| It's
All About Engagement
By Rick Nigol
 We
had 34 participants from across North America attend our webinar
yesterday titled "How
to Keep Your Online Learners Engaged." Although they represented
a wide cross-section of sectors (e.g. financial services, business
services, health, education, government, etc.), they had remarkably
similar perspectives on what is necessary to engage learners.
We focused on two case study examples: an
online sales training challenge, and an online workplace harassment
training challenge. Participants were asked to brainstorm ways
of transforming traditional "tell-and-test" approaches to these
two challenges into training interventions that would build
and sustain learner interest, and that would lead to actual
changes in behaviour.
The ideas generated for improving on the
tell-and-test approach included: simulations, scenarios, stories,
games, role playing, and sharing experiences. The common theme
among all these ideas was the need to bring learning to life,
to lift it up from the one-dimensional, static presentation
and recitation of information. In other words, how can we make
the training approximate, as closely as possible, the real work
environment and immerse learners in this by having them react
to situations and see immediate feedback on their decisions?
By "making it real," learners can see the
relevance of the training to their situation, and are much more
likely to be fully engaged in the experience. And by practicing
realistic decision-making in a safe environment where they are
free to make mistakes, they are more likely to internalize the
key points and apply the lessons learned on the job.
Learner engagement is a huge challenge in
all training, but especially so in eLearning as you do not have
a captive audience (they can leave with one click). This is
less likely to happen if you can immerse them in realistic situations
where they make decisions and get immediate feedback.
Doing this requires a different approach
to learning design. Instead of the traditional model of present
information / test on it, you have learners making decisions
and drawing on relevant content as needed to help make decisions
(or in providing corrective feedback). The difference in the
latter approach is that the content is being understood and
applied in context. This is a huge difference, as learners will
not only be more engaged, they will internalize the learning
as it is no longer something abstract and without context.
Rick Nigol is Director of Education for eLearn Campus.
Read about his
background in eLearning and how he can help you make your
eLearning better. |
