To create a great custom content for your elearning course, you need to consider a lot of factors. One of them, and probably the most important, is your learners. You know how when you buy a gift you need to think about what the recipient would like to receive? It is the same way when you think about the learners who will participate in your elearning course. You have to know who will participate in your course. It is the only way that you can present the lesson in such a way that will make it possible for your intended learners to absorb it.
When it comes to creating custom content, you need to distinguish what your learners would want to get from you. Once you have this detail, you will know how to deliver your content. In this article we will be focusing on adult learners and the qualities that your course should have to help motivate and engage them.
By knowing who the adult learners are, you should be able to come up with a course with the following characteristics:
- It is relevant to their specific need. All custom content should be relevant. Otherwise, nobody will waste their time, money and effort to learn it. Will it help them develop a skill that will improve their daily tasks? Will it provide them with the information that they need to make them more productive? Knowing the need that drove the learners to participate in your course will allow you to deliver lesson in such a way that displays its relevance. It is important to show your adult learners that what you are teaching in the course is something valuable to them. You have to remember that they are busy people. You need to make them realize that what they will get from you is something worth their while. Focusing on the real-world benefits of the course is a great way to point out its relevance.
- It should encourage self-learning. The new way of learning encourages adult learners to explore answers on their own. The retention level is high when the learners are actively involved in the learning process. While the course will provide them with the knowledge that they need, it is no longer advisable to spoon feed them. You need to create your custom content in such a way that will make them discover on their own the answers to their questions. Naturally, the course will help them with this exploration but the initiative to learn should come from them. They should learn how to ask the right questions, find out where to explore the answers, etc. This will not only benefit them in this particular course, it will also allow your adult learners to answer any future questions that they may have. To do this, you need to design activities that will encourage self-learning. For instance, you can ask them to debate about a particular topic in an online forum. Assign questions to them and ask them to discuss it in length.
- It appeals to the specific background of the learners. Your custom content should consider the background of your learners because it will dictate the delivery methods and tools that you can use. This knowledge will allow you to determine the language, images, and other materials that will make the course more appealing to them. For instance, doctors and accountants cannot have the same content. It would be better to provide them with different courses so you can use terms that is used in their respective fields. Of course, this is not always required but it will make your course more relatable if you consider the background of your adult learners.
- It must be short yet filled with information. We mentioned that adult learners are busy individuals. They juggle their work responsibilities and their personal chores. They want to make use of their time wisely so make your custom content short – but filled with information. You also want to avoid an overload of information.
Follow these tips when creating the content of your elearning course for adult learners.
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