An age-old English proverb dating back to the 11thCentury may encapsulate one of the biggest challenges faced by E-Learning professionals today: Keeping your audience engaged in a disruptive world of distractive technologies, multitasking and decreased attention spans.
A perfectly constructed E-Learning Curriculum cannot guarantee audience participation of any sorts. The trick is to create desire and priority with learners where the importance of the content provided, trumps any other disruptive event that may transpire during the e-learning session. Distraction should not be an option. How do we then execute E-Learning content in such a manner as to fully occupy learners’ focus on what is being taught, encourage retention of information, while improving student satisfaction and enjoyment at the same time?
Controlling participant behaviour by eliminating potential distraction is perhaps an option if you could take away cell phones and smart devices during a session. However, this not often probable as E-Learning content is mostly executed via these smart devices and accessed through a cloud platform requiring… (yes you guessed it), internet connectivity to the World Wide Web aka, “the mother of all interruptions.”
Google is a treasure trove of write-ups, blogs and articles containing tips and guidelines on improving e-content, the best innovative interaction tools to use, the most enhanced animated technologies to incorporate and highly acclaimed curriculum design platforms to integrate within an LMS (Learning Management System). None of these will be useful or create a plausible return on effort if Learner Engagement is not achieved.
Catalysts contributing to Learner Engagement
- Substance
All the bells and whistles of glitzy animatronics, interactive collaboration tools, gamification features, striking pictures and an attractive looking user interface cannot replace the importance of Substance as to create authentic material. Content without an impact or a Wow factor will unlikely keep learners cognitively and effectively engaged, which in turn creates no desire for learners to apply the knowledge gained to their conduct in the workplace.
- Purpose
Clarifying the Purpose or benefit of the training material to participants is of utmost importance. Answering the WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) question should unequivocally communicate the learning objectives to prospective participants resonating with their intrinsic motivations for learning and development. A substantial training goal must be specific, measurable and observable to learners.Professor Phil Race, from the Leeds Metropolitan University, assimilated an excellent video where he was explaining that by answering the WIIFM question, learners are far more prone to accepting content if they are consciously made aware of the advantages of putting their efforts into understanding and mastering the material.
- Anticipation
Creating learner Anticipation continuously during the content execution process will keep participants proverbially glued to their screens. That expectation of wondering what content will be introduced next, during the session improves their focus on the material at hand and creates a desire of discovering more about the topics presented. Keith Gibson refers to this tactic as “Surprise & Delight.” Participants should perceive the given course as a fun and exciting activity, regardless of the type of subject matter introduced.
- Inspiration
Ever wondered how a kindergarten teacher can engage a classroom full of energetic 4-year olds by fixating their eyes, ears, and minds completely onto what she is discussing? Have you seen the reaction of pre-school kids in a cinema watching the movie Frozen? They are all inspired and emotionally connected by the story being told. Utilizing Inspirational story-telling, scenario’s and analogies to bring a concept across, is a very efficient mechanism to catch and retain learner attention. An inspired learner who feels connected to the content provided will be far more likely to implement the training than a passive participant who is unable to relate to the material.
- Challenge
“For Learner’s sake, Make your course more Challenging”. Overcoming and mastering difficult course material creates a sense of accomplishment with learners, but making them jump through hoops with robust activities or trying tests is not the only way to achieve focus and learner connectivity. Take a page from the Facebook and YouTube success recipes to audience engagement and think about what makes certain content go viral? Viral content is most often controversial in nature with the aim of provoking reactionary comments and initiating emotionally charged debate, by challenging traditional beliefs or “schools of thought.” Encouraging “chatter” amongst your course participants by including a few left-field theories into your course material will most definitely spark conversation, ultimately leading to a more involved learning audience.
The bricks and mortar platforms of New York’s Broadway, Sydney’s Opera House, The Royal Albert Hall in London and the Russian Bolshoi Theatre, all have a single contributing factor attributing to their world-renowned status: Producing shows, plays, and events, which fully engage and captivate their audiences. The virtual platforms of the digital era offer similar opportunities to the E-Learning environment, where stellar content creation and innovative execution mechanisms may captivate a learner audience and successfully engage all course participants.
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