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.

Developing training in large organizations brings together a lot of different people. Getting everyone engaged at the right time, in the right way, is key to producing quality learning experiences at scale. But this isn’t always straightforward. If you’re not careful, budgets spiral, deadlines slip and quality goes out the window. But don’t worry, our guide to streamlining your training design process is here to keep you on track!

Understanding the training design process 

ADDIE, Agile, Waterfall… there are plenty of project management models to choose from. But which works best for developing training? We observed the varied processes used by our customers, took the best bits, and created a 5-step process with impact at the center.

We call these 5 steps the 5Cs Framework for successful elearning:

1. Capture – start with a clear plan: Understanding the problem, so you can shape your solution.
2. Conceptualize – lead with a prototype: Turning what you know about your audience’s needs into a vision for an effective training program.
3. Create – build with confidence: Starting to build in your authoring platform with a streamlined, efficient development process.
4. Cultivate – improve and refine: Using data to improve projects and inform strategy.
5. Commercialize – deliver better ROI: Making sure your product works for your business.

Defining roles and responsibilities

A streamlined training design process will help you plan, design, create, optimize, and commercialize your training. But even the best plan will fail if your project team isn’t onboard. 

Clearly defined roles are essential for keeping everyone aligned and empowered to bring their best to the table. For example:

• You and your team are the L&D professionals. Will you get hands-on or play a supportive role, guiding others to create impactful online courses?
• Stakeholders can be a broad group, including anyone who has an interest in your project’s successful delivery. From kick-off to sign-off, who needs to provide feedback and approval at each stage?
• Your internal experts are essential to every learning project. Will your Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) just provide training content or could they build elearning courses for themselves (with the right support and collaborative tool)? 

5 step guide to streamlining your training design process

Let’s take a closer look at what’s involved for your project team at each step of the training design process.

1. Capture – Start with a clear plan

Every project is different. Rather than rushing in and risking rework later, take the time to set a solid foundation. 

• Define your training goals
  You can’t create an effective training and development solution if you don’t understand the problem you’re trying to solve. Conduct a needs analysis. Define the current situation and the desired impact of the training.
  
• Understand your audience
  Before you start your training development, take a closer look at who will take your course. Create learner profiles. A good understanding of your target audience and their learning environment will enable you to create more relevant and effective learning content.
  
• Set measurable goals
  Work with your stakeholders upfront to decide on the goals you’re going to measure for your project. Elearning can generate a lot of data, but data doesn’t always mean insight. So, think about what you want to discover and identify the relevant metrics upfront.

• Identify barriers
  While you can’t predict every curveball you’ll face; some challenges will be clear from the start. Compressed timelines, limited budgets and resource constraints are common barriers to any project’s success. Identify strategies to navigate these barriers at the start and you’re more likely to overcome them.

Ready to get clear on what your project is trying to achieve? Check out our resource on how to Capture – start with a clear plan.

2. Conceptualize – lead with a prototype

With training goals clear in your mind, it’s time to generate some ideas for how to meet them. For best results, do this in collaboration so your project team is aligned and moving forward with a shared vision.

Here’s some approaches you could take:

• Brainstorming:
  Generate lots of different ideas before narrowing your focus to one solution. Avoid looking at the detailed course content. Think about what types of activities, experiences, and tools will work for your learners and goals.
• Action mapping:
  Build out your solutions based on competency and change with Cathy Moore’s Action Mapping. Start with your learning objectives, then work backward to determine the actions learners need to take to achieve these goals. 

Once you’ve defined your training solution, get prototyping to check that you’re heading in the right direction. 

Don’t prototype everything. Focus on the flow and learning design. If you’re designing a blended learning solution, show how the different delivery methods fit together, including face-to-face or virtual classroom-based training. 

For elearning, you can demonstrate your approach with a:

• Wireframe which sets out layouts and sample content, without getting caught up in styling.
• Prototype which provides an interactive walkthrough with visual styling. Remember, you don’t have to start with a blank canvas. Your authoring tool may have ready-made templates which can create a prototype in just a few clicks. 

Top tip: Don’t make prototyping a big deal – do it early, rapidly, and collaboratively. Developing a prototype saves time by identifying issues sooner and providing a reusable template you can build from. 

Want to find out more about how you can do this? Check out our resource on how to Conceptualize – lead with a prototype.

3. Create – Build with confidence

Having confirmed your thinking with a prototype, you can dive into developing the detailed content. After all that needs analysis and ideas generation, this stage may appear comparatively straightforward. However, it’s actually where a lot of elearning falls down. 

Here are some simple actions you can take to keep your training on track:

• Start with your design model:
  Seeing this stage as just about populating the screen with detail is the path to ineffective learning. Reframe how your project team think about their content. Use your prototype as the blueprint and see how the content can support this learning experience.

• Collaborate in your authoring tool
  Invite your SMEs to add their content directly into your approved prototype. Include short instructions to this framework, guiding them on the type of content that will be effective for these interactions. Work with them in real-time to finesse wording and support them with visuals and practical activities.

• Work iteratively
  If you build everything in one go and then gather feedback, you risk finding out something isn’t working and your effort is wasted. Add in regular check in points to gather feedback from your key stakeholders and some end users. For example, you might build out topic 1, gather feedback, and make changes before building topic 2. 

• Set up structured testing
  It may not be the most exciting part of a project, but Quality Assurance (QA) can make or break your digital learning. QA as you go, but always do a full check before you release your elearning.

Top tip: Don’t forget your L&D best practice in the rush to deliver! If you’re going to create engaging content, your team needs to stay focused on delivering a quality learning experience during this stage. For a quick reminder, check out our Designing quality elearning guide and How to create engaging elearning course.

Ready to streamline your authoring process while still delivering quality? Check out our resource on how to Create – Build with confidence.

4. Cultivate – Improve and refine

Your training design process doesn’t end when you upload your elearning to your Learning Management System (LMS). One of the big benefits of digital learning is that data dashboards can help identify how you’re meeting your business goals. The key is to balance data about users and performance by:

• Tracking engagement:
  Most L&D teams measure completion rates. It’s a great start, but it’s not the full picture. Explore the range of analytics your authoring tool offers. For example: 

• Most visited topics: Which topics within your elearning are most popular. This could indicate your audience is actively looking for support in certain areas. 
• Common incorrect answers: Which questions your audience are getting right, and which are tripping them up. This could indicate knowledge gaps that impact performance. 
• Popularity in audience groups: Which countries / departments / locations are engaging most with the elearning. This could indicate where you need to do another round of promotion.

• Measuring impact
  Next, measure the impact your training has had on the business. Here are three steps to help you identify your course’s impact on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
  1. Review your goal and the business metric you plan to impact. Identify a benchmark to measure against. 
  2. When you’ve reached significant engagement levels with your elearning, measure your key metric again and compare it to your benchmark. 
  3. Use what you’ve learned from your engagement data. For example, if you’ve seen more engagement and more improvement in the US compared to the UK, get UK managers involved in promoting the elearning again.

Armed with this information, you can learn, improve, and update your training. You can also take forward any learning into your next project. 

Explore how you can do this our resource on how to Cultivate – Improve and refine.

5. Commercialize – deliver better ROI

Having measured the impact of your training, you can work out whether your streamlined training process has delivered Return on Investment (ROI). A traditional ROI calculation takes the benefit (or return) of your investment and divides it by the cost (or investment) you spent. However, this is quite simplistic. 

That’s why we look at the three factors we see at the heart of designing a training program that’s effective:

1. Scalability: The reach that your training has achieved.
2. Quality: The engagement and performance impact your elearning had.
3. Speed to market: Whether the training project was delivered in a timely manner.

Want to find out more about demonstrating your value? Check out our resource on how to Commercialize – deliver better ROI.

Choose the right authoring tools

If you’re going to create a training plan that’s efficient and effective at every stage, you need an authoring tool with the right capabilities. For example:

• Content import: The days of tedious copy and paste content transfer are gone if you can import your PowerPoints into your tool.
• Ready to go templates: Speed up your elearning production with templates that already have design thinking and layouts in place.
• Easy collaboration: With a cloud-based tool, you can build and review all in one place. People can work on the same project at the same time, while permissions allow you to stay in control.

Here’s a quick overview of some of the most popular tools you could consider:

• Elucidat – Helps teams to create impactful elearning quickly and easily by unlocking expertise from any employee.
• Adobe Captivate – Gives experienced authors the power to create high-quality content.
• Articulate Storyline 360 – Ideal for individual users who prefer PowerPoint, with an added layer of customization.
• Articulate Rise 360 – Users with access to Articulate 360 can produce simple elearning courses fairly quickly.
• Gomo – Best for experienced learning designers that are not looking for advanced customization.
• Lectora – Gives traditional, capable authors an effective tool for producing HTML5 content.
• Adapt – Designed for technical authors who are looking to design bespoke HTML5 authoring through back-end design.
• DominKnow – Perfect for teams whose focus is on responsive screen capture and software simulation.
• Easygenerator – Authoring software designed for learning teams who need to create elearning content, easily.
• iSpring Suite – Desktop PowerPoint-based tool that’s a great option for novice learning designers who don’t have to worry about updating content regularly.
• Evolve – Built for teams who need to collaborate together and don’t mind putting in the time to learn how to use it.
• Camtasia – Video editing suite most commonly used for screen recordings, tutorials or product demos.

Read a full comparison in our review of the top elearning authoring tools.

Conclusion

A streamlined training design process can make late feedback, missed deadlines and budget bloat a thing of the past. That’s why we took the best bits from common design models and created a 5-step process with impact at the center.

1. Capture – Start with a clear plan: Put time in upfront to make sure the solution you design is meeting the real business need.
2. Conceptualize – Lead with a prototype: Don’t rush ahead with a solution, generate ideas in collaboration with your SMEs and try them out in a prototype.
3. Create – Build with confidence: Use collaborative and iterative ways of working that involve your SMEs, stakeholders and end users so you’re more likely to hit the target.
4. Cultivate – Improve and refine: Explore the data and analytics your tool offers to tweak and enhance your elearning.
5. Commercialize – deliver better ROI: Measure the impact your elearning has had on your business goals so you can learn and increase your impact.

Find out more about how you can use these steps to deliver business impact with our 5C resources, elearning best practice guide, and engaging elearning design course.

Want to start testing this training design process? Book a demo of Elucidat to get started with a free trial.

Embarking on the journey of online learning presents numerous advantages – it’s swift, adaptable, and cost-effective. Yet, the true value lies in its ability to make a significant impact. To ensure that the elearning content you develop aligns seamlessly with your business objectives, explore our comprehensive guide on how to create an elearning course that resonates and drives lasting results.

Why create an elearning course?

The digital transformation of the workplace has continued to accelerate since the pandemic. In the world of corporate training, online learning has never been so in demand. And it’s no surprise, when you look at the benefits it can create. 

• Reducing costs: Whether it’s printed material or face-to-face classroom learning, traditional training formats can be expensive. Identifying when these types of training can become digital will make your L&D budget go further.
• Saving time: Time is precious. On average, employees only have around 20 minutes a week for learning at work (Bersin & Forbes). If it’s a short digital module, it’s much easier to fit into their day. A digital course is also easier to deliver and maintain as busy L&D teams can automate training management tasks.
• Improving performance: Create bespoke elearning content in-house and you can respond more quickly to new development needs. Employees are able to quickly and easily access the learning they need when they need it. And this results in improved performance and greater productivity.
• Lowering environmental impact: Reducing the carbon footprint of a business is a key part of every corporate responsibility strategy. Going digital lowers the environmental impact of L&D. Elearning involves less travel and resources than traditional face-to-face and paper-based training. 

Where to start when creating an elearning course

Want to maximize these benefits? Don’t just rush ahead and create an course. If you’re going to design a digital solution with real impact, you need:

•  The right learning approach
•  An effective development process
•  The input of your internal experts

Choosing the right learning approach

There isn’t just one way to approach digital learning. So, before you start creating an online course, ask yourself these key questions:

• Is elearning the right approach?
  An effective corporate online learning strategy will include a wide variety of digital assets. From simple PDF checklists and quick selfie videos to interactive webinars and online coaching sessions, there are plenty of approaches to choose from. Make sure that elearning is the best way to meet your development need. 
• Should it be part of a blend?
  Elearning doesn’t have to be a standalone course. Divide your elearning up into more manageable chunks. This microlearning can integrate with other digital assets and face-to-face formats as a part of a flexible blended learning journey.
  
• Does this content already exist?
  Videos, blogs, journals, articles… there’s lots of great content on the web. And that’s before taking into account all the digital learning your organization has produced. Before you spend time creating elearning, make sure there isn’t something out there that will do the job just as well, or even better. Content curation could save you time and increase your impact.
• What’s the best way to create your elearning?
  If you decide that elearning is the answer, you need to consider how you’ll deliver your learning solution. There are three main approaches you could take:
  
  • Purchase off-the-shelf elearning: Some areas of training are relevant regardless of the sector or organization (for example, health and safety, information security and customer service). Off the shelf elearning can be a quick and cost-effective solution to these training needs. However, it won’t be tailored to your organization or learners, which may reduce its impact.
  • Engage with an agency or contractor: Expert learning course design agencies can take care of every aspect of your online course creation. They will deliver a high-end training course tailored to your target audience. However, using agencies can be expensive and time consuming.
  • Create elearning courses inhouse: Creating your own elearning inhouse using an authoring tool, lets you and your colleagues design a course with content that’s relevant to your organization and learners. You can make use of interactions and activities that have been specifically designed for effective online delivery. Read our elearning best practices guide.

Since you’ve found yourself reading this blog, it’s likely you’re interested in this third option. If you’re going to build your own elearning, make sure you have an authoring tool that’s right for you and your team, and creates the user experience you’re after.

Using an effective development process

Developing digital learning in large organizations can involve a lot of people – all with different priorities, experience and skills. Providing the right level of support is key to producing quality learning at scale. A clear process will help you stay on track with your project plan while empowering everyone to bring their best to the table.

3 common development process models

Although there isn’t one right process, there are common models that L&D teams use. You need to choose one that works for your organization and team. Here’s a quick overview of some of these models:

• ADDIE is a longstanding elearning development process. It stands for Analyze, Design, Development, Implement and Evaluate. In its traditional form, it guides everyone through one stage at a time. You can’t move on until you receive “sign off”.
• Agile started off as a software development process. At its core is the idea that small multi-skilled teams work collaboratively in “sprints” – short time frames of 1-4 weeks – to develop, share, test and iterate a solution.
• 5Cs framework has been created by learning designers for elearning projects specifically. The 5Cs are:
  • Capture – start with a clear plan: Understand the problem, so you can shape your solution.
  • Conceptualize – lead with a prototype: Turn what you know about your audience’s needs into a vision for effective and engaging learning.
  • Create – build with confidence: Start building in your authoring platform with a streamlined, efficient development process.
  • Cultivate – improve and refine: Use data to improve projects and inform strategy.
  • Commercialize – deliver better ROI: Make sure your product works for your business.

Find out more about the steps you can take for successful online learning in our elearning best practice guide.

Getting input from your internal experts

With your learning approach and process in place, you’re setting out on the right path. But even the best thought out plan will fail to deliver, if it’s not supported by effective collaboration. Developing impactful digital learning can’t be done alone. So, who should you involve?

• L&D: You and your team are the learning experts. You can get hands-on and create elearning yourself or play a supportive role, guiding authors to create online courses that deliver business impact.
• Learning designers: If your organization employs dedicated learning designers, then they will have the skills to build a course that is relevant, engaging, and effective elearning content.
• Stakeholders: A stakeholder is someone who has an interest in your course’s successful delivery. This can be a broad group and include senior management, department heads, managers and trainers. From kick off to sign off, your key business partners’ feedback and approval is essential.
• Subject Matter Experts (SMEs): Internal experts are essential to every learning project. SMEs make sure your learning is relevant, up to date and engaging. Without them identifying or creating credible examples, case studies and stories is almost impossible. 

Collaborating effectively with these colleagues will ensure your digital learning project goes smoothly and delivers results. Once everyone is onboard, you can even start to increase their involvement. Rather than just providing course content, SMEs can become elearning authors. With the right support and collaborative tool, they can input content directly into your authoring platform. 

4 steps to create an effective elearning course

Building a course alone or working in collaboration? Keeping it simple or creating customized interactions? Adding audio or video? It can be easy to get overwhelmed by all the things you need to consider when creating an elearning course. But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with some simple steps to deliver effective learning experiences. 

1. Capture – Start with a clear plan

Rather than diving in and risking rework later, take the time to plan your course. 

• Define your training goals and objectives
  You can’t begin your elearning design until you’ve understood the problem you’re trying to solve. Conduct a needs analysis. This analysis can range from a simple interview to broader data collection. Define what the current situation is and what the desired impact of the training is. Make sure that it really is a skill or performance gap that training can fill, and not a wider issue such as process or communication.
• Understand your audience
  One size doesn’t fit all. Before you get started with training development, take a closer look at the people who are going to take your course. Create learner profiles. From basic demographics to the specifics of the job, an understanding of your target audience will enable you to create more relevant and usable learning content.
• Set measurable goals
  The purpose of all elearning is to bring about change. But how do you know if it’s been successful? Work with stakeholders upfront to decide on the goals you’re going to measure for your project. Elearning can generate a lot of data, but data doesn’t always mean insight. Only by carefully considering what you want to discover and identifying the relevant metrics and benchmarks, can you measure the success of your project.

2. Conceptualize – lead with a prototype

With the goals of your elearning clear in your mind, it’s time to set about generating some ideas for how they can be met. Don’t do this alone. You’ll get the best results if you do it in collaboration with your team and SMEs.  

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is great for coming up with lots of different ideas before narrowing your focus to one solution. Try to avoid looking at the course content. Instead ask everyone to think about what types of activities, experiences, tools and tips are most likely to work for your learners and goals. Here are a few techniques you could use to do this:

• Mindmapping: Explore ideas freely and sometimes collaboratively, primarily through text
• Storyboarding: Set out a sequence of potential pages or videos, like a comic strip
• Cathy Moore’s Action Mapping: Build out solutions based on building competency and change

Things you could consider when brainstorming include:

• Learning journey: Can you outline the full learning experience? How does your elearning fit with communications, other learning material and face-to-face activities?
• Learning approaches: Are there any tried and tested learning approaches which would meet your needs e.g. personalization, scenario based learning, gamification or social learning?
• Assessment: How will you check your learner’s understanding? Do you need a formal assessment at the end? Will you include an upfront diagnostic to serve or direct the learning to relevant content?
• Media: Will audio or video help bring your learning to life?

Prototyping

Prototyping is a crucial step. It allows you to check that your solution is heading in the right direction. You don’t have to prototype everything. It could be one piece of microlearning or 5 minutes of your 20-minute topic. You can do this with a:

• Wireframe: Sets out layouts and sample content, without getting caught up in styling
• Prototype: Visual styling and interactive walkthroughs of an idea to test reactions

Don’t make prototyping a big deal – do it early, do it regularly, do it collaboratively. Even if you’ve worked up ideas on paper with a wireframe, always look to build out some interactive content for your SMEs and stakeholders to try out and review.

And remember, you don’t have to start from a blank canvas. Your authoring tool may have ready-made templates which can create an effective prototype in just a few clicks. You can also seek inspiration from top elearning examples, many of which are available for re-use.

3. Create – Build with confidence

Once prototyping has confirmed your thinking, it’s time to get stuck into developing the detailed content. This stage can be seen as the “easy” step. Your design is pinned down, so you might think it’s just a case of writing the content, creating the graphics and bringing it all together in your authoring tool. Simple, right? But this is where a lot elearning falls down. So, how can you avoid some of the common pitfalls?

Start with your design model

Whether it’s copying and pasting dry content or opening the floodgates to everything your SMEs know, thinking your task is just populating the screen with detail is the path to ineffective learning. Instead of focusing on content, start with your design model. Use your prototyped learning approach as the blueprint. Your content is there to support the learning experience you’re setting out to create.

Collaborate in your authoring tool

SMEs are content experts not learning designers. To help them produce quality elearning, invite your SMEs to add their content directly into your amended and approved prototype. It already has the activities and interactions built in. Add short instructions to help them provide the type of information you need. This will help your SMEs include effective content into that framework rather than simply adding paragraphs of text. You can work on it with them at the same time, finessing wording and supporting them with visuals and practical activities.

Get agile with your build

If you build everything in one go and then gather feedback, you risk finding various parts of your elearning aren’t working as you had intended. Borrow from Agile and work in sprints with regular check in points. Here are a few examples of how you could break down your build process:

• Set up your overall styling and navigation elements
• Set up any elements that will be replicated and re-used – e.g. topic structures, menus and/or pages you will re-use
• Build out one topic first – check in on feedback and make changes
• Build out the other topics in parallel or one at a time – checking in on feedback as they are completed and making changes

These regular check in points allow you to gather feedback from your key stakeholders and some sample end users along the way.

Don’t forget to QA

It may not be the most exciting part of a project, but Quality Assurance (QA) can make or break your digital learning. QA as you go, but always do a full check before you release your elearning.

• Do several QA reviews: It’s not possible to review everything at once. If you’re focusing on testing links and buttons, you’re not paying attention to the flow of content and the sense of the narrative. Do at least two separate end-to-end reviews: one to look at text and overall sense, and another to look at visuals and functionality.
• Check the responsive experience
  If your authoring tool’s output is responsive, it should adapt to provide an optimal experience for the device it’s viewed on. But remember, you’re responsible for making sure your learning content works effectively. Don’t force lengthy, hard-to-use courses on people. Instead, keep your topics bite-sized and your content short form.
• Make sure it’s accessible
  Everyone should be able to have great learning experiences. Make sure your QA process includes an accessibility test. Check that your content is compatible with assistive technologies (e.g. screen readers) by checking you’ve added captions, provided transcripts and chosen your language wisely. Here are seven tips for designing accessible elearning to consider. 

Learn more about creating effective training modules here.

4. Cultivate – Improve and refine

It doesn’t end when your fully QA’d elearning is uploaded on to your Learning Management System (LMS). In fact, it’s only the beginning. One of the main benefits of online courses is that it’s easier to gather data about how you’re meeting your specific business goals. Armed with this information, you can learn, improve and update your elearning. 

Measure engagement

Most L&D teams measure the completion of their elearning courses. This is a great start, but it’s not a full picture of learner engagement. Many authoring tools other more detailed analytics so you can identify:

• Which topics within your elearning are most popular. This could indicate your audience is actively looking for support in certain areas.
• Which questions your audience are getting right with no problem, and which questions are tripping them up. This could indicate knowledge gaps that impact performance.
• Which countries / departments / locations are engaging most with the elearning. This could indicate where you need to do another round of promotion.

Measure impact

Once you’ve explored your learner engagement, you can start to measure the impact your elearning has had on your business goals. Has it delivered a Return on Investment (ROI)? Here are 3 steps to help you work it out:

1. Review your goal and the business metric you planned to impact. Make sure you have a benchmark to measure against.
2.  When you’ve reached significant engagement levels with your elearning, measure your key metric again and compare it to your benchmark. How are you doing?
3. Use what you’ve learned from your engagement data to double down your efforts. For example, if you’ve seen more engagement and more improvement in the US compared to the UK, get UK managers involved in promoting the elearning again.

Want to find out more? Check out our template guide to creating online training content.

In summary

If you want to maximize the benefits of moving your learning online, don’t just rush ahead and create elearning. To design a digital solution with real impact, follow our 4 steps to create an effective elearning course:

1. Capture – Start with a clear plan: Put time in upfront to make sure the solution you design is meeting the real business need.
2. Conceptualize – Lead with a prototype: Don’t rush ahead with a solution, generate ideas in collaboration with your SMEs and try them out in a prototype.
3. Create – Build with confidence: Use collaborative and iterative ways of working that involve your SMEs, stakeholders and especially your end users so you’re more likely to hit the target.
4. Cultivate – Improve and refine: Explore the data and analytics your tool offers to tweak and enhance your elearning and deliver more impact.

Using Elucidat to build a successful elearning course

New to elearning course creation or looking to take your next step with creating learning? Whatever your level of confidence, Elucidat can help you maximize the impact of your digital learning. New authors can use Elucidat’s guided workflow to create an online course quickly and easily. Experienced authors can leverage the full power of Elucidat to create custom elearning courses that are tailored to your learners needs. 

At Elucidat, we’re also constantly improving our platform based on customer feedback. So, you can be sure you’re using a tool with the latest UI, UX and learning design best practice baked in. 

Want to see for yourself? Book a demo of Elucidat to get started with a free trial.

Everyone should be able to have a great learning experience. This means making sure you consider accessibility when designing elearning. Online accessibility is the key to unlocking great learning for all.

There are some simple and practical changes you can make to your corporate elearning course design to meet (and exceed!) WCAG 2.1 and Section 508 guidelines. Here are 7 tips to help you create accessible elearning experiences.

What does accessible elearning mean, and why is it important?

Accessible elearning means that anyone, no matter their needs, can fully experience your learning. For instance, if a partially sighted person were to use your digital learning course, they should get as complete an experience, and gain knowledge equally efficiently, as a fully sighted person.

Making your corporate elearning accessible is essential. In fact, it’s law:

All parties “must consistently design, construct, develop, and maintain facilities, technology, programs, and services from the onset so that all people, including people with disabilities, can fully and independently use them.” Section 508 2017 (the UK equivalent is the Equality Act).

This doesn’t have to be a problem for you, the content creator; in fact, it should be something that is integrated into your development process. Here are a few simple guidelines to follow to make implementing learning accessibility easy:

7 practical tips for designing accessible elearning

1. Design with audio and visual in mind

There are several reasons why a learner may prefer an audio or visual version of your course. However, it’s important to make sure all your audio content is also available as text, either via a transcript or closed captions, to cater for all those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

If visuals are a must-have, make your content compatible with assistive technologies (e.g., screen readers). This can be done by:

• Adding closed captions
• Providing a transcript
• Choosing your language wisely
• Adding alternative (alt) text

Here’s a list of screen readers you can test for free:

• JAWS
• NVDA
• WebAim
• Mac and iOS users have VoiceOver screen reader already built in

2. Add subtitles to your videos

If you are including video or audio, ensure that you include an introduction before the video to introduce the content and tell the learner how to interact with it.

Always ensure that you include subtitles of the multimedia content. This can be done either via closed captions or by including a separate transcript field. This way, individuals with visual or hearing disabilities can have an equally as effective experience, ensuring online learning accessibility.

3. Add captions to images

If key information is included in your images that you need all learners to understand, then add a caption to your images. Make sure you also include the text alternative, or “alt text,” to explain what the picture is displaying. Creating accessible digital learning imagery through captions is essential for the visually impaired.

This might not be required for all images e.g. if they are supporting graphics that are not essential for understanding your content.

4. Check your color contrast

Contrast is key to the readability of text. Ensure that contrast is high, either by using very different tones or very different colors. Consider boosting your text size too, to improve legibility.

If you’re placing text on a background image, then use a colored tint to knock back the image so the text stands out as clearly as possible – try to avoid placing text over busy backgrounds! Effective color contrast will make any text far easier to read for individuals who are partially sighted or color blind.

5. Use similar hues

A well-designed graph or table with a range of distinct colors may look great, but it’s not heavily accessible.“When designing visual aids, using a variety of colors might seem like a good idea at first, but it can make it a lot harder for people with color blindness to interpret the data.” (Steve Schoger – Designer)

Instead, try using multiple shades of the same hue – it’s much more accessible and looks better, too!

6. Consider your interactions

Certain interaction types are not fully-accessible for all learners. For instance, some drag and drop and sortable activities rely on a learner using (and being adept with) a mouse, which will exclude anyone using keyboard navigation. Consider whether your corporate elearning content can be reworked slightly to allow an alternative, more accessible interaction.

If using an image explorer, consider switching the hotspots from icons to text labels to ensure they are not reliant on the image alone and clear for all users.

7. Think about your choice of words

Words like “click” imply that learners are using a mouse. Links are summarized by screen readers, so ensure you make the sentence that is linked self-sufficient so it will make sense out of context.

For these reasons, consider using “Select this link to find out more about XXX” rather than “Click here.” We recommend that you read this great article on inclusive language.

You can find more best practice tips to designing accessible elearning here. 

How to apply these tips to accessible training

When you incorporate the seven tips above into your elearning design, you’re not just meeting accessibility standards you’re creating more inclusive, accessible training for everyone. Start by checking elements like captions for videos, alt text for images, and ensuring text contrasts well with backgrounds. You should also test interactive features, ensuring they are keyboard-friendly and compatible with screen readers.

Use tools like WAVE, axe Accessibility Checker, and Google Lighthouse to run automated accessibility tests and catch common issues. Once you’ve identified problems, apply the necessary fixes. Regularly reviewing and testing your content ensures your elearning materials are accessible to all learners.

Summary

Designing accessible corporate elearning is a win-win. Not only will applying these simple design and development changes help you meet content accessibility guidelines, but it also ensures that you’re creating great learning experiences for everyone. This will naturally boost overall performance and understanding within your organization. As such, accessible digital learning is a necessity in the modern workplace.

Open up your elearning to anyone with Elucidat

Empower all your learners, no matter their circumstances or capabilities, to have access to impactful elearning experiences. Book a demo of Elucidat to explore how you can quickly and easily create accessible training.

Read on to learn more about Elucidat’s accessibility capabilities!

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.

When it comes to online learning experiences, branching can be a great way to help learners practice, keep things interesting and relevant, and improve retention. Get ideas for how you could better engage your audience with these five branching examples.

Branching simply means designing different routes through the content, depending on input from the user. This could be as simple as a role selector that delivers only the material relevant to that role – useful if you have diverse user groups or want to offer point-of-need quick reference. Or it could be as complex as a multi-path scenario-based approach – more design effort but effective for behavioral topics or encouraging reflection and discussion.

Here are five examples of different ways to use branching in elearning.

1. Simple branching for personalized action plans

Say “branching” and people often auto-fill to “branching scenarios”. But branching is just the process of taking learner input and using rules to show them a specific set of content accordingly. In this Delegation Skills example, the learner does some self-reflection, which then allows the course to deliver the right one of a set of action plans, tailored to their style, strengths and needs.

Simple branching example:

In this Delegation Skills example, the learner does some self-reflection, which then allows the course to deliver the right one of a set of action plans tailored to their style, strengths, and needs.

Why it works:

• It’s a simple way to deliver a relevant, efficient and practical learning experience
• The personalized techniques can be tried out immediately in the following scenario
• Social polling is incorporated to illustrate a variety of approaches taken by other leaders

Giftable | Click here to go to this example

2. Branching for role-specific content

Another great use for branching in elearning is to make detailed, comprehensive content more accessible and relevant to an individual user. When it comes to policy, process, or procedure information, you may want to create one course but have different audience groups needing different subsets of the content. This example on Shared Parental Leave demonstrates how branching can help with this.

Branching example:

This elearning example aims to transform the typically dry and unengaging subject of policies into an interactive and captivating learning experience. It creates visually appealing and interactive content that holds learners’ attention while educating them about policy-related topics.

Why it works:

• It keeps the audience segregation simple: HR or not-HR, rather than a long list of individual job roles
• A dynamic menu makes the branching feel seamless; in this case, there is no need for the user to be aware of the alternative routes through the content
• The whole demo is focused on the real-life application of the content, both in terms of the level of detail needed and in the decisions and tasks replicated in the simple, practical quiz

Giftable | Click here to go to the demo

3. Branching in conjunction with game elements

Branching is just one elearning design technique, which can be layered with other approaches to great effect – like in this sales training demo. Here we’ve added game elements to a branching scenario to increase engagement and tap into the competitive atmosphere of sales.

Sales simulation example:

This sales simulation offers an immersive and practical learning experience in the field of sales. It provides learners with realistic scenarios and interactive simulations to enhance their sales skills, knowledge, and decision-making abilities. The course aims to bridge the gap between theory and real-world sales situations through engaging and dynamic content.

Why it works:

• The choice to review learning content or dive right into the call simulations is part of the scenario itself
• Each time the user selects a response to the potential client, they are branched down the appropriate route, so the simulated conversation always feels natural and real
• It uses audio to great effect, keeping it realistic and cost-effective (there’s no need to splash out on video when the real-life activity it’s simulating is phone-based!)
• Features like points and timers gamify the scenario and appeal to the target audience

Giftable | Click here to go to this example

4. Branching for compliance

Shallow branching is at play in this compliance elearning example, as the learner is asked to make a decision. There is the opportunity for an ‘imperfect’, as well as correct and incorrect decision to be selected and played out. More nuanced than shallow branching, this approach brings a little extra depth and allows grey areas to be explored. 

See this branching example:

The branching example provides comprehensive training on unconscious bias in the workplace, its impact on decision-making and relationships, and strategies to mitigate and address these biases. 

Why it works:

• Bringing in sensitive issues can be a good way to open discussions, explore consequences and understand solutions before they take place in the work environment.
• The branching means the user learns by doing; they make a choice and immediately see and feel the impact on the characters they are in control of or responsible for.
• Where mental health and other similar topics are concerned, there isn’t necessarily a ‘right’ answer, and branching allows the user to play out different approaches safely.

5. Process branching scenario

This process branching scenario showcases scenario design principles, planning and structuring branching pathways, incorporating feedback and consequences, and optimizing learner engagement.

Explore this branching scenario:

This branching scenario takes learners through the safety precautions for warehouse supervisors. Learners can decide what to do, then see different outcomes depending on their decision. 

Why it works:

• Immediate feedback is given for each decision, building competence and confidence. 
• Can minimize the likelihood of mistakes made in real life that may have a life-changing impact. 
• The user’s route finishes with a summary of safety procedures as a useful takeaway for discussion and reference.

There you have it: five ways to use branching in your learning design. If you need to offer adaptive or personalized content, branching can help your users quickly get to what they need. And branching scenarios can be a good design choice if you want people to experience the impact of different approaches, play out new techniques and skills, or explore various facets of a subject that isn’t black and white. The best news? All of these can be done in Elucidat!

If these branching examples have inspired you, ask us for a free trial of Elucidat and see what you can do.

Questions and assessments are part and parcel of most training you’ll create. But how can you make sure your questions are robust, fair, and relevant? There is an art to writing effective questions and assessments, and learning it is key to creating effective elearning that drives real results. Find out from our experts in this design Tip Tuesday webinar focusing on getting assessments right.

What’s an effective assessment?

An assessment is a scored test, comprised of three or more questions, in which the learner needs to reach a set pass mark to trigger completion. A truly effective assessment is one that demonstrates the learner understands and can apply the learning points. 

But there’s a lot to think about in writing good questions. You need to focus your questions on your learning objectives, select the most suitable question types for your content, and write clear and compelling copy – to name a few. What’s more, now there are such technologically advanced and easy-to-use authoring tools at your fingertips, you have the chance to step your assessment up a notch by making the best use of the features available.

Below we have outlined some design approaches you can apply to your assessments using Elucidat. 

Design approaches

Use question pools

Learners don’t always pass assessments first time and re-takes can be repetitive. 

Using a question pool involves developing more questions than will be served in each sitting, so that each time a learner attempts your assessment, they will see a new set. Instead of simply reciting the correct answers, they will need to re-apply what they’re learned, reigniting the active learning process. 

You can create question pools using Rules in the Elucidat Page Settings. 

Use a pre-assessment to adapt content 

You can flip the traditional teach-to-test format by opening your course with a diagnostic quiz. In this information security course example, you can see one of the four questions the learner will answer upon launching the training:

The tool will use the learner’s responses to these questions to establish knowledge gaps, and then personalize the course content for that specific learner, so they only see the topics they need.

In this example, the learner has answered the question about safe internet connections incorrectly, so this topic has been included on the course menu for them:

With this format, not only does the learner get to focus on what’s most relevant to them, but having established their knowledge gaps for themselves, they will have the incentive to really engage with the upcoming content. 

This diagnostic approach is developed in Elucidat by using Rules to reveal content. 

Tailoring question sets using a role selector

Including scenario questions is a really compelling way of making content relatable to a particular audience. However, if your audience is quite broad, it can be hard to target the right people with your questions. This is where a role selector comes in handy. 

You can place a role selector, like this example below, at the front of your course:

The role that the learner selects will determine the content they see in the course, including your assessment. This helps to reduce the likelihood of a learner losing their attention due to irrelevant questions that don’t reflect their day-to-day.  

You can display course content based on a learner’s role using Rules.  

Add points and badges

Take it from the gaming industry – points, rewards, and other incentives work. You can inspire a little healthy competition in your assessment by assigning points or badges to questions, which reflect the difficulty level of that question.  

Here’s an example of an assessment question that uses elements of gamification to lift otherwise bog-standard compliance content into something inspiring:

Learners receive badges upon answering this question correctly, as well as a final score at the end of the assessment, eliciting a competitive element: 

You can award badges in Elucidat using the Achievements tab in the Page Settings. 

Top tips

Here we have compiled some general tips for creating assessments, based on what we discussed.

Plan properly 

Don’t treat writing questions as an afterthought – plan your assessment early on, including what you need to cover, where it will sit within your course, what sort of questions you will ask, and how you will provide feedback.

Focus on what matters

Stick to your learning objectives and focus on what you need your learners to be able to do after the training. Being able to recall an exact date or definition of a word, for example, is probably not going to be useful in the workplace. But being able to apply a business-specific process or principle might.

Tell stories

Test application as well as knowledge through relevant, realistic scenario-based questions. 

If you have a large audience who would benefit from role-specific scenarios, consider using a role-selector in your course.

Explore your options

Ask yourself whether a diagnostic quiz at the start of your course, might work better than an end-of-course assessment. Or perhaps a gamified quiz, that awards points or badges, would land better with your learners.

And don’t forget, question types are not restricted to multiple-choice questions. Elucidat supports other interactions, like drag and drops, sorting activities, and fill-in-the-blanks, which can all be scored and sit as part of your assessment. 

Get the balance 

You need to find the right level of difficulty for your assessment. Common pitfalls for making an assessment too easy include using unconvincing distractor (wrong) answers and keeping the correct answers in the same position for every question.   

Don’t complicate your questions 

You want questions to challenge people for the right reasons. The focus should be on the learning messages, rather than how the question is worded. So make the question text and instructions really clear.

Dos and don’ts for writing questions include never using “‘all of the above” as an answer option and avoiding double negatives.

What next?

Writing effective assessments can be a challenge and there are a lot of potential pitfalls to watch out for. But, by selecting a good authoring tool, planning your design carefully, and following best practices with your copywriting, you can break the mold of archaic assessments and leave your learners feeling accomplished and ready for more.  

Find out what’s coming next in our Design Tip Tuesday webinar series here. 

The Subject Matter Expert (SME) relationship can make or break an elearning project. As your gateway to the content, audience and organization, working with subject matter experts has the potential to either derail development or keep you on track and steaming towards the end goal.

First things first – what is a Subject Matter Expert in elearning?

An SME is a person who brings content expertise to your elearning project. Experts in their field, they’ll provide the raw subject matter that the elearning course will cover. This includes knowledge of the theory (such as processes and policies) as well as stories and anecdotes that bring the theory to life. Their role is key when you are creating an elearning course, from the early days of identifying learning objectives to refining and reviewing the content. 

Where you’ll find an SME depends on the project – a health and safety course might see you calling on the head of compliance, while an onboarding module would involve the HR team’s input. 

Remember, the SME role doesn’t have to stop at being simply the source of knowledge. With the right support on hand, SMEs are well placed to create elearning themselves, empowered to make design decisions and build high-quality courses.

Your role as an elearning course manager: Empower for excellence

As an instructional designer, learning consultant or elearning project manager, your job is to build a positive and productive relationship with your Subject Matter Expert. You need to get them onside, get the best from them, and get them working in partnership with you to create the best practice for elearning. The mistakes of old – seeing them as simply a resource, there to ‘knowledge dump’ or pick holes in your design – are long gone.

Savvy L&D teams are now looking to take the opportunity of working with subject matter experts even further – by empowering them to produce the training themselves. 

At Elucidat we believe crowdsourcing elearning is the future – and SMEs are a key part of that vision. By positioning your L&D team as a center of excellence, rather than order takers, you can build a hub of organizational intelligence and effectiveness. With this approach, SMEs no longer simply feed their knowledge into a project for others to build; instead, the L&D team empower experts across the business to produce high-quality elearning themselves. This enables you to dramatically increase the volume of high-quality training materials that can be produced, in a fraction of the time.

This new way of thinking might bring with it some concerns:

• When letting multiple SMEs author content, how do you ensure consistency? Both visually and in terms of design approaches?
• How do you make sure novice authors produce the right level of quality?  

But have no fear – we’ve got the practical tools and best practice tips you need to ensure your Subject Matter Experts hit the ground running. 

Let’s explore how you can ensure you’re set up for success. 

Top tips for working with Subject Matter Experts and empowering them to get involved

1. Choose an authoring development tool that makes it quick and simple for novice authors to create high-quality elearning. Elucidat is designed to do just that, helping you crowdsource expertise from across your organization without risking quality. You can be confident in inviting SMEs to produce training directly in Elucidat with customizable user roles and permissions that provide you with flexibility and control, giving people access only to what they need.
2. Plan the support you can offer your Subject Matter Experts to grow their confidence with authoring. Turn your L&D team into a center of excellence by building a library of helpful resources to get novice authors up to speed quickly. This could include visual and tone of voice guidelines, best practice examples, and flagship projects. You’re the experts when it comes to learning design – set standards and share what best practice means for your organization.
3. Engage your SMEs from the beginning. Many Subject Matter Experts will be new to authoring content – some will be excited at the prospect of developing new skills, while others might be nervous about working with new technology. Empathize with how they’re feeling and discuss ways to put them at ease, such as the support that’s available from the L&D team, and the benefits of this development opportunity. But before you make a decision about their level of involvement, be sure to consider our next tip.
4. Be respectful of their time and other commitments. Discuss the schedule with them, don’t just impose it on them, and talk about how and when to involve them in a way that works for both parties.
5. You’re both experts in your field. The project needs both of you so discuss how to work collaboratively rather than authoritatively positioning yourself as the boss. Your role is to share best practices and empower them to get involved.
6. You might have different views on how to get there, but you both want a successful project and effective end product. Define your shared goal and refer back to it often.
7. If you have multiple Subject Matter Experts authoring content, encourage them to share their learnings and best practice with each other. As novice authors they’ll likely have similar questions, so creating a sharing culture will be really beneficial. As SMEs build their skills, find solutions and generate ideas, they can look to each other, as well as the L&D team, for support, sharing insights as a community.
8. Once a few of your Subject Matter Experts have grown in confidence and proved they can create learning of the right quality, encourage peer reviews. With so many SMEs growing their authoring skills, they’ll be more than capable of advising on best practice collectively – freeing up time for the L&D team. If you choose a tool with a review process built-in, like Elucidat, this kind of collaborative approach won’t slow things down. SMEs can add comments straight into the tool so there’s no uncertainty about which bit they’re referring to, and authors can respond directly if discussion is needed. There’s no version control issue, and the time required for the back-and-forth to get feedback implemented is vastly reduced. Find out how Elucidat’s collaborative authoring platform can help you do more in less time. 
9. At the end of the project – or even after any big milestones – say thank you. A little appreciation for their time and effort goes a long way. They’ve not only grown their skills, they’ve helped shape a community of experts able to share their expertise, advice and learnings with novice authors throughout the business. Their help will go a long way to getting training out into the business as quickly as possible, at scale.

Use Learning Accelerator to help you empower novice SME authors

As mentioned above, collaboration with your Subject Matter Experts can make the design process more efficient, more enjoyable and ultimately more successful. If SMEs are involved and invested as the project evolves, you’re far less likely to run into problems later on. And with the right tools, support and processes in place, getting them building the content themselves sets you up for even greater success. To help you do this, we’ve created Learning Accelerator. It’s designed to help you alleviate those fears of consistency and quality, optimizing the SME author experience to invite more of them in and with quicker results.

With Learning Accelerator Subject Matter Experts won’t need to start a new project from scratch. Instead, an easy to use recommendation engine will point them in the direction of a template tailored to their needs. This template acts as a template, with a ready-made design approach baked in and guidance on how to make it work for your content. 

There’s a template available to suit every kind of project, from in-depth process training and game-like quizzes to high level case studies and microlearning. 

Starting from a template sets authors up for success from the outset. It increases confidence, whether it’s a novice author easing into creating simple projects, or an advanced author looking to take their designs even further.  

Check out how to power up your online training capability to find out more. 

Not in a place to have SMEs authoring content themselves just yet? 

Not to worry. Here are some tips on how to best work with SMEs who are supporting elearning that your L&D team are building. 

• When meeting your Subject Matter Expert, start with a blank screen, questions and conversation. This will yield more valuable information than your SME simply talking through their material.
• It’s up to you to elicit the right kind of information and stories to support your objectives. Draw out anecdotes, case studies and the nuances of the subject that aren’t in the reference books. The golden rule here is to respect what they do. Ask the SME about their career and experience, not just the subject. This builds rapport and gives you valuable stories that bring the content to life.
• Draft intelligent questions ahead of discussing the content with your Subject Matter Expert. Remember you’re well placed to anticipate questions the end learners might have so don’t be afraid to interrogate the content.
• Invite their contributions as you create storyboards and develop the product. Flag where expert feedback is needed and welcome their opinions on the design and visuals, too.
• If they resist some of your ideas, don’t dismiss their concerns. Try to understand why they are wedded to ‘the old way’ and then demonstrate the benefits of your approach.

Summary

Subject Matter Experts are all too often the unsung heroes of elearning development. With the right tools and processes in place, you can empower them to become fully competent authors, able to build confidently, share best practice, and create quality training, super fast.  By harnessing their expertise and developing their skills in this way, you’ll see a collaborative relationship blossom that benefits the whole organization. 

Want to learn more?

The first three Learning Accelerator templates are free and available to add to your Elucidat account now.

Don’t have an account? Book a demo today and take the new update for a test drive with a free trial!

You can also sign up to our 3 part webinar series, where you’ll learn how to crowdsource training production without the risk – start engaging your Subject Matter Experts like the teammates they are!

If you’re in need of some design tips to drive the impact of your elearning, you’re now covered. We have summarized some of our most noteworthy elearning design tips, so that you can tackle your projects armed with the right strategy. Follow these 10 must-do tips to ensure your elearning always packs a punch.

You might have already explored our practical advice on elearning design, via Design Tip Tuesdays. Missed out, or don’t want to trawl through old emails? Don’t worry – we have summarized some of our tips for effective elearning, so that you can go into 2023 armed with the essentials to kick start your organization’s digital learning designs. You’re welcome!

10 elearning design tips every designer should follow

1. Share ‘What’s in it for me?’ upfront 

In today’s information-dense work environments, your learners might not feel that they have the time or headspace to really engage with all the training they’re enrolled in. So, it’s up to you to convince them they should.  

Speak directly to your audience and be explicit about how this online learning will help them. What problem will it solve and how?

In the example below, you can see how this can be achieved with a simple, upfront question.

2. Talk to your learners naturally 

You don’t want your organization to sound like a faceless institution, addressing an audience of machines. Instead, be a human: talk to learners naturally and be direct by addressing them as ‘you’, to help keep your learners engaged. 

Furthermore, to motivate learners to go and do something as a result of your elearning, put actions in the future tense, not the past tense, to help meet learning objectives. 

And finally, avoid technical, policy-heavy language that’s going to be overlooked, misinterpreted, or read like a lackluster legal document. 

Look at the type of sentences used in the example below, which are short, conversational and action-focused.

3. Avoid creating an information dump!

If you overwhelm learners with information, the important messages will get lost, and they’ll actually remember less. Instead, focus on what you really want learners to take away and build your elearning around that.

So, ask yourself: Have you omitted any unnecessary words or descriptions from your copy? Can you swap out lengthy prose for a bullet-point list? Can you use headings and subheadings to chunk up information into smaller, more digestible parts? And do you really need to include all the detail, or can you point learners to some external materials, if they’d like to find out more? 

Take a look at the approach used in this module example, where you can see clear and concise messaging throughout.

4. Tell stories 

Stories are everywhere. And there’s a reason for that – they’re powerful. A story brings information to life. It shows (not tells) learners the impact the subject has in the real world and helps them connect with it.

The most effective stories tap into people’s emotions, and they do that by having humans in their hearts. So, think about how your subject impacts real people. Use this to create a character to put at the center of your story.

Here’s a great example of elearning that focuses on a strong fictional character.

5. Don’t forget the ‘why’

Ask yourself: What do you want learners to take from the learning? What will help them get there? All your decisions should be made with this end goal in mind.

If a piece of content won’t help achieve the objectives, don’t include it.

In this example, the module begins by outlining a problem, before providing the action-points for how to solve it, in the form of ‘tips’ for the learner.

6. Ask questions as you go

We are all familiar with end-of-module assessments but remember that you can also ask your learners questions as they go.

Questions and activities are the difference between a presentation and an immersive learning experience. Make sure you get learners’ brains working and test the things you really want them to know.  

You can use midpoint questions and activities to check understanding or even to introduce new concepts in an interactive way.

In this example, you can see that the learning messages are shaped around a scenario that’s weaved throughout the module. The learners are asked questions at different stages to encourage them to think about what they would do, then the question feedback is used to deliver the facts.

7. Choose your media for the story you’re telling 

If you’ve ever been absorbed by a good novel, you’ll know that sometimes text alone is enough for a story to make an impression. But elearning gives opportunities to go further if you want to.  

Talking heads videos, animations, scripted drama, interactive video, music, and sound effects all have a place in today’s media-rich learning environment.

But you don’t need a Hollywood budget or fancy computer effects to create impact. Have a look at this interactive story-based elearning to see how it immerses learners in a world by making use of free audio sound clips.

8. Make your assessment a great experience 

We know that even the word ‘assessment’ can be off-putting. No one wants to feel like they’re back in a school exam hall. But if you design and write your end-of-module questions carefully, an assessment can actually enhance, rather than compromise, the overall learning experience. 

Rather than simply testing learners’ memories, get learners to show they know how to apply their knowledge. 

For example, placing them in realistic scenarios immediately gets them thinking about what they would do if faced with a similar situation. You can take this to the next level by telling a story, and weaving the questions into one overarching scenario. 

This hard-hitting scenario on critical medical care really shows the impact of asking learners to deal with a situation.

9. Recap your key learning points

Research has shown that beginnings and endings matter. What people see last often forms their lasting impression of their experience. It’s your chance to give them something memorable.

Make your elearning count by giving a clear recap. Think about which bits of information are absolutely key. Distill this down into a few short points and summarize at the end. This makes sure that the most important elements are easy to remember. Make them about action too!

In this example, you can see the key takeaways spelled out in simple bullet points, plus some helpful next steps.

10. Top and tail the experience 

Great elearning has the power to change behaviors and encourage new ways of looking at a subject.

It’s all well and good to say that, but how do you prove it to the business and the learners? One way is by using Elucidat’s Social Polling feature.

With social polling, at the start of a module, learners are asked to give their opinion on a matter based on a small amount of information. After working through the module in detail, they will answer the same question again. You can then playback their responses to demonstrate how the elearning has challenged opinions.

In this interactive module about behavioral change with social learning, social polling graphs top and tail the experience to encourage deeper reflection.

There you have it – a rundown of your elearning design essentials to make your elearning more impactful.

Looking for more elearning design tips?

Join Will Brown and the Elucidat learning consultancy team for their next Design Tip Webinar to inspire your elearning designs. From microlearning, to game-like learning to branching scenarios, every elearning topic is covered.

Check out the upcoming sessions and catch up on the previous sessions.

Keen to improve your process and create engaging elearning like this? Check out this training design process to get started.

The influence of on-demand culture is everywhere. These days, we can hail a cab at a minute’s notice from our phone, watch TV programs ad-free as and when we want to, and order food to the door via an app. Learning is no exception. Attitudes towards employee training have shifted with the rest of the world towards ‘on-demand’.

Just in time training is L&D’s answer to having everything at your fingertips. It meets employee expectations of having relevant information a click away while satisfying the business appetite for speedy training which yields big results. 

Read on to learn what just in time learning is, why it’s an important L&D concept, and how to implement it in the workplace.

What is just in time training?

Just in time (JIT) training is an L&D concept which encourages needs-related learning to boost efficiency. This method of training is all about learning new skills at the point that they’re actually required, rather than providing potentially irrelevant skills just in case they’re needed. It simplifies and streamlines learning. 

The origin of just in time learning can be traced back to Toyota’s production system. The Japanese car manufacturers developed a system which significantly reduced the amount of dormant inventory by delivering parts to the warehouse at the point of distribution. Rather, they arrived ‘just in time’. This concept was further developed and later applied to learning. 

What is just in time content?

Just in time content goes hand in hand with microlearning. Speed of learning is key, and it’s typically characterized by short, targeted bursts of training content which zeroes in on the specific topic at hand. 

Just in time content can take the form of mini videos or microlearning courses. Ease of access is a key component of such content, allowing the users to access it wherever and whenever they need it. As such, good just in time content will be mobile ready and easy to digest.

What are the benefits of just in time training?

Flexibility is one of the main benefits of just in time training. Its framework acknowledges that certain training could be irrelevant to some members of a workforce at certain times. Simply put, your employees are busy enough without having to study competencies that aren’t helping their immediate output. With just in time training, knowledge and skills can be imparted at the optimal moment.

Short, focused training is also linked to increased knowledge retention. The concept of just in time learning limits the amount of information employees need to pick up, meaning they can focus their efforts on gaining key information which relates closely to their role. This significantly helps to combat the forgetting curve as just in time training is more successful at delivering relevant training at the point of need, and encouraging immediate application and skills/knowledge retention.

Finally, for L&D teams, JIT content is far more convenient to maintain and quicker to produce. When it comes to developing and updating your content, bite-sized learning is far more manageable than tackling more substantial courses. 

What are the disadvantages of just in time training?

While just in time training has plenty of advantages, that doesn’t mean it’s a one-size-fits-all solution. Firstly, it requires a robust understanding of learning needs. If just in time training is to be successful, your L&D team need to be laser-focused on when, where and why each employee needs training. It requires in-depth needs-analysis to get right.

In some instances, there’s also the potential for learning to become fragmented. When dealing with more complex topics, the bite-size nature of the training could fail to pay adequate attention to certain pieces of information. When there’s not enough background information presented, the quality of training is significantly hampered.

Just in time is not a one size fits all solution. There are certain types of learning that it is simply not effective for. For example, more focused in-depth that needs a learners full attention may be required, rather than an on-the-job resource. Just in time training is great for a quick knowledge recap or upskill, but some content, such as more nuanced soft skills and ethics training might require a more focused learning environment and dedicated learning time.

How to implement just in time learning in the workplace

Just in time learning can be applied to a number of different organizations. If you’re looking to boost efficiency with no sacrifice on learning quality, it could be the training solution you need. 

Here, we’ve compiled a simple step-by-step guide to implementing a just in time training model in the workplace. 

Step one – Decide what information is needed just in time

As you are targeting immediate pain points with just in time training, you can outline topics which will have an instant impact. Here, you should focus on extremely focussed topics when creating these materials. A training needs analysis can help identify which information is needed.

Step two – Design easy to find, digestible learning content

Direct, bite-sized content is at the core of just in time training. If you’re using the JIT model, you’ll need to create short, sharable training that works on all devices. Accessibility is just as important as the type of training itself. Ideally, each component of the just in time training should be no longer than five minutes.

Read about the best microlearning examples

Step three – Utilize real-world examples

Bringing your training to life will help employees retain knowledge better. This is particularly pertinent when creating smaller bursts of learning, where you need to make the most of the time at hand. Provide context to the information by relating it to a real scenario they could encounter at work.

Read about scenario-based elearning examples

Step four – Measure results and encourage employee feedback

Collecting feedback and employee participation helps to encourage active learning and ongoing development. Providing an avenue for feedback at the end of training offers an area for employees to reach out, if their training needs haven’t been met, and provides indications whether it’s been worthwhile on a personal level. 

Measurement is also important. This could be through analyzing which content employees accessed most often on the job or by measuring knowledge retention through post-training assessments. Either way, good measurement is a sure-fire way of proving ROI from your training.

Create just in time training with Elucidat

If you’ve decided to give just in time training a try, you need a elearning platform. That’s where Elucidat comes in. Our software features a veritable arsenal of tools which allows you to train employees at the point of need on all devices. House your training content, and track learner progress, all in one place and create training materials at scale. 

Ready to start your just in time training journey? Book a free personalized demo today to see Elucidat in action.