While there are more solutions making it easier to create courses, There’s a lot of poor quality e-learning being offered.  

This means that courses are failing to deliver on that desired future: People who sign up for a course, may not gain the intended knowledge and skills or worse, not finish and thus lose out on time, effort, and money.

A review of various sources and years of experience shows that there are the six dangers you should avoid, and can avoid,  if you want to create incredible learning experiences.

1

Disconnected Content

The first challenge is having Badly put together course components.  This typically happens when little time is spent on on identifying the key goals for the course or program. Not knowing the measurable outcomes, the key performance goals, or the expected behavioral changes because of the course often leads to little or no alignment between learning videos readings, activities, or assessments.  This disconnect from the learning or performance problem justifying the course can cause e-learning content curation issues.  Common among these is the user perception that the content is not relevant, meaningful, or consistent with legal and accreditations standards.  The credibility of course material, limited by the lack of technical expertise and clear learning objectives can hamper enrollments and completion.

2

Course Layout Issues

Not having a course map or template that identifies the look and feel of the course AS well as the typical kind of activities that are appropriate for this subject, knowledge level, and audience.  Inconsistent experience occur because there is no familiar layout, plan, or definition for the course elements and how they are presented.   With each and every course, students have to figure the information or the instructions to follow.

This means the experience you provide through your course or program must be better than the typical free information found online or on any web page with text and videos that could be done by anyone without your expertise and knowledge.

 

3

Confusion about E-Learning Technologies

e-Learning is often defined by the delivery tools and technologies.  But which technologies support the delivery of learning, skills and knowledge for this subjective, level of learning, audience, and or business workflow?  With over 1,000 e-learning technologies it can get very confusing and challenging to determine how to re-create the various types of interactions that occur among learners, with the materials, and or with the instructors.

4

Little to No Engagement or Interactions

The fourth challenge is having little to no engagement or interactions with an instructor/expert or among participants.  It can get boring really fast when you take a course by just watching videos, readings pdfs, or getting a cursory response from an instructor. When a course lacks instructor presence or when there is no support or feedback mechanisms from the instructor, facilitator ,or coach, the chances of completion decrease dramatically.

5

Siloed Operations

The fifth challenge is having siloed team members figuring out what to do on their own or in the same old way as they deal with complex methodologies and technologies.  It's not a good combination, particularly when there is little access to resources or support.

Engaging in a design thinking collaborative approach with internal and or external consultants can save you time and effort.