Some developers pay instructional design (ID) no attention at all. Some have never heard of it, and do not see any reason to get to know it. You can see instructional design being criticized in blogs, Twitter streams, and other areas. It’s too slow. It’s too wordy. It’s not techie enough. It’s not appreciated by customers or clients. What you don’t find are alternatives or even a shared definition. If you ask 100 instructional designers for a definition, you won’t get just one definition, you’ll get many—or shrugged shoulders. Shouldn’t we try to establish a shared, contemporary perspective on it before we consign it to the scrapheap of history?

How can you make computer application training interesting and effective for your learners? Software simulations can be an effective way to train employees on new applications. However, creating complex simulations is expensive and time consuming. Simplistic simulations are often ineffective, resulting in boring eLearning (often referred to as death by PowerPoint).

Getting self-directed learners to jump into their LMS and click through the curriculum can be as simple as individual requirements and goals. But people are more effective learners when they are engaged and eager to interact with the content. While we have struggled with this in the training world, the marketing world has had great success in this area.

Changing technologies, changing learner behaviors and characteristics, and the way that content is delivered today all impact how learning should be architected. As learning professionals, what are we to make of the explosion of new technologies and their promise to transform how we learn?

eLearning is often viewed as a brain dump of knowledge and there is far too little examination of how to motivate the learner. Engaging design elements and interactivity can inspire the learner to complete the module, but it doesn’t necessarily inspire the learner to keep learning and growing. There is a huge opportunity to incorporate motivational strategies from educational psychology in a practical way in eLearning.

Organizations often recognize that the best way to improve performance is through practice, but they have struggled to shift their learning design from knowledge acquisition to performance improvement. Immersive learning is a new way of thinking about training design, and companies are looking for examples to help them see how immersive design can help them with their unique needs.

Most instructional designers can recognize a strongly designed and developed eLearning program. However, there is a noticeable gap between the accepted standards of what makes quality eLearning, and the reality of what the industry produces. We understand what quality eLearning looks like, but too often we fail to deliver on that standard. Many instructional designers struggle with maintaining eLearning quality standards when confronted with the realities of organizational project constraints.

Remembering is a major challenge for all of us. Estimates range from zero to 90 percent on the amount of forgetting that occurs within days after training occurs. At times, this matters little because the focus is on compliance rather than actual performance. However, do learning professionals need to take a different approach in those instances when remembering really matters?

I’ve often heard managers tell me that they have a course they like that meets their requirements, but it isn’t what they wanted or envisioned. I find myself asking “If it is what you asked for, but not what you wanted, why didn’t you ask for what you wanted?” This problem exists in many forms. The results can range from a disappointed client to the world losing the next great idea, all because we don’t always know how to ask for what we really want in our products.

The two goals of any eLearning program are to teach learners new information and then to enable them to transfer their new knowledge into their work. Learning transfer is a complex process, and most eLearning designers do not understand the simple steps that they can take to ensure that knowledge does transfer from the computer where the learners learn it to the work place where they need it.

Flat design seems to be everywhere now. It’s the new look of our computer operating systems, our apps, websites, posters, book covers, and so many other places. Is this just a new fad or is this a fabulous new design trend that we in the eLearning industry need to pay more attention to in order to understand the fine points of flat design?

There is no definitive process for instructional design. Regardless of how much research we conduct, we can modify every theory and every process to meet our individual project needs. Modifying these needs and/or techniques becomes much easier when facilitating live, instructor-led training where learners provide both verbal and visual feedback. When it comes to eLearning, there is no facilitator available to modify the experience based on feedback. Therefore, instructional design plays a key role in determining the success of any training experience.

Salespeople make up 70 to 80 percent of Hilti’s 21,000 team members worldwide. Those employees only make money if they are closing sales. Training is an important support tool for salespeople, but it is often looked at as an interruption of the sales process by both the salespeople and organizational management. Trainers needed to find a way to motivate salespeople to complete training.

Scenario-based eLearning is a proven effective method for learning using complex real-life situations. All too often, designers and developers shy away from this effective method because it seems too complex, expensive, and time-consuming. Because of improvements to authoring tools this is no longer the case.

Let’s face it: A lot of eLearning programs are just plain ugly. From the email invitations marketing, graphics and tweets, to the blog posts, presentations, handouts, and more, most learning experiences are built without focusing enough attention on the value visuals play in creating quality digital learning experiences.

A sea change in how children in K-12 learn is underway. Using a variety of strategies and technology, teachers are engaging students to a degree not seen in years, including flipped classrooms, genius hour, differentiated instruction, and project-based learning. While these methods may have academic origins, they have a place in corporate learning, too.

Visual design is one of the most important elements of effective eLearning. Unfortunately, it is also often the first element to get pushed aside when project deadlines loom and budgets evaporate. Instructional designers need to apply a wide array of resources and techniques in order to maintain visual-design quality in their eLearning programs.