how to design an elearning course

by Justyn Walker 3 min read

How To Easily Create eLearning Courses

  • Choose an authoring tool that is right for you. ...
  • Research your eLearning audience and subject matter beforehand. ...
  • Create an eLearning template or use an existing one. ...
  • Choose a cloud-based learning management system. ...
  • Use links to add multimedia and resources. ...
  • Keep video, audio, and graphic elements simple and straightforward. ...

eLearning Course Design: 16 Essential Steps
  1. Conduct a thorough research. ...
  2. Analyse the target audience and determine the instructional requirements. ...
  3. Create a design for the course. ...
  4. Create a prototype for the course. ...
  5. Test the prototype with a few sample learners. ...
  6. Write the script or the storyboard. ...
  7. Produce relevant media.
Apr 9, 2016

Full Answer

How to start developing your eLearning courses?

Effective eLearning Course: Design With These Components In Mind 1. Audience Design the course with your audience in your mind. The main key to success is to deliver what needed. And... 2. Course Structure

How to become an eLearning designer?

Jan 13, 2015 · How To Easily Create eLearning Courses Choose an authoring tool that is right for you. In many respects, the eLearning authoring tool (s) you use have the... Research your eLearning audience and subject matter beforehand. One of the most significant mistakes that an eLearning... Create an eLearning ...

How to design an e-learning course?

Oct 01, 2020 · Instructional Design. The design of an eLearning course is the starting point for how engaging it is to learners. By understanding things like the goals of a course, the learning audience, and the motivation factors of that audience, we can build an engaging eLearning course. One of the ways that we make our courses engaging is by making them interactive.

How to design an eLearning course on a budget?

How to create an eLearning course Step 1: Establish the why of your project. Simply put, what’s the purpose of your training? Who’s taking it? More... Step 2: Gather your current materials. Use this step to also identify what materials you’re missing and want to …

How do you make an eLearning course in 12 steps?

Create an eLearning Course in 12 Steps InfographicStart with Why: Do a Need Analysis. Conducting a needs analysis. ... Know your Audience. ... Content Analysis: Get the Right Content for the Right Audience. ... Set Learning Objectives. ... Define Your Instructional Design Plan. ... Storyboard your Content. ... Choose your Technology. ... Prototyping.More items...•Jan 23, 2017

How do you develop an eLearning module?

How To Easily Create eLearning CoursesChoose an authoring tool that is right for you. ... Research your eLearning audience and subject matter beforehand. ... Create an eLearning template or use an existing one. ... Choose a cloud-based learning management system. ... Use links to add multimedia and resources.More items...•Jan 13, 2015

What makes a great eLearning course?

High quality content, polished design, and easy navigability are three important ingredients of any successful eLearning course. However, one of the most essential elements of an eLearning course design and development is often overlooked; and that is no other than interactivity.Jun 16, 2014

What aspects should one consider when designing an eLearning course module?

In order to create engaging, interactive, and learner-centric training modules for employees, you need to consider the following factors:Learning objectives.Target audience.Business goals of the training program.Device compatibility.Use of interactivities and real life scenarios.Self-paced learning.Accessible courses.More items...•Feb 3, 2021

How do I create an e learning website?

10 eLearning Website Development TipsFind and study your target audience.Create great content.Engage good educators.Conduct regular assessments.Implement a reward system.Offer certificates.Make sure your UI is user-friendly.Get feedback and ratings.More items...•Mar 15, 2020

How do you create digital learning content?

Six Tips for Creating Great Digital Learning ContentContextualize learners by creating an intellectual need for information and skills. ... Design learning content on a trajectory of informal to formal. ... Maintain a constant view of the Big Picture. ... Design learning content to foster collaboration and conversation.More items...

How long should an eLearning course be?

Most experts confirm that a good length for a web-based course is somewhere between fifteen and thirty minutes. This traditional opinion builds on psychological research, specific content patterns and, more often than not, gut feeling.Jun 16, 2016

How do you organize your learning content?

If you want to organize content sequentially, there are different ways to present information to students so they can maximize their learning: Description/List: A list is an easy to recognize manner of presenting information. ... Problem/Solution: ... Simple to Complex: ... Familiar to Unfamiliar:

How do you make an eLearning course Interactive?

Here are five simple ways to engage your learners by making your online learning program more interactive.Ask for feedback. Any chance the learners have to leave feedback is a great opportunity for interaction. ... Let people choose the way. ... Make it social. ... Invite learners to contribute. ... Encourage peer evaluation.

What do I need to do before designing learning content?

Before you start designing it, consider the following points.1) Research Your Target Audience. ... 2) Identify Training Needs. ... 3) Think About the Type of eLearning Course You Need. ... 4) Consider your Delivery Options. ... 5) Plan it out. ... 6) How You'll Evaluate Success.

What is eLearning design?

E-learning is a structured course or learning experience delivered electronically; it can also include performance support content.

How to design a course?

1. Audience. Design the course with your audience in your mind. The main key to success is to deliver what needed. And you need to know what the learners want. Before you start to design a course, you must perform an audience analysis.

What is the purpose of course structure?

It’s very important to organize the learning material in a good sequence to deliver the course objective. One of the tools that Instructional Designers use is storyboarding. It’s a very powerful tool, as it helps them have a clear vision about the sequence of the course and whether the size of each lesson is big or small.

Should you include graphics in a training?

You can always include graphics that explain an idea/concept or statement. Every graph or picture should have a purpose. I encourage you also to include infographics in your training; it’s easier to remember a graph than written words.

Why is elearning important?

It will also show gaps in current training and how you can close the breach and get results. This also prevents you from throwing eLearning at a problem it can’t solve. Elearning is perfect for addressing gaps in skill or knowledge but is typically not an effective cure for lack of customer satisfaction or a job design problem.

What is a prototype in eLearning?

A prototype defines the representative look-and-feel and functionality of the entire course. It also is used to test out technical functionality. This allows eLearning designers to create and discard multiple versions quickly to get the best fit before wasting too many resources on designing the whole course then finding out something doesn’t work.

What is need analysis?

A need analysis make sure you aren’t doing training just for training’s sake. Conducting a needs analysis: This analysis can range from a simple interview to broader, more in-depth data collection methods that include looking at past training, desired results and the current state of your workforce.

What is a storyboard?

A storyboard is a rough, visual outline that helps map out how text, pictures, and other elements will look on a page. This will help you see how your page will look before you waste time putting together the final design only to find out the elements don’t fit together right.

How does eLearning help in learning?

eLearning course design plays a significant role in every step of the learning process. Design starts by grabbing the attention of learners and then motivates them to stay engaged. As learners progress through the course, design assists with learning and retention. Later, it impacts the ability to recall knowledge.

Why is it important to include clickable elements in an eLearning course?

For instance, including clickable elements in the eLearning course design allows learners to receive more information when and if they need it. These elements could lead to a simple text box or even another video or piece of interactive content.

Why is storytelling important in eLearning?

If you want to explain a complex concept, a story will help learners find a way to relate to the facts and retain information. Best of all, storytelling fits any eLearning course design — you can use video, animation, or illustrations, for example.

What is the importance of creating a course?

The course should be challenging enough to keep learners motivated, but it should never be so difficult that it leads to stress. This kind of information will act as one of the main eLearning course design principles that will guide your decision in the next steps.

What is chunking in eLearning?

This states that you should split information into bite-size pieces for learners to consume. Use the concept in your eLearning course design by splitting the training into manageable sessions.

What are visuals and videos?

Visuals, like graphs, diagrams, charts, and photos, assist with explaining content, whereas videos allow for auditory learning. Also, include some interactive features to prevent learning from becoming a passive experience.

What is the highest cognitive level?

The highest cognitive level is the reflective level or conscious reasoning. The perception of your course on a reflective level will impact learners’ willingness to take your eLearning courses in the future and the likelihood they recommend the training to others.

What is the design of an eLearning course?

The design of an eLearning course is the starting point for how engaging it is to learners. By understanding things like the goals of a course, the learning audience, and the motivation factors of that audience, we can build an engaging eLearning course.

What is engaging eLearning?

Engaging eLearning provides a learning experience beyond a boring PowerPoint presentation or a simple online form —understanding how motivation, course content, and instructional design create the foundation for a great eLearning course is the best way to achieve an engaging learning experience that “sticks” in learners minds.

Why is compliance training important?

A lot of compliance training makes the assumption that what is important to the organization (for example, limiting legal liability) is automatically important to the learner. But to engage and keep learners’ motivation, training must clearly demonstrate its importance to the learner in the first minute of the course.

What happens if a student doesn't have motivation?

If a student doesn’t have motivation, it doesn’t matter if they’re doing an eLearning course or a classroom-based one—the chances of them being successful in the course are pretty low. Since motivation is a key factor for student success, we spend a lot of time determining how to keep people motivated as they are navigating through one of our eLearning courses.

How to keep learners motivated?

In short, keeping learners motivated requires training to be learner -centric, rather than course -centric. Online training providers should have a clear idea of learners’ needs, what is influencing their behavior, what is in their immediate environment, what they need to do, and what prevents them from doing it.

What is intrinsic motivation?

On the right side, you have intrinsic motivation, which is a complete interest and willingness to learn. In the middle of the scale is extrinsic motivation, which is divided into four categories that explain different types of motivation.

What is assessment in eLearning?

Assessments do more than measure learner knowledge. Like gamification, assessments help the learner develop their understanding of the course material. The assessments in our eLearning courses are designed to follow the Kirkpatrick model, which helps to measure the effectiveness of a course:

How to create an eLearning course

Before we get to the free tools, if you’re ready to create eLearning content for your team, there are a few basic steps any project will follow.

25 free eLearning authoring tools

You’ll notice that, in those six steps, we identified a few key areas of development, namely:

Get help with your employee training

For some, DIYing your own eLearning course won’t be worth the time or effort. Or, you may want an expert to jump on board to help you create a large-scale strategy or pick up certain development tasks. At EdgePoint Learning, we know that creating effective and remarkable eLearning programs takes work.

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