Do you know the most important question to ask yourself at each stage of Performance-Based Learning development—from analysis to evaluation? If you can answer yes to this question, and train your sights on it throughout development, your eLearning will be a success.
Let’s not keep you in suspense any longer. The all-important question: Can your eLearners use the information they learned today? Unlike traditional training, knowledge falls short of the goal. The learner must be able to put the knowledge to use immediately. Would you rather fly with a commercial pilot who scored 100 percent on some written test or a former Navy pilot who can land a plane on a dime after averting hostile aircraft in the skies?
Rules of Engagement
Without engagement, learning doesn’t take place. Fortunately, the instructional designer has a host of tools at her disposal to bring webinars to life and add that extra dimension to pull the learner into the training. The more you engage your learners while distilling essential, actionable information, the more effective the learning.
Deadly Serious Gamification
Let’s revisit the commercial pilot. He trains in a simulator, the ultimate example of gamification with defined goals—a simulated game that guides the pilot through maneuvers with unparalleled results. If gamification suffices in an environment as dangerous as the world’s airways, it must work. Beyond engagement, games must guide the learners through tasks that have application in the work place. Ask yourself how the game translates to the work task.
Task vs. Scenario
Tasks come to life and evolve from 2D to 3D when we put them into context. You probably call it a scenario. Scenario-based vignettes give your tasks context and illustrate the task in context in the workplace. Case studies highlight the applicability and benefits of implementing the task. Writers are told, “Show, don’t tell.” Case studies illustrate a scenario where the task produced successful results; they show the “why,” not the “how,” and the “why” is how you engage and get buy-in from learners.
Bells and Whistles
Add a little fun to your eLearning with vignettes, caricatures and “Glamour Do’s and Don’ts.” They help you drive home points in eLearning that learners don’t necessarily want to learn. The instructional designer’s job is to impart knowledge in a way that translates into productivity in the workplace, and using a variety of tools in the virtual environment enriches the training, brings it to life and produces results.
