Are you making sure to edu-tain your eLearning audience?

People leave companies when they are bored and don’t feel challenged, which is exactly why entertaining training content is key to an organization’s success. Let’s take a look at how you can both educate AND entertain (i.e. edu-tain) your audiences at the same time!

 

Here are some ways to keep your learners paying attention.

Avoid just talking

Firstly, avoid too much “talking head.” This is when you see a person on-screen talking about a certain subject. Try to tell less and show more by adding some graphic text or animation to your content to edu-tain your viewers.

 

Space your edu-tain focused content into chunks

Next, think about making your learning content modular and bite-sized. This hones your content to the key learning objectives. People often call this “microleanring”

Microlearning is the use of condensed, focused learning modules (3-5 mins or less in duration) that are each specifically designed to meet a singular learning outcome for the learner. Most often designed with new media formats, especially in mobile devices, it is an approach that centers itself around the learner by providing available-on-demand instruction. All of the factors of microlearning ensure that it can be easily accessed, swiftly completed, and effectively applied by the learner.

 

Edu-tain by adding interactive features

Finally, you could also make that content interactive. People like to apply their knowledge.

Interactive video is video you can click on. The premise is simple, but with it the possibilities are endless. Why wait until after the video finishes playing to add a quiz activity, when you could place the activity during the video and instantly allow learners to apply their knowledge? With branching scenarios, you can create a choose-your-own-adventure style of video that provides your viewer with immediate feedback on their choices. Or, with chapters and/or menus you can give your viewer the ability to pick the information they want to see, and leave the rest for later.

For your eLearning content add quizzes or activities to supplement the video. If you’re running an LMS, maybe even consider “gamifying” your learning experience with digital trophies or a way to compete with others.

Gamification, a fairly recent word that has made waves in the eLearning sphere, is based around the concept of applying fun, competitive, and clearly designed challenges to real-life practical objectives (as opposed to solely entertainment). In an academic setting, this often means clever reinterpretations or scenarios that depict the educational curriculum, with badges or other award systems to add to the game feel. 80% of learners claim to be more productive with gamification involved in their learning strategy. (Deloitte Insights)

 

Education is now only half of the journey. Entertainment is the other half. If you’re interested in the opportunity to “edu-tain” your learners with DIY video content that you can produce yourself – check out our master class here. Or, if you’re more interested in having a professional team handle your video needs, contact us here about your video goals.