How to Re-humanize Your eLearning

We’ve talked quite a bit about the importance of having a human element in your eLearning training. Whether it be through narration or instructor led sessions, the through line is that by adding that human element your training’s effectiveness will be increased, but why is that?

Before we cover that question, let’s explain what is meant by a human element. Simply, a human element in eLearning is some type of personality add to the training to make it feel more personable. Often, eLearning can feel a little soulless and the human element remedies this.

Now for the question. Humans are inherently social creatures, and, because of that, we tend to learn best from other people. This reasoning is why courses that include narration or instructor led session perform much better than those that don’t. The connection with the people strengths the connection with the courses content. Below is a list of things you can do to make your training more efficient by making it more humanized.

Narration

This one (and the next one) is a gimmie, but if you haven’t seen those posts here’s a summary: hearing someone say while reading it makes it more likely to stick in our mind. The effect is furthered if the tone of the narration is conversational rather than professional.

Instructor Led Training

Instructor led training (ILT) is simple enough to understand have the instructor led a session or two often during a follow asynchronous course. ILTs can be done either remote or in-person, but either way, it allows the learner to understand their instructor, their peers, and opens the opportunity for dialog.

Utilize Discussions

Humanization of training doesn’t just have to be from the instructor, connecting learners with their peers can be equally effective. A simple way to achieve this is to periodically assign some discussions throughout courses. It can be easy to go overboard, however, and make your learners feel like discussions are just a way to fill time or just another assignment.

Don’t be too Stuffy

So many fields are dominated by the “professional above all” moto that leads to a dehumanization of a company or group of people. This is beginning to change with companies attempting to show more personality and training should start doing this to. Show that there are real people behind the training by letting their personalities influence it and learners will be more willing to reciprocate—allowing them to be more engaged.

Add Movement

No, don’t add prepackaged slide transitions, but add movement in a more creative way. Animations are a great way to add expression and personal to something typically devoid of that opportunity. Utilizing animations in your course can add to the experience of taking it while making the course come to life.

Mix Up Interactions

Think about how your learners are interacting with the course. It could be as simple as they only respond with multiple choice questions or as large as the environment they typically take the course in. Then, think about how you can change up these interactions to help create a more active training.

Make Room for Things Beyond Learning

Not only is marathoning learning inefficient, but it also makes the learner feel like a drone. Breaking up the monotony by allowing learners to interact with their peers in a non-course environment provides often needed rest. Yet, even if they cannot do this, you should still facilitate and promote breaks from the learning as both still are acknowledgements of the learner’s boredom or desires.

At the end of it all, training should not be abstracted from the personal elements of our daily lives. By integrating more personality into learning, we can make it more effective and memorable—a win-win for everyone involved.

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Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash