SHIFT's eLearning Blog

One of the tenets of eLearning is not to annoy. So why it is that many courses are still chock full of the elements that so many learners have regrets over and over?

Are you concerned about annoying imperfections lingering in your course? The good news is that you have a number of simple options available that don’t require full-course redesign. Cosmetic changes like text reduction, layout reshaping and visual rework, are just a few ways to revitalize your content and boost your course's powerful value.

One of the biggest time-saving tactics you can use is creating standardized and reusable content. eLearning teams waste so much time every day creating screens from scratch. It’s time to stop reinventing the wheel.

The challenges for designing eLearning courses are more than just developing course content. Distractions are everywhere and if you plan to attract and keep learners, there are certain design strategies you need to focus on. Your course needs to be easy to navigate, appealing to the eye without being cluttered and contain quality graphics.

Have you kept up to date with the best eLearning practices? Are you looking for actionable tips you can apply to your own projects? Each and every day there are hundreds of articles which get published on the internet on the topic of eLearning and Online Learning . With so much content being published, it can be a bit overwhelming. Well the experts here at SHIFT have read through hundreds of articles and picked out some of the best for you to educate yourself on.

It’s part of your job as an eLearning course developer to polish up your material before you hit publish. A single error speaks volumes. It tells learners you’re in a hurry to even check the course or think you don’t care enough about details. Worse, it may substantially delay or prevent them from completing on time. Don’t let careless mistakes muck up your eLearning courses.

We live in a time poor, information overloaded world.  That means your learners are information overloaded, time poor too. That makes time (and energy, and attention) a big potential barrier to engaging your audience. It also means you can use time to your advantage by showing your learners that you respect, and value, their time.

By now, hopefully we’ve convinced you of the importance of consistency in eLearning. Before you start any eLearning project, it’s important to set standards (basic rules) for visuals. You'll definitely develop stronger and more coherent courses when your team understands and follows a style guide, that ensures there’s a consistent look for all the different courses and visual projects. 

Visual content is all the rage today. Creating eye-pleasing eLearning courses seems to be the key to engage learners. You might have great content and an engaging angle on a topic, but if your courses don't look good, it may not matter. Unfortunately, not all of us can be graphic designers and create beautiful images for every eLearning course that we create. However, what we can do is make sure we’re not making obvious mistakes when creating visual content by double checking ourselves.

Our brains are wired to learn visually. It’s a proven fact backed by science. And it’s an untapped opportunity for eLearning course developers. The problem is not the lack of resources; there are tons of graphics for eLearning available online. The real problem lies in effectively (that is, strategically) selecting resources appropriate to your material. Choosing the right graphics is fundamental because those with no purpose can actually make learning harder.