Sound learning theory underpins much of traditional instructional design (ID) and can greatly improve user experience, but the advent of a need-to-know-now culture is proving the art of innovation can and must work alongside the science of design. The challenge is to balance the needs of your users and the concerns of established IDs against harnessing the originality of developers who may lack a traditional background.

“Blended learning” was one of the hottest buzzwords at the dawn of the new millennium. At its worst, it was giving the learner the choice of attending the formal class in person or online. In its best and most cutting-edge application, it was a design construct focusing on combining or blending the best elements of face-to-face classes with eLearning courses to increase retention and/or reduce costs. It was a cutting-edge approach at the time, and for many organizations, this is where they currently are with applying blended learning. But the blend has changed.

An eLearning template is not a set of PowerPoint master slides. A true eLearning template is so much more, and has many elements and components. While a set of master backgrounds is a great start, there are often overlooked aspects of a template that are never considered. Designers and developers often begin with raw content and begin a project in their chosen authoring environment, rather than thinking through the overall user experience. For those projects that involve multiple modules where it’s important to keep a consistent look and feel, a template approach helps keep all assets organized across modules.

Research proves students learn best when doing; information strengthens schemas leading to long-term retention. Yet instructors often feel bound by the constraints of an online classroom. Since they do not meet face-to-face, it can be hard to find ways to encourage active application of information and combat the student fear of failure.

As Cammy Bean states, “Good writing is the single biggest factor that can make the difference between an eLearning program that bores people to death and one that gets them to pay attention.” Yet many eLearning scripts are written in large part by subject matter experts whose prose is wordy and lifeless. Developers of eLearning must often revise the scripts and storyboards of subject matter experts, most of whom are not skilled writers and who often think everything they have written should be included in the course. It can be a frustrating and time-intensive experience to revise such prose—unless you know certain techniques.

Sketchnoting is a visual language with a hierarchy and structure similar to written language. In order to communicate visually, or in this case communicate to yourself with your own notes, you start with the visual basics and look at the building blocks. Sketchnoting is about listening, processing, and transferring the key ideas into telling a story with your notes.

For instructional designers and facilitators, the challenge is to create learning materials that reach and affect audiences positively, and do not elicit feelings of exclusion or discrimination. However, you’re human, and every human has hidden or unconscious biases that impact our behaviors and thoughts. This can lead to unintentional missteps in design and delivery. As learning becomes more story-driven, you need to be sensitive to how you present characters, including race, gender, gender identity, and organizational roles.

As trainers, we work hard to create great training. As a result, we are disappointed when our employees fail to learn or don’t transfer learning back to their workplace. We may be tempted to blame our students, but the truth is that we often fail because we don’t understand the mind of the learner. As a result, we build training modules that are not consistent with the brain’s natural means of acquisition. Teaching should be more effective, and it can be more effective once we understand how the learner’s mind operates.

New eLearning instructional designers often hear about the need to incorporate interaction into courses and the power of effective simulations. Some find it difficult to get started and the examples they find give a basic tree structure but do not explain how to develop the tree into a full simulation. What can you do if you are feeling overwhelmed and don’t know how to implement the best practices you are learning about?

Writing is an underdiscussed aspect of instructional design. In fact, many people get into the field without realizing that writing is a significant part of a learning designer’s job. It is difficult to do it well, and learning designers may be required to write in at least 10 different forms that involve unique styles. Yet there is no single source of instruction for writing in all of these styles.

Habits—the automatic, unconscious behaviors we undertake daily—have historically been viewed as a negative. However, habits, and how they form, have become a hot topic in fields like health care, management, and energy conservation. Positive habit building can have a major impact on organizations and individuals. And app developers are leveraging smart devices as digital support tools for habit formation.

Curation is a term that is becoming more and more common in the learning field. Unfortunately, most people do not understand what curation is, why curation is important, how it will impact their role, and how to leverage it for their organization. And yet it is a critical future competency for those in the field.

Did you know that the visual design of eLearning, slides, and other instructional materials have a big impact on learner success? Well-designed materials can motivate learners, improve comprehension, and assist retention.

Too often, content is cranked out without understanding the audience and looking at the best options for delivering solutions. Everyone wants to be more creative, but time, budget, and resources are frequently used as a crutch.

Agile processes are all the rage due to their ability to create products faster and more efficiently. This means that instructional designers and other learning and development professionals are being challenged to approach their work with speed, flexibility, and accuracy. However, typical design and development processes fail to support this challenge.

Many speakers have aptly discussed the need for experiential, problem-based learning. These talks leave educators, consultants, and designers excited and motivated for change. But still, they are left wondering what makes experiential learning successful? And, even more, they don’t know how to effectively use technology when implementing experiential learning.

In early 2014, Jane Bozarth’s husband was diagnosed with a large tumor perched atop his brain stem like a golf ball on a tee. The story of his surgery and recovery—“Performance Matters,” which appeared in The eLearning Guild’s Learning Solutions Magazine—became the most popular piece she’s ever published. This session will explore the story, its associated observations, and issues learned throughout relevant to L&D.

Feedback not only serves to inform learners completing eLearning modules, but it can also motivate or demotivate if not properly constructed. How feedback is targeted, displayed, and conveyed can greatly impact any eLearning course’s success. Are you doing all you can to provide your learners the insights and information they need to learn all they can?

If you look at the learning solutions that are being produced today, there is still an issue with the solutions hitting the mark and moving the needle for a learner. You need to take a step back and focus on the learner, the experience you want them to have, and how to convey the information in a way that moves a learner to action outside of the learning event.

How often are you faced with the dilemma and the questions: “Can I use this?” or “Where can I find images, video, music, and audio I can actually use without violating copyright?” With so many media assets, such as images, video, and audio readily available online, it can be a headache to figure out what you can use for a project and what is restricted by copyright. How can you ensure you are working within the legal guidelines, but still get the job done?

With the dazzle of technology and tools, it’s easy to get distracted from the basic question: “What will the learner be able to do after the experience that they can’t do now?” Return to the days of accelerated learning and rediscover the nuggets needed to design learning that drives retention and fun by honoring the unique needs of each participant.

The classic eLearning lesson forces participants to read slide after slide of textual content and take an evaluation when completed. Employees retain just enough to pass the test, so they can check off yet another mandatory course. As a rule, employees dread this kind of learning but consider it a necessary evil.

A number of myths persist about the alleged, ever-shortening attention spans of people, but what does the science say? Neuroscience, behavioral economics, and consumer psychology all offer insights into how attention is managed and allocated. Additionally, the ability to manage attention and focus seems to be related to the abilities that allocate willpower and influence how decisions are made.

As learning solutions reach increasingly diverse audiences, it is not only appropriate to ensure that courses are accessible, but it’s also the law. Remaining in compliance helps you and/or your organization avoid costly legal issues. Avoid being forced to return to old content to fix current and potential issues. Start with the end in mind, and learn to build online courses and presentations right from the start.

Clients come to eLearning developers with many questions and preconceived ideas about generally what's possible and specifically what's feasible. Maybe all they've ever seen are poorly developed read-and-click courses or maybe they want rapid eLearning, but don't know exactly what that means. As a developer, you know there are many factors to consider including focus, timeline, design, scope, and content development. How can you and your client have an informed, common understanding when you have your initial discussion?