Five steps to interactive e-learning

Creating interactive e-learning

When your company develops an e-learning course, you naturally do so with the goal that your employees will learn something from it. And not just that: you want to engage them with the course material and design the e-learning in such a way that learners can immediately benefit from it in their daily work.

Unfortunately, in practice, it often turns out that e-learning courses are not completed or are perceived as incredibly boring. This is, of course, a great shame – and unnecessary.

In our blog series on e-learning, we have often discussed how you can ensure that learners actually complete an e-learning course in a way that adds value for both the learner and the company they work for.

In this blog, we will delve deeper into the element of ‘interaction’. When course material is presented one-sidedly, it is quickly perceived as boring.

After all, as a learner, you only have to read and perhaps answer a question here and there. You are therefore not truly involved in what you are learning. When a learner is fully engaged in what they are learning, it creates greater intrinsic motivation and leads to much better and longer-lasting learning results.

Because the e-learning already demonstrates how to actually apply the knowledge in their work, the transition is smaller, and the learner already knows how to immediately apply what they have learned in their daily work practice. The learner can therefore get started right away.

How do you make e-learning interactive?

1.       Design the e-learning to be short and punchy

As an expert in a particular field, we are sometimes inclined to pack our courses full of all the information we possess on a subject.

However, there is a risk that if a learner is not yet familiar with your field or area of expertise, they will find the amount of information overwhelming.

And what do many people do when they feel overwhelmed? They stop learning.

It becomes too difficult to break the material down into manageable pieces and to see the value for their own work.

Therefore, avoid filling the e-learning with too much general information and keep it specific and applicable.

Ensure that all the knowledge presented contributes to a specific learning objective, the learner's specific knowledge, or the development of a specific skill.

Do not just think from your own perspective: what do I think is important for the learner to learn? Think from the learner's perspective: what knowledge adds value to the learner's daily (or future) work practice?

2.       Integrate an attractive design

Design your e-learning so that the learner's interest is piqued as soon as they open the module for the first time.

Colors, a simple and effective presentation of the course material, GIFs, videos, and, for example, a chat function all contribute to this experience.

Basic information is presented to the learner in a concise and punchy way, while immediately giving them the feeling that there is much more interesting material 'hidden' within the e-learning, and that they are only a few clicks away from a wealth of relevant information.

Naturally, you hope that the learner's interest has been piqued to the point where they can't wait to explore all the material in the e-learning!

User-friendliness is essential here: design the e-learning so that the learner (regardless of their computer skills) can easily navigate the course and find exactly what they are looking for.

3.       Interaction with fellow students

Social interaction is also an effective way to increase learner engagement with e-learning.

For example, you could consider discussing course material in an online chat, posting interesting links or videos in (Facebook) communities, or sharing ideas on Pinterest.

Setting up a Facebook group or another form of online community is an ideal way to foster connection within the study group.

Encourage learners from the very beginning to share ideas, provide feedback on each other's contributions, share new insights, and post valuable information.

Want to learn more about e-learning? Download our free e-book, 'E-learning Essentials'.

4.       Gamification and real-life learning situations

Beyond sharing what they've learned with peers, beating them is a fun and effective way to create engagement while tapping into the competitive drive we all possess as humans.

Gamification is the effective use of game elements to enrich the learning experience and make it more engaging. For example, you could add a quiz designed as a competition, with scores shared on social media channels.

In addition, real-life learning situations are an effective way to apply gamification.

Gamification can serve as the bridge between learning and applying that knowledge.

For instance, if a learner is taking an e-learning course on customer service, you can use gamification to test what they have picked up during the course.

You can design a realistic scenario (for example, if the learner works at a bank, you could create a customer who asks common banking questions) and then test how the learner reacts to specific situations.

• What skills does the learner apply when, for example, a conflict arises?
• Do they demonstrate that they have learned something from the e-learning?

The goal, of course, is for the learner to recognize this scenario in their daily work and be able to fall back on what they learned in the e-learning.

5.       Interactive knowledge assessment

Assessing knowledge is also an excellent opportunity in e-learning to stimulate interaction with the subject matter.

Standard 'exams' can be replaced by, for example:

• interactive quizzes
• simulations of real-life scenarios
• group projects
• blogging about what has been learned
• or assessing the learner's knowledge based on their contributions to a discussion forum.

In short, to make e-learning interactive, it is important to present course material in a concise, punchy way using an attractive design that invites the learner to explore the module further.

Furthermore, interacting with fellow students contributes to engagement with the material.

Applying gamification and presenting real-life learning situations are also highly effective ways to encourage learners to interact with the course material. Additionally, e-learning offers many ways to assess knowledge interactively.

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