SHIFT's eLearning Blog

Our blog provides the best practices, tips, and inspiration for corporate training, instructional design, eLearning and mLearning.

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    5 Character Archetypes You Can Use in Your eLearning Courses

    Pretty much anyone can present information, but an honestly good eLearning course designer knows how to make that information stick with learners even when that audience isn’t interested. Because that’s the nature of an eLearning course: sometimes your audience is enthralled with the subject and sometimes they’re just being pushed to learn because of a job or class. It should be your goal to make content memorable no matter your audience’s interest level. One of the best ways to do this is to incorporate engaging and unique characters in your courses. A learner might not remember every piece of content you present to them, but they will remember an aqua aardvark appropriately named ADDIE. While that might be too cartoonish or “out there” for many courses, I think you can see the point of how using a character gives your audience something to visualize and hold onto in the sea of new information they are being immersed in.

    Massive Shifts Happening Right Now in the Corporate Training World

    Embrace the race or get left in the dust. While the world of e-learning design might not seem as fast paced or ever-changing as other environments, it is still a business, and there are changes in motion that designers need to be aware of to to stay relevant in the field. In the same way, that education has begun to leave the classroom and is now accessible from mobile devices, technology is still evolving to make the new learning arena better, faster and more widely accessible. Companies now have options they never did before for providing training. Being aware of these changes means keeping your courses relevant for students and keeping your design skills in demand.

    The Final Touch: 7 Tips & Tricks For Outstanding eLearning Storyboards

    Developing an eLearning storyboard is one thing, but turning it into a practical guide for anyone involved in the eLearning project is of utmost importance. In this article, I will give you 7 tips & tricks you can use to design outstanding eLearning storyboards.

    A Practical Guide On How To Start With eLearning Storyboards

    What an architectural plan is for civil engineers, an eLearning storyboard is for eLearning developers. Exactly as the architect conceptualizes the building, and provides a plan to be used by civil engineers and constructors, in the same manner, the Instructional Designer conceptualizes the eLearning course deliverable and writes down every single detail of it, providing a complete guide in terms of content, audio, visuals, and interactive elements to be included, so that all members involved in the eLearning project can be on the same page throughout the eLearning course development process. In this article, I’ll provide you with a practical guide on how to start working with eLearning Storyboards.

    Our Top Picks for Where to Find the Best Free Images for eLearning

    It can be challenging to find images for your eLearning courses that are stunning, high-resolution and most importantly, free. With the availability of current resources, it’s no longer necessary to use clip art or the type of generic (or cliché) images that make training look dated. Whether you lack the skill or simply the time to create the images for your eLearning courses, we have compiled a list, of what we consider the best free stock photos on the Internet right now. Each of the following websites contains free high-resolution images that can be used for personal and commercial use. We encourage your to visit and bookmark any (or all) of these sites today!

    Can’t Miss Posts on the Future of Workplace Learning and eLearning

    There are endless blog posts that can help you understand the actual status and the future of workplace learning and eLearning, but sometimes too much information can be overwhelming. Which is why we compiled this list of 2015 posts you absolutely must read before this year ends.

    How Do I Get My Company to Take Instructional Design Seriously?

    Did you know that Instructional Design (ID) began in the Second World War to improve military training? This goes to show that ID isn't some new, smoke and mirrors concept; it's an evidence-based, rigorous discipline. And if your company isn't using instructional design effectively, they're losing out. This article should help set them straight.

    How to Make Your eLearning Courses Stand Out

    eLearning is a disruptive technology, changing the way people acquire education. From online schools to on-the-job training, learning via electronic means is becoming the norm. With this in mind, realize that even though you may have highly valuable information to share with learners, your competition is growing each day. Use this guide to help you ensure that your eLearning courses stand out from the crowd of ever-evolving electronic learning opportunities.