Let's take a look at how to build the interactions that make an experience engaging for the learner. In order to be truly engaging, interactivity must be captivating and able to command attention. Participants should have the ability to manipulate the environment, set the direction, and affect the outcome of the activity.
What is an eLearning Interaction? An eLearning interaction is an exercise or activity that allows the learner to become more involved with the material, as opposed to simply reading text on the screen. An interaction is often a scenario where the learner is presented with a story or a problem that they must work through in order to achieve a certain outcome. This allows the learner to become more involved with the content, with the hopes that the interaction will help them better process, encode, and store the material in memory. We anticipate that the learner will have a better chance at retaining the information and transferring it to their job if they are more involved and engaged in the learning.
When should we use interactions? Interactions should be added throughout an eLearning course as you see fit. I personally try to sprinkle one in every 4 pages – or one for every 10-15 minutes of learning. Add enough interactions to keep your learners’ interest, and keep the type of content in mind: if the material is dry and boring, use more interactions.
Good interaction vs. bad interaction Just because the learner is clicking their mouse doesn’t mean they are benefiting from the learning experience. A significant amount of design still needs to take place on your part to make interactions effective. This is difficult. Have the learner apply the skills they learned. Don’t just let them slide by with a multiple-choice question. Challenge them! Get their brains working! Present problems that they must solve through a series of choices.
How do you build eLearning interactions? There are a lot of different tools out there on the market now, such as Articulate Engage, Adobe Captivate, or Lectora, to build eLearning interactions. Engage offers some great templates for building interactions, but as far as I can tell you’re limited to these built-in templates. Captivate and Lectora are open authoring environments. While they may require a bit more effort to learn, they allow for more possibilities. All three companies offer free trial versions of their software. Take each for a test drive and choose whichever tool best fits your needs. Or you can always go the “custom” route as long as you have Flash developers on your team. Personally, that is my preferred choice. This way you have more control over how your interactivity functions.
Try new things Don’t be afraid to get creative and try to build new eLearning interactions. Spend a good amount of time in the design phase. Get crazy on a whiteboard and toss ideas around. Grab a few sample users and get their input if possible. Build a few prototypes and go with what gets the best feedback. You certainly can’t lose anything by brainstorming. Give it a shot and try to come up with inventive ways to keep the learner involved with the material. Your learners will thank you for it!
