When creating effective eLearning content, you cannot get around the concept of Instructional Design. It is the process of creating materials and experiences to optimize learning. Instructional Design serves as the foundation for effective, inspiring and engaging learning experiences.
The origin of the term started back in World War II when complex tasks and information were divided into smaller pieces for soldiers to understand quicker and better. Over the following decades, the concept continued to develop and is nowadays not only essential within education but also in the corporate world with employee development and eLearning.
The Instructional Design process
The field of Instructional Design goes further than simply designing (e)Learning, training, onboarding and instruction materials. It starts off with the assessment of the needs of the learning individuals, formulating the objectives and goals of the training. After, the process will be established, including the design of the materials and the approach how it will be delivered. In the end, a thorough evaluation measures the level of the desired impact created and develops learning points for the future. Overall, it serves as the essential blueprint on which all eLearning content can be built.
4 Reasons to learn about Instructional Design
So, what does this mean for you? Why should you invest your valuable time in learning about Instructional Design? When building a house you start with a strong foundation to build on and the same goes with the creation of eLearning content. The same goes for Instructional Design. Below are four points outlined to spark your interest in Instructional Design.
1. Better retain information
The ultimate goal of creating content is to convert information from point A (you) to point B (the learner). By creating an engaging learning experience including interactive infographics, images and videos it is found that the brain is better to recall the information presented. Curious what that could look like? Check out some of the examples of interactive content created with the LesLinq tool.
2. Better Experience
User experience (UX), a well-known phenomenon in both the offline and online world, is one of the important building blocks in eLearning. It relates to the accessibility and engagement of the overall learning experience. Is a course unclear, hard to follow and uninteresting? Big chance your audience won’t achieve the learning goals you have set. Instructional design contributes to this by first establishing the needs in UX and subsequently in its development.
3. Increase engagement
With a better understanding of the students, Instructional Design creates the opportunity to create content which is relevant and interesting for the audience. Not only does it filter out the best information to present, but also the best ways to present that information to the student. Designing a learning experience directly based on the needs results in a higher engagement with the audience.
4. Improve efficiency
Integrating instructional design provides a lot of benefits. Using a structured approach to create relevant and engaging content improves efficiency by saving time, money and effort. You have to spend less effort on creating relevant and engaging content with the use of a structured approach based on the needs and objectives of the students. The continuous feedback loop will ensure you are on top of necessary adjustments which can be made quickly. Furthermore, with the tailored, interactive and engaging content design students will be able to grasp the necessary content in a quick, fun and efficient way. Win-win!
Instructional Design is here to stay
The world is constantly changing. To keep learning relevant, value is put on innovation, flexibility and creativity. Instructional design plays an essential role in the future, as it will assist in creating successful solutions for eLearning courses, classroom instructions or employee training and development to ensure your organization can keep up with a fast changing world. At LesLinq we provide the perfect tools to incorporate this into your business. Contact us for more information.
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