We’ve all been there: mindless e-learning where you click next until you guess your way through a quiz and pass without learning anything. E-learning has a bad reputation, but it doesn’t have to be an awful experience! There are great ways to make e-learning engaging. Here’s how to do that.

Know where to start

Before we even talk about e-learning, let’s talk about what really matters: the learner. Engagement starts with empathy and understanding of the learner. Do your design research and find out who the learner is and what (de)motivates them. Think about the circumstances of your learner: are they stressed out at work or chilling at home? Get to know the learner and what their daily life looks like. Design with that in mind. It will make a huge difference as it makes e-learning more relatable and relevant.

Forget about content, focus on experience

No two people are the same. No two situations are the same. Creating e-learning works better if you acknowledge that and you don’t serve up the same e-learning with different content each time.

Instead of asking which content to include and how to package it, think about the overall experience. What is the learner going to do? How can you activate and inspire them? What change do you want to see for the learner after the experience? All these questions help focus the design process on the experience and let you break free from standard content driven e-learning.

Don’t settle for average

Authoring tools for e-learning offer a lot of standard design elements like buttons, menu’s, illustrations and graphics. My team and I never use these. We create custom designs for each module. Not just to make them look better (which it does!) but also to make things work better.

As mentioned, your design starts with design research. Knowing what kind of style and form your learners prefer helps to create a design that your learners will love. Learning experience designers are creative professionals and, like any designer, you’d expect more than standard design. You want to get creative! So, try to make a design that looks amazing, is user friendly and aligns with the preferences of your learners.

Tell me more!

A great story pulls people in, no matter the circumstances. Using storytelling can boost engagement for e-learning as the learner actually wants to know what happens next. Stories are much more relatable than dry content. I like to write stories that allow me to infuse objectives in a natural way.

For example, in a module on cyber security for financial institutions the learner travels from the office to a cyber security conference. This makes it relevant and recognisable. What makes it engaging is how there are all kinds of cyber security threats that the learner comes across along the way. Sometimes even without knowing it. Just like in real life. Stories are great for providing context, having fun, building suspense and making an emotional connection.

Conclusion

There are many ways to offer a memorable learning experience with e-learning. It might require a different approach than you are used to. Doing design research, focusing on the experience (and not the content), creating custom designs and using storytelling are four ways to do that. If you want to start making your e-learning more engaging, pick one to start with and see what it does for you and your learners. From there, you can extend your skillset and work towards incredible e-learning! Enjoy!