Attention speakers, trainers, and thought leaders! To stay relevant it's necessary to offer the latest learning technology . And that involves knowing about Learning Management Systems (LMS) to deliver content. We're pleased to have Kamy Anderson as our guest blogger to share this important learning technology.
Eager to keep your learners engaged? Rest assured that with the utilization of the latest learning tools, you are going to be able to achieve this target. If you truly want to make an engaging software tool that is going to create a unique experience for your learners, it is necessary for you to pick the right learning management system (LMS).*
A platform like this makes it easy for you to create amazing content and share it using different delivery methods such as video, audio, text, and quizzes. Additionally, as the LMS software is largely cloud-based now, it is a practical choice due to its accessibility and compatibility with a wide array of devices.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways through which you can drive learner engagement.
Pay attention to the course structure
Many instructors want to deliver an abundance of information. However, this can be overwhelming for the learner. This is why it's necessary to pay special attention to your course structure. Ensure that your audience is going to acquire new knowledge at a steady pace. The flow of new information that’s too fast is going to demotivate the learner since it negatively impacts their self-confidence.
With the right structure, your learners are going to feel a higher amount of self-confidence and motivation, as they are going to be able to go through the course without facing great difficulties.
Achieving an outstanding structure requires a lot of experience, luckily, an LMS tool can help with the whole process, as you get to test various approaches, and pick the best options that will allow your students to go forward at their own pace.
Utilize content delivery mediums moderately
The good side of LMS tools is that they usually support different mediums. Now, every medium has its pros and cons, therefore, let’s take a look at how you can use different elements throughout your course.
● Video - The video medium is extremely useful. It serves to explain abstract points and make it easier for the learner to grasp the idea in a better way. Furthermore, the retention rate of videos in courses is far higher than that of text, due to the connection between information and imagery.
However, it is not a good idea to create a whole course solely on videos. It is necessary to use them for special types of content that help the learner significantly. Therefore, use it only for delivering appropriate types of information.
● Audio - Audio is a great medium because it is useful in a wide-array of situations. A learner can make smart use of commuting time to cover more of the course materials and move forward at a faster pace. Include it as optional material, to give a chance to those who prefer to listen.
● Text - Textual material is going to drive the focus of your learners higher. An important note though: it is essential that the text is well structured in smaller paragraphs. It will keep the audience engaged and motivated throughout the course.
If you share huge blocks of text, the learner immediately knows that s/he has to spend at least 15-30 minutes reading the content to acquire information. This can seriously be demotivating and will slow down progress. Also, this approach is used in blog post creation, for the same reasons.
By combining these mediums, you are in a position to more easily engage your audience to work at a faster pace and cover more course materials. Carefully decide when you want to use videos and when the text is a better approach. After you do your testing, you will know better which one to choose and when to choose.
Simplify
This does not mean that your content should be vague and too easy to digest, but that it should be carefully split up in different lessons.
When creating a course, instructors often forget that not all people have enough time to dedicate to learning. Some can dedicate hours per day, whereas working professionals can only spare few hours. This is why it's essential to make your content to the point. Create concise sentences that deliver crucial information to the learner. By creating content in this manner, you are going to be able to establish lessons that last 15-30 minutes, something that busy learners can cover daily.
With simplification, you are giving more flexibility to your audience, as they can precisely choose the pace at which they want to go over the course.
Interactive elements
LMS software tools are very useful when it comes to the implementation of interactive elements. With the presence of these elements throughout the course, you can more easily engage learners to perform better and stay immersed in the whole learning experience.
For example, adding quizzes at the end of each lesson is one of the ways to engage learners more, as they know that they have to pay attention throughout the course to achieve as high a score as possible.
Furthermore, applying the gamification approach can help you achieve even better results. During the course creation process, find a way to gamify your content and provide awards/rewards for all types of learners. This approach will motivate them to learn and perform much better.
By doing this, you are going to not only increase engagement, but make the whole experience fun and interesting.
Make smart use of the communication features
You have all the data of your learner's performance, so use it wisely. Through communication boards, you can incite challenges, discussions, and knowledge sharing by communicating about the most challenging parts of the course.
Doing this from time to time, it will immerse them deeply in the course. It will also motivate them to move forward, because you, as the instructor, are showing your presence and involvement in the course actively.
Conclusion
By relying on these approaches, you are going to be in a position to better engage your learners. If you truly want to become the perfect online course creator, it is necessary to test out and apply each of these methods. It will help you create courses that offer unique learning experiences to the learners.
Author Bio: Kamy Anderson is an ed-tech enthusiast with a passion for writing on emerging technologies in the areas of corporate training and education. He is an expert in learning management system & elearning authoring tools - currently associated with ProProfs.
*References to an LMS or learning resources are the opinion of the author and not an endorsement by DiResta Communications, Inc.