Who would have thought that simply writing an eLearning course would require the instructional designer to have so many different writing skills? As an instructional designer our writing has to motivate the learner, as well as, instruct them on correct processes, policies, techniques, etc. In the eLearning Coach’s article 10 Types of Writing for eLearning [...]
“In the beginning there was a blank slide. All eLearning designers dreamed of the endless possibilities. Wondrous content could spring into life. However, something went wrong… Bullet points sprang up like weeds. Clip art infiltrated the blank space. Bad color schemes and ugly fonts polluted the slide. The dream of engaging, [...]
I’ve often thought that our eLearning courses are like one big presentation. We’re trying to share information but we’re also trying to capture attention. We can’t have our course just “stand there” and use a monotone voice to try and teach. We must engage, motivate, capture, and excite. Last week at Learning Solutions I ran [...]
I’ve written various blogs about why gratuitous eLearning images are bad. Our images should be relevant and be used as a teaching aid. It has always been interesting to me how many “bad images” are used in eLearning. Especially since many of us are primarily visual learners. This probably happens because typing text is a [...]
1st, 2nd, or 3rd person? Which style of writing better “connects” with the learner? I’ve worked on a lot of courses and this question comes up quite often. Some organizations want to be formal and think that a conversational tone is unprofessional. My thought has always been that self-directed learning is a “personal” activity. It’s [...]
We’re always looking for ways to improve our eLearning content. I came across a post on eLearningWeekly about “5 Ways to Improve Bad eLearning” that I wanted to share. Here are his main points and my comments on how to improve bad eLearning: 1. Open up the Navigation I like the idea of letting the [...]
Your course goes live and you’re done right? Wrong…there are always changes and updates I really don’t like spending tons of time “maintaining” course content. How can course updates be minimized? Here are some ideas: Speak in the Now – If you’re creating a course for something that will happen in the future why not [...]
I ran across the great article on Work Memory. This is an interesting topic for eLearning designers because we are typically trying to “cram” tons of information into someone’s head in less than 30 mins. There are great tips in the article that could help us build better training. The ones that jumped out to [...]
I never thought about text expansion/contraction until I needed to have a course translated. Headings, titles, and buttons that worked fine in English suddenly ran out of space when getting translated. When creating a course that will be in multiple languages you must plan upfront for the “room” that each language will need. Here is [...]
I like to have color themes for my courses. I carry the colors into my images, course skin, backgrounds, and marketing communications. At times we need to create courses for an international market. Colors have different meanings across the world. Here is a great charts that helps us know what various colors mean in different [...]
Audio and narration are great ways to enhance e-Learning. We all know what a difference sound effects make when we watch a great action movie. Without it the movie would be terrible. All too often we forget that eLearning can also have audio. Not just narration but also sound effects that emphasize and support the [...]
We are shallow people! Let me explain why I say that…. The other day I was on an airplane and watched the person next to me “read” a magazine. He basically flipped quickly through the pages and stopped occasionally on a pretty picture and usually started flipping again. At one point he stopped and seemed [...]
Everyone is always looking for ways to make their eLearning more interactive. There are many ways to do this. Here are just a few: 1. Interactions There are many times when you have various concepts or “chunks” of information on a page. You could break it into multiple pages or divide it into sections. For [...]
