What would you put in eLearning room 101?
This blog is about the 'pet hates' most of us have about poor eLearning content. From awkward dialogues, wordy learning objectives to clicking past the boredom, we've all been there. For too many years, eLearning content has been sub-standard. If you want to see how modern eLearning should work, check out our Content development services. In the meantime, this blog will help you spot the worst eLearning mistakes and take steps to stamp them out.
This blog isn't my idea. It's someone else's idea. It's a good idea.
'Which aspects of eLearning would you put in Room 101?' she asked.
The transformations and transmutations of Art.
So, those are my first two choices for eLearning's Room 101: unnecessary - preambles and unspeakably bad dialogue.
On a more sombre note, before it was ever a BBC comedy programme, Room 101 was the torture chamber in George Orwell's dystopian novel, 1984 – it's in this room that the spirit of the book's hero, Winston, is finally broken. Room 101 isn't where you put your pet hates, but where your worst fear is made real. But before it was ever an Orwellian torture chamber, Room 101 was a conference room at the BBC: the boredom and frustration Orwell endured there turned it into the stuff of nightmares. In recognition of this, I choose for eLearning's Room 101 those very twins: boredom and frustration.
I believe this, but poor eLearning can test that belief to breaking point. Boredom is a state of mind. Some argue that boredom can be 'a vital spur to creativity', but even without going that far, we can turn this negative into a positive. The fact that people faced with a piece of eLearning expect to be bored is, for me as an instructional designer, alternately a cause of despair and a prompt to spring a surprise. If boredom is a blank page, we can – at the very least – draw interesting doodles on it. eLearning that is only slightly better than the average already has a lot going for it. And a really skilled team of graphic and instructional designers can achieve miracles that excite genuine interest.
The employee who sits frustratedly at his or her desk, logging into the clunky Learning Management System on which the required Compliance course squats, is in no mood to be messed about by unclear instructions and counter-intuitive navigation.
But those who insist on being bored by the content of a course will want to whistle through it at breakneck speed. I'd like to slow them down, invite them to stand and stare for a while, but the reality is that completion statistics matter to clients. If we are to treat learners as adults who are free to make choices, then we must respect the fact that some will choose not to learn. Putting obstacles in their path won't alter that.
But just as we were about to leave, we came across a side room that had some fearful creatures on display, such as a snake, a tarantula, a couple of rats. And because this blog was forming in my head, I thought of the rats which poor Winston was threatened with in Room 101. Invited to stroke a tarantula and handle a snake, the kids were thrilled. Yet they have a dread of these animals. Here's the point. What, in eLearning, can we do for the employees who dread the new process they have to learn, or the new set of compliance rules they must adhere to? We can create a kind of virtual room in which they get to handle the cause of their dread in a way that is engaging and fun. This room has no number.
Share your eLearning room 101?
If you agree, disagree, or want to add to our eLearning room 101, we'd love to hear from you - reply in the comments section below. Or if you would like to know how you can be more successful in your role and make a bigger impact in your organisation - read our corporate guide to digital learning. Our intelligent learning platform - Percipio is definitely not in eLearning room 101. Neither are our engaging Compliance courses. We promise!