There are many factors which influence eLearning designing and development. This includes learning objectives, target audience and most importantly the purpose of the course and the nature of the content. These factors help decide a learning strategy for the online course. A learning strategy is the deciding factor in selecting the right authoring tool for the eLearning course.
Let us see the first aspect of successful eLearning design/development.
Design an effective eLearning – 3 key elements
There are 3 key elements which ensure effectiveness of eLearning design. They are:
- Learning design methodology
- Comprehension of the technological requirement
- Sense of Scale and Volume
Learning Design Methodology:
According to Ruth Colvin Clark, a recognized specialist in instructional design and technical training, content is categorized into five types – facts, concepts, processes, procedures, and principles.
A learning design methodology explains the need of the training, target audience, objectives of the training and explains whether the training is it at the knowledge level or application level.
Framing effective and assessable training objectives depends on the content given for the subject and training requirements.
Understanding the technological requirement
Make sure that you’re aware of all technological aspects such as your learner’s IT environment and the platform on which the digital course is hosted. See that the course is compatible with SCORM/AICC. The learner’s IT environment includes operating systems, browsers, and PC, Laptop or mobile devices. You need to take a decision whether to host the course on your company’s intranet or the Internet. You also need to zero in on the right authoring tool to develop your eLearning course.
Sense of Scale and Volume
Sense of scale and volume is an understanding of training needs in terms of reach.
Let’s see the factors to be considered when planning an eLearning program
- High volume to be produced
The learning strategy will be varied, depending on the duration and various aspects of the course.
For example, if the duration of the training is 10 hours of eLearning on various aspects of supply chain management to your operations team quickly.
- High Value – Low Volume
You need to have a sense of scale and volume for eLearning courses that are of high value and critical to business and culture. For example, If your design strategy can be indented for the top management team would be differ from the strategy adopted to design a course for sales people.
- Translations & Localization
Your need to a have sense of scale and volume when you are launching eLearning courses globally, in multiple languages. For example, if you develop an eLearning course to train your sales staff on a new product and would like to launch this course globally in several languages, you need to adopt a suitable strategy. Therefore, a sense of scale and volume is vital before we decide on an effective strategy.
Thus, these key elements play a key role in designing an effective digital course for your learners. Do you think there are other things that have been missed out? Please do share your thoughts and ideas on the same.