How to design engaging and very appreciated e-learning courses in 6 steps

6 steps to design enlightening e-learning courses.

1. Wear their shoes

Are you sure you know how to present a good e-Learning course? Start following a e-Learning course on a topic you’re interested in. Then use your critic spirit, present remarks, take notes on what you liked and what you would improve.

2. Know your content

A comprehensive e-Learning course requires a deep knowledge of your contents. Study and keep yourself updated on the latest trends and developments of your competence area. You’ll become an expert, able to design your e-Learning course with very deep and useful contents.

3. Ask to your prospect on-line students

Whenever possible, ask your prospect online students what they want to know and their personal preferences: which are the knowledge gaps they need to fill? How would they like to do into the subject? Which aspects do they find so boring? Never base your mind on your own personal assumption, on what you imagine. For this reason, find smart ways to present these contents.

4. Find unique ways to present your e-Learning contents

Instructional Design does not end with the creation of some slides and text: it requires developing interesting and unique approaches to train your students. If you already have checked your online students, you should have an idea already about the peculiar needs of your audience. Remember that you have a whole digital environment at your disposal to create your course, be creative!!

5. Focus group

Do you want to continuously improve your course and be aware of how it is truly perceived by your students? Set-up a focus group (better if you invite a mix of experts of the topic, so you can have e-Learning feedbacks you can implement more effectively).

6. Follow-up

Try to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your course. One of the easiest ways to improve your understanding is to ask feedbacks on the courses you’ve designed: include an optional and anonymous questionnaire at the end of every course, so that students can give their feedback. Use every course you create as an opportunity to fine tune your Instructional Design capabilities. The more feedbacks you get, the better your next e-Learning courses will be.

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