7 tips for Measurable eLearning Objectives
Did you know that eLearning is the most sought after and effective tool for eLearning training employees in the corporate world?
Owing to its flexibility, scalability, and numerous other assets, eLearning is a very powerful skill-development tool that is a must-have in today’s competitive world. It owes part of its success to eLearning Objectives, which need to be systematically defined to make sure the course brings you the very best results.
You can ensure a fantastic user experience (UX) for your eLearners if you know how to apply the right tools to the process of creative eLearning course design. Learning Objectives are the star of this article, so stay tuned for the insights and the how-to’s!
Well-defined and properly measurable Learning Objectives are important in the sense that they communicate the company’s expectations in a clear and overseeable way. They enable both the management and the employees to understand what one expects from the other in regards to the eLearning programme, and that kind of communication is what makes success happen. According to Business Wire, it is estimated that the corporate online teaching market will reach a booming value of $50 billion by 2026 as ever more organisations opt for eLearning as part of their employee development and retention strategies, so knowing how to implement a successful eLearning course is becoming ever more important! Creative course design can’t exist without eLearning Objectives, much like a video can’t exist without a medium to record on.
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Ready to find out more about measurable eLearning Objectives and how they affect the user experience (UX)? Keep reading and we’ll give you the low-down on everything you need to know!
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In order to determine whether your employees are aware of what they need to learn from the eLearning programme, the eLearning Objectives must contain suitable and dependable efficiency judgment standards and effective electronic elearning evaluations. We know that those words are a mouthful, and they’re important topics that can be explained in far more accessible terms if we simply say this:
You need to know WHAT you want your employees to learn, WHY that specific information matters to their role, and HOW you can measure the success rate of their elearning courses.
Developing measurable objectives specific to eLearning is part of our niche, so we’ve collated the essentials for you right here. We know user experience (UX) and creative course design like the back of our hand, and starting off right with eLearning Objectives is a major stepping stone towards ensuring the best UX possible for every Learner within your cohort! Let’s find out how you can create measurable Learning Objectives for your brand.
Measurable eLearning Objectives: the how-to’s
1) Clearly differentiate between objectives and goals
In short, objectives are the actual steps you take towards reaching the outcomes of a elearning process, whereas goals are the long-term ideas that underpin them. Goals are essentially what one expects to see as the outcome of a learning programme. For example:
The Goal is to develop the employees’ knowledge of competition rules.
The eLearning Objective is for the Learner to understand how competition rules apply to athletes at local, national and international events.
It is important to clearly define both terms while charting the eLearning Objectives for corporate training, as they very much go hand in hand. Note that even a slight change in one of the two can change the planning and outlook of a course, throwing off the creative course design process. Stay true to your goals and Objectives and make sure they’re fully fledged before moving on!
2) Clearly define the expected elearning-milestones
It is important to set milestones for the eLearning programme and to add them to the eLearning Objectives in order to keep the employees motivated and inform them where he or she stands in the programme’s performance ranking. Additionally, it is a good idea to chart a step by step diagram or map of your course, so that both you and the eLearner are very clear in their approach.
Another good way is to create deadlines and dates defining the expected completion of a learning milestone. This will remind the employee what targets are to be achieved by the end of the eLearning programme and what skill development will be tested.
3) Keep eLearning Objectives in sync with the assessment methodology
It is important that the Learning Objectives are formulated to follow the previously defined course goals and assessment plans. Otherwise, the method and objectives will not be guiding Learners in the same direction!
Knowing how you intend to assess your eLearners’ progress (e.g. with written assignments, quizzes or group work, scenario-based learning and more) and aligning these assessment methods with your Learning Objectives will help make sure your course is a success. Creative course design ensures the Learners can be assessed in a suitable way, showing you exactly what is going on in their learning process.
4) eLearning Objectives must be as precise as possible
Regardless of how much information your Learners need to work with, the Learning Objectives need to always be precise and clear.
There is no space for ambiguity when you need to ensure that your Learners know what is expected from them! The detail is important, the right wording matters significantly, and putting yourself in your Learners’ shoes to identify any potential ambiguities is a key step in the process. They expect the elearning course to be educational but also engaging, so using creative course design to bring a potentially rather ‘boring’ Objective to life is the perfect blend of creativity and analytics.
5) The elearning objectives must be measurable
The success of the objectives of an eLearning course can only be judged if they are measurable! This process is very important for the evaluation of an employee’s performance in a corporate eLearning course, and ensuring that your elearning Objectives can be measured in a clear and easy way will help your Learners remain motivated as well as show you whether your eLearning course is fully optimised.
Seeing their own progress will boost Learners’ confidence, and making Learners aware of the objectives allows them to monitor their own progress throughout the course.
6) The elearning objectives should be realistic and achievable
The Learning Objectives set for the employees that undertake training must be achievable and realistic. Otherwise, they might end up demotivating the Learners, which is definitely not the way to go! Boosting the confidence of your Learners will do wonders for their performance, and this all starts with making sure that the Objectives can be achieved within the planned timeline of the course.
At TheLearning LAB, we don’t rush into the execution of the eLearning programme. Rather, we spend considerable time in planning. This ensures that the objective we set are realistic and keep the employees motivated throughout the eLearning programme.
Scenario-based Learning by TheLearning LAB: Palo Alto, Geneva, Paris, London.
7) Choose appropriate verbs for writing the objectives
The vocabulary used in the Learning Objectives is vital to effectively communicating the expected requirement to the employees. What does this mean? It means that you should choose the correct verbs to use in the Learning Objectives! These words act as motivators and accelerators. They are the action-based words that positively show your employees the level of performance that is expected.
Also, as discussed earlier, it is always a good idea to avoid any words or terminologies that can create ambiguity or which are difficult to comprehend!
Learning Objectives are crucial for the success of the eLearning programme
Learning Objectives define and determine the entire process of developing your online training programme. Their formulation should, therefore, be a priority that is carried out with thorough consideration and care, and these Objectives should be tailored as per the needs of the organisation, as it is definitely not a one-size-fits-all! They should always be flexible enough to accommodate any amendments if required at any point in future, but clear enough to support your Learners through their eLearning journey. We offer plenty of information on eLearning as a whole, so if you want to know more do not hesitate to have a look at our previous articles on topics including trends, commonly used terms, and the virtually endless benefits of eLearning!
TheLearning LAB understands the significance of Learning Objectives to the success of eLearning programmes. As such, we not only focus on creating an engaging eLearning programme with excellent user experience (UX) and stunning visuals but also spend time on crafting well-defined and measurable Learning Objectives.