It’s time for a meeting with your editor—sort of. While it would be cool if instructional designers got their own editors, we know that perfecting your e-Learning course is often up to you. That’s why we created an Editor’s Guide to help you create a course that’s close to perfect. (“Close to perfect” because we believe there’s always room for improvement, thanks to course evaluation.)Use these 5 tips as a guide to perfect your e-Learning course:
1. Be consistent.Consistency is key to a successful novel—or online training course. Check that you’ve used consistent colors, fonts and other design elements. Read this blog for more design advice: Tips from a Graphic Designer.2. Be focused.In addition, a good course is focused on your learning objectives. Here’s a blog post that can help you write strong objectives: 4 Tips for Creating Effective e-Learning Objectives for Yourself.3. Show. Don’t tell.If you’re looking to boost engagement, this is key! You want to show your learners why the concepts in your course are important, not just tell them. Ask yourself what you can add to enhance your e-Learning—think video, audio, images, simulations and games. Check out this post for some inspiration: Engage Your Learners with a Zombie e-Learning Scenario.4. Smooth your narrative flow.Maybe you’re not writing a national bestseller, but you’re still telling a story with youre-Learning course. Each part of your course must flow seamlessly to the next. Don’t jump around or introduce new information too soon. For help with this, check out this blog post: Techniques for Developing Your e-Learning Narrative Flow.5. Cut unnecessary content.Endless text or excessive graphics? Get rid of both—they’re a distraction for your learners and may even make them miss the valuable parts of your course. Using unnecessary content is a common mistake in online training courses. Read this post to learn more mistakes: Stop Making These 5 Mistakes in Your e-Learning.6. Did you proofread?An Editor’s Guide wouldn’t be complete without a reminder to proofread. Try reading the text of your course out loud—this helps you hear and see mistakes that you might miss otherwise. If you need more proofreading tips, check out this post: 6 Quick Tips for Proofreading Your e-Learning Course.
Now that you’ve met with your e-Learning editor, you’re ready to perfect your next course! For more tips like the ones here, check out this blog post: 5 Lessons from Writing 101 You Thought You’d Never Need for e-Learning.To read all our e-Learning tips and industry knowledge, subscribe to the Lectora® e-Learning Blog.
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