One of the challenges with elearning program implementations is finding a way to solicit feedback that is both constructive and actionable, and most of the feedback that is obtained is generally from alpha and beta testers at the earlier point in the program.

These reviews are good, but they typically only provide feedback in relation to delivery and not necessarily the usefulness of the content. After these initial early adopters take the course, feedback for elearning can be sparse (if at all).

So how do you encourage elearning users to provide feedback?

While there is not a fool-proof method, there are some strategies you can employ. One of the more effective techniques that I have used before is to build review cycles within the training itself.

More often than not, elearning feedback inquiries are at the very end of the course. This is not ideal for a few reasons.

First, you have to put yourself into the place of the learner. They have just finished taking potentially an hour (or more) of course content. They are tired and ready to be done. The last thing they want to do is to spend more time within the elearning.

Another reason soliciting feedback at the end of the course is a poor decision is because it requires the learner to reflect upon all the content in one sitting. If your course has a lot of lessons and covers a lot of subjects, then trying to remember specific content is difficult to do.

Built-in Feedback Strategy

A better to gather user feedback is to set-up specific checkpoints within your learning, particularly after difficult subjects or important information. The benefit of doing this is that the content is fresh in the learner’s mind – they may actually have feedback or even a question they’d like to ask.

If you wish, you could make this transition slide between lessons or units a requirement so that they must provide some comments. This isn’t really recommended as it can become annoying, but it is always an option.

If you do end up doing this, make one of the feedback questions a multiple choice (or free text) question in a knowledge check on the course material. This way, the user w ill be less annoyed about the question being required, and probably even relieved that it is a non-graded question, putting them into a better frame of mind.

Getting useful commentary on your elearning after it has been implemented isn’t impossible, it just take some creative methods to maximize the response rate. Once you get the comments rolling in, just make sure you properly react to them.