Instructional Design & Learning Experience Guide
Working without an instructional designer or instructional engineer should not be an option if you want your e-learning project to succeed.
Designing e-learning courses must follow a strict process supported by an experienced e-learning team.
When a Learner sets out on their eLearning journey, they are seeking content which will boost their skillset and be adapted to the level they're currently at. Not too tough, not too easy, but just right. As an organisation, your eLearning development should have a distinct focus on developing the curriculum from a Learner-centered perspective: understanding your employees and their needs.
This is where instructional design and learning experience design come into play!
At TheLearning LAB Geneva, we have been using these techniques to design eLearning courses which are perfectly suited for their target audience, ensuring a fantastic user experience every time. In this article, we will tell you what these two concepts are, and show you how you can use them to increase the success of your digital training program. Curious? Keep reading!
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What is Instructional Design?
Instructional design involves creating learning experiences which allow the user to become familiar with the platform in an interactive, smooth and hassle-free way. It demystifies the user’s experience, helping them become familiar with the interactive modules and the full scope of the capabilities of the course elements in a natural way which is built right into the system itself.
In short, it lays the foundation for any eLearning course which aims to provide an authentic educational experience.
It may include any interactive module, such as interactive games, short videos, popup definitions and so on. The term instructional design also refers to the course outlining strategies, including, e.g. the use of educational psychology methods which help captivate the Learner’s attention to motivate them to complete the course rather than potentially abandoning it midway. The instructional designer is typically the mastermind behind any great eLearning course, as they combine all their educational, communicational, technological and psychological knowledge into one single package primed for Learner success!
What is Learning Experience Design (LXD)?
Although many people tend to bunch instructional design and learning experience design together, they’ve got a few key differences that set them worlds apart. While both of them revolve around crafting a curriculum for education, they have a different audience.
As the name suggests, learning experience design focuses more on the Learner, whereas instructional design can be a little more trainer-centric at its core. Many trainers prefer learning design because it converts user experience design into learner design - effectively shifting the spotlight over to the Learner in a quick-and-easy way.
At TheLearning LAB Geneva we specialise in creating both types of eLearning modules; whether you love LXD or are inclined towards instructional design, always keep in mind that whichever agency you select to help you develop your eLearning programme, they should have both the broad overview of the industry and the in-depth expertise to make your eLearning program a success.
Learning Experience Design uses a vast variety of tools to make a course as intuitive as possible. This means that instead of simply crafting a course curriculum, experts can now take on the role of an educational architect, juggling everything from retention to knowledge and instructiveness. All of this is integrated into a seamless experience to produce one of a kind of digital training material.
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Why are Instructional Design and Learning Experience Design so important?
The question that often arises is: why are they so very important? What role do LXD and instructional design play in producing an eLearning course? We already mentioned that they boost retention and augment the instructional value of an eLearning program, making it more engaging, more user-friendly, and more fun for the Learner. But why is this so vital?
The answer is pretty straightforward; our environment is littered with distractions, both big and small, and keeping Learners on track requires thorough planning. Every social media platform, every snippet of news, every ad and every email or message received is vying for your Learner's attention at the same time, meaning there is a significant chance that distractions will interrupt the learning process.
In addition, there is a very specific set of circumstances unfolding at the moment, with remote learning on the up as offices encourage work-from-home. Many more professionals are now turning to the internet for their professional growth in addition to everything else they do online during their workday. Most of these people were accustomed to the scheduled, in-person learning that takes place during face-to-face sessions, during which interrupting your learning to reply to an email or be distracted by a trending story is far less acceptable or likely - as the rest of the Learners are sitting right there and won't pause. Distractions are more prevalent than ever, and the response within the eLearning industry is to produce the very best, most intuitive and most Learner-centric designs ever; because in this industry when a challenge surfaces, innovation flourishes!
Your Learners, our priority
Self-paced learning takes perseverance and dedication, which can be boosted through the use of the latest in engaging, interactive content design methods and tools. For Learners, transitioning to self-paced eLearning and away from their previous comfort zone of scheduled courses means that the design of the course plays an absolutely vital role - and the use of instructional design and learner experience design makes this as easy as possible for every Learner involved.
Instructional and learning experience design are some of the key factors in building your eLearning program for genuine success, and applying them to their full potential is best done by an agency which knows the ins and outs of eLearning. And that’s where we come in! We’ve got the expertise and experts needed to provide a 360° service, from the very first concept or idea through to the successful digital training launch - and any optional maintenance beyond that point!
TheLearning LAB is our Geneva-based eLearning agency with more than 15 years of experience in the industry, through every innovation and change the industry has seen. We’ve got the benefit of a clear view of the past, an in-depth understanding of the present, and an educated sense of what will come up in the industry in the future!