Keeping learners motivated throughout an eLearning course is a challenge for even the most seasoned designers. Not only is it difficult to hook and keep learners engaged offline, but asynchronous training invites an even larger set of challenges. There is no way to read visual cues if students are bored or for an instructor to redirect training if there are questions. Online courses also provide an anonymity that prevents some learners from even participating at all.

Learning leaders, you have lessons to learn from the marketing pros. More specifically, you need to learn a tip or two on “branding.” If you thought branding is something that only FMCG manufacturers, car dealers, and luxury watch sellers need to practice, think again. With a pressing need to keep employees on top of industry knowledge and skills, you MUST ensure that your eLearning courses do not get lost in the crowd. You MUST make your courses visible. Else, your efforts go to waste. Or worse, your learners waste energy hunting around for content or learn inadequately.

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?

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.

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:

We hear a lot about Millennials but who are they statistically? According to Pew Research Center, this generation was born between1980 and the early 2000’s. Millennials are now ranging from ages 22 to 37 and its estimated this population will reach 73 million in the U.S. in 2019. They represent more than half the workforce population. If those numbers made you sit up and take notice then you are well on your way to understanding why it’s important to create training that motivates and engages this generation.

The education and corporate training landscape is evolving faster than ever. Workers are distracted, impatient and overloaded with information. Their expectations, training needs, and learning preferences are diverging from the well-beaten paths we've mapped out in the past. People are busy, they multi-task, and work from anywhere, including their mobile devices. As learning & development professionals, we must always be looking out for ways to help our employees keep learning in this fast-paced work environment. Let's provide them with the bite-sized modules of training they need to achieve their goals. Let's make the shift from long courses to bite-sized resources to better suit the new fast-paced work environment. For many eLearning professionals, bite-sized has always been the right size. Imagine it, more useful content that fits smaller screens or just about any screen. Learners can work on any platform, switch back from their mobile device to the desktop, anytime. Snackable content also makes it easier for them to savor every lesson step after step—something that's not possible with lengthy materials. Offer your audience light, short yet substantial content. They'll surely come back for more.

Undoubtedly, one of the most important steps when adopting an e-learning solution in your organization is implementation. Successful execution of this step is strongly related to proper planning. Proper planning in regards to tasks, project leaders, cost and other implementation elements make up the basis for adequate execution and control. This step is to project implementation what blueprints are to a construction project. Therefore, changing anything after this step may have costly consequences.