eLearning Courses: 4 Signs it’s Time to Revamp Them

According to a study by the Centre for Economic and Business Research, UK, the contribution of communications technology to everyday employee productivity is five times greater than it was in the 1970s. To match the advancing workplace requirements of employees we’ve moved on from typewriters to computers and laptops, which have now shrunk down to pocket-friendly mobile devices. Similarly, when it comes to eLearning, revamping old eLearning courses to match the learning requirements of modern tech-savvy learners is inevitable. But how do you know it’s time to change something about your eLearning courses?

If the courses are not helping your learners to deal with their daily workplace challenges, it’s time for an update. Here are four signs that will help you identify whether it’s time to revamp your digital courses.

The 4 Signposts

Signpost 1: When learners are unsuccessful in accessing your eLearning courses on their mobile devices 

eLearning courses developed in older versions of authoring tools are not multi-device compatible. However, in today’s global market where employees are mostly on the move and hard-pressed for time, it becomes necessary to provide flexibility in how and when they receive knowledge by making eLearning courses run across all devices.

Current generation authoring tools such as Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, iSpring Suite, and Lectora Inspire support the conversion of old eLearning courses into the mobile-friendly HTML5format. The responsive feature of authoring tools such as Lectora and the fluid box feature of Captivate make sure your eLearning course looks equally good on all types of devices, thus delivering mobile users the same usability and comfort as desktop learners.

 Responsive design automatically aligns text, images, interactivities, menu and other media elements of the course to the screen size and orientation of the mobile device it is being viewed on. Thus, rather than creating multiple courses to fit the screen size of each mobile device, you can save development time by creating a single course that can run seamlessly across multiple devices the exact way.

Signpost 2: When learners are unable to overcome their workplace challenges with current course content

How old are your eLearning courses? Imagine you are providing a product training program developed a couple years back to your new sales reps. As your company regularly updates its products and brings in new features, over the years your course content might have become outdated. Will employees still be able to use every piece of that knowledge and overcome their current-day sales challenges? Definitely not, as most of the product features, rates, and USP stated in your old course might have gone obsolete and will require significant edits.

So revamp your old eLearning courses with learner-centric and application-oriented content. Moreover, if your old courses were mere page-turners and brought down the interest quotient among learners in taking the course, revamping is also an opportunity to introduce new mode of delivery, engagements, and interactions in your eLearning course.

Signpost 3: When your eLearning courses are not visually appealing

You may have eLearning courses with content developed by the best minds in the industry. But is that helping you grab learner attention for a longer duration of time. If not, then it’s time to rethink your visual strategy and adapt it to the current learning requirements of employees.

According to the Social Science Research Network, 65% of people are visual learners. Lengthy courses with slides cluttered without whitespace, repeated layouts, illegible fonts, etc., bring down learner motivation and engagement rate. For example, imagine how monotonous will it be to go through a course with every slide having bulky text blocks aligned to the left and an image to the right.

Make your course visually appealing, fresh, and exciting by adding icons, images, audio clips, videos, and media elements inclined to the subject matter of your course and latest company branding.

Signpost 4: When learners are not able to complete courses in one go

Modern day employees prefer accessing learning on their mobile devices and demand knowledge at their fingertips. But how do you expect them to take an hour-long eLearning course on the small screen of their smartphones and tablets? To avoid such tiresome scenarios, it’s vital to break down your lengthy eLearning courses into microlearning modules that can be easily accessed on mobile devices.

Studies show that employees are more engaged when learning is provided in small snippets of 7-11 minutes. Concise and self-contained courses in the form of microlearning modules that focus on a single learning objective offer learners comprehensive knowledge on the subject matter. Furthermore, microlearning assets in the form of infographics, animations, simulations, and videos empower learners in terms of workplace performance by serving as just-in-time performance support.

The success of your eLearning course relies on its relevance for learners. Hope this blog helped you get an idea of the significance of revamping old eLearning courses and how to go about it. Would you like to know how to make these courses more appealing and learner-centric using sound instructional design strategies? Have a look at this link to get a broader idea on how instructional design strategies enhance your eLearning experience.