The Anatomy of a Modern eLearning Course

You’re about to develop a brand new eLearning Course? That’s great! You’re opening new opportunities for learners from all around the world. Wait; not so fast! If you’re going to do this, you need to do it the right way. The course should not only provide the knowledge a learner wants to receive, but it also needs great appeal.

With the following tips, we’ll try to bring you closer to the anatomy of a modern eLearning course.   

1. Include Videos and Audio Material

Video and audio material can boost the appeal of your course. The eLearning industry is heavily based on multimedia practices, simply because that’s what the learners want to see. Watching a video takes less time than reading text. The learners can actively take notes during the process, so they will get a real learning experience, similar to the one they would get in a classroom.

If your budget allows, you can create your own videos. If that’s not the case, try to find relevant material on Vimeo, YouTube, and other channels, and include them into the course. You can find presentations from experts, TED talks, and other videos that will help the learners grasp the point.   

2. Interactive Scenarios Replace Text

Tutorials are effective because they guide the learners towards a higher base of knowledge and improved skills, step by step. When tutorials are provided in the form of an interactive scenario, the learners are much more engaged in the process.

For example, if you are offering a course from the area of business planning and you include a tutorial on how to develop a business plan, you can turn it into an interactive scenario that allows the users to make choices that guide them through different outcomes. That will make the experience personalized and memorable.

3. Interactive Tests Help Learners to Process the Material

Students don’t like tests, and professors don’t enjoy grading tests. Nevertheless, assessment is a necessary part of the learning process, so you have to make it as attractive as possible for your learners. Instead of putting them through huge chunks of material before introducing the test, you can provide bite-sized interactive tests that don’t look that scary.

This online test on English literature is a good example of how you can make assessment fun. You don’t have to make the test extremely easy; you can still focus on the details to make it challenging. When you provide the test after small chunks of material and you make it interactive and fun, the learners won’t feel the pressure.

4. Include Infographics

Infographics are everywhere. Online course developers can benefit from people’s fascination of this type of material. They help you compress important information in a visual format, so the learners will remember the facts more easily. You can use tools like Piktochart and Canva to build great infographics without much effort.  

The anatomy of an online course is focused on the visual and interactive aspects. Whatever you do, do not limit your materials to text and boring evaluations. The online audience expects more from you. Include video, audio, infographics, interactive scenarios, and bite-sized tests in the structure, and come back to us with the results you achieve.

About the Author

Kate Simpson is a contributor for Assignment Masters creative project. She is also managing her own editing team and seeks new ways to expand business.