearning students who are reporting their good experiences, there are also those who share their horrible experiences in the sense that they blame the eLearning course design as boring and too lengthy. The result ends up in them avoiding taking the eLearning courses ever again and this is a nightmare for those who are designing these courses.

Now there are some ways for you to design your eLearning development courses to be boring-proof or boredom busting approach that are guaranteed to keep the learners engaged, interested, motivated and most importantly, they will truly learn.

So what are the secrets?

·         Do away with content-centred approach

 Put yourself in the learner’s shoes and you will find out that if there too many contents or that if it’s too lengthy, you will quickly loose interest, and will eventually become bored. Of course contents are very essential to your eLearning courses but you have to make sure that it is also learners-centred. The more you focus on content at the start of your development process, the more likely you are to end up with an extremely structured content outline that reads like a book.

 ·         Create an eLearning course design that reflects the learner’s reality

 Find out what your learners are doing on a typical day. Regardless of their life-functions, they will need the necessary knowledge and skills to solve problems, make decisions and carry out a range of tasks, some repetitive and frequent, others more complex and rare. The bottom line here is that they need a more meaningful, motivational and memorable way of learning.

 ·         Put some engaging activities on the courses

 In a classroom setting and if your students are let’s say kindergarten kids, if you do not have plenty of games and other related activities to your lessons, it is likely that they will be bored in the classroom. This is the same way for your e learning courses. Not that they are kinder pupils but the point here is that it must contain some activities as variation to the typical read and answer stuff in an eLearning development. Again, the emphasis here is that contents are vital but it if is coupled with other engaging activities, they will quickly learn.

 ·         Provide realistic feedback

 This is also an important part of your eLearning course design. Feedbacks should be provided. They should be detailed on the tasks or activities that the learners have taken. It may be instructional or situational or even a combination of the two. In this manner, the learners will be able to correct their mistakes in the future.

ELearning can easily reach success with the right tools. Learn how each are being used to reach your goal.

ELearning development really is essential for a lot of businesses and companies coming different industries these days. High quality eLearning course design really is on demand these days and lots of creators face huge challenges that exceed more public expectations that are looking excellent products. But, they won’t be able to reach this goal without looking on instructional design and courses. Tools to make this possible really are essential.

ELearning development tools can assist people in creating quality online courses that are at the same time visually appealing and the same time offer more relevant and interactive content. There is a wide selection of tools that answers the needs for instructional design, content creation and the delivery of the course itself. All these technologies are great but it all comes down to people who use and combine them. Here are some examples of eLearning course design tools.

Wikispaces

It’s one of the most popular apps made by Wiki. It’s a tool that’s used to create make changes on a series of connected websites. They are used to allow an easy and convenient interaction just for sharing knowledge and eLearning in general form. For so long as they have the rights to the content that they share, any expert can add tips, rationales, opinions and explanations to any organisation’s Wiki page.  This is applicable especially if there’s a new product that’s being released.

DimDim

It’s a tool that’s best when it comes to promotion of learning through video conferences and webinars. It offers certain applications that are hosted through cloud computing. In turn these technologies become more flexible and convenient. Not like others, it doesn’t require for users to download some other files and software to be used for online interactions. It also features collaborative options that would let a person to interact with one another through an online white board. An open source version also allows designers and developers to incorporate certain features into their courses as well as other eLearning development tools.

Flash

It’s one of the most important tools in terms of eLearning course design and creation these days. Lots of developers are using it to create interactive games, making apps and simulations that support the already established standards of modern online education. One major problem though is that certain Apple products like iPhone and iPad usually aren’t compatible with it. A lot of educators are expecting these products to be the best eLearning development tools but the lack of Flash support is some kind of a major concern.

Mindmeister

The traditional learning tool promotes creation of mind maps just like in the classroom setting. It’s an effective way or reinforcing information as well as understanding the interrelations of concepts. With Mindmeister, this type of learning strategy can be used only that it’s being performed online. Students can visualise the concepts and information that’s being presented in the course. These tools can be used in discussions, brainstorming, analysis and problem solving.

Google Docs

It’s a free application from Google which provide the users with document creation and editing features like Microsoft Office. You can work on spreadsheets, presentations, drawing as well as word processes. You can easily share your output to your instructors and classmates through this wonderful and interactive tool.

ELearning can be difficult to create but knowing the right methods on how to create one will make you one step ahead.

ELearning development involves certain stages. Here’s a bird’s eye view of the processes that are usually done in creating an effective eLearning course design. Its intention is to create a guide so that you’d avoid certain mistakes that would usually happen during the development course of creating eLearning materials. However, you should take note that not all steps here might apply depending on the scope of your course.

Knowing the scope of eLearning course

It’s the common starting ground but most companies don’t start here. In fact most of them don’t make documentations regarding the scope of the courses they create which ignores the basic foundations of the scope itself. In creating an eLearning course design, this should be your first step. Make sure that it’s simple and easy to understand. Keep it also open for expansion once you deploy the course. Now the second version of the course or the expanded one will become more technical and will have added functionalities depending on the eLearning development feedback and inputs. Creating a scope will not get you lost once you start expanding which is why this part is high essential.

Defining the need for eLearning course

This is also an important element that would make your eLearning development course become more realistic and clear. Write down its main intention and you have to be upfront on these matters. You can also note some reference points to make your learning course as clear as possible.

Identify the people who will participate in the eLearning course

Of course, you can’t do it all alone. You need people whom you might want to use for added information or references. You can also have a team that would do the research and would make your eLearning course design more attractive and not plain. You don’t need a whole heap of them; you need just about 2 to 3 members. Plus, two heads are better than one. The work will be done fast and you can reach your deadlines quickly as well.  Make sure that these people are worthy of your trust and has a pure knowledge on the things that you’re planning for. Proper communication is a must to reach a certain level of understanding which would make this eLearning course more successful.

Develop and re-develop

This particular step would involve interactions and a lot of talks. It’s quite technical but with the right people on hand and the right background knowledge of your course, it can be done fast. Once you have carefully outlined your eLearning development course, there’s no need to have a hard time going through these matters. Once you have finished developing, look at it once again and if there’s a need to change, do so until you have perfectly created a complete eLearning course design.

Deploy it

Once the product is ready, it’s time to deploy it. Submit it to your clients or to any websites that need such topics. Have it as a subject for review so as to know the areas for improvement. Though it may sound easy but the road to eLearning course development can sometimes be rough. Be sure to talk to experts and learn the right and effective methods.

ELearning development is really needed for a lot of businesses and companies in the different fields or industries especially in today’s modern world. High quality electronic learning courses are now being on demand. A lot of designers and creators face a huge challenge of reaching the expectations of those who are willing to learn and go for excellence. But, they can‘t reach these goals without having eLearning course design and tools.

With the help of eLearning development tools, people can now create high quality online courses that are great in visuals and more importantly, a relevant and interactive content. There are a lot of tools that focuses on this particular area. These tools are great when it comes to instructional designs, content authoring and course delivery. These tools have various technologies on their own but in the end it all boils down to the individual, how he uses and combines them for success. Here are some tools that you should be aware of.

Wikispaces – It’s one of the most popular apps from Wiki. It’s a tool which is used to create, build and modify and connect websites. They are made to allow easy and convenient sharing of knowledge as well as eLearning. As long as a person has access to these contents, they can share their thoughts, researches as well as their explanations or opinions to the wiki page.

DimDim – This is another way to provide eLearning but this time, through video conferences as well as webinars. This app hosts through cloud computing which is more flexible and convenient. Unlike other hosts, it doesn’t require the users to download some other files or software to manipulate video conferences as well as other sharing capabilities. It allows users to interact with each other through online whiteboard. It also has an open-source version which allows designers as well as other developers to add in more features in other courses and development tools.

Flash – it’s one of the most important tools in eLearning development especially in content creation. Lots of developers use these to create interactive games, apps, environments and many more. All these things are done to support the standards of modern education.

Mindmeister – In traditional learning, students are encouraged to create mind maps in a classroom setting because it’s very effective in terms of reinforcing information as well as understanding the concepts that are being learned. With the help of Mindmmeister this type of learning can be used especially in eLearning which helps the students visualize the concepts and the information that are presented in the course. It’s usually used for discussions, brainstorming, analysis and problem solving.

Google Docs – This online app can give students the ability to create documents as well as edit them. It can also provide opportunities for spreadsheet, presentations, drawing and word editing. With these materials, it will be easier to share outputs with the instructors and even classmates.