Ideas For ELearning Engagement

By: Justin Ferriman • January 7, 2016
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blended-learningAs great as elearning is, it still can be incredibly boring.

We have all probably taken a course that seemingly goes on forever with little (or no) engagement with the content.

But it doesn’t always have to be that way.

Instructional designers can easily add some engagement points in even the shortest of elearning courses to “spice it up”.

If you are creating an online course and are trying to figure out ways to create learner engagement, then check out the list of ideas below.

But first a word of caution: don’t implement all of them.

Just because something is possible doesn’t mean it’s always applicable. If you go overboard with engagement triggers then your content can actually decrease in effectiveness.

Engagement Ideas For Your Courses

Award points for completing certain items. Grant learners points if they complete certain components of your course. Let the learners “cash in” on these points (for example, to unlock new lessons).

Award badges for major milestones. Similar to points but with the aim of letting learners add their new badges to a digital backpack. Badges are a great way to subtly nudge a learner along.

Instantly contact people who fail an exam. Not all engagement needs to revolve around awards. If someone fails an exam, you can have your system trigger an email to you (or the instructor) as well as the student to follow-up and ask where they may need assistance.

Ask learners to share experiences as part of a lesson. You can leverage a forum to allow the learner to submit an experience as it relates to the content.

Create small games using flashcards or other hot-spots. Many programs allow you to design small games that relate to the content. Flashcards and matching games are easy to implement and encourage the learner to think about the content in a different way.

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter