Ask the Right Questions Before Designing eLearning

Successful eLearning engages learners; they want to stickwith it, to continue playing, experimenting, strategizing. Successful eLearningis sticky; the learners can use what they’ve learned, whether moments aftercompleting the training or much later. Successful eLearning achieves measurableoutcomes; it has clear learning goals, and managers can measure whetherlearners have achieved those goals. How can you design eLearning that meetsthese benchmarks?

Clear goals and a design that focuses on these goals moveeLearning from forgettable to successful. Keeping the questions presented here—andtheir answers—firmly in mind throughout the design process can help.

Why do you need the training?

Corporate training falls into a few broad categories: informationtransfer, instruction on performing a procedure, and simulations that enablepeople to practice resolving challenges or hone skills. Identify which of thesebest describes your training need. That will help you decide what type oftraining is most appropriate.

For information transfer, something that offers drills andpractice recalling and applying information might be best, or perhaps asearchable database with information—a job aid rather than training.Simulations and some types of serious games work well to help people resolvechallenges, practice some kinds of encounters, and solve problems. A video canbe a great way to teach the steps in a procedure.

What is the desired outcome?

“When you are designing a course, whatever it is, you needto be able to get it to one single sentence: In the end, the learner needs to know____ and be able to ____,” said Jean Marrapodi, Guild Master and chief learningarchitect at Applestar Productions. “Ifyou can’t get to that point, you really haven’t defined the point of the coursewell. And you should state that goal in the course.”

Some highly effective training focuses narrowly; it mighthave a single learning goal or desired outcome. If a course has multiple goals,each should be measurable separately, and they might be best presented in distinctsections or course modules. Decide what you want to measure and how you willmeasure that: Define what success looks like.

“Identify what people need to do, not what they need toknow,” advises Cathy Moore in her eBook, TrainingDesigner’s Guide to Saving the World.

For example, “Everyone should know how to use Adobe Connect”is a vague, unmeasurable goal. “On completing the course, learners will be ableto produce an interactive webinar and stream it to 50 remote users” is moreconcrete.

What are the constraints on our design?

In an ideal world, we’d all have the time and budget tocreate the best eLearning that money could buy. But not many of us live in thatworld; the reality of budgets, schedules, and technical and personnelconstraints intrude on our design planning. When is the training needed? Who isdeveloping it? What is that person’s or team’s knowledge, ability, and availability?What is the budget? What tools are available? What technical parameters (Internetspeed, processing power, mobile or desktop devices) does the training have towork within? Until you can answer these questions, any design planning you domight just be fantasy.

Reining in your thinking with a reality check is importantwhen considering the format of the eLearning as well. Many designers ormanagers are enamored with the latest technologies or trends. They might saythey want a serious game or that the training should use augmented reality—butthese features might not be feasible within the time and budget. Or a gamemight not be the best way to accomplish the learning goal.

Who will take the training?

Is your audience made up of employees who are in one office,or are they scattered among several office locations or out in the field? Dothey work with laptop or desktop computers? Use tablets? Do they even work withcomputers? What computer skills do they have? How much knowledge do they alreadyhave of the training topic?

Learners who typically spend several hours a day using acomputer and those who do not will need training that has a different startingpoint and different base assumptions. You will design training delivered via akiosk at a warehouse differently from training used on smartphones and tablets.

Asynchronous eLearning could be a better choice than afacilitated or instructor-led course for a target audience where learners havevarying levels of preexisting knowledge of the topic. The eLearning shouldprovide basic information but allow more advanced learners to skip ahead.

If employees find eLearning overwhelming, frustrating, orover their heads technically, they won’t engage and the learning won’t stick.

Stay focused

Asking and answering these questions can help a manager, adesign team, or an eLearning consultant stay focused on the learning goal.Remember Marrapodi’s guideline: one sentence. Once your focus is clear, use theinformation gained from answering the other questions to select the best formatand approach to achieving the desired outcome.

References

Moore, Cathy. Training Designer’s Guide to Saving theWorld: 6 Steps to Relevant, Powerful Training. eBook downloaded from: https://blog.cathy-moore.com/save-the-world-from-boring-training/