The end of the year is a time for envisioning a better YOU and setting intentions for the road ahead. It is a time for making resolutions so that you can be your best version, both personally and professionally. As an instructional designer and/or eLearning professional, this is your chance to look closely at how you work and set resolutions that will help you become more effective in your field.
Below are 6 resolutions that you can make to boost your ID skills and deliver inspiring and memorable learning experiences to your audience:
Respect your learners’ time, ditch quantity, and serve them only QUALITY!
Do not churn out eLearning courses in mindless numbers just because you have to meet deadlines or reach some numbers. This is the perfect recipe for learning disaster. Instead, focus on creating a few high-quality courses that deliver lasting value. Aim for meaningful activities, not more information; simple yet purposeful graphics, not complicated and flashy images and videos.
As you go the “less-is-more” way, here are some tips to help you create meaningful courses:
You have been creating courses for so long. You've mulled ID strategies, obsessed over gamification, and pondered interactive elements. You've been worried about how the course looks and whether the scenarios read naturally.
Now take a U-turn, and design an INTEGRATED learning experience.
From this year, step into the learners’ shoes, see through their eyes and think as they do. Focus on taking your workers on a learning journey. Concentrate on the learning experience as a whole instead of pondering how you will create and present separate elements like a video, a podcast, or a blog.
Here are some tips to get you started:
Adapt your course delivery and content to match the needs of modern learners. Go beyond the requirements of a traditional curriculum where you would think only about completing modules and measuring performance on assignments. Focus on the learner’s workplace realities, what was his or her life like before taking the course and how will it change afterward, and the environment in which he or she will take the course. Also read: What Do Modern Learners Actually Want From Your eLearning Courses?
According to a study by the Brandon Hall Group and Halogen Software, 60 percent of the learning delivered to the workforce is not aligned with organizational goals. Now just calculate the amount of your effort that has gone to waste and the number of hours your audience has spent learning something that they will not need at the workplace. You are cringing, right?
There is only one way you can remedy this situation. Align your courses with your business goals. Focused and relevant courses empower employees to deliver value at the workplace and perform, to a high standard, those tasks that are required of them.
Here are some tips to help you create aligned courses:
Read: Alignment Should Always Be Our Watchword in eLearning
This is the Age of Big Data.
Leave aside guesswork. Stop relying on hunches. Instead use Experience API (xAPI) analytics to glean valuable insights like:
You can gain many more insights into learner behavior using xAPI analytics. The knowledge will reveal how you can improve user “experience” and deliver more meaning and lasting value. Here are some ideas on how to make the most of the analytics:
Also read: The Top Learning & Development Priorities for 2022
Yes, you can get stuck in the training rut. In the mad scramble to meet deadlines, you forget to look around and miss all the exciting new developments taking place in the L&D world. As a result, the courses you create look dull and lifeless.
This year, commit to embracing the NEW. Start by looking at all the different ways you can use media to breathe fire into your eLearning courses. Below are some exciting ways you can present content that will engage learners more than a hunk of text ever can:
Don’t fret, incorporating these new media in your courses won’t drive up costs necessarily. Courtesy of the latest technological advances, maximum-impact eLearning is now also cost-effective.
Also read: The New Rules for Bringing Innovation to eLearning Course Designs
You cannot survive in a dynamic and fiercely competitive marketplace if you cannot evolve with the times and changing learner needs.
Innovation is the key to thriving.
You have to keep learning. You have to be on top of trends and at the forefront of the ideological, design, and technological developments that are shaping the eLearning industry.
Just as you make sure that your audience is keeping up with what’s happening in their niches, ensure that you are also not lagging. Here are some ways in which you can keep up with the learning process:
New Year resolutions are hard to keep. But don’t let the training goals mentioned above disappear into oblivion. Sticking to goals is easy when you have the big picture in mind and can envision the results of your efforts. To motivate yourself by remembering why you are here and the purpose you have embraced.