As eLearning designers, we must all deal with dull, insipid content that brings out the yawns, both in you and the learners. And then there are those complex, technical topics that leave you and the learners overwhelmed. These are the topics you dread to tackle and your learners, loathe to go through. Yet, the onus is on you to create swashbuckling courses out of such dreary content. You must not only make learners sit through a course with such dull or complex content but also ensure they leave the training room wiser, more knowledgeable, and armed with a new skill.

Author Ken Poirot once wrote: “Wise people understand the need to consult experts; only fools are confident they know everything.” As wise Instructional Designers, it behooves you to accept the fact that you will not always know everything about the topic that you are about to design and develop a course for. As a result, you’ll likely need to consult Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) on specific topics. While these experts may not be aware of the pedagogical pre-requisites of successful learning content, their inputs can be invaluable in providing you with the actual content for your eLearning courses. However, meetings with SMEs need to be planned and conducted with a defined strategy to meet specific objectives.

"The obvious advantage of the blended learning solution is that learning becomes a process rather than an event" Caroline Gray There are a number of definitions of Blended Learning, but all of them have some common elements. They describe Blended Learning as initiatives that: Include a combination of approaches, technology-driven as well as conventional (face-to-face) Contain a mix of medium – video, audio, in-person lectures, etc. Combine multiple pedagogical approaches, such as behavioral, constructivism and cognitive, to produce desired learning outcomes

Elearning design is one those jobs that allow working from home. If you have a wifi connection, you’re pretty much good to go. Also, working from home can be an amazing experience that really does allow you to get more done for yourself and your clients or employers. Studies have shown that you can be even more productive working from home. Harvard Business Review’s study on productivity in telecommuting situations reported a more than 13% increase in productivity when workers switched to homeworking. That being said, there are still some mistakes, and pitfalls telecommuting eLearning designers can fall into. To help them make the most of their time from home, we’ve compiled the best advice on what you’ll need to get started working from home along with insider advice on getting stuff done and staying sane (based on our own experience).

An online search for design tools for eLearning will produce more results than you can shake a digital stick at. And while it’s great to have variety, this level of choice can be overwhelming and possibly expensive depending on the tools you try out. To make things easier on eLearning designers, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite free and low-cost tools that are worth keeping in your virtual toolbox. Read on for over two dozen tools to make your eLearning courses better, faster and more engaging:

When you are developing an eLearning course, you don’t typically think about persuading your audience. But, persuasion is not only for marketing and sales professionals, it can also be used in eLearning design! Facts and concepts alone won’t significantly change the way your learners think, do, and feel. The trick is to get to know and apply the most effective persuasive strategies to move your audience’s intention into a desired behavior change or action. You have to carefully choose every element on the screen to do all the coaxing, cajoling, imploring, and pleading to engage and persuade your learners to do something new.

In today’s world, companies invest in learning and development of their workforce through different types of training. But there are two important types we are going to mention in this article. One – the classroom training led by an instructor and the other is eLearning, which is deeply connected with technology and is gaining momentum in organizations all over the world. While in-person training isn't going away anytime soon, eLearning is steadily gaining ground. But, how do you know your company needs eLearning? Let's take a look at six signs:

Human beings respond to experiences and learn from them. As eLearning designers, we need to think beyond modules and training sessions and instead create “experiences” for the learners. We have to get used to the idea that this is the era of the user, and we have to meet their needs. We have to STOP creating lessons that feel right to us. We have to STOP creating courses that are convenient for us to build. We have to focus on the learner experience and create courses that enhance this. And for this, you have to have a feel for Learning Experience Design (LXD).