{"id":16428,"date":"2020-08-18T08:50:59","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T08:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/?p=16428"},"modified":"2021-02-09T10:57:18","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T10:57:18","slug":"9-tips-for-creating-engaging-learning-experiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/blog\/9-tips-for-creating-engaging-learning-experiences\/","title":{"rendered":"9 tips for creating engaging learning experiences"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are you worried that you\u2019re delivering bad learning experiences? You\u2019re probably not alone. If you search for \u2018good learning experience\u2019 and then swap out \u2018good\u2019 for \u2018bad\u2019, you\u2019ll soon realise that people are interested in creating something that works but nobody asks or writes about the bad side.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That leads us to two interesting ideas:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are people dodging the question out of fear that they\u2019re currently in the bad camp?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can you really understand a good experience if you don\u2019t consider what a bad one looks like?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Either way, you\u2019re in HowNow\u2019s judgement-free zone, and it\u2019s also somewhere we get to the point! So, here\u2019s what a bad experience might look like, followed by some tips for an engaging learning experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What does a bad learning experience look like?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re trying to cram a shed-load of information into a short training window, that\u2019s not good for your learners. Why? Because it\u2019s information overload. If you send employees on an 8-hour, full-day course that covers everything on one topic, they\u2019re more likely to leave the learning environment exhausted than loaded up with new ideas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A big part of this is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.walkme.com\/knowledge-retention\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Forgetting Curve<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a theory that within an hour people remember less than half of what they\u2019ve been taught. That\u2019s unless it\u2019s reinforced. The issue with bad learning experiences is that they typically end upon course completion and reinforcing materials aren\u2019t readily available.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A bigger challenge might be that people can\u2019t remember what they haven\u2019t learnt, so if an experience isn\u2019t engaging or relevant your learner could already be in \u2018starting out the window\u2019 mode when you hit the crux of whatever you\u2019re teaching. At that point, you\u2019ve lost them before you\u2019ve got to the thing that matters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, how can you overcome those challenges and deliver engaging learning experiences? You put the individual learner at the heart of what you do.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>How to develop an engaging learning experience\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>Personalise it<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The days of a one-size-fits-all approach to learning are over! We\u2019re living in a world where everything is personalised for us, right down to our watching, listening, reading and shopping habits. So why shouldn\u2019t learning be the same? If you want to engage people, you need to create something that\u2019s relevant to them and that they can see the value in doing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most powerful way to do this is by connecting people with resources that empower them to reach their goal or satisfy their interest. You might choose to create a course based on what you know about them, but you\u2019ll engage them more by providing a platform to create their own learning pathways and find knowledge they believe is relevant. Applying the tips below with the learner in mind will help you create that personalised experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Make learning manageable<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If somebody put a 600-page textbook in front of you and said \u2018there should be a few relevant parts in there\u2019, you probably wouldn\u2019t be engaged or motivated enough to read through it all and find those gems. And why would you? It\u2019s overwhelming, unproductive and puts the onus on you to find the relevant information. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now imagine that you log in to a <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\">learning platform<\/a>, and you\u2019re assigned to a course that\u2019s picked out four key parts from that book. You read the titles and realise these manageable sections are all specific to your role and goals. Already you can see the value in those resources and the finish line for that learning experience. It\u2019s this concept of microlearning that creates specific and digestible sections that learners master before moving on.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Ensure it\u2019s easy<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even better, what if you can search for other resources to supplement as you learn!? It\u2019s not just about the way content\u2019s presented, the system or platform you\u2019re using has to provide a quality user experience. For a lot of people that means being able to search for and easily find useful knowledge. In HowNow, we use AI to take that even further and recommend content based on someone\u2019s goals, interests and habits. Like any friendship, the more we get to know you, the more relevant those recommendations become.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Create content in different shapes and sizes<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is where you can really consider your learners and how they best process and retain information. If you\u2019re working with visual learners, video content might be more effective. If you know that somebody drives to the office every day, they might appreciate a podcast as part of their pathway. You might choose to support that with a written summary that\u2019s easily accessed further down the line.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The key considerations are what will work best for your team, and if your <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/blog\/what-makes-good-learning-content-8-tips-for-success\/\">learning content<\/a> is varied enough for it to remain engaging.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Get social<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can take all the courses from all the experts in the world, but sometimes the best resource is sitting just a few desks away. That\u2019s why it\u2019s crucial for your learning experiences to <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/knowledge-sharing\/\">tap into external experts<\/a> and facilitate discussions among your team. By making it a social experience, you\u2019re also enabling people to bounce ideas off each other, share their take on a topic and increase the frequency that employees encounter a piece of information, which is proven to improve retention.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Relate it to real-life situations<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What could be more relevant than learning that relates to your company or somebody\u2019s role within it? Imagine you\u2019re joining the team as a sales rep, how useful would it be if your training was focused around actual product decks, pitches and customer profiles? A good course might include a recorded pitch from a heavy hitter on the team, followed by walkthroughs of the product and customer, before giving you practice scenarios to hone your approach.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Make sure it never stops<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each time you complete a course or learning pathway, it\u2019s not the end of the learning journey but the start of the next. First of all, you need to make sure you retain that knowledge, so it\u2019s important to revisit and reinforce the key information. For us, that means <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/blog\/highlighting-and-annotating-content-helping-you-learn-and-recall-knowledge\/\">highlighting and annotating content<\/a> so that you can connect with the important sections at a later date. This repetition helps creates a solid base of knowledge for you to build on.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But how do you expand on that foundation? By choosing a platform that provides employees with a content library, especially if it\u2019s one that recommends relevant resources and learning. When people can search through your internal content and external materials in one place, they\u2019ll find the information that they need in the moments that they need them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Give learners flexibility<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nobody likes to feel rushed when they\u2019re learning new skills and everybody has their prefered times and places for focusing on new knowledge. So providing a flexible approach to learning is one of the most important aspects of an engaging experience. The beauty of learning platforms is that they provide on-demand content, day or night, which lets people pick when they learn. Whether that\u2019s a quick five minutes here and there, or a full hour session on their commute\u2014if they\u2019re using a product that offers a mobile app, that is.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Add your own stamp<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t forget to take some brand me-time during this process! The learning experience shouldn\u2019t just be personal to the employee, it should have the company\u2019s culture and brand embedded into it. Whether that\u2019s by using your logo and branding within the course or applying the tone of voice and values to the content, try to build a better connection with the company in your learning pathways. \u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you worried that you\u2019re delivering bad learning experiences? You\u2019re probably not alone. If you&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":437,"featured_media":16433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3118],"tags":[1595,1673],"yst_prominent_words":[1954,1956,1953,11,1320,820,965,1952,1951,345,225,160,1729,9,371,1724,1051,349,154,1955],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16428"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18995,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16428\/revisions\/18995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16428"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=16428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}