Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has become the lifeblood of many organizations. This metamorphosis of the business world has not only impacted business owners and their employees but also trainers and learning content developers.<\/p>\n
Even before the pandemic, the e-learning industry was growing apace, predicted to generate nearly $375 billion by 2026.<\/a> In fact, in 2019, it was estimated that businesses spent an average of 16% of their organizational budget<\/a> on employee training and technologies. The ground was already primed for expert trainers and content developers to capitalize on this burgeoning industry.<\/p>\n The e-learning industry has also morphed, requiring expert trainers and content developers to meet the rapid surge in demand for online training content, including content for client organizations seeking to quickly transition from in-person to online training<\/a>. Given the scope and urgency of the demand for e-learning content today, there are specific strategies that content developers need to follow to ensure that they are delivering premium content to their clients and maximizing the revenue and growth potential of their product. It begins by identifying and avoiding the five most common mistakes in training content development.<\/p>\n You\u2019re probably familiar with the adage that \u201cyou never get a second chance to make a first impression.\u201d What\u2019s true in life is also true in e-learning. If your content does not engage learners from the beginning, then it\u2019s not going to be successful for your client\u2014or for you.<\/p>\n So, it\u2019s imperative to launch your training content with a \u201chook\u201d that will capture learners\u2019 interest and motivate them to stick with the course all the way to the finish line. Meeting that goal means you\u2019ll need to be both creative and pragmatic\u2014a storyteller and entertainer, as well as a strategist and utilitarian.<\/p>\n Launching the course with a clear and highly specific articulation of the course goals, objectives, and requirements, for example, has been shown to engage and motivate learners and thus increase their overall learning. After all, adult learners often have precious little time to invest in their e-learning<\/a>. They need to immediately understand what the training is about and exactly how they will benefit<\/a> from it, whether in the form of relevant knowledge gain or skill acquisition, expansion, or refreshment.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s learners are busier and more mobile than perhaps ever before. What\u2019s more, their learning needs are incredibly diverse. So, if you\u2019re using a one-size-fits-all approach to your content development, then you\u2019re never going to create a premium product for your client.<\/p>\n Too many training courses rely on a single modality, requiring learners to plop down in front of their laptop or computer and endure a lecture, with perhaps few graphics and a random caption thrown in. At best, these old-school forms may give the learner the chance to pause and return to the course later. But in general, they do little to engage the learner, accommodate their unique learning style<\/a>, or reflect the environment or conditions in which the learning occurs.<\/p>\n Optimizing learner experience means your courses should perform on all devices and browsers. For example, in addition to testing on a desktop or laptop, ensure that your content is mobile responsive by testing on smartphones and tablets<\/a> as well. You should confirm that appropriate data, such as quiz score and completion status, are recorded correctly. It\u2019s also important to remember that diversifying your content is about more than presenting the same material in different forms. Rather, it\u2019s about using each content type to complement and link to the others<\/a>. For example, in your audio narration, don\u2019t settle for simply reading the content on the screen. Allow your audio narration to supplement, amplify, and reinforce the material on the screen. This way, you\u2019ll know that learners are getting an optimal experience and your clients are getting their money\u2019s worth!<\/p>\n Adult learners aren\u2019t schoolkids in casual business attire. They don\u2019t have the luxury or perhaps even the desire to devote hours each day to absorbing massive amounts of content. When you\u2019re developing content for adult learners, you\u2019re competing with the myriad other things vying for their time and attention.<\/p>\n That means you need to avoid demanding too much of a learner\u2019s time in each lesson, module, and assignment. Above all, you must be careful to avoid causing cognitive overload. Chunking your content into easily digestible five- to fifteen-minute \u201cmicrolearning\u201d lessons<\/a> will prevent learners from becoming overwhelmed and frustrated and help them engage better and retain more. Also, the microlearning approach is ideal for learners who are on the move, as they can easily watch a mini-lesson on their smartphone during their morning subway commute or while waiting to pick up their kid from soccer or ballet.<\/p>\n The last thing that an adult learner needs is to take a course just to learn how to use<\/em> the course. If your course isn\u2019t designed for navigability<\/a>, the chances are that learners aren\u2019t going to complete it\u2014or at the very least, they\u2019re not going to engage as deeply or learn as much as they could or should.<\/p>\n There are certain navigability tools that are essential, no matter the course. These include the ability for learners to search content; pull up course objectives, requirements, and schedules on demand; track their own progress throughout; and easily steer through modules with distinct Previous, Next, Exit, and Resume buttons. In addition, since adult learners are unlikely to have either the time or the focus to complete an entire course in one sitting, it\u2019s critical that they can easily save their work and return to where they left off at another time.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s be honest: you may love your work. You probably find it fascinating and challenging. Perhaps you can\u2019t imagine doing anything else. But interest and passion don\u2019t pay the bills or put food on the table.<\/p>\n Your professional success depends on the success of your courses. But one of the biggest and most common mistakes that training developers make is failing to track the performance of their courses. The set-it-and-forget-it approach is no way to grow your business.<\/p>\n So, even after your courses go on the market or are delivered into the hands of your clients, that doesn\u2019t and shouldn\u2019t mean you\u2019re done with them. Rather, now is the time to continue with the functionality and learner experience testing across all modalities and begin monitoring your courses\u2019 analytics.<\/p>\n Gathering data<\/a> on things like learner completion rates, times, and scoring, as well as client retention and account growth, will help you identify what is working well with each course and with your development practices in general. This will also give you the essential information that you need to identify opportunities for improvement. With this, you can ensure that you are continuing to improve for your clients and their learners and that you are putting your business on a trajectory for continual growth!<\/p>\n There has perhaps never been a better time to be a training content developer. The industry is flourishing, and that trend is expected to continue. But if you want your business to flourish right along with it, then it\u2019s imperative that you avoid the five common mistakes that can derail even the most brilliant courses and content creators. Once you\u2019ve learned to evade these pitfalls, your business will be poised for success for years to come!<\/p>\n Here at <\/span><\/i>Firmwater<\/span><\/i><\/a>, we don’t just sell an LMS for training providers. We partner with our clients, giving them the tools and insights they need to implement the best practices in e-learning course development, growth, and delivery. We care too much about our customers’ businesses to have them wade through forums and chatbots for help.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Ready to use an LMS that’s designed for the way YOU work, with a team dedicated to YOUR needs? <\/span><\/i>Book a no-obligation consultation directly with our team today<\/span><\/i><\/a>!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has become the lifeblood of many organizations. This metamorphosis of the business world has not only impacted business owners and their employees but also trainers and learning content developers. Even before the pandemic, the e-learning industry was growing apace, predicted to generate nearly $375 billion by 2026. In … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":5897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,9,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-firmwater","category-general","category-training-development-insider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bstormdev.com\/firm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bstormdev.com\/firm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bstormdev.com\/firm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bstormdev.com\/firm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bstormdev.com\/firm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bstormdev.com\/firm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5859,"href":"https:\/\/www.bstormdev.com\/firm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164\/revisions\/5859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bstormdev.com\/firm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bstormdev.com\/firm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bstormdev.com\/firm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bstormdev.com\/firm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Not Having Them at \u201cHello\u201d<\/h2>\n
2. Not Providing Multiple Learning Modalities<\/h2>\n
3. Not Using Microlearning<\/h2>\n
4. Not Making the Course Navigable<\/h2>\n
5. Not Keeping Up with Your Course<\/h2>\n
The Takeaway<\/h2>\n