SHIFT's eLearning Blog

Our blog provides the best practices, tips, and inspiration for corporate training, instructional design, eLearning and mLearning.

To visit the Spanish blog, click here
    All Posts

    5 Tricks to Improve Learning Retention Rate in eLearning Courses

    Anyone can create an eLearning course. But creating an eLearning course that works, and has an impact takes time and effort. Of course, good design, an intuitive user experience, and relevant content are key elements to factor in. However, despite the course turning out to look amazing and despite the eagerness of your employees to absorb all this information, they may forget what they’ve learned as soon as they get back to their desks. 

    The problem at hand has a name and goes by learning decay. It’s the natural process of forgetting things we don’t use over time. Our minds register them as useless and drop 'em. However, if specific strategies are used throughout your eLearning course to indicate that the information is important, it’s deemed valuable for long-term memory.


    Retaining information is one of the main challenges businesses face. Marketing professionals struggle to make customers remember their brands. Public speakers try to get people to remember what they hear and see in a speech. The eLearning realm is no exception to this tendency.  People are naturally wired to forget information that isn’t relevant. When they aren’t connected with the topic, the design, or the content, they just tune it out.

    Read more: These Are The Reasons Why Learners Forget Your Training

    In the busy and saturated world, we now live in; the brain is always at work evaluating what information is "needed to remember" and what’s not.

    As an eLearning professional, it’s your job to set off the triggers that will take something from your learner's short-term to their long-term memory.

    That said, building retention boosters into your online learning programs will go a long way. Here are some tricks to improve employee learning retention:

     

    1) Hit Replay!

    It’s necessary to create constant reminders of the “need to know” material since the brain will discard information that is not used.

    Why do you unconsciously remember the lyrics to the song on the radio? You remember it because you’ve heard it 1,000 times, probably! 

    The first opportunity that you will have to do this is during the course. In some language courses or apps, learners are tested on the previous lesson before moving on to the next one, for instance. Everything they’ve been learning, they are asked to recall and apply in order to continue. 

    If the brain didn’t expect to see that again, it’s going to take note. This is the first indication that they should not be forgotten.

    You can replicate this same strategy when designing your eLearning course. 

    Another opportunity where you can utilize a repetition strategy to improve learning retention is after the student completes the course. Creating short, but repetitive exercises after a training course will create the mental note mentioned above. The constant “recall” leaves a mark and will increase your retention levels significantly.

     

    2) Make It Easy to Take Home - Short Bursts of Content Supercharge Retention! 

    We know that the brain is overloaded with content daily, which will make the amount of information you provide a defining factor. This brings us to another method that can be applied to boost retention during a program: Microlearning.

    Microlearning is "serving" or presenting content to a learner in digestible bites, for the learner to consume at their own pace. These short bursts of interactive content give learners feel manageable to learners. One sentence is easier to remember than two or three, right?

    When an idea is simple and straightforward, it's easier to digest. When we understand a concept and why it will be useful, there is less room to question its importance. Make micro eLearning courses, and focus each module on ONE defined concept.

    Immediately after students have completed the module, provide them with a short summary and an opportunity to apply it. These exercises are fundamental to retaining information, which we will discuss further in the point below.

    Read more: Converting Long Form eLearning Courses to Short-Form: An Invitation to Microlearning

     

    3) Apply Childhood Tricks 

    Humans love stories. For a significant part of your childhood, you were told stories with the goal of learning something relevant to your safety or development. Whether it was learning to share with others, that strangers are dangerous, or learning to be kind, stories were, at times, the most impactful way to get us to recall a message.

    Adding characters, setting up scenarios, case studies, and examples, are all tools that help you create an emotional connection with your audience in your eLearning course too.

    For instance, if you are eager to teach your employees about a process, show a friendly and straightforward story of someone much like them facing a challenge, taking action to solve the problem, and obtaining specific results. It'd be easier for them to remember the steps if they watched someone else do it, primarily if you address some real-life concerns in the process.

     

    4) Bring in Reinforcement 

    Once you’re sure that you are wisely repeating "must-know" content throughout the course, that you are chunking content smartly, and that stories are part of the equation, follow-up exercises will be the key.

    Without follow-up, more than half of the information will be forgotten. Which means that not only is the time and money that you invested in the project a loss, but the employee’s efforts are as well.

    What you do after your lessons will be as important as the lesson itself.

    Think about how you have learned over the years. Part of learning how to drive is to apply what you’ve learned. Part of learning a new language is constant application after the information has been given to you.

    Follow-ups could include quick exercises, mobile reminders, mini quizzes, or discussions with a supervisor, or colleague. The closer it is to when the learning experience happened, the better, as details fade as time passes. The brain will assume it isn't useful enough and drop it. What many eLearning designers fail to understand is that the follow-up is almost as essential to the learning itself.

    Also, quiz results might help shed some light on which of the topics or lessons are not getting far with your learners. Don’t let the investment go to waste, use this so you can improve your training and get those results!

    Also read: How to Get Online Learners to Remember Your Training


    Learning decay can’t be approached as an add-on. This is a real and valid factor in your employee’s learning experience. You’ve made a huge investment in creating a good training program that will educate your learners and improve your business. You’ve brought your learners this far. Don’t fail them now!

    Also read: 6 Knowledge Retention Strategies For More Effective eLearning

     

     

    Attention-Grabbing Course



     

    Diana Cohen
    Diana Cohen
    Education Writer | eLearning Expert | EdTech Blogger. Creativa, apasionada por mi labor, disruptiva y dinámica para transformar el mundo de la formación empresarial.

    Related Posts

    4 Types of Immersive Scenarios: When and How to Use Them in eLearning

    In the digital age where information is just a click away and training has become accessible thanks to online platforms, eLearning has emerged as a pivotal tool. But with a vast array of resources and methodologies, what sets an effective eLearning course apart from one that simply goes unnoticed? One of the distinguishing strategies is the use of immersive scenarios. These aren't just visual embellishments or interactive add-ons to make a course more engaging. In truth, they're foundational training tools with the potential to transport learners into environments mirroring their actual work settings, enabling them to learn from experience and practice. Especially in corporate training, the ability of a scenario to mimic real-world work situations can bridge the gap between theoretical learning and applied knowledge. However, like any tool, eLearning scenarios shouldn't be used haphazardly. It's more than just including them because they look flashy or are trendy. Each scenario type has a purpose, an ideal context, and specific features making them apt for certain topics or audiences. Deliberate and purposeful use of these scenarios can elevate an eLearning course from merely informative to a transformative learning experience. This article isn’t just an overview of the various types of scenarios that can be integrated into an eLearning course. It’s a guide to understanding when, how, and why to use each one. Through descriptions, examples, and practical advice, we’ll dive deep into what makes scenarios so potent and how they can be the key to unlocking online learning's true potential.

    5 Reasons Why Your eLearning Programs Aren’t Working

    Ever found yourself standing at the crossroads of ambition and reality, particularly when it comes to eLearning? You took that leap of faith, fueled by the latest buzz or perhaps a compelling article you chanced upon, and decided to introduce eLearning in your organization. But, instead of the applause and triumphant results you envisioned, there was a whisper of disappointment and a lingering question: “Why isn’t this working?” Let’s get one thing straight: eLearning isn’t just a trendy box to check off or a badge to wear. It’s a strategic, potentially transformative tool that, when wielded correctly, can revolutionize how your team learns and grows. But if you're feeling a tad disheartened, thinking you've bitten off more than you can chew, fret not! We're here to demystify the maze of eLearning. If you’ve been looking at your program, scratching your head and feeling a tad helpless, you're in the right place. Let’s dive into the heart of the matter and explore the reasons why your eLearning programs might be missing the mark.

    Are Your eLearning Courses Achieving Behavioral Change?

    Have you ever noticed how often employees sit through mandatory courses, but once it's over, nothing really changes? I bet we've all seen it – folks diligently taking notes but then... nada. No change in behavior, no improvement in work. Here's the thing: just ticking off a training box isn't enough. If there's no real goal or follow-up, it's like tossing our investment into the wind. Before diving into designing a course, let's pause and ask: What's our endgame? Hoping for a safer workspace? A boost in sales? Stellar customer service? If our courses aren't aimed at making tangible changes in performance and results, we're kind of just spinning our wheels. Here's a nugget of truth: Even if you have the snazziest, most engaging course materials, it won't matter much if it doesn’t spur any change in behavior. And sometimes, piling on more information isn't the solution. Many times, our teams know what to do; they just need a compelling why to actually do it.