When it comes to crafting engaging learning experiences, is it enough to guess what your learners need? Sure, you know what you want to say. You’ve got it all figured out from the presentations and the animations to the learning materials. But if you don’t ask your learners what they need, you’ll be wide of the mark resulting in low engagement and insufficient training provision.
Here at DBLX, we have created our fair share of bespoke eLearning and off-the-shelf courses. We understand that it’s not enough to feel like you know what learners want. Instead, it’s necessary to take a deep dive and really listen to feedback from the people that matter most.
Who Are Your Learners?
Before you do anything else, you need to understand who your learners are. We don’t necessarily mean on an individual level. Instead, it’s about your audience. How old are they? What do they do? What is their attitude to eLearning and training?
These are all questions that you should consider to create learning experiences that resonate with your audience. Without this step, you risk getting the tone wrong resulting in wasted time and disengagement. So, take some time to assess who will be consuming the learning content and what they expect from it. When you understand this, you can better address their needs through rich content and media.
Ask The Audience
Feedback is essential for successful eLearning. For every module, microlearning experience, and course you deliver, you should encourage questions and feedback from your learners. This vital information and opinion will support you in delivering more relevant and engaging learning experiences.
Asking for and listening to feedback is a sure-fire way to ensure your learning content contains at least some of the elements your audience will enjoy. It’s easy to assume you know best, but there’s no shame in accepting outside influence, especially if it comes straight from the mouths of the people you’re looking to reach.
Get To The Why
Every time you ask your employees or users to complete a training module, you need to answer one question: why? Why should a learner undertake this training? How will it help them? What will they be able to do with the information in the future? Relevance is everything when it comes to training and development. If learners don’t understand why they should do something, they’re less likely to engage with it.
Frivolity isn’t a strong enough reason to add something. Instead, drill down into the areas that resonate with learners. What problems do they face? And how can training help overcome them?
Go Beyond The Norm
Don’t stick to the status quo when it comes to devising learning experiences. Instead, consider a wide range of elements that will encourage engagement. Gamification, animations, videos, storytelling, social learning, and knowledge checks are fantastic ways to grab attention and aid retention, especially when you have a cohort of learners who dislike mandatory compliance training.
In short, you have to push the boundaries of what learners expect. Apathy towards learning and development isn’t uncommon, especially among employees and learners who reject traditional learning formats.
As someone in charge of devising eLearning strategies, it is your job to break down barriers (perceived or otherwise) by better explaining the why behind a training course. Learners should understand how they can apply the knowledge they gain through training in their own lives or job roles. Learning should also take into account the differences between participants, especially their various learning styles and personalities.
Asking and understanding what your learners need is the best way to improve your learning content. While you might not be able to implement all of the proposed suggestions, feedback will give you valuable insight into what they want and how you can harness that to drive engagement for both existing and future learners.
At DBLX, we are experts in creating bespoke and off-the-shelf learning experiences that go the distance for your employees. Our team of L&D professionals is on hand to provide invaluable insight into what your learners need. And our talented instructional design team is a dab hand at creating visually stunning, engaging courses for learning materials. To find out more, contact us today or check out our projects to see our work in action.