The blogosphere has been abuzz with talk of the Millennial generation for a while now - and we’ve talked about designing eLearning for them ourselves. But the times are changing, and now it’s time to start thinking about the next gen. Born after the mid-90s and raised in the 2000s, this new ‘Generation Z’ workforce is set to account for 20 percent of working adults by the year 2020. With this in mind, we would be looking at a unique situation of four distinct generations working alongside one another, including Baby Boomers, and the infamous generations X and Y.

Have you ever taken an eLearning course and found it to be less than what you expected when you had it completed? You were hoping to learn more, or even felt your precious time consumed without benefit to your mind? At one point in time or another, we all have! However, your learners can be the exceptions to this rule! By maintaining the 6-Ps of eLearning, your audience will never waste their precious time! And they will continue to enjoy and come back to your courses – from the first course to the hundredth! Let’s start by mentioning what these 6 - Ps are:

Improvement is an ongoing process. There is always a new writing style to adapt to, the latest technology to tap into, the newest authoring software to learn, and a different way of strategizing to master. This month, we will help you advance on this learning journey with our top eLearning tips.

Most of us agree that video is a wonderful tool for aiding the learning process. Right? It's fun, visual, and appeals to more learning styles than a 'rote-learning-read-this-100-times' approach. It can be used to include more sensorial and realistic experiences into your courses - from selfie videos, expert tips, testimonials, examples and non-example demos. So video is useful, widespread, and fun - no downside, right? Not quite. Video comes at a cost, and not a metaphorical one. Staying in budget is a big concern for most eLearning professionals, and video is renowned for eating up that budget quicker than you can say “it's not that expensive!”. A viable alternative is to produce your own video, cut costs, and personalize your eLearning program. But, before you put on your director’s cap and grab your iPhone, there are a few things you need to know first. So grab your notepads and buckle your seatbelts, let's get going. The Small Print: While DIY video is an option, it has to be taken seriously to have the desired effect. This means that if you shoot an eLearning video on your 2008 camera phone, you may have some very awkward meetings with your boss in the immediate future. Video has to be allocated the resources, manpower, thought, and rigor that it deserves. So while doing it yourself can cut costs drastically, make sure you know what you're getting into. So, without further ado, here are the five main steps you should follow for producing your own video for your eLearning courses:

Most new instructional designers tend to jump directly into the “development” process. It’s a universal eagerness because as we all can imagine the fun is in the building. However, much like architecture, the blueprints are vital to making it all come together. Can you imagine an architect designing a building without planning it on paper first? It sounds like someone is going to lose their client! The organizational structure for any eLearning project is key to its success. Despite your knowledge of any subject, instructional design requires a bit more. Instructional designers need to consider time constraints, data, knowledge gaps, and most importantly, THE AUDIENCE! The best way to deliver information to the learners is something that doesn’t come naturally to us; it's an exercise that needs to be thought through and planned. Below is a list of steps that can help you achieve a solid foundation for your course. Skipping any of these five steps would be a disservice to your students as they ensure quality. Read on for more on how to draw out the blueprint for your eLearning masterpiece.

How do you read an article in the newspaper? You start with the headline that screamed at you from the newsstand. Then you read the sub-headline, which is printed in smaller font size. Next, you proceed to read the body copy. Why do you read in this order? You read the headline first because its large, bold font grabs your eyeballs as soon as you glance at the newspaper. Next, the sub-headline catches your attention. You are compelled to read in this order because of the way the text is presented. This is visual hierarchy, where information is ordered based on its importance and visually presented using contrasting forms to influence the viewing order.

It’s every instructional designer’s dream to design an eLearning course that will keep learner’s coming back for more. Furthermore, it’s your dream to have this course be instrumental in your team’s growth and development. Achieving these results requires insightful strategies that merge content and design to entice the learner. It is also done by addressing their concerns and providing them with the information they need in ways they understand. Review some of the triggers and strategies that will get your learners coming back for more much like gamers do. Read on about how to begin to incorporate them into your course lessons immediately!

Although instructor-led or classroom training remains as one of the most common ways to train employees, the opportunity to implement eLearning to is a more cost-effective and convenient option. However, don’t fall into the trap of thinking, “I already have a successful classroom training program. I just need to transfer this online, and I’m all set.” Successfully moving existing training content online requires some prep work. If you just start the transformation process by doing a one-for-one conversion (i.e. taking each slide or presentation deck and making an exact digital representation of it); chances are that you’ll end up with an eBook without delivering an enhanced learning experience to your learners. So, if you're new to creating eLearning courses, you will find this post useful in answering common questions and providing you with a guide of things to consider during the process of converting existing content, which goes far beyond merely transferring content to an online format.