Must-Dos for More Interactive eLearning

The psychology of the human mind lets us know that interactivity is one of the most important aspects of engaging learning. When our brains are actively working during the training and learning process we’re going to be able to not only comprehend but, retain information much more effectively.

eLearning provides really great opportunities for incorporating interactivity into your content and also taking your training from mundane to exciting, interesting, and engaging.

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Lay the Groundwork Early

When you’re training employees or team members with interactivity in mind, you can start engaging them before the training even begins or right at the start of training.

1. Start by asking employees to brainstorm ideas based on topics of training,
2. Ask them to think about times their jobs have been impacted by what’s included in the module, and
3. Give them a clear and defined look at what they’ll be learning and how it impacts them.

You can also get employees “warmed-up” to the interactive eLearning process by including tools for collaboration and social learning within your content so that employees can come together and share on a certain topic before they actually delve into learning.

Encourage Exploration

An important component of eLearning that’s truly interactive gives the learner ample opportunities for exploration.

This can be done simply and easily, particularly using a learning management system like eLeaP, which allows you to quickly add a variety of components into your courses. This can include links where the learner can click to learn more about a topic, or even just the opportunity to move about the coursework at their own pace and in the way the learner prefers.

Pause Placement

One of the easiest way to encourage a learner to become more engaged is by giving them periodic moments to pause and reflect on concepts of how they have or can impact them in their job.

Don’t overdo it with the pauses in your multimedia learning or you’ll have a product that seems strange and unnatural, but pace it with a couple of well-placed pauses in relevant places where you ask your learner a question or have him/her think more about the concepts being introduced. This can be a great way to have your learner internalize the process and improve engagement and retention.

Jump Into Action

This can be a no-brainer…if you want your learner to feel like content is interactive, put them into action.

This works particularly well for something like software or SaaS training where your learner can utilize the program as they’re learning. This can be done in other ways as well.

For example, if you’re doing sales or customer service training, present a case study and have your learner actually go through the process of writing down or typing how he/she would handle a particular situation. You can then have your learner see how it was handled in the case study and then have the learner assess their own actions in comparison to how the case study played out.

Pop Quiz

The ideal format for interactive eLearning is to present information in concise “byte-sized” chunks and to encourage your learner to become even more involved, including a very brief quiz at the end of important sections.

If you let your learner know ahead-of-time that he/she will be asked to complete a quiz at the end of the module, the learner will tend to remain more engaged throughout.

Develop Interactive Scenarios

If you’re including scenarios in your eLearning, you can make them interactive in and of themselves. Present a simple (or complex) situation and have your learner choose from several different options. You can then include audio or a video that gives them an assessment of their choice and feedback on why or why not it may not be the best choice to make.

eLeaP provides you with a full arsenal of tools you can utilize to create these interactive components in your eLearning and make it as effective and meaningful as possible for your employees, giving you a tremendous competitive advantage.