Whether it’s for an educational institution, a business, or any other kind of organization, creating high-quality e-learning content requires a certain mindset. You’re always going to fill the role of an educator, and will need to provide your end users with everything they need to get the most out of your content. If you’re a little worried that your content isn’t going to have the effect you want, here are some tips for getting in the right mindset for e-learning content.
Think Like a Student
Obviously, as someone creating e-learning content, you’re going to need to fulfill the role of a teacher. However, you’re also going to need to think like a student to make sure your content is meshing well with your target audience. You need to be able to empathize with the kinds of people you’re writing for, tailoring the content for their needs and abilities, all the while considering their capacity, patience and overall enjoyment of the course experience. You probably know from experience that boredom is one of the most damaging factors in any educational experience, so finding ways to make your courses and materials fun for students is extremely important. This is just as important for 40-something managerial types as it is for university-age students!
Think Like a Business Owner
Whoever and whatever you’re formulating e-learning content for, you need to approach the whole thing from the point of view of a business owner. All e-learning content will have a specific need to fulfill, and you have to keep that need in mind for the best chances of success. For example, if your e-learning content is for training the employees of a corporation, you need to be thinking past the academic completeness of it. Instead, the emphasis should be on the skills that they need to get their jobs done. Regardless of the individual task you’ve been given, you should also be thinking of ways you can innovate and improve your processes as an e-learning creative. For example, if your skills are a little dated, you could consider investing in further training, like these Training Connections Captivate classes.
Get Creative
This is closely tied to the first point we looked at, in that it will have a profound impact on how engaged your students remain when consuming your e-learning content. Creating original content, whether it’s a novel or an e-learning course, is a creative endeavor, and success in anything like this is going to require you to think outside the box. A creative mindset can also be very useful for overcoming the inevitable problems that will spring up here and there. You might run into issues with the presentation, explaining a certain point clearly, or presenting material in a way which you don’t have a ready-made solution for. It’s easy to find something that works and then stick with it, but make sure you’re not afraid of challenging the status quo. Get into the habit of thinking of new, creative methods for doing things, and finding more effective ways to deliver learning to students.
