A lot of eLearning professionals, especially those who have just started with their practice, often ask about the need for theory. Why bother with an instructional design theory at all? Isn't practice enough?

When was the last time you used a mobile device? Chances are you’ve looked at your smartphone or tablet within the last hour. In fact, you might even be reading this blog from your smartphone. How we access information has changed dramatically over the last few years. For learning and development to stay relevant, training professionals need to adopt a mobile mindset. However, this isn’t just a new technology “fix.” It’s an entire change of attitude about how content is designed and delivered. Mobile devices, used properly, can improve training throughout your organization. This new attitude will take some planning, preparation, and persuasion to design training that maximizes the user experience.

How often have you groaned at the thought of attending yet another training session that you didn’t need? How often have you wondered “Why am I here” while going through an eLearning course and struggling not to doze off? So if you are wondering whether they appreciate the training you make them go through, then make sure that you deliver it when your employees need it. Here are the most common situations when you need to invest in training to make it worth the investment:

All over the world, eLearning professionals are tossing and turning in their beds. They’re waking up in cold sweats, muttering things about ‘compatibility’ and ‘M-Learning’. The constant winds of change are taking their toll on our psyches. We couldn’t let you suffer in silence any longer. So we set out to do some research and find out what’s playing on your minds. We all know that training has shifted, shifted, and shifted again. It’s changing at such a pace that we can’t even keep up. As soon as we think we’ve nailed a way to engage employees, improve performance, and retain good talent, a new method, new technology, a new study, or a new concern pops up. We decided that to tackle these problems effectively; we have to prioritize. That’s why we took a survey asking hundreds of eLearning professionals at the front lines of the industry what challenges they’re preoccupied with, and what’s keeping them from getting their head down at night. Here’s what we found:

eLearning courses are designed to provide students with helpful information and not to bombard them with irrelevant and unnecessary pieces of content. What many eLearning designers don't realize is that if they exceed a human’s brain capacity to understand and retain information, then all the effort spent creating the course goes to waste. Designers are often asking us how they can improve the quality of their eLearning courses and make them more engaging. Our answer: Stick to one of design's timeless rules: “keep it simple.” Applying the principle of simplicity in eLearning means conveying information in the simplest way possible. Less information will always be more. When too much clutter vies for the learner's attention, the learner may not see the forest for the trees. They end up thinking the course isn't worth so much effort, and the content gets lost. However, keeping it simple can be an art. So, let’s discuss some tips to improve your eLearning design and help learners get through the course as fast as possible.

The term “Experience Mapping” isn’t a new one – it’s been around for a long time in retail sales settings. For instance, brick-and-mortar retailers have for years focused on providing their customers the best “experience” possible during shopping, by focusing on aspects such as product availability, price competitiveness, a variety of selection, “airiness” and openness of their shop floors, cleanliness, etc.

There are A TON of eLearning courses out there, and to say some aren’t great, is a complete understatement. With the technology to design courses easily accessible to everyone, there tends to be more quantity than quality. To avoid having your own courses slip into this undesirable category, make sure you aren’t creating any of these worst types of courses:

According to a report by HubSpot, posts and tweets containing colored images increase viewers’ willingness to read by a whopping 80 percent! Other research revealed readers remembered 65 percent of the information several days after viewing it when text was paired with one or more relevant images than a paltry 10 percent when the content was just a hunk of text. Look at yourself. Would you like to watch a demo video and learn how to fix a broken washer or read through the pages of the instruction manual? We love watching movies. We post photos of our trips on Facebook and not essays about our vacations. The power of visuals is undeniable! As an eLearning course creator whose goal is to create memorable learning, you MUST NOT underestimate using this medium correctly when you design your courses.