13 Tips Improve Engagement In eLearning Course
Learning online through eLearning courses has shown to be more effective than learning in a traditional classroom setting. But engagement in online learners is still an issue that needs to be addressed by Instructional designers and elearning designers, teachers, and other staff members who work with online learners daily.
If you are an eLearning content developer, it is your responsibility to ensure that your eLearning courses are engaging and cater to the needs of each learner.
Here are 13 tips on how to improve engagement for online learners in your eLearning course today. Most of these tips are best practices that apply regardless of what type you are developing.
Visuals Are Important in your elearning course
A significant chunk of your online learners will be visual learners. Studies suggest that visuals help people retain new information better than anything else—words, numbers, or anything else.
So whether you are creating an online course or designing a presentation for your organization, don't skimp on visuals. That said, not all visuals are created equal. Some require more investment than others, and some are better suited to different learning styles.
Knowing which visuals work best for your eLearning content is key to effectively engaging with your learners.
Get rid of excess images, text, and graphics
Removing excess images, text, and graphics in your eLearning course is just one way to improve engagement for online learners.
With less to digest and work through, your learners can get where they need to be much more quickly, which will help them feel like they're getting their money's worth from an LMS or eLeaning Platform.
Focus on clean and strong:
Images with interaction
Interactive videos or video quizzes
Online activities
Gamification
SCORM
Interactions
Strongly branded content
Also, simplifying your eLearning course design can help reduce a sense of overwhelm in a learner.
“Instead of seeing too many options or links in your learning materials at once, they’ll be able to process better what content is available so that they can become engaged more quickly.”
Opt for the right fonts and colors in your online learning course
Much research has gone into understanding why certain colors are perceived to have different meanings and associations.
When choosing your colors, think about what you're trying to convey to learners.
Research shows that red conveys passion, for example.
So if you want to sell something, you might choose a red colour theme for your online course, whereas if you want people to focus on one thing in particular, such as an important message or email sign-off, a calm blue would be a better choice.
Darker colours tend to make us feel more alert and awake, while lighter colours tend to feel more restful—again, depending on what mood you want to evoke with your design choices.
An eLearning brand is:
Colours
Fonts
Texts
Images
Animations
Sounds
Graphs
Ensure your eLearning course is structured correctly
Make sure you engage your online learners' by using headings, bullets, and lists. Be consistent in using them so that readers will come to expect them in every section of your content. Consistency also helps you create a more visually appealing elearning course that is easy for learners to navigate.
By giving learners visual cues about where they are within an elearning course, you can encourage them to stay engaged with each section and keep moving forward until they have completed all activities.
Use graphs and charts to break down complex data
Graphs and charts are one of your greatest allies in supporting complex information for eLearning course design.
For example, with a graph, you can show how two or more variables change together over time, and with a chart, you can display data (like survey results) in an organized way.
These visual tools help eLearners see at-a-glance information that might otherwise be overwhelming or difficult to absorb. But using them effectively does take some forethought and effort; make sure you don't clutter up your course by adding too many visuals that aren't necessary.
All graphics should have a purpose which is to support your eLearning objective.
Graph
Go for high-quality and relevant images for your online learning courses
Nothing can hurt a learner's engagement and overall learning experience more than a boring, low-quality image.
On top of that, it can often be difficult to know where to find high-quality images that are also relevant to your learners. There are so many free image sites; you simply have to attribute and do not need further permission from a copyright holder.
If you find creative commons images aren't doing it for you or aren't relevant, make sure you read up on fair use before using any content for commercial purposes.
You will want to ensure your images fall under fair use guidelines before using them in your course; if not, it may result in legal action against you or your business.
Use Pause Points in your eLearning course design
Stop and allow your learners to absorb what you've just said or shown them.
This might mean asking them questions or giving them an exercise to complete. Asking them to stop and think for themselves is an important part of engagement because it takes people out of autopilot mode.
Adding pause points into your eLearning course can help students find your courses interesting.
Ask Questions to your online learners
One of the best ways to get students to engage with your online course is to ask questions.
The trick here is that you're not looking for simple recall; instead, you want your learners' critical thinking, analysis, and synthesis.
Ask a question that encourages them to dig into their memories and knowledge—synthesize what they already know to reach an answer.
If learners don't feel comfortable reaching for new information or making predictions based on what they know, they will tune out quickly or zone out completely.
Ultimately, it's about giving learners something worth paying attention to, then asking them thought-provoking questions that make them dig in instead of shut down.
Focus on One Learning Goal
As you are developing an eLearning strategy for your learners, remember that it is best to have one primary learning goal.
Having too many goals can cause learners to become overwhelmed, and since they only have so much cognitive capacity, there is a limit to how much information they can take in at once.
So if you have multiple goals, try sequencing them so your learner focuses on only one of those at a time and then gradually works their way up to address all of them.
Offer Rewards for Additional Efforts to learners
People do a lot to earn rewards. You can leverage that desire by offering them incentives to put forth extra effort while completing your eLearning course.
The ultimate goal of doing so is to increase overall engagement and improve retention by making learners feel like they have something at stake as they progress through your course.
Offering rewards for additional effort makes users more likely to engage with course material, interact with other students and share their thoughts about what they are learning, all of which help reinforce what you teaching in your class.
Give Clear Directions To Online Learners
Providing clear directions for your eLearning course and including visuals in addition to text can help learners stay engaged.
We all know that text is much easier to consume than a bunch of graphics, so keep them as simple as possible but still provide visuals to go along with texts.
Bullet points are a great way to break paragraphs into chunks and keep readers' eyes from wandering. This can also help improve learning outcomes by keeping learners focused on the information.
Along with incorporating bullet points in your eLearning content development process, organize other aspects of your course – such as images and videos – according to key topics or concepts throughout your content.
This helps present information methodically and logically, which can benefit learners who may otherwise skip around aimlessly through information they find on their own.
Have fun while creating your eLearning course
One way to combat disengagement in an online course is to ensure your content is fun and engaging.
Of course, fun is not everything when it comes to learning, there are serious moments in many courses that must be addressed, but some level of fun can help learners pay attention, stay motivated, and learn more thoroughly.
It does not have to be a flash game or a song about being yourself; any short activity (under 10 minutes) that makes you laugh or think will do.
Just be sure not to include too much humor early on; if things do not go well for a learner, they could easily quit out of boredom before seeing how effective your course truly is.
Get Their Feedback
One of your most valuable resources as an instructional designer is your target audience. They can provide you with honest, unfiltered feedback on their perception of how well their needs are being met.
Get multiple people to test out your materials, and then listen carefully to what they have to say. Pay attention not only to their feedback but also when they stop participating in a particular activity or sub-section.
If one type of learner does that more often than another, there is probably a good reason for it – but only if you figure out why you can correct any issues that arise from catering your content development or course design around different types of learners.
Elearning Engagement
If you want to improve engagement for your online learners, start by considering the key components of elearning course design and eLearning content development.
From there, consider these 10 tips for creating engaging online learning experiences.
Remember that effective learning is more than just keeping learners awake and engaged; it is also about ensuring they are actively involved in their learning process.
You can ensure greater learner engagement by implementing an active approach to both course design and content development.
“Get in touch with our eLearning content development experts, if you want us to create engaging and high-quality eLearning courses for you.”