15 Do’s and Don’ts For Creating Effective Online Training

Implementing eLearning into your business’s training strategy offers various advantages, such as cost reduction, enhanced training quality, and increased responsiveness to business needs. However, simply deciding to adopt eLearning is insufficient; it is imperative to ensure that your eLearning courses are of the highest quality. To achieve this, follow these recommended practices and avoid the pitfalls outlined below. 

1. Do: Assess Learner Needs

To ensure effective training, it is crucial to assess the needs of your learners. This involves understanding their individual differences, motivations, and the expectations of the business. You should consider what specific behavioural changes are expected from the learners, keeping in mind the objectives and goals of your organization.

2. Don’t: Assume There is a Universal Solution

It is essential to recognize that eLearning courses should be tailored to meet specific training requirements. Therefore, it is unrealistic to expect to find a standardized eLearning course structure that can successfully fulfill all training needs.

3. Do: Break Down Content into Bite-Sized Pieces for Effective eLearning

For eLearning to be truly effective, it is important to present content in small, digestible chunks. Instead of overwhelming learners with large sections that require a significant time commitment, it is better to break down the information into smaller, manageable modules that can be completed in just a few minutes. This approach, also known as microlearning, allows learners to easily fit training into their schedule and enhances their understanding and retention of the material.

4. Don’t: Overload your Content with Text

The way you format your eLearning material can greatly influence learner engagement. Avoid overwhelming your audience with large sections of dense text, as this rarely leads to effective learning outcomes.

5. Do: Incorporate Diverse Visuals for Maximum Impact

To enhance the effectiveness of your content, utilize a variety of visual elements such as images, videos, infographics, charts, and more. By replacing lengthy textual passages with visually engaging materials, you can captivate your audience and make your content more memorable and appealing.

6. Don’t: Underestimate the Significance of Testing

It is crucial to test various elements of your online course, including the relevance of your content, the functionality of all components, and the ease of navigation for learners. Testing ensures that everything works smoothly and that learners can understand and engage with the course effectively.

7. Do: Aim for an Informal and Friendly Tone in Your Writing

When creating an eLearning course, it’s important to avoid using formal and impersonal language. Learners are more likely to be engaged if the tone of the course is conversational and friendly.

8. Don’t: Avoid prioritizing Design over Content

While an appealing design can enhance the learning experience, the primary focus of eLearning should always be on the content being delivered. It is crucial to not compromise the quality of content in favour of design aesthetics.

9. Do: Ensure the Relevance of Content to Learners

It is important to emphasize the relevance in eLearning content to capture your learners’ interest and motivate their participation in the eLearning process.

10. Don’t: Create Questions or Scenarios That Are Too Simple

eLearning courses should offer a sense of challenge to encourage learning, rather than simply providing the correct answer to every question. Therefore, it is important to engage and challenge eLearners in their journey. Additionally, the integration of interactive elements, such as quizzes and scenarios, within the learning process, will enhance the overall eLearning experience and increase engagement levels.

11. Do: Ensure Consistency in Design

It is important to maintain consistency throughout your eLearning course by ensuring that every screen and element follows a cohesive design. Additionally, the overall design should align with your brand’s aesthetic and style.

12. Don’t: Let Content to Become Outdated

To ensure the highest quality eLearning courses, it is imperative to consistently refresh the material with new, up-to-date information. Regularly replacing outdated content is crucial in keeping the eLearning experience relevant and effective.

13. Do: Implement Cross-Device Compatibility in Your Online Course

One of the advantages of eLearning is its accessibility, allowing learners to engage with courses anywhere and at any time. To optimize this, it is essential to ensure that your course functions seamlessly across all devices.

14. Don’t: Overlook Schedule Delays

When managing a project with multiple stakeholders, the process can become increasingly complex. While it is important to allow everyone to contribute, it is crucial to maintain control over the schedule. Keep a firm grip on the timeline and prioritize the training objectives. By staying focused and adhering to the established schedule, you can avoid unnecessary delays and ensure the successful completion of your online training courses.

15. Do: Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your Course and Seek Feedback to Enhance it

Continuously assessing the performance of your eLearning course is vital for its improvement. Gathering feedback from various learners is an effective way to achieve this.

Developing eLearning courses requires a different approach compared to creating other types of training materials. It involves taking additional factors into consideration in order to achieve better outcomes and maximize return on investment. It is important to note that creating and launching an eLearning course is not enough to produce desirable results and increase ROI. Instead, success can be achieved by meticulously optimizing every aspect of the course, keeping your training and business goals in mind.

The key to achieving desired outcomes and maximizing return on investment in eLearning lies in carefully crafting each element of your online course, with a strong focus on aligning it with your training objectives and overall business goals.