The drive to use e-learning in educational institutions is steadily growing and gaining foothold. It is a lot different from the traditional classroom learning but it is proving to be effective in engaging students in the learning curve.
Like in any change, the transition from the classroom to online learning is crucial to ensure the success of your elearning objectives. In this case, the success will depend on the course that you will implement first.
Creating an e-learning course is made easier because of the myriad of tools and software programs that you can use. Your choice in what to use will depend on your goals and the content that you want to deliver.
To help you create effective elearning course, here are a couple of qualities that you need to incorporate in it.
- High-quality content. The most important part of any learning is the content. Regardless if you deliver it in the classroom or online, this will be the one thing that the student will be interested in. This is the reason why they will be searching for your course so make sure you can deliver the content that they expect to learn. Make sure it is clearly outlined and it can deliver as promised.
- Simple navigation feature. You do not want the students to have to learn how to navigate your course before they can actually get to the content. This might just exasperate the learner and have them fail in noticing the great content within. Try not to reinvent the navigation bar and just stick to the simple yet effective ones.
- Consistent aesthetics and layout. Aesthetics will also play an important role in an e-learning course. A bad interface will turn off your students so try to keep the navigation bar, and other features consistent. Having a uniformed layout will help make the learning more convenient as the student will know what to expect as they go deeper into the course.
- Attention to detail. Things like the font, the color and the placement of the heading – all of these will contribute to making your course easy to read. Do not make your e-learning course an eyesore. Ensure that the hierarchy and the formats are all logical and appropriate for the content that you are delivering. In terms of the text, try to keep the paragraphs from being too long. Avoid anything that will bore the students while going through your content.
- Creative but not too creative. Another important thing that you need to look into is to insert creativity here and there but do not overdo it. Be cautious of the colors that you will use and if you will put artwork, place it where it is appropriate and try to avoid using cliparts. Try to keep the size of the photos and illustrations small so it will not make loading a problem for the student. But make sure that it is big enough to make it clear and visible.
The general rule for any e-learning course is that less is more. Try to keep it engaging through the use of artworks, illustrations, videos and audio but do not go overboard. Keep in mind what the student is really after so you can make the course very effective.
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