SHIFT's eLearning Blog

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

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    eLearning Tips: How To Hook Your Learner On the First Few Screens

    Successful eLearning courses hook readers on the very first page. That’s because eLearning, in essence, is all about engaged learning. It’s multi-sensory in that it engages all senses through interactive texts, stunning graphics and compelling videos.

    The 5 Best Ways to Research Your eLearning Course Target Audience

    Although it might seem absurd to design training without the end user in mind, an audience analysis is an extremely important yet often overlooked element of instructional design. Before creating an eLearning course, you should find out as much as possible about your learners. This information should directly impact your design and content choices. For example, the experience levels of the audience will affect the types of activities incorporated in the course. During the eLearning audience analysis stage of design, it is important to think of your learners as a group of individuals with specific goals. Remember, demographic profiles of your target audience do not always paint the complete picture. You have to look beyond statistics like age, educational qualification, and occupation to understand the learner. Your learner is a sum of his or her past experiences, desires, aspirations, and expectations. Their learning styles and media preferences are shaped by their familiarity with and access to technology. Their cultural upbringing influences their perception of symbols, images, words, or analogies. Learners are a complex and multi-dimensional human beings; just a few numbers do not define them. Here are five ways you can get to know your eLearning course target audience:

    • 7 min read
    • Wed, Nov 27, 2019 @ 12:07 PM

    Improving Your eLearning Courses: The 4 Most Important Elements to Focus On

    If your eLearning course isn’t meeting your expectations, your development team can, with the right knowledge, improve it without starting from scratch. Here are four elements you should focus on to “stir up” more interest in your course and get more successful results.

    Struggling to Keep Learners Engaged? Get Back to Basics

    Remember how you learned math? You went through four stages. You learned what adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing mean (tell). Then your teacher taught you how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide (show). You practiced sums (do), and then came the dreaded exams (apply). This is how all learning takes place, and it is no different with eLearning.

    7 Ways You’re Sabotaging Your eLearning Courses (Plus 25 Solutions)

    They say, one rotten apple spoils the whole basket. If you are an instructional designer, you are probably nodding your head in agreement. Someone somewhere churns out a few trashy courses and manages to shoo away learners and business owners. Business owners take one look at these and decide they don't want to commission another one ever while learners doze off midway through the course and decide they won't waste their valuable time any more.

    Bullets in eLearning: Friend or Foe?

    OMG! Did you just shoot the learner? What did you do? Did you misfire a bullet? Or did you pump in too many bullets? Be careful. The bullet is a powerful weapon. You must use it wisely to create the right "impact." We are talking eLearning here. And the bullets are those little black dots that instructional designers are either obsessed with or hate with a vengeance. The former breed litters their courses with bullet lists—an overkill. The latter group avoids bullets like the plague; they probably do not know how bullet lists make learning matter more comprehensible. As an instructional designer, you have to tread the middle path. Do not pay heed to what the fatalists say. Bullets are not bad. Period. On the other hand, don't be too trigger-happy either. Use bullets wisely to make your courses look good, read intelligible, and make sense to the learner. But before shooting off the tips, here's what you must remember about bullet lists: Bullet lists help to structure ideas and present them in bite-sized chunks that are easy for the learner to skim over. Bullets are like mini headlines. The ideal bullet item is a crisp phrase that presents just the essence of an idea; it is not a rambling sentence that makes the learner trail off midway.

    8 Signs You Were Meant to Be An E-Learning Designer

    Whether you’re an aspiring eLearning designer or a seasoned pro with years of experience, there are some key characteristics that predispose people to succeed at this industry, and we’ve listed them here.

    Improve Learner Engagement by Using Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions

    What do you remember more vividly? The steps of installing a piece of new software on your computer or the episodes from your favorite TV drama? Human beings are more swayed by emotions than by a bunch of hard facts and cold statistics. Our favorite stories keep us hooked because they tug at our heart strings. We remember scenes from our favorite movies because as a rule, human beings remember emotionally-charged events better than the ones that just aim to appeal to our sense of logic. Understanding the science of emotions is the key to influencing learners' thoughts and actions. As an instructional designer, you need to wrap your wits around this science to create courses that resonate with your audience and stir their emotions. Robert Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions holds the clues.

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      Signs Your Company Urgently Needs to Invest in Reskilling

      Did you know that over 40% of today’s job skills are expected to change in the next decade due to technological innovation? This startling statistic highlights a critical point: Reskilling isn’t optional, it’s an absolute must for businesses looking to stay competitive and relevant. But diving into reskilling just because it’s trending or to “check a box” isn’t the wisest move. Every business has its unique needs and challenges, and figuring out when reskilling programs are genuinely needed is key to long-term success.

      Proven Tips to Supercharge Your Company's eLearning Programs

      Integrating eLearning into the corporate setting has significantly changed how companies train their employees. Yet, not all eLearning courses hit their intended marks, highlighting a need for critical analysis and optimization of existing programs. Identifying which courses aren't meeting their goals is crucial for making substantial improvements. Success hinges on creating courses that truly impact employees' performance and professional growth.

      4 Actionable Strategies to Bridge the Digital Skills Gap in Your Company

      Are you feeling the pressure of rapid technological advancements altering the job market? Wondering if your team has what it takes to navigate the challenges of this evolving digital landscape? You're certainly not in this boat alone. The relentless pace of technological innovation has thrust the importance of digital skills to the forefront for businesses around the globe.