A great learning program is only as good as the learner engagement it gets. Once you are able to whet your learner’s appetite and make them enthusiastic about learning, you will save a lot of effort in chasing and sending out countless reminders to make them learn. Online learning should NOT be boring or dreadful, so how do you create experiences that will inspire your learners and make them hungry for more?
Grab your learners’ Attention ❗
The first step to a learning process is getting your learners’ attention. Only when your learners are attentive, will they have the capacity to absorb any information provided. There are many ways to capture the learners’ attention, and these are ways you probably have already heard of – using catchy titles, including pictures, asking questions, and more. Keeping up with current content trends, emojis, gifs, videos and podcasts can be used appropriately. However, this is just the foundation. So, how can we build on this foundation? This brings us to the next piece of the puzzle.
Engage your learners 📖
So what’s the difference between learners’ attention and engagement?
If your learners are attentive, they will have the capacity to absorb information well, if your learners are engaged, the information will not only be retained, but they will be hungry for more.
If you missed it, you can read more about how to build learning that engages and resonates here.
Introduce goal achievement 🥅
A part of inspiring learners is also increasing their enthusiasm towards learning, and having a goal will further fuel their drive to learn. When learners attain their goals, the achievement give them a motivation boost, and they will be encouraged to set their sights higher. Having a visual indication or recognition of how far they have come and where they are headed helps learners measure progress. When your learners see progress, they will also inadvertently be inculcating a growth mindset and be open to learning even more.
Let the learners gain something upon achieving their goals 🏆
The majority of us are motivated by incentives. Incentification does not necessarily need to be a frequent occurrence, it can be for a significant learning milestone, or specific learning campaign.
Common tangible incentives are rewards such as gift cards, vouchers and certificates. However, it can also feel equally good to gain recognition for your hard work and effort. Giving your learners social recognition among their peers can sometimes be even more valuable than tangible rewards.
Run tests and gauge your learners’ responses to see which form of incentivization works best!
Restore social interaction 👥
The pandemic has certainly shown us how important social interaction is. Being able to share experiences and comments with peers or colleagues, holding discussions and getting active interaction is the key to keeping learners engaged.
Making sure your learner is not on a silo digital learning journey is important. You can facilitate live discussion sessions, get your learners to work together and contribute to a learning piece together or get peer reviews going to inject interactivity into the learning experience. It is time to get creative and think of how you can bring your learners closer together.
Remember, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Being in the digital learning space for a couple of years now, SmartUp.io is constantly coming out with ways to improve the way people learn. We are on our way to building a next generation training platform and if you have an idea of what you want to see, share it with us!
