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| It's widely
accepted that e-learning requires interactivity
to improve learners' skills and deliver
results. What’s not well understood
is that not all types of interactivity are
equally effective. In fact, the
least effective forms of interactivity are
also some of the most popular because
they are easy to implement using templates
and wizards. Examples include:
- Fact based quizzes
dressed up as mini-games
- Clicking glossy buttons
to reveal more text
- Interactivity that
is over-produced and under-designed
Creating effective e-learning
does require some creativity and knowledge
of basic design principles, but that’s
what makes it interesting. Design
techniques that make e-learning truly effective
include:
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To produce
training content, we usually turn to subject
matter experts to provide our “raw
materials”. However, subject
matter experts will typically use a content-centric
approach to design. In other words,
they structure the content in a way that
makes logical sense to them, but is less
meaningful to novice learners.
Rather than focusing on
“How can I present all the content
to the learner”, a learner centered
design begins with the question, “What
must the learner be able to do
upon completion of the training, and
what challenges will they face
along the way?” Exercises are then
created that place the learner in
realistic situations so that they
can more easily relate to the content,
and so that they are more likely to recall
mistakes and avoid these mistakes
in real-life situations.
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| Example:
- Start by asking
“what is the performance
goal?” In this example,
the answer is: “Improve the
sales skills of customer service
representatives.”
- Determine what
sub-tasks the learners must
be able to perform to achieve
this goal. One of these sub-tasks
is: “Be able to match each
customer with a specific customer
profile by asking appropriate questions.”
- Then, develop
an exercise that helps the learners
to practice this skill in
a realistic context.
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e-Learning often uses
explicit feedback such
as “That’s correct” or
“No, the correct answer is…”
Intrinsic feedback on the
other hand shows learners how they
are performing based on real-world measures
such as sales won, or customer satisfaction.
This increases motivation,
and by encouraging students to learn from
their mistakes, is more memorable
than simply telling learners the correct
answer.
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Example:
- In this sample,
learners must help a colleague
quickly set up a laptop for a presentation.
- If learners
make a mistake, they are not told
explicitly that they are wrong.
Instead, the wasted time is subtracted
from the clock, the problem caused
by the mistake is presented, and
the colleague becomes visibly frustrated. Learners can try again, or go back and review the material.
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Good tutors will alter the timing of their feedback rather
than provide immediate feedback for each
response, encouraging learners to
reflect on their choices. An effective
tactic with delayed feedback is to pose
a follow-up question asking learners to
justify why they have chosen a previous
response. According to e-learning researcher
Will Thalheimer, research suggests that,
on average, delayed feedback is
better than immediate feedback
by about 10 to 25%.
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| Example:
- In this sample
lesson, the learners' task is to
configure an enterprise software
application.
- Before configuring
the application, learners must be
able to determine key performance
measures that will be used as inputs
for the application.
- When
learners select a measure, they
are not told immediately if it is
correct or incorrect. Instead,
they must justify why the measure
was chosen. This helps
the learners gain a deeper
understanding of the relationship
between performance measures and
the end business goals.
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Case-based e-learning challenges learners to gather
information from various sources
in order to make meaningful decisions.
Information can be structured in any format
such as text, graphics, hyperlinks, audio,
or video. The case format encourages students
to look at an issue from multiple
perspectives and helps to develop
their decision making abilities.
Branching scenarios can be included in the
case to enable learners to see the consequences
of their decisions, making the experience
more memorable and effective.
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| Example:
- In this sample,
learners play the role of a doctor.
To make a correct diagnosis and
recommend appropriate treatment,
learners must collect relevant information
about the patient's history and
current condition.
- Learners must
also weigh budget and cost considerations
when making decisions. The impact
of these decisions is reflected
in the status bars at the bottom
of the page.
- The information
resources are presented as simple
text, but could easily be augmented
to incorporate graphics, audio,
video, or external resources, such
as patient charts.
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| Motivation
is the most important design element
for effective e-learning. In addition to
the techniques listed above, motivation
can be enhanced by :
- Exaggerating the consequences
of closing or not closing the performance
gap
- Linking the training
to outcomes that the learner cares about
(“what’s in it for me”)
- Introducing content
using stories or drama
- Including elements
of risk in the training exercises
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| Example
1:
- In this example,
the students must learn how to use
a new application for supplying
material to the army. To use the
application more efficiently, they
must learn the codes that are associated
with the various transactions. This
exercise helps learners to remember
the transaction codes and their
categories.
- Here the elements
of score: "Bullets remaining" and
"Miles to supply drop-zone" appeal
to real-world motivational factors
of the learner.
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| Example
2:
- This movie,
which introduces an e-learning course,
was developed by Allen Interactions.
It is an excellent example of how
drama can be used to motivate learners,
in this case, flight attendants.
- It encourages
learners to focus on outcomes that
they care about: their own safety
and the safety of their passengers.
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The
30-minute masters
This is a well organized wiki page containing
a curriculum to train subject-matter experts
in the design of rapid e-learning materials
for use in the workplace.
http://www.learning15.net/wiki/index.php?title=The_30-minute_masters |
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Cognitive
Approaches to Instructional Design
This is a
chapter extracted from The ASTD handbook of
instructional technology. It's
objectives are to introduce some innovative
methods for doing instructional design (ID),
such as rapid prototyping, to survey some
examples of training models based on cognitive
learning principles and to offer a set of
guidelines for designing cognitive-based training.
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~bwilson/training.html |
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8
Learning Principles
These 8
learning principles, written by Will Thalheimer,
are a great resource for realistic and practical
ways to ensure your e-leaning will be more
effective.
http://www.work-learning.com/learning_factors.htm |
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No
more excuses for poor e-learning content
This blog
entry from Clive Shepherd provides both a
commentary on the current state of the industry
plus a list of suggestions on how to excel
beyond today's shortcomings.
http://clive-shepherd.blogspot.com/2007/02/no-more-excuses-for-poor-e-learning.html |
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