Nothing makes your busy employees switch off quicker than being faced with training that’s irrelevant. Want to stop them just clicking through and start getting them engaged? Make passive learning experiences a thing of the past by harnessing the power of scenario-based learning. Let’s dive into why it works and how you can use it to deliver long term impact.

What is scenario-based training?

Scenario-based learning brings training to life by placing learners in realistic situations and enabling them to put their knowledge and skills into action. Whether they’re building soft skills or mastering product training, learners can make decisions and see how their choices play out in a risk-free simulated environment. 

It’s hands-on, people-centered, active learning that boosts competence and confidence. Leaving your learners ready to take on their work in the real world. 

In essence, it’s learning by doing and it can be incredibly effective.

Why scenario-based training works

Scenario learning is proven to improve skills and increase confidence. But how does it achieve this? 

Here are its 4 key benefits:

• It gives context: 38% of learners say they’re more engaged when training reflects their reality. Realistic training scenarios make learning easier to apply on the job.
• It keeps things practical: Whether you’re sharpening decision-making skills or driving behavior change, practice creates progress. Learners take action, get feedback and see the impact of their choices, so they can improve.
• It increases engagement: Humans love stories. Compelling digital storytelling immerses your learners and keeps them engaged. They’ll be eager to explore what happens next and see how their decisions affect the outcome.
• It’s a safe space to fail: Making mistakes is part of learning. With scenario-based training, people try new things without fear of real-world fallout. It’s a great way to tackle sensitive or high-risk topics too tricky to practice in person. 

Key elements of effective scenario-based training 

Effective scenario-based learning isn’t just about telling a good story. If you’re going to maximize the impact with immersive learning scenarios, you need some key building blocks in place.

• Realistic context: Establish scenarios and characters that are relevant to your learners. Present realistic challenges that put their skills and knowledge into practice.
• Decision points: Give learners the freedom to make choices. Let them explore different paths, experiment with their choices, and see how things play out.
• Consequences: Make sure each choice has clear, immediate consequences. This is where the learning happens – feedback is key for improvement and knowledge retention.
• Moments to reflect: Encourage learners to pause and analyze. What worked? What didn’t? What can they do better next time?

How to build a scenario-based elearning course

If you’re going to incorporate all these elements, you need a robust scenario process. 

Like any digital learning project, there are 4 steps you can’t go without.

1. Capture – Start with a clear plan

Rather than diving in and risking rewriting your elearning scenarios later, take the time to make a plan.

• Understand your learning needs: Start with a clear understanding of the problem you’re solving and who you’re training. This insight will help keep you focused and shape your scenario approach to deliver maximum impact.
• Explore critical situations: Talk to your learners to uncover their key challenges and pain points, as well as what good looks like in reality. The situations they highlight will be the foundation of your scenarios.

2. Conceptualize – lead with a prototype

With the learning needs clear in your mind, you can set about generating some ideas for how they can be met with scenario-based learning.

• Determine your approach: From simple linear situations to complex, branching experiences, there are different ways to approach scenario-based learning. Choose the format that best suits your learners and training goals. Make sure your authoring tool provides the functionality you need for the approach you’ve chosen to take.
• Prototype: Whether it’s a simple wireframe or an interactive elearning walkthrough, prototyping a small piece of scenario-based learning allows you to check that you’re heading in the right direction. 

3. Create – Build with confidence

Once prototyping has confirmed your thinking, it’s time to get stuck into developing your full learning experience. When designing your scenario, make sure you’re including the key elements: 

• Realistic context: Select a setting, characters and situation or task that will resonate with your learners and deliver the greatest impact. 
• Decision points: Map out the situation and pinpoint key decisions your learners need to make. 
• Consequences: Identify the common mistakes, the impact these have and the feedback that learners will need to get back on track. 
• Moments to reflect: Highlight where there’s opportunity for your learners to reflect on their own experiences and how what they’ve seen relates to their work.

For simple linear scenarios, work straight into your authoring tool. With more complex branching scenarios, it’s important to map out how this will work. It will save time in the long run and avoid headaches later.

4. Cultivate – Improve and refine

Once your scenario is built, test it with a small group of learners. Gather comments on everything – from the context to the feedback. Then refine your scenario based on their input to ensure it delivers the best results.

Explore more practical tips in our blog on designing branching scenarios.

Examples of scenario-based training done well

Ready to dive into planning your scenario-based learning? Here are five powerful elearning examples to spark your creativity.

1. Linear scenario-based learning 

In this example, the learner chooses from one of two scenarios based on where they work. The linear scenario sets up a discrimination dilemma and asks the learner to investigate. They need to get input from different people, before making decisions about what to do next. 

Explore this example

Why it works:

• In large organizations with diverse teams, one scenario is unlikely to suit all. A role selector personalizes the scenarios that learners see.
• Complex topics, such as ethics or discrimination, require multiple viewpoints and inputs into decisions. 
• By allowing learners to investigate and draw their own conclusions, they’re empowered to take control of their learning journey.

2. Immersive branching video scenario

This branching simulation-based learning builds soft skills around mental health. The learner watches a video before they’re asked what they think is going on and what action they would take. Personalized results analyze the approach chosen, compares it with others’, and sets out how other approaches would have played out.

Explore this example

Why it works:

• Learners control the story and feel the impact of their decisions on others.
• Feedback comes at the end, making the branching seamless and the experience more authentic.
• Comparing their approach with others’ choices adds another layer of real-life learning context.

3. Audio-driven, first-person scenario 

This audio-driven, first-person scenario helps salespeople learn by practicing in a simulated environment. Adding game mechanics – like points and timers – taps into a fundamental aspect of human behavior: motivation. In this case, it’s the competitive nature of salespeople.

Explore this example

Why it works:

• Taking a first-person perspective puts the learner in the hot seat, experiencing the scenario instead of observing it.
• Using audio keeps costs down while creating a highly engaging experience, simulating the real-world environment learners work in.
• Game elements bring a competitive edge, replicating the urgency and pressure of a fast-paced sales floor.

Want to see more examples? Read our blogs on simple branching scenarios and more complex branching, and explore some other scenario-based examples.

Common pitfalls  of scenario-based learning

When done well, scenario-based learning can maximize your impact. However, to achieve this you’ll need to avoid some common pitfalls. 

Overcomplicating branches

More complex “deep branching” can take learner engagement up a gear, but only if it’s thought through. Branching can quickly get out of control within a few decision points. Before you know it, you’re facing a complex build and risking errors creeping into your digital learning. 

• Do balance the complexity of the scenario with the impact it will achieve.
• Don’t assume that complex branching automatically means more impact.

Lack of relevance or realism

Remember, you’re the learning expert and not the Subject Matter Expert (SME) so you won’t automatically know what scenarios work best with your learners.

• Do use focus groups and user testing to check that your scenarios are realistic.
• Don’t get carried away with developing exciting scenarios which few learners will relate to. 

Forgetting feedback

While seeing the outcome of decisions can engage learners in your scenario, they can only build their critical thinking skills with feedback on their choices. 

• Do provide clear feedback either after each question or at the end of the scenario.
• Don’t just show the outcome of the learner’s decisions and leave them guessing how to improve. 

Summary

Scenario-based training is a powerful way to boost engagement by immersing the learners in interactive scenarios where they can apply their decision-making skills. It provides context, connects theory to practice, fosters engagement and creates a safe space to build confidence.

If you’re going to achieve this, you need a robust process for developing your training scenarios: 

• Capture: Start with a clear plan based on your learners’ needs and the situations they face.
• Conceptualize: Prototype your ideas to test the direction of your scenario before full development.
• Create: Design your scenario using key elements: realistic context, decision points, consequences, and opportunities to reflect.
• Cultivate: Test and refine based on feedback to ensure maximum impact.

With the right approach, scenario-based learning can get your learners engaged and deliver real world impact.

Find about more about scenario-based learning and other ways to deliver truly engaging digital learning in our elearning best practice guide and How to create engaging elearning course. 

Ready to start creating scenario-based learning experiences with impact? Book a demo of Elucidat and start your free trial today.

Everyone loves a good game, especially when it makes learning more fun. Want to use the power of games to – quite literally – level up learner engagement?  It’s easier than you think. This guide explains how to incorporate gamification into your corporate training, whether you’re a seasoned gamer or a total noob. 

What is gamification and how does it help learning?

Gamification is when you add gameplay elements into a non-game activity. In this case, learning. 

You might reward learners with virtual badges, add a countdown timer to create urgency while they complete an activity, or get them competing against colleagues for a spot on a leaderboard. 

The benefit? Think of how engaged people are when they’re playing a game. 

The most gripping games have people playing late into the night as they push to level up or complete a quest. While you don’t want to deprive your learners of sleep, gamification done right can significantly boost intrinsic motivation to engage with your content.

The stats say it all. 83% of people who receive gamified workplace training feel motivated, compared to just 28% who receive non-gamified training.

Gamification vs traditional learning: what’s the difference?

Gamification exists on a spectrum. On one end, there are fully immersive games designed for learning. On the other, there’s learning with a single gamified element, like rewards for completing modules. 

Whether people are learning online, in-person, or through a blend of both, the line between gamification and traditional methods is fluid. How far you take it is entirely up to you.

Types of gamification elements for elearning

What options are available for gamifying your elearning? Read on to discover the top ways to add gamification to digital learning. 

Storytelling

Not all elearning games include immersive storying, but it’s a powerful way to give context to other elements of gamification. 

Try positioning the learner as the hero. Start with a high-stakes mission, where their success depends on completing a series of tasks. The narrative unfolds as the learner progresses, with each activity bringing them closer to their goal. 

You could even incorporate video-based branching paths, where learner choices shape the storyline and final outcome:

From TikToks to YouTube tutorials, people are consuming more video content than ever before. But this isn’t just a social media habit. Around 50% of people have used a video platform to learn new skills. So how can you harness the power of this popular format to maximize your impact? We’ve pulled together research, examples, and tools to help you enhance your employee training with video learning. 

Why video-based learning is effective

In a world where distractions are everywhere, studies show that video can cut through the noise: 

• Getting people engaged: People are around 50% more likely to click on an online video ad than a standard banner ad. While training and advertising are different, engagement is critical for both. And it’s clear that video grabs attention. 
• Creating emotional connections: The human brain has a special place for faces with dedicated neural circuits that only respond to them. Putting people at the center of your videos can create this human connection in your learning content. 
• Reducing cognitive load: Most people would rather watch a ‘how-to’ video than read a manual. Presenting information through a combination of visuals and sound reduces cognitive load and makes learning easier.
• Increasing knowledge retention: Video is more effective than text alone for learning, especially in the long term. Viewers retain 95% of a video’s message, compared to 10% when reading text. 

For corporate learning, this means video can help capture your learners’ attention and create real-life actions that stick. 

Benefits of video-based learning

Video-based learning offers several key benefits that can benefit your employees and the business:

• Increased engagement: Videos are inherently engaging and can hold learners’ attention better than text-based content.
• Improved retention: Studies show that learners retain more information from video content compared to written material.
• Flexibility: With video content, employees can access training anytime and anywhere. This flexibility allows them to learn at their own pace.
• Personal connection: When employees see real faces and hear voices in videos, it creates an emotional connection that enhances learning.

Challenges of video-based learning

While video-based learning offers many benefits, there are also challenges to consider:

• Production costs and time: High-quality video content can be expensive to produce. You need a solid investment in equipment, software, and expertise.
• Over-saturation: Not all video content is equally effective. Learners can become fatigued or disengaged if the videos are too long, lack interactivity, or feel repetitive
• Accessibility: Not all employees may have access to the latest technology or a quiet, distraction-free environment to view videos. It’s essential to make videos accessible on multiple devices and ensure they can be easily viewed in different contexts.
• Technical issues: Video content can face technical problems, such as buffering, compatibility issues, or poor video quality. These issues can hinder the learning experience and cause frustration among learners.

Best practices for creating video-based content

To ensure youTo ensure your video-based learning is effective and engages learners from start to finish, follow these best practices:

Keep videos short and focused

Aim for videos that are 2 to 4 minutes long. Shorter videos are easier to digest and maintain learner engagement. If the topic is more complex, consider breaking it down into multiple smaller videos.

Use high-quality visuals and sound

Invest in good video and audio equipment. Poor-quality videos can distract from the message and create a negative learning experience.

Add interactivity

Enhance engagement by including interactive elements like clickable links, embedded quizzes, or branching scenarios. These elements encourage learners to actively participate in their learning rather than passively watch a video.

Provide transcripts and captions

Make your video content accessible to all learners, including those with hearing impairments or those who prefer to watch without sound. Transcripts and captions also help learners better understand the content.

Align with learning objectives

Ensure that each video ties directly to your training goals. Avoid creating video content just for the sake of it, every video should serve a clear purpose and contribute to the overall learning experience.

5 ways video-based learning can enhance employee training

Effective video learning creates a reaction. It’s not just about watching; it’s about connecting, understanding, and applying knowledge. So, how do you achieve this? 

While every project is different, there are some common ways you can maximize the benefits of video-based learning in your employee training.

1. Empowering knowledge sharing

Employee-generated videos are a great way to share knowledge, expertise, and experience. These can cover everything from ‘how to’ guides to real-life stories. 

Quick and cost-effective to produce, they add an authentic and human voice to your learning that your people will relate to and trust.

Examples:

• Experts demonstrating a step-by-step process in a video tutorial.
• Talking head videos of employees telling their stories and sharing their experiences.

Explore a video interview example

2. Making learning more accessible

Thanks to the rise of TikTok, we’re watching more and more quick, snappy videos on our phones. Bite-sized, on-demand video content can be accessed anytime, anywhere, and it’s a game changer for training. Accessing video learning in the moment of need and the flow of work means it can be applied immediately. 

Considerations:

• Duration: Attention spans are short. Aim for the sweet spot of between 2 and 4 minutes to maintain your audience’s focus.
• Accessibility: Add transcripts and closed captions to support inclusive learning for those who are hearing impaired or unable to watch with sound.

3. Simplifying complex topics

Explainer videos can help bring complicated content and complex ideas to life. Use animated videos to walk through diagrams and conceptual graphics. Tell stories and share examples to simplify content and show how it works in reality. 

Considerations:

• Avoid overload: With the potential to have lots happening on screen, take care not to overload learners with too much information and too many formats. 
• Think big picture: When breaking down complex topics into understandable chunks, be sure to tell a cohesive story that’s greater than its individual parts.

4. Supporting on-the-job learning and microlearning

Easy to access and digest, videos are great as quick, on-the-job guides. Don’t think of these videos as standalone assets. Get learners to reflect on what they’ve seen or heard and put what they’ve learned into practice. 

Make this part of a wider blend of microlearning assets. A well-chosen combination of content and interactions will produce learning with impact. 

Examples:

• Onboarding assets for new employees.
• Step-by-step guides to completing activities within processes.

Explore a microlearning example

5. Creating immersive learning experiences

Great immersive learning experiences connect hearts and heads. Interactive videos draw learners into a story. It enables them to make decisions and see the impact of their choices in an environment where they don’t have to worry about failure. This emotional connection is vital for effective learning to take place.

Examples:

• Virtual Reality (VR) videos.
• Video simulations of real-world scenarios and challenges.

Explore a video simulation example

3 of the best authoring tools for video-based learning

Once you’ve decided how to use video in your employee training, you need to find the right tool to create it. 

Here are three of the top authoring tools that can help.

Elucidat

Elucidat is a powerful tool for creating high-quality, responsive video-based elearning. Whatever your level of expertise, customizable templates mean you’ll be producing video learning in no time. Interactive video capabilities can be used to create scenario-based training and personalization. Being fully cloud-based means you can do this in collaboration with your colleagues. 

Camtasia

Specializing in screen recording and video editing, Camtasia is a desktop-based tool. In addition to producing training videos, you can add some interactive elements to your video learning. It may not be as powerful as other authoring tools, but Camtasia can have great results. 

Articulate Storyline 360

Articulate Storyline 360 is one of the most well-known names in the authoring tool market. It’s also a versatile tool for creating interactive video-based courses. You can use the core functionality to produce interactive videos, quizzes, and branching scenarios.

Want to find out more? Read a full comparison and review of these elearning authoring tools.

The future of video-based learning

The future of video-based learning is promising, with AI and emerging technologies paving the way for more personalized, interactive experiences.. Here’s how video-based learning could evolve:

• AI-driven personalization
• Interactive video with AI
• Enhanced analytics
• Virtual and augmented reality

As these technologies evolve, video-based learning will become even more powerful in shaping employee development.

Conclusion

Video is a sure-fire way to bring your elearning to life. It can boost learner engagement, create emotional connections, reduce cognitive load, and enhance knowledge retention. However, just adding any old video into your digital learning isn’t going to have the right impact. It’s the content of the video that really matters. 

Consider what part video could play in your organization’s learning strategy. Of course, every project is unique, but there are some common ways that video learning can enhance your employee training:

1. Use employee-generated videos to encourage knowledge sharing.
2. Create bite-sized, on-demand video that can be accessed anywhere, anytime. 
3. Simplify complex topics with videos and animations.
4. Support on-the-job learning with microlearning video assets.
5. Immerse your employees in their learning experiences with interactive video.

Resources for enhancing employee training

Looking to take your video-based training and employee training a step further? Here are some best practice resources to help you:

• How to create engaging elearning (course)
• 3 ways to meet learner expectations
• How to boost elearning engagement with compelling content

Ready to start creating video learning experiences with impact? Book a demo of Elucidat and start your free trial today.

What do you get when you ask 500 learning designers to answer the question: how do you make elearning more engaging? We found out when we ran an online workshop on this very topic. From creating a connection to getting truly interactive, we explored how people are tackling the elearning engagement challenge. Read on to discover the collective list of ingredients any designer needs to make engaging elearning, as well as tips and examples to make it active and personalised.

Watch the workshop with Kirstie Greany (Elucidat) and Cammy Bean (Kineo).

What are the ingredients of engagement?

It goes without saying that an engaged audience is more likely to learn. But what does it mean to be engaged? Engagement can mean a lot of different things to different people. So, before we explored how to achieve it, we wanted to define it. 

What L&D professionals said:

We asked the L&D professionals in our workshop what they thought engaging learning looks like. Here’s what they said.

• Captures attention: There’s lots of things vying for peoples’ attention. If your digital learning is going to be effective, it needs to grab their interest and keep it.
• Maintains interest: Don’t start with a great hook, then forget about maintaining your people’s attention. Keep it entertaining throughout the learning experience.
• Generates action: Learning is all about changing people’s behaviors and habits. People need to be able to do something with it, otherwise it’s wasting their time. 
• Memorable: How well do you remember the last elearning you completed? If learning is going to have a longer term impact, it needs to stick in people’s minds.
• Recommended: Word of mouth has long been recognized as a powerful marketing tool. So, there’s no greater sign of a successful learning experience than people talking about it. 
• Realistic: Learning needs to clearly relate to the real-world workplace. If learners have to put in effort to make this connection, they’re less likely to engage.
• Evokes emotion: Engage learner’s hearts, as well as their minds. Striking up emotions and connecting with people are crucial to getting learners involved. 
• Hits trigger points: Effective learning should trigger people to think, feel and take action. That means reflecting, trying, failing, testing and doing rather than just clicking.

What employees said

How do employees (learners) answer the same question? This is how employees across global organizations describe in their own words what engaging elearning is and isn’t.

With 60% of employees in large organizations rating their elearning as fair to poor, it’s clear that learners are unengaged more often than not. So, what needs to change?

3 examples of engaging elearning

Here are some great examples to get you inspired in creating engaging elearning.

1. Immersive stories

Storytelling is an incredibly powerful force for learning and memory. This scenario-based learning grabs your attention by immersing you in the story and allowing you to make decisions that control the outcome. 

Explore this immersive branching example

2. Meaningful interactivity

Many employees in our survey said they didn’t engage when elearning lacked interactivity. But what does interactivity mean to these learners? From their answers it was clear it wasn’t about clicking. It’s about making compelling reasons to interact. This Diversity, Equity and Inclusion example speaks directly to the learner and gets them to reflect on their experience to get them engaged in the subject.

3. Genuinely useful

Engaging elearning doesn’t have to be highly emotional or immersive or really complex. It can just be really useful. This microlearning example is part of an onboarding campaign for new starters.

Explore this quick onboarding example

3 practical ways to designing engaging elearning

1. Why audience needs matter

Everyone agreed that you can’t create engaging elearning and choose the right design if you don’t understand your audience first. 

“Even if you spend just an hour getting under the skin of your audience, then chances are you’re going to make your learning experience much more engaging, and therefore much more impactful.” – Kirstie Greany, Head of Customer Learning, Elucidat

Here’s some of the ways that the L&D practitioners came up with to discover their learners’ needs.

Ask your audience: Go straight to the source and find out what your learners want and need. 

Activities:

• Surveys
• Interviews
• Focus groups

Questions:

• What’s the hardest part? What are the barriers?
• What do you do when you get stuck?
• How do you feel about X?
• Where are you likely to be when you ‘learn’?

Ask business leaders: Stakeholders often come prepared with a case for why the learning’s needed. But don’t just accept this at face value. Dig a little bit further. Ask for the evidence of this need.

Activities:

• Run a workshop 
• Meeting the stakeholders

Questions:

• What’s the business goal?
• How do you know this needs improvement?
• What does good look like to the business?
• What do you need people to do?

Observe: Go out and find the evidence of need for yourself. Ask learners to walk you through what they do. 

Activities:

• Real life or virtual observation of tasks
• Attend and review the current training

Questions:

• What does good look like? 
• What can go wrong?

Review data: If you’re going to move beyond what the business thinks it needs, you need data. Data isn’t just spreadsheets. It can be qualitative as well as quantitative, and come from lots of different places.

Activities:

• Evaluation data
• Feedback rounds
• Audit reports

Data:

• Retention rates
• Sales data
• Customer feedback 
• Internal feedback

This Capture template is a great free tool to help you capture your audiences’ needs. 

2. Making learning active

Once you know what your audience needs, you can focus on how to make your elearning meaningfully active. Activity is critical for keeping them engaged in your learning experience and a key ingredient in engagement. But, of course, not all activity is the same. Cathy Moore highlights that there’s a difference between testing and practicing learning. 

• A test question asks people to recall information. It takes place in an abstract world.
• A practice activity asks people to not only recall information, but also apply it to a specific, realistic situation.

We asked the L&D professionals in our workshop what kinds of activities they use to engage learners in practice. Here’s what they said. 

Online activities

• Scenario-based learning
• Diagnostics that personalize learning
• Game-based simulation
• Watch a demo then review
• Post activity reflection

Offline activities

• Role play
• Practice with peers
• On-the-job worksheets
• Coaching circle

Reflective activities

Remember, activity isn’t just clicking, dragging more and revealing more. It’s the thinking that matters. 

‘’If I ask you to consider: What’s a project that you recently struggled on? And what’s one tip from what we’ve been talking about today that you could apply to that? You can’t help but start thinking about it. Reflective questions are really, really powerful interactions for engaging the brain.’’ – Kirstie Greany, Head of Customer Learning, Elucidat

Here are some ways to use reflective interaction to make learning really stick:

• Ask questions
• Use confidence rating
• Encourage note taking
• Provide space for reflection

3. Going personal

We all know that one size doesn’t fit all. What’s a relevant activity or relatable story for one person, may not be right for someone else. And this is something that learners notice.

62% of employees said having relevant content was the most important factor in engaging elearning.
The State of Digital Learning Report, Elucidat 2023

If something is really relevant and useful it gives people intrinsic motivation to use it. So, how do you achieve this? 

Here are some ways the L&D professionals in our workshop said they approach personalizing learning content

• Upfront diagnostics: Ask targeted multiple choice questions, then serve up tailored content.
• Menus that provide choice: Ask your learners what they want or need to know, then let them tailor their learning experience.
• Role selectors: A simple “role filter” at the beginning of the learning experience will serve up the topics or pages that apply to that role.
• Context and examples: Don’t just tell learners what to do, include real life examples of how these skills are applied in their day-to-day work.
• Confidence checks: Ask your learners how they’re feeling, then adapt the approach to their confidence levels.
• Competency based branching content: Get your learners to answer questions and make scenario-based decisions, then show them the impact of their choices.
• Keep it conversational: Speak to your audience at the right level and in the appropriate tone of voice to create a more relevant learning experience. 
• Build a work plan: Get learners to reflect on, and build a plan for, how they’re going to apply the learning in their work.
• Offline tasks: Keep your digital learning generic but include offline tasks, such as team activities, that put it into the learner’s context.

Quick examples of personalized learning

Here are a couple of examples of impactful personalized learning in practice. There’s many ways to achieve this though!

Create a personal plan

Get your learners reflecting on their development needs, then provide a plan to help them develop their skills. This personalized toolkit asks questions about users’ current habits and struggles and then serves up a tailored report on areas for improvement.

Explore this personalization example

Providing choice

By including reflective questions and giving clear choices, people can tailor their own learning experience. This performance improvement guide encourages learners to commit to action by choosing one of three next steps to learn more in the real world.

Explore this scrolling page example

Summary 

Creating engaging elearning is absolutely key if you want your project to make a difference. Here are our five top takeaways from our discussion that highlight what it takes:

1. Know your audience: Don’t touch your design until you can explain what the audience really needs and why – obvious but so, so necessary! It’s all about the ‘do’ not the ‘learn’.
2. Get active: Create meaningfully active and involved learning, which can be done in many forms on and offline, and use storytelling and experiences to aid this.
3. Make people think: Reflection can be just as important as doing; and certainly always trumps clicking. Engage the mind, not the mouse, and create space. 
4. Get personal: There’s no excuse for not personalizing your learning, and we shared many ways to do it! Relevancy is the #1 ask from employees.
5. Make sure it’s useful: No one will say no to something that’s straight-up useful. Sometimes it’s not about immersive experiences, but job-aids or quick demos. Cut to it.

Want to learn more about how you can engage your learners? Sign up for our ‘How to create engaging elearning’ course.

What does it take to create effective elearning that engages, vs online content that falls flat? Below, we distill the seven crucial ingredients shared in a recent webinar by Elucidat experts Will Brown and Kirstie Greany, that you need to produce elearning experiences that truly resonate and bring about meaningful change. Watch the webinar below to explore these insights in more depth.

The 7 must-know ingredients for effective elearning

 1. Begin with the end in mind

Contrary to the instinct to start with content, it’s best to focus on the desired outcomes of your elearning. Understanding what you want your learners to achieve helps shape your content to be more than just information—it transforms it into a pathway for learning and development. This approach ensures your elearning is purposeful, targeted, and capable of driving the desired change.

This downloadable ‘Capture’ guide is a great way to get started with this approach – download your copy here.

 2. Always tell stories

Stories are not just a means of illustrating points; they’re a fundamental way humans understand and remember information. Incorporating stories into your elearning can make complex concepts more relatable and memorable, encouraging learners to reflect and apply what they’ve learned.

The emotional connection and multiple perspectives offered by storytelling enhance engagement and retention. Stories can be written, visualized with imagery, or created as audio or video. They can even be a simple interview of someone who’s lived and breathed that topic.

Take a look at how this real-life story uses simple imagery and sound to bring it to life.

Try this storytelling example

 3. Let it breathe

Elearning effectiveness is often hampered by information overload. Space out content and activities. Breaking down your content into bite-sized, manageable pieces allows learners to absorb, practice, and reflect on information more effectively, leading to a more enriching learning experience. Sleeping on it actually helps too!

It’s also about spacing learning content out on a page. Use clear headings and subheadings to create sections and a flow on the page, and only put content together that belongs together!

See how this example uses clear headings to guide learners through the content, and avoid overwhelm.

Try this effective elearning example

 4. Include practice activities

The essence of elearning is to bring about a change in behavior or enhance skill sets. Including practical activities and scenarios that reflect real-life challenges ensures that the learning is not only engaging but also directly applicable to the learner’s work or life context. Authentic, hands-on experiences are crucial for bridging the gap between knowledge and action.

Make sure your elearning has practice built in. That can be online exercises or offline.

This is one example of many from our Showcase, that introduces a scenario to give learners practice at answering a customers’ questions in some product training. Take a look!

Try this practical activity example

 5. Create interactivity – Not just clicks

True interactivity engages the mind, not just the fingers. Effective elearning invites learners to think, reflect, and make decisions based on the content presented. This can be achieved through reflective questions, scenarios that require decision-making, and activities that stimulate critical thinking and problem-solving.

Do not skip this kind of interaction in your elearning – get those brains whirring!

Here is a simple example of how you can build in reflection. Create a short case study or story, and ask learners what they think. Do they agree? Would they have done the same? Is it fair? 

Try this interactive example

 6. Be relevant

Understanding your audience is key to creating relevant and effective elearning. Customizing content to fit the specific needs, roles, and contexts of your learners increases engagement and ensures that the learning experience is both meaningful and applicable. Personalization can range from role-based pathways to dynamic content that adjusts based on learner input.

It can also be about how you speak (or write) your content. Use the word ‘you’ to talk directly to the learner, and write the content like you are actually speaking with them.

Here’s an example of using a question as a ‘menu’ that links to the relevant content.

Try this effective elearning example

 7. End with a bang

Finally, ending your elearning on a strong note is vital. Summarizing key points and providing clear next steps or actions ensures that the learning doesn’t end when the module does. This reinforcement helps solidify the learning and encourages immediate application, enhancing the overall impact of your elearning content.

Don’t leave your learners hanging. End with a call to action!

This example includes a simple Take it Further ending, with two options. What would yours be? 

Try this effective elearning example

Dive deeper by watching the webinar

Interested in exploring these tips further? Watch the video recording of the webinar. These insights represent just the tip of the iceberg in creating effective elearning content.

Stay tuned for more Design Tip Tuesdays for continuous learning and improvement in your elearning design journey.

With most learners rating their organization’s online training as fair to poor, elearning engagement has become the elephant in the room in discussions about improving completion rates in elearning courses. Don’t leave your learners in the lurch. It’s time to create elearning that hooks your audience, nails your learning goals, and leaves them hungry for more. Read on to find out how.

What is elearning engagement?

Think back to your school days. Was there a class that truly sparked your interest? Odds are, you were actively involved and eager to participate, which is a goal in instructional strategies to increase engagement. You were motivated – maybe even inspired.

In other words, you were an engaged learner.

Elearning engagement isn’t any different. It refers to the degree of attention, curiosity, interest, optimism, and enthusiasm that learners show when they’re learning online. 

But all this can be tricky to achieve. Without the social element of the classroom, learner attention can easily drift.

What does learner engagement look like?

Engaged learners are those who are willing to keep interacting with content to achieve a learning outcome. 

Here’s what you can expect from engaged learners:

• Active participation in elearning activities.
• Great results on knowledge checks and tests.
• Positive feedback about online content.

Most importantly, they come away from online learning having learned – well – exactly what you wanted them to learn.  

And they put that learning into practice afterwards too. 

Why is elearning engagement important?

The numbers speak for themselves. 63% of L&D professionals say that content issues are reducing the impact of their online classes. A lack of learner engagement is a huge problem. 

Learners are saying the same thing. 60% of employees in large organizations rate their elearning as fair to poor.

The result? Bored learners rushing through content, trading assessment answers to check elearning off their to-do list. 

Hardly a recipe for success.

Improve engagement, though, and here’s what you’ll see:

• Motivated learners who are switched on, interested, and eager for more are often the result of well-designed training programs. 
• Great learning outcomes that justify learners’ time and the resources spent on design.
• Measurable results in terms of improved skills and employee performance.

Ready to make this happen? Read on to discover how to increase engagement in online learning. 

New to elearning engagement or elearning creation? Here’s a good place if you are looking to create engaging elearning.

Three ways to kick-start learner engagement

Let’s start with the big picture. Who are your learners and what do they need? Here are three great ways to cater to your audience and prioritize elearning engagement from the outset:

Make learning easy to access

22% of learners reckon they’re more engaged when content is easy to access at the point of need. So check it’s easy to search for and navigate to elearning on your platform. Make sure everything’s mobile-friendly. And keep training short and snappy for quick reference in a pinch.

Make content relevant

If it doesn’t help someone do their job, why include it? Make the most of limited time by focusing on the skills and knowledge your employees truly need. And align elearning content to your organization’s goals. Believe it or not, a third of employees say that this isn’t happening where they work. Enhance your LMS with dynamic content to ensure learner engagement.

Keep it concise

How much time do you think the average person spends on learning at work? Shockingly, it’s only 5% of the time they devote to managing their inbox. That adds up to 3 hours or less a month set aside for learning, and that’s unlikely to be in one big block. So respect learners’ time by keeping it short. 

Designing your elearning for engagement

Here are five surefire ways to design elearning that’s made for engagement.

1. Make it actionable and useful

Do you know what problem you’re trying to fix? If the answer’s no, don’t start designing just yet.  

Begin by working out your performance objectives. Ask yourself:

• What’s the issue your organization is facing? 
• Who are your learners and what do they need? 
• How will your learning content help?

Done? Great. You’re all set to build elearning that’s actionable and useful. 

And guess what? When your learners can picture how they’ll apply the content, they’ll be far more engaged in the learning process.

62% of learners say instructional design quality is a key factor in ensuring engagement.

Read on for more tactics to ramp up the relevance. 

Speak your learner’s language

We’ve all been there. Baffled and bored by the way things were written. Don’t make the same mistake. Think about your tone of voice and check it connects with your target audience. If in doubt, keep it chatty. 

Use examples

Context is everything. Think about how learners will use this information in their day-to-day jobs and include examples that align with learning objectives. Does your audience work in different roles? Consider an upfront role selector along with tailored content and scenarios. Does your finance team need training? You can use our finance elearning examples to start creating your training program.

Localize international content

Designing for an international audience? Translation is great but it’s not the only option. Consider working with international colleagues to bring content in line with local norms and contexts. This is known as localization. 

2. Create interactive content

Look, it’s not groundbreaking. In the elearning industry, we all know that interactivity is important. Without two-way human interaction, it’s crucial to get learners actively participating in their learning experience. 

But people don’t want to click on the screen for the sake of it. Let’s face it, that can quickly become downright irritating. Interactivity happens in the brain, not the mouse. 

For true learner engagement in elearning, interactivity has to be meaningful. In other words, it’s interesting and relevant, and it’s there for a reason. 

Read on for some tips on making this a reality. 

Build participation in the learning process

Design your content around active learning and practice. Get creative with activities that let your audience reflect, discuss, and try out skills in a safe environment. Don’t forget timely feedback to get learners back on track.

Tell stories

Everyone loves a good yarn. Use stories to connect hearts, as well as heads. Want to take it a step further? Write your learners into the tale and ask them to make decisions related to the narrative. Who doesn’t want to be the hero, after all?  

Keep the momentum going

Look beyond the elearning environment. Can you encourage a continuous learning experience outside of your content? Links to further training, discussion forums, practice tasks, and on-the-job guides are a great place to start. 

3. Keep it concise

When you’ve got loads to say, it’s tempting to dump the full text into your elearning. Don’t do it. There’s no quicker way to disengage busy learners than presenting them with reams of dense information.

Instead, figure out what they need to know and practice, and dial your content right back. The less there is to remember, the more likely it’ll be remembered and applied in real life.

Here are three tips for concise content:

• Keep it simple: Once you’ve written your content, go back the next day and see if you can rewrite it more shortly.
• Make it scannable: Use headings, subheadings, bold text, bullets, and short paragraphs to make the text digestible.
• Get visual:  Use graphs, charts and other infographics to explain stuff faster and boost learner engagement in your LMS. Don’t forget to keep it accessible though.

4. Use video

A video is a great tool for creating engaging elearning experiences. After all, it’s one of the most popular forms of content in the world today (hello TikTok). 

And, great news, you don’t need to splash the cash to include video in your online learning. Here are three tactics for multimedia without the mark-up:

• Check out what’s already on YouTube. Is there anything you can embed? 
• Get people to share their personal experiences through selfie videos.
• Use your phone to film simple interviews with experts, leaders, and peers. 

But don’t jump into using video for the sake of it. Always start by asking: What’s the best way of achieving your performance objectives? Chances are, you’ll need a mix that includes text, images, and possibly assessment too. 

5. Level up your interactions

Thanks to today’s authoring technology, the possibilities are limitless when it comes to crafting elevated interactivity.

Eager to create content that stands out? Then keep reading.

Use social polling

Who says elearning has to be solitary? Elucidat’s social polling feature asks a question and then shows learners how their peers responded. The result? A sense of community that keeps learners clicking.

Include branching scenarios

Want to show the consequences of decisions in the real world? Create branching scenarios where learners’ choices take them down different paths. An interactive adventure awaits.

Create personalized experiences

Tailor learning experiences to individual needs. An upfront diagnostic is a classic approach: pose a series of questions at the beginning of the elearning, and guide learners to content that addresses their unique gaps.

Explore gamification

Incorporate gameplay elements to add excitement to the learning experience. Points, badges and quick-fire questions are low-fuss ways to dip your toe into the world of gamification. 

Four examples of engaging elearning

Of course, one size never fits all. The good news? There are loads of options out there for effective elearning that meet your learners’ specific needs. 

Want to see how different formats can be used to create engaging elearning experiences? Check out these four examples. 

1. Microlearning

Defined as a learning resource that takes ten minutes or less to complete, microlearning is the ideal solution for time-pressed learners. It works especially well for content that needs to be quickly accessed on the job.

For instance, check out this example of managing a remote team. In under ten minutes, it packs in social polling, video snippets, real-life anecdotes, interactive action planning, and links to further resources. The outcome? A hands-on guide that’s as engaging as it is indispensable. 

If you want to implement this technique, we have some of the best microlearning examples to help you.

2. Branching scenario

A branching scenario places learners firmly in the driving seat. Depending on their choices at decision points, they’ll navigate unique paths through the content. This ‘choose your own adventure’ style approach is great for showing real-world consequences in a fun and personalized way. 

This example of workplace bullying is a prime example of how branching boosts elearning engagement while allowing mistakes to be made in a safe learning environment. 

3. One-pager

Opting for a single-scrolling page structure creates an ultra-swift learning journey, delivering essential information to learners with no mucking around. 

This one-pager on replenishing stock, for instance, is action-focused. Broken down into steps and checklists, its purpose is crystal clear. Multimedia elements, interactivity, and clever navigation features are the icing on the cake. 

4. Gamified quiz

Adding gameplay elements to your elearning doesn’t need to be complicated. Simply jazz up a standalone knowledge check with features like points, badges, and timers to create a gamified quiz. The outcome? A supercharged elearning experience that’s way more exciting than just clicking ‘next’.

‘Rookie or Rockstar?’ That’s the burning question in this quiz that uses three rounds of gamified questions to put learners’ product knowledge to the test. 

Designing an engaging user experience

Picture this. You’ve poured your heart into creating an amazing eelarning solution. The test group loves it and even your stakeholders are thrilled. 

Fast forward to launch day. You open your inbox, expecting virtual high-fives, but instead, it’s flooded with emails. 

As it turns out, the elearning doesn’t work on your learners’ default browser.

Lesson learned. No matter how outstanding the learning designer is, if the user experience isn’t on point, engagement in elearning takes a nosedive.

Fear not. Read on for some foolproof tips for smooth sailing every time.

Remove technological barriers

It might seem like a no-brainer, but can your learners actually get online and engage with that awesome content you’ve whipped up? Consider access to devices, internet connection, audio output, and even confidence in navigating the digital world. 

Tackle any tech issues pronto or you’ll fall at the first hurdle.

Make learning available on any device

Are your learners using smartphones, tablets, laptops or PCs? If your online content works seamlessly across all devices, it’s no sweat. However, crafting a consistent learning experience regardless of screen size can be challenging. 

The great news is tools like Elucidat output responsive elearning as standard. That means the layout automatically reconfigures to best fit the device it’s being viewed on.

Test, test, test!

A sloppy learning experience will have online learners mentally checking out before they even reach the welcome screen. So test all elearning thoroughly on target browsers and devices. 

Pay close attention to the quality of writing, visuals, and videos. Is everything consistent? Does it look appealing? Is it all running smoothly? Make your tweaks and retest. 

Improve accessibility

Everyone deserves a great learning experience, whether they have a disability or not. That’s why accessibility is crucial.

Don’t treat it as an afterthought. Do your research (WCAG is a great starting point) and build accessibility into your content from the get-go. 

Here are three quick wins:

• Include transcripts and alt text for any non-decorative images, video and audio.
• Use a high colour contrast between text and background to enhance readability.
• Beware of interactions that don’t work with keyboard navigation and stick with fully accessible components instead.

Maximize engagement with measurement and iteration

You’ve designed a bunch of engaging content and it’s finally been launched. Time to relax, right? 

Wrong. 

Elearning engagement isn’t a one-and-done thing. What works today may not work tomorrow. Read on to learn how iteration can keep things fresh.

Measure elearning engagement

You might believe your content is engaging, but what do your learners think? It’s time to get the facts. 

There are two primary ways to measure elearning engagement: 

1. Get their feedback

Create a simple survey to gauge learner engagement with your content. You could integrate this directly into your elearning. To beat bias, use a few questions that ask a similar thing differently. And give learners the chance to suggest improvements.

2. Check out the stats

Numbers don’t lie. Are learners completing their elearning? Are they performing well on assessments? Are they voluntarily accessing content? Piece together the data for an objective picture of how your learning is stacking up. 

Continue to refresh content

Whether engagement is lagging, or you’re just ready to take your design to the next level, it’s never a bad time to make changes. 

Here are some foolproof ways to use iteration to stay at the top of your game:

Action their feedback 

Don’t let that valuable feedback gather dust. Start making tweaks to elearning based on what your learners are saying. Feeling a bit lost? Round up a focus group and pick their brains for more insights. 

Keep content relevant

Set a regular reminder to give your live elearning once over and check it’s still up to date. At work, things can change fast, so keep your content current to stop inaccuracies from creeping in.

Update date-based information

Nothing ages elearning quicker than outdated examples and ancient stats. Spend a few minutes with Google, and give your content a modern makeover. It’s a small effort that pays dividends in keeping things fresh.

Summary

Want your content creation efforts to pay off? For successful learning outcomes, elearning engagement has to be front and centre.

The good news? It’s not rocket science. Here’s your checklist for crafting content that will have learners hanging on your every word:

• Speak their language: Keep it short, sweet, and relevant. Make sure your elearning is easy to access and digest.

• Design for engagement: Make your online content interactive, actionable, and immersive. Think snappy messaging, meaningful activities, and relevant multimedia material.

• Optimize your format: Whether it’s quick-hit microlearning or a fun-filled quiz, use the right content type to connect with your audience. 

• Smooth out the bumps: Get rid of anything that’s getting in the ways to increase engagement and a seamless user experience.

• Stay fresh: Keep a close eye on engagement levels and be ready to shake things up to keep your content feeling new and exciting.

Create engaging elearning with Elucidat

Ready to hit the ground running? Check out Elucidat for a tool that’s tailor-made to create content that checks every elearning engagement box. 

Elucidat’s guided workflows and ready-made templates make it easy for anyone to produce engaging online learning at speed. Whether you’re new to elearning or a seasoned author, Elucidat has got you covered.

Want to give it a try? Schedule a demo today and snag a free trial too.

Are you ready to start using branched scenarios in your online learning experiences? In this article, we’ll share inspiration and practical advice to enable you to bring your branching scenario ideas to life.

Branching means designing different routes through your content, depending on actions made by the user. A branching scenario is a way of placing your learner into the role of a decision-maker, allowing them to make their own choices and see the outcomes play out. It can be a safe space for them to try out different approaches and see the consequences of their actions, preparing them for similar situations in the real world.

We’ve previously explored different examples of branching in elearning, and in this article, we offer some practical advice on how to create an effective branching scenario.

7 ideas that can help you create simple branching scenarios in your online training.

1. Start with a plan

The nature of branching experiences is that your learners will take different routes through your content, so it’s important to invest time upfront mapping out the flow of your learning. Working on paper or using a wireframing tool to rough out ideas will help you make decisions about where to branch and ensure there are no outcomes left uncovered.

Here’s an example of a structure diagram we created for a showcase project on Shared Parental Leave, which features personalized learner pathways branching from a dynamic menu:

Practical tips for Elucidat users:

• You can use Elucidat’s project structure view to check your interactive structure as you build it. This gives you a quick way to see how everything is linked together and sense check whether your project matches up with your original structure diagram.

2. Put your learners in control

A great way to engage learners is to let them steer the experience and choose their own starting point. Consider providing a series of scenarios so they can choose which one they want to opt for, or giving them an option to brush up on their knowledge before diving in. This has an added bonus of appealing to a wide range of learners at once.

Here’s an example of an interactive sales scenario, where sales team members have an upfront choice about whether to start the simulation immediately or recap on the basics first:

Practical tips for Elucidat users:

• Use Elucidat’s range of different menu interactions to give your learners a choice of which route to go down.
• Think about whether this choice will replace the global navigation, and take a look at our Masterclass on when to hide and show the navigation.

3. Tailor your scenarios to the individual

If you want to deliver scenarios or learning content that are as relevant as possible to your learners, then consider introducing personalized learning pathways based on role or experience level.

Shared parental leave example:

This example about Shared Parental Leave leads with a role selector question to find out the user’s area of work and then serves up different topics on the menu as a result.

The benefit of using this approach is that only the relevant content will display, making effective use of your learners’ time and ensuring they only interact with the content that directly applies to them – People-Centered Elearning in practice!

Practical tips for Elucidat users:

• Use Elucidat’s Rules feature to determine which pages or scenario topics show based on how a learner answers an upfront question.

4. Immerse your learners with branching video

Storytelling has the power to engage, motivate, and trigger changes in behavior and improvements in performance. Make your scenarios feel real and give them emotional resonance by building them into a believable story. An effective way to achieve this is by using video or animation to drive your narrative. 

In this example from The Open University, high quality video is combined with believable characters and dialogue to immerse the user in an emotionally-charged experience. The story is paused at various points to invite learners to decide what they would do next, making it an interactive two-way experience.

Practical tips for Elucidat users:

• Use Elucidat’s different video interactions, like branching video, to combine decision points with video and make the user journey feel as seamless as possible.  

5. Make it challenging

We’re all aware that the challenges we face in real life don’t always have a clear-cut right/wrong solution, and branching scenarios are a great way to allow someone to explore grey areas and practice their skills in a safe environment.  

This compliance interactive is an effective example of this, there is the opportunity for an ‘imperfect’, as well as correct and incorrect decision to be selected and played out. It’s a perfect example of the kind of nuanced situation that someone might come across in real life.

See this compliance example:

The branching example offers extensive training about unconscious bias in professional settings, including its effects on decision-making and relationships, along with approaches to reduce and handle these biases.

Practical tips for Elucidat users:

• Don’t make the “correct” choices too obvious. Scenarios are great for exploring sensitive situations and outcomes, so make them as realistic as possible.
• Use Individual Feedback questions in Elucidat to deliver instant feedback that reflects and responds to the specific choice made by your learners.

6. Recognize good performance and highlight knowledge gaps

An important part of learning and improving is understanding the impact of your decisions. Make sure your learners know how they’re getting on by delivering valuable feedback as they move through a scenario.

Try out this sales simulation:

Features like scoring or badges can be introduced to highlight both positive performance and areas for improvement. These can be made to feel quite gamified, like the points-based rewards in this sales simulation demo, for example.

Practical tips for Elucidat users:

• Find out more about recognizing achievements in our Masterclass on using rewards to incentivize learners.

7. Highlight other outcomes

The beauty of a branched scenario is that someone reaches an outcome that’s specific to their choices and the path they took through the experience. However, it’s worth considering whether they might be missing out on valuable learning points through the choices they make.

A final summary page can be a great place to recap the scenario, show other outcomes or perspectives, and weave in some expert commentary to embed your key learning points. 

Explore this branching scenario:

This branching scenario gives learners immediate feedback on each safety precaution, building competence and minimizing the likelihood of mistakes in the working environment.

Practical tips for Elucidat users:

• Use Elucidat’s Clips feature to play back the choices made by your learners and compare them against other outcomes or an expert viewpoint.
• Consider adding a link button to enable users to start the experience again, so they can work through it in a different way and learn by exploring.

Summary

Branching scenarios are an effective way to engage learners through challenges that provide an environment to safely practice their skills and knowledge. When done well, scenarios guide learners deeper into problem-solving activities that can help change behavior and improve outcomes.

We can help you do it! 

Feel inspired by these examples? Book a demo today to discuss how Elucidat can help you in creating transformative learning experiences.

Why stories are so important for learning, why we shouldn’t be scared of longer-form content, and why you don’t need to be J.K. Rowling to create some magic. In this #DesignersCut video, Kirstie Greany goes behind the scenes of our showcase example to offer up tips and storytelling techniques to help you turn a true tale into an engaging user experience.

Our storytelling showcase example shows how interactive and engaging stories don’t need to feature Oscar-worthy videos or be a branching scenario to draw people in. Instead, you can use low cost sound clips, scrolling pages, humor or emotion and a splash of subtle interaction to engage users at the start of a learning campaign. This example goes for depth and reflection over shallow, quick-hit content.

Why storytelling is a great strategy for elearning

Stories are part of what makes us human, and we have told and retold stories – forever! They have the ability to hook us in, connect with us emotionally, inspire us and be remembered. They are ultimately personal – in that they come from someone and are personalized. What you like, feel or take away from a story will be different than the next person.

That’s exactly what you want for learning: an experience that sticks in someone’s mind and connects with them and their experiences in a personal way, and yet they can share it and spread it socially. A double winner.

Whether used for the start of a learning campaign, the meat at the center of your development program or a standalone resource, stories have the power to help drive change and, at the very least, discussion. And that can only be a good thing!

For more on why your brain likes stories, check out this interview with Learning Psychologist Stella Collins.

Top storytelling tips and ideas for engaging learning

Storytelling tip 1: Try using audio clips to create an atmosphere

Each page in our example is loaded with a short audio clip that triggers when users land on it – be it the sound of a crowd, a train or snoring. These soundscape clips help immerse users in the story and give them a sense of place. Each one plays for about 10 seconds, not enough to get annoying. This digital storytelling technique is a great, simple and cost-effective way to add a burst of life and atmosphere to your content. It’s probably the only time we’d suggest using forced audio that users can’t control!

On the first page, we also trigger a short looping video clip of the crowd jumping up and down to add that extra slice of life to the content.

Storytelling tip 2. Create drama

As much as we’d like everything to go as planned in life, this doesn’t make for a very compelling story. Drama happens when there is conflict, an unforeseen circumstance, or a challenge that needs to be overcome. And actually, it’s these things that help us learn best.

So, instead of walking through a series of events where everything goes right, let your learners explore what happens when they don’t. Be sure to include plenty of obstacles within your storytelling that relates to real-world scenarios.

Storytelling tip 3. Don’t be afraid to go long

Amidst the drive for content to be shorter and snappier than ever, we can sometimes forget that some learning requires a deeper level of focus and reflection. Rather than creating shallow snippets of a story as a vehicle for a case study “quiz,” we wanted to show an example of longer form content being used to engage users more deeply and giving them a chance to reflect more at the end.

Now, obviously, our story is about a journey with a soft ethical dilemma threaded through. But yours could be a heavier workplace dilemma or event that really needs attention and consideration, before asking someone to reflect or answer a question…if that’s what you decide to do.

Storytelling tip 4. Use subtle, meaningful interactions…or even none at all

Interactions, used sparingly and subtly, often have more power than throwing a million clicks and drags at people. In the flow of our story, we have two gentle decision questions that ask users what they would do if they were in the same boat.

These don’t drive the direction of the story, unlike our other branching storytelling examples.

Instead, readers get a bit of feedback about their choice, and they then return to the story. You may decide not to have any interactions at all, which would also work.

On the final page, the reader is asked some rhetorical reflection questions. We play back how they answered the decision-based questions to help them with this. But no judgment is made, even though we could use Rules and Branching to take users to a “teaching moment.” The goal here isn’t to “teach,” but to invoke reflection and interest.

Storytelling tip 5. Experiment with layouts and fonts

We’ve used Elucidat’s Layout Designer to create a series of scrolling pages. Intertwining full width images with single and two-column layouts helps lead the eye down through the story, mimicking a kind of editorial or magazine article.

We’ve also used a variety of fonts and font sizes to add visual interest and draw attention to the key elements as users scroll. Use your fonts consistently and with purpose.

Storytelling tip 6. Be creative with your imagery

We’ve all seen dry elearning scenarios, full of unimaginative, repetitive images. (Think “office worker at desk”, “colleagues in a meeting”, or “employee looking stressed”). 

You don’t always need to be so literal with your image choices. In fact, less can be more…  

Sometimes, images that focus on environmental aspects can be very powerful, particularly when it comes to setting a scene or creating an atmosphere. 

In our example, a festival arena, blanketed with silhouettes of excited fans, and overcast with strobe lights, really helps you imagine what it feels like to be part of that crowd – and part of that story.

Or you might choose to focus on a single object; in the above example, instead of depicting the character crying, we showed a simple box of tissues, which carries the same meaning (by way of symbolism), but without the cheesy and inauthentic visual. 

Storytelling tip 7. Experiment with layouts and fonts

We’ve used Elucidat’s Layout Designer to create a series of scrolling pages. Intertwining full width images with single and two-column layouts helps lead the eye down through the story, mimicking a kind of editorial or magazine article.

We’ve also used a variety of fonts and font sizes to add visual interest and draw attention to the key elements as users scroll. Use your fonts consistently and with purpose.

Storytelling tip 8. Tell the truth (unless you tell fiction really well)

Unless you can tune into your inner J.K. Rowling and create a marvellous piece of fiction, you might find it easier to write about something true. You could ask others, such as an in-house expert, to write a story or record them talking about it, then turn it into something worthy of publication if it needs a helping hand. Or, pull together lots of snippets from people’s real workplace stories into a piece of fiction that’s realistic.

Using the techniques above, you’ll be able to give your story some added pizzazz that’ll make it a worthy read. You can also check out the examples of interactive documentary at the end of this blog, which show how personal stories can really shine.

Explore more elearning examples.

Storytelling tip 9. Develop a plot that resonates 

Think about what your target audience has in common and write your story with this in mind. 

In our example, we deliberately constructed a story that’s relatable to everyone. (We have all been on a holiday or trip that hasn’t gone according to plan!) But usually, you need to take more of a targeted approach. It’s all about establishing what will spark your learners’ interest… 

Ask, how are they affected by the subject matter? What will be most important to them? What problems do they want to avoid? What might they find surprising or intriguing? Who do they care about most? Who are they likely to empathize with?  

What matters to a senior manager may not be significant to a junior employee. And what might intrigue someone in the Finance department will probably be of little interest to someone in Customer Services. So find your “hook” – the thing that will intrigue your learners and incentivize them to invest their time and attention – and center your story around this.

Storytelling tip 10. Build believable characters

Great stories need great characters. In fact, even the most farfetched movie plots can take us on an emotional journey if we buy into the characters. 

Develop your characters and give them an authentic voice. Ask, what’s their background? What’s their agenda? What’s a typical thing for them to do or say?

Taking it further, your characters might have an “arch”, where they develop as the story unfolds; perhaps the brazen and cut-throat manager softens as they learn to connect better with their staff. Or perhaps the timid and unassuming new joiner finds their voice as they learn to confront some tricky situations. This is the difference between predictable caricatures and three-dimensional characters who mirror real life.

Storytelling tip 11. Consider point-of-view

Ask yourself, who should tell the story?

In our example, the story is written in first-person narration; through what resembles a series of diary entries, you can hear exactly how the protagonist is feeling, directly from the horse’s mouth. This can be a great trick if you want to create empathy with that character. Remember to stay in character, considering idiolect and dialect.

Other times, you may want to put the learner at the center and use a direct address. For instance, “You are about to embark on XYZ and need to ….” This makes them the protagonist and helps them feel more immersed in the learning experience. 

You could even use a combination of both in your elearning, like in our example, which jumps into direct address whenever there is a question for the learner, asking “What would you do?”

Alternatively, you could use third-person narration, in which you introduce person X, who is then confronted with a series of sticky situations to find their way out of. 

As writers, we often default to third-person narration, because it gives us the flexibility to jump between multiple characters and story threads. But just be aware that this can make learners feel less connected to the characters than if we were to use first- or second-person narration. 

Take it further 

Using the techniques above, you’ll be able to develop your storytelling skills and give your story some added pizzazz. 

You can also check out the examples of interactive documentaries at the end of this blog, which show how personal stories can really shine.

Explore more elearning examples.

Other ideas for storytelling in elearning

Use storytelling to launch a learning campaign

Our storytelling example is a great way to start a learning campaign. Use stories to entice people in and add intrigue. If your story isn’t overtly advertised as “learning,” users may now be primed to take their experience further and use some more formal learning resources. Track where they go next, then dangle the next suggested pieces of content before them.

Incorporate a range of media options

We’ve used a text-based approach with imagery and music, but you could create an audio story, video story, a slideshow with voiceover, a fully fledged animation like the one used in the Finding the Truth example or just really well-written words and nothing else.

Explore nuance with interactive video 

As we’ve discussed, it’s often best to keep interactions to a minimum when it comes to storytelling. However, if your subject matter is very nuanced or involves lots of decision points, you may want to take a different route and use interactive video. 

With interactive video, you can play out situations where there isn’t always a correct course of action, or where specific factors need to be taken into account. 

Here is an example of great storytelling using interactive video.

Start a conversation with social polls

With social media now an integral part of our personal and working lives, adding a social element to your elearning helps modernize your content. This can easily be achieved through social poll questions. 

Social polls ask your learners to answer a multiple-choice question, and then compare their response to that of their peers. You can interject these types of questions throughout a story or scenario to get learners to reflect deeper on their decisions and consider the gray areas.

You can see an example of this approach below, where the learner responds to the scenario, and then sees how other people responded to the same question. 

3 amazing examples of digital storytelling and documentary that inspire us

1. Rebuilding Haiti by Rue89 – threads stories, factual content and interactive decision-making questions into a cohesive and in-depth story of how the people of Haiti rebuilt their lives
2. World War One by the Guardian – uses mesmerizing soundscapes, interactive maps, archive video footage and the voices of ten historians to tell the story of the war
3. Immigrant Nation by iNation – a social, collaborative project where users can add their own immigration story, which is archived among an exploratory archive of others’ personal tales

Whether you’re new to online learning courses or simply looking to boost the impact of your current workplace training, it’s useful to understand how to create elearning training modules that deliver maximum impact.

It can be difficult to strike the right balance between being informative and educational within your training modules, while also remaining engaging for your users to deliver your course in a way that’s easily digestible. Here, we’ll explore what it takes to build effective and impactful training modules for workplace elearning. Read on to discover more about creating corporate elearning modules.

1. What is a training module
2. The steps to take when building a training module 
3. How to leverage Elucidat when creating training modules

What is a training module?

A training module is a segment of an overall digital corporate elearning course that focuses on a specific topic or objective. Think of training modules like a chapter of a book. Each module (or chapter) acts as a step in a learner’s journey, each time edging closer to completing the overall course. 

Training modules can vary in format, from interactive videos and quizzes to text rich modules or demonstrations. Ideally, it’s best to incorporate a blend of different training module types to ensure you’re catering for different learning styles and promoting employee engagement throughout. Let’s take a look at the best practices for building training modules as part of your corporate elearning course.

How to create an engaging online training module

Wondering how to create online training modules? Here are our recommended steps to follow when building the most effective online workplace training modules:

Step 1: Establish your training objectives

The most important step comes right at the beginning and that’s understanding the challenge! Set objectives on what you need your training to achieve. 

To do this, it’s important that you understand the problems that your teams are coming up against, the priority areas that need addressing and what an ideal outcome looks like. That way, you can begin to work backward and get to the crux of what you need your users to learn as a result of your training course. 

Once you’ve established this, you can start to break this down into topics and map out the different modules you need to create. For each training module, be sure to set SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) so you can measure how they perform and make iterations at a later stage, if necessary.

Step 2: Define your audience

It’s vital that you understand who exactly the training is for so that you can pitch it at the right level: training that’s too difficult or simplistic will cause a drop-off in engagement and participation. 

Take some time to get to grips with your audience so you can establish an appropriate tone of voice and difficulty level. Depending on your audience, you may need to break certain topics into multiple corporate elearning modules, while for others, one module may be sufficient, so be mindful of this in the planning stage. 

When creating elearning courses, consider whether there are any specific learning styles that may yield better participation or engagement rates from your audience. For example, if your audience is particularly time-poor, it may be worth creating microlearning modules – and if your audience has previously demonstrated a lack of engagement with elearning modules, consider integrating gamified elements to boost employee participation.

Step 3: Decide on the right content format

There’s no such thing as one size fits all when it comes to building online training modules; some formats may work well for some topics but not for others. Engage Subject Matter Experts at this stage to determine the best content format for each module.

We’ve also compiled a breakdown of different formats from our showcase page to help you decide:

Scenario-based learning

This type of online training module is great for complex projects that are made up of lots of different aspects. Scenario-based learning allows the learner to explore different situations and reflect on the actions they would take and the impact this would have.

Best for:

• Allowing employees to test real-life scenarios in a simulated environment
• Creating an immersive learning environment
• Challenging your learners to think independently and react to different scenarios

Check out this example of scenario based learning here.

Video

Video is one of the most engaging training module types and is great for how-to type content. Video is also an effective medium for conveying stories and evoking emotion, which can make it a good option for HR-related training. 

Best for:

• Presenting information in an immersive, emotive, and engaging way
• Quick employee onboarding
• Product demos

Check out this example of video training modules here. 

Microlearning

Microlearning is where topics are broken down into short, bitesize online training modules, allowing for greater flexibility and higher learner engagement. It can be a useful format for making large complex topics into easier-to-consume chunks of information.

Best for:

• Time poor employees
• Conducting training little and often
• Focusing on core messages and takeaways 

Check out an example microlearning training module in action, 

Quizzes

Utilizing quiz modules within your corporate elearning course can inject an element of fun and transform potentially boring content into an engaging gaming experience. Quizzes allow learners to put their knowledge to the test and build on their performance throughout the training, creating a sense of achievement as they progress through the elearning modules.

Best for:

• Challenging your learners
• Rewarding and incentivizing users with leaderboards and badges
• Tracking how well your employees have understood a particular topic

Check out an example quiz training module, created using an Elucidat template.

Personalized training modules

Personalized training modules use branching scenarios to personalize the content, based on the responses of the user. It’s an effective way to ensure that when you create elearning content, it is tailored to different individuals and is relevant and useful to them. 

Best for:

• Assessing skips gaps
• Delivering the most relevant content
• Self-reflective learning

Check out this example personalized training module here. 

Step 4: Create your online training module template

Once you’ve decided which workplace training module is the best fit, it’s time to build your online training module template using your chosen authoring tool. Either build from scratch or from pre-existing elearning design templates. Editing an existing template can save you time and help to ensure consistent branding throughout. 

Elucidat’s ready-made Templates feature automatically recommends the best elearning module templates for your project based on your learning objectives to help you get the best results Choose from 25+ expertly designed templates with best-practice advice baked in and create your content with confidence.  

Book a demo to take it for a spin!

Step 5: Test and test again 

Before launching your online training module, it’s critical that you test it on a sample audience and generate feedback from other stakeholders. Testing will help to identify any potential snags or gaps in the training that may need addressing before it’s pushed out to your intended audience. Consult your Subject Matter Experts again at this point who can advise on any additional content to include or where existing content can be improved.

Collect feedback from your test audience on their general experience, the usability of it, and what they liked the most and the least. Was it easy to follow? Did they find it engaging? This can inform any improvements that can enhance the user experience or make the content easier to digest. 

Step 6: Upload and launch your online training module

Once you’ve implemented any changes from the testing stage, it’s ready to go! Now you can upload your module to your LMS and officially set it live for your learners to access. 

It’s important that you review how your training module performs against your SMART goals on a regular basis to understand whether further improvements can be made, or if it’s worth creating supporting modules that can help employees top up their knowledge. 

Ready to start creating high-quality online training modules? Then try this certified course in engaging elearning design – you’ll learn the six steps to creating interactive online training your learners will love.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to implement the right process for creating engaging elearning check out this training design process guide.

Creating training modules with Elucidat

Produce high-quality training modules aligned with your goals and needs up to 4x faster with Elucidat. Leverage our Learning Accelerator feature to access our extensive template library and get inspiration for your next project.

Ready to create engaging training modules? Let’s get started! Request a free demo today.

Let’s face it, the days of sitting through stale lectures and drab training materials for hours on end are over. Today’s employees are bored of outdated training programs and need something more exciting to get the learning juices flowing. This is where interactive elearning comes into play. Here, we’ll explore how to make elearning interactive, types of interactivity in elearning, best practices for designing and implementing it, and much more.

What is interactive elearning?

Interactive elearning is a dynamic and engaging way of learning that allows learners to actively participate in the process. Gone are the days of sitting, listening and, frankly, being overwhelmed by information and jargon. This is learning by doing. Interactive elearning is all about creating a fun and immersive learning experience.

This type of elearning leans on a variety of elements, such as branching scenarios, interactive videos, and even simulations. These elements help learners to stay focused and better retain the information at hand.

What are the benefits of interactive elearning?

More than a buzzword or elearning trend, interactive corporate training can be a game-changer in the right hands. Here’s a look at some of the benefits of utilizing this concept.

1. Engagement and knowledge retention: As mentioned, interactive materials are a great way to make learning stick. With a dynamic, ever-shifting array of elements at hand, learners will never slip into autopilot. Keeping them engaged is half the battle when trying to get a message across. Ultimately, you can create interactive elearning that’s fun, and provides a rewarding experience to your employees. 
   
2. Enhanced collaboration: Interactive elearning can also improve collaboration and teamwork among learners. It facilitates social learning, which allows learners to share knowledge and collaborate with others, promoting a sense of community and teamwork within the organization.
   
3. Risk-free environment: Elearning interactivity has the capabilities of replicating real-world situations. Relatable simulations encourage decisiveness in a safe environment without the risks that could arise in real scenarios. 
   • For example, interactive simulations are used in the medical field to put learners in life and death decision making situations. This allows experience to be garnered without being thrown into the deep end in real life. Simulations like this results in learners who are better prepared for situations they may be thrust into.
     
4. Real-time feedback: With interactive elearning, learners can receive real-time feedback on their progress, helping them to identify areas of strength and weakness as they navigate through the course. The interactivity aspect means that they can make improvements on the fly and try out different responses to areas that they’re struggling with. 
   • The best interactive elearning examples will guide learners along the path by providing status updates or highlighting incorrect responses. This feedback can be used to tailor their learning experience, resulting in more efficient and effective training.
     
5. Flexibility: One of the biggest advantages of interactive elearning is its flexibility. Learners can access the material at any time, from any location, and at their own pace. This makes it easier for learners to balance their work and personal lives with their training.

What makes interactive elearning different from traditional elearning?

Traditional elearning often delivers content in a linear, passive format – think reading slides, watching a video, and ticking a quiz box. Interactive elearning flips the model by putting learners in control.

Instead of just consuming information, they’re doing something with it. And that’s the key to better outcomes – and better learning experiences.

Types of interactive elearning

Interactive elearning is a catch-all term for an array of different elearning methods. There are many types of tools and techniques available to help learners engage with the material. Here are the types most worthy of discussion:

Gamification

Gamification involves incorporating game-like elements into the learning experience. This can include things like leaderboards, badges, and interactive quizzes that help learners to stay motivated and engaged. Gamification can be applied to a variety of learning contexts, from compliance training to soft skills development.

Check out this interactive quiz example

Simulations and scenarios

Simulation-based training involves creating a virtual environment in which learners can practice real-world skills and problem-solving. For example, a sales simulation might allow learners to practice sales techniques in a safe and controlled environment. This type of interactive elearning is particularly effective for developing skills that require hands-on experience.

Try this sales simulation example

Interactive videos

Interactive videos are a great way to engage learners and promote knowledge retention. They can include things like quizzes, branching scenarios, and annotations that allow learners to interact with the content. Interactive videos are often used for compliance training and soft skills development.

Dive into this immersive branching video example

Virtual reality

Virtual reality allows learners to experience immersive, 360-degree environments that simulate real-world scenarios. This type of interactive elearning can be used for everything from safety training to customer service training. Virtual reality is particularly effective for training in high-risk or high-stress environments.

Augmented reality

Augmented reality involves overlaying digital information in the real world. For example, an augmented reality training program for mechanics might involve overlaying instructions and diagrams onto a physical engine. Augmented reality is a great way to provide learners with contextual information and guidance.

5 tips for designing interactive elearning

When it comes to designing effective interactive corporate elearning, there are several key factors to consider. Here are some expert tips for creating engaging and interactive elearning experiences:

1. Identify your learning objectives

The first step of any effective elearning program is identifying your learning objectives. What do you want your learners to be able to do or know after completing the training? Once you’ve identified your objectives, you can design your interactive elements to meet those goals.

2. Select appropriate interactive elements

As outlined, there are many types of interactive features that can be incorporated. When selecting interactive elements, it’s important to choose tools and techniques that align with your learning objectives and that will resonate with your audience. Be sure to identify the ways in which your employees learn and apply your methods to them.

3. Create engaging content

One of the key reasons you’d turn to interactive elearning is keeping learners engaged and motivated. To create engaging content, it’s important to use a variety of media and techniques, including graphics, videos, audio, and interactive elements. Incorporating storytelling and real-world examples can also help to make the content more relatable and interesting.

4. Feedback and evaluation

Feedback is a crucial component of any elearning program. It helps learners to understand their strengths and weaknesses and to identify areas for improvement. Providing frequent and constructive feedback can help to keep learners engaged and motivated, and can also help to improve knowledge retention and transfer.

5. Incorporate social learning

Social learning involves using collaboration and discussion to help learners build knowledge and skills. Incorporating social learning elements, such as group activities and discussion forums, can help to create a sense of community among learners and can also help to reinforce key concepts and skills.

How to implement interactive elearning

Implementing interactive corporate elearning can appear complex, but with the right strategies and tools, it can be a highly effective way of improving training outcomes. Here are a few tips for implementing interactive elements into your training program. 

Choose the right software

It goes without saying, elearning authoring tools and the right LMS can make or break your training program. When selecting your tools, it’s important to consider factors such as ease of use, scalability, and the ability to track and report on learner progress. Look for authoring tools and an LMS that supports the types of interactive elearning activities you plan to use and that integrates well with your existing technology infrastructure.

Read more: Top elearning LMS platforms

Measure training effectiveness

To ensure that your interactive elearning program is meeting your learning objectives, it’s important to measure its effectiveness. This might involve tracking learner engagement and completion rates, monitoring progress and performance, or conducting assessments to measure knowledge retention and transfer.

Addressing challenges in implementation

Implementing interactive elearning can present a range of challenges, from technical issues to resistance from learners. To overcome these challenges, it’s important to have a plan in place for addressing issues as they arise. This might involve providing technical support, addressing learner concerns through communication and feedback, or adjusting the program to better meet learner needs.

Best practices for interactive elearning

In order to create effective interactive elearning, you need to adhere to some best practices. These are in place to ensure that your content is fully optimized for the learner. Here, there’s a handful of best practices to keep in mind when designing interactive elearning. 

• Incorporate storytelling – Stories have been used for centuries to teach important lessons and convey complex ideas in a way that resonates with learners. By incorporating storytelling elements into your elearning, you can make it more memorable and engaging for your learners, with a narrative to follow throughout the materials.
• Use real-life scenarios – One of the most effective ways to help learners apply new knowledge and skills is to present them with real-life scenarios that they might encounter in their work. By providing learners with opportunities to practice their skills in realistic contexts, you can help them to build confidence and competence.
• Personalizing the experience – No two learners are alike, and everyone has different learning preferences and needs. By personalizing the learning experience, you can help learners to feel more invested in the learning process. This might involve providing customized content based on learners’ interests and goals or using adaptive learning technologies to adjust the pace and difficulty of the learning experience to match each learner’s needs.
• Accessibility – In today’s diverse and inclusive workplace, it’s important to ensure that elearning is accessible to all learners, regardless of factors such as disabilities. This might involve providing closed captioning for video content, using alt text for images, or ensuring that the elearning platform is compatible with assistive technologies. Similarly, it will need to be within reach for global employees. 

Choosing Elucidat for interactive elearning

Interactive elearning offers numerous benefits for organizations looking to upskill their workforce and drive business success. If you’re looking to design an interactive elearning course, you need an authoring tool that can handle interactive elements. Enter Elucidat.

Elucidat’s authoring tool is designed to produce impactful elearning experiences – check out our showcase for inspiring examples of interactive elearning. If you’re ready to see how we can help you create interactive elearning, book a demo today.