I n t r o
Truly interactive eLearning courses have the power to transform
learning and content into meaningful experiences for learners.
Interactive courses help learners retain content longer, allowing
them to actively process and apply content, and take their learning
back to their daily lives.
Don't let "interactive" become a word you add just to create buzz.
Create true interactive eLearning courses for learners instead.
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!
B e n e f i t s o f I n t e r a c t i v i t y
When interactive eLearning courses get it right, learners experience
several positive outcomes.
First, they retain the knowledge from the course at a significantly
higher rate, anywhere from 50 to 90 percent, than passive courses,
which only result in a 5 to 30 percent retention rate.
Secondly, learners have the opportunity to process content and
apply concepts in interactive environments. They're putting their
learning to use in realistic scenarios requiring them to think, interact
with peers or an expert, and evaluate the outcomes based on
decisions they make in the moment.
Learning often occurs faster with interactive courses as well
because learners work on higher order thinking skills like
appraising, interpreting and summarizing information rather than
merely labeling, memorizing or describing information.
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!
Good interactivity must have a purpose. The key lies in learning
how to achieve the right balance in your eLearning courses so that
they are truly interactive and engaging without irritating or annoying
your audience.
Making our eLearning course interactive and having students
participate actively doesn’t necessarily mean you have to invest
large amounts of resources.
There are several ways to design interactive eLearning courses that
increase comprehension and retention, boost learning and hold a
learner's interest. If you're looking for an efficient way to add
interactivity to the learning experience, invest your time in creating
content that follows these best practices.
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!
C r e a t e S c e n a r i o s a n d S i m u l a t i o n s :
Learners need to be situated in real-life scenarios where they can
try on their skills, solve problems and practice what they know.
Simulations of actual circumstances allow learners to play and
explore with variables to change outcomes or study consequences
of specific actions.
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!
P u t t h e l e a r n e r i n c o n t r o l :
Put the learner in control by offering choices and letting students
have some say in what directions the course can take. Give them
options on how they want to consume content. If learners can
control aspects as the pace and sequence, motivation and learning
increases.
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!
Is the content tailored to fit learners' real-life situations? Are you
using examples to clarify concepts or theories, and those examples
are relatable?
Students should be able to relate to problems and tasks they can
handle. Many course developers are guilty of introducing learners to
problems that are either irrelevant or too complex. Avoid this by
starting with a simple problem and moving towards complex yet
manageable task.
U s e p r o b l e m - c e n t r i c a p p r o a c h :
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!
Challenges stimulate the brain. They force the learner to think
about their previous knowledge, process the new information,
reflect, and then make a decision. Learners who face appropriately
challenging decisions require them to apply knowledge, not just
recall it.
Some strategies you can use:
• Add knowledge checks or surprising statements.
• Give learners a problem to solve.
• Introduce thought-provoking questions.
P r o v i d e c h a l l e n g e s :
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!
Incorporate games to evaluate student’s knowledge. Games are a
great resource for experimenting with ideas and knowledge. They
enable students to see the results of their decisions in real time.
Besides, everything the learner does has a consequence, and
therefore they become a very experiential resource to use.
There are several different types of games that offer interactivity.
Some that we can mention: Adventure games, Building games,
Reality Testing games, Role-play games, Puzzles, Competitions,
Sport Games. Always keep in mind that you’re making it easy for
learners to play the game!
A d d g a m e s :
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!
There is no interactivity without feedback. The user needs to know
how to improve and what his progress along the course is.
When giving feedback, it works best when you actually show what
happens when you make a mistake, for example by presenting an
image, video or audio from a frustrated customer. However, if you
can’t show it, be sure to explain these consequences clearly.
P r o v i d e F e e d b a c k :
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!
Useful material respects the user’s intention. It encourages user to
engage, discover, find, read or do whatever relevant action is
necessary to accomplish learning goals.
Look for ways to let the learner find information in different ways
by clicking around on the screen and finding the information they
want. This can be done by including buttons, tabs, among other
resources.
E x p l o r a t i v e a c t i v i t i e s :
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!
Learning isn’t a solitary activity. Learning is a symbiotic
relationship. Let students collaborate with each other by giving
them opportunities to actively seek and share information, construct
meaningful insights, produce a diverse set of ideas and appreciate
multiple perspectives.
Encourage dialogue and social interaction so that they can take
ownership in the learning process. Create a learning atmosphere
where they can participate, offer response, draw affective feedback
and communicate in short, focused messages.
I n t r o d u c e e l e m e n t s o f c o l l a b o r a t i o n :
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!
Unfortunately, many eLearning courses only attach the label
"interactive" to a course, falsely assuming that simply being online
makes a course interactive. Learners may navigate through a site,
click the buttons and flip through content but these courses equate
to lecture-style courses or what we often call "info-dumps." Moving
a mouse is not interactive.
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!
Several features of eLearning appear interactive, but actually do
more harm than good, including:
Overusing unnecessary animation or sound: Bells and
whistles only distract the learner and divert attention away from
important content. And if the content is boring, no amount of bells
or whistles will make it any better.
The "Next" button: Yes, the learner is technically interacting
with the mouse and the screen, but the learner isn't interacting with
the content and likely will develop clicking fatigue, waiting and
searching for the next "next" button rather than paying attention to
content.
Activity overload: You can't make up for a lack of interactivity
through sheer volume. Too many activities on page — videos,
graphs, animation, quizzes — will overload learners and could
cause them to miss important content hidden amid the activities.
These attempts to design interactive eLearning courses may
actually do more harm than good to learners since they distract
from the content rather than enhance it.
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!
As you can see, interactivity, when done right, can add to the
experience. But when done wrong, it distracts or otherwise adds no
value to the learning experience.
Now is your turn to check the elements we just review to make sure
your course is going in the righ direction!
T h e c o u r s e h a s S c e n a r i o s a n d S i m u l a t i o n s
T h e l e a r n e r i s i n c o n t r o l
T h e c o u r s e u s e s a p r o b l e m - c e n t r i c a p p r o a c h
T h e c o u r s e p r o v i d e s c h a l l e n g e s
T h e c o u r s e n e e d s a n d i n c l u d e s g a m e s
T h e c o u r s e p r o v i d e s f e e d b a c k
T h e c o u r s e p r o v i d e e x p l o r a t i v e a c t i v i t i e s
About us: www.shiftelearning.com
Share this eBook!