It’s very easy to ask Mr Google for some digital learning interactivity ideas – hundreds are showcased on digital learning forums. But all too often these are sprinkled throughout a course with no strategy or consideration for the content, and this leaves you with a product that’s all show and no substance. At Me Learning we’re different. We’re made of tougher stuff; we care. We draw on studies such as Bosco 1986; Fletcher 1989; 1990; Stanfford; 1990, who concluded that interactivity aids learning, and finding the right amount of interactivity for the content is crucial. Let’s dive into this a bit more shall we?
Misconceptions
Maybe you’ve got a manager or a customer who will be impressed by interactive buttons, whizzing shapes and flashing unicorns… but maybe the learners won’t. If that’s the case, the customer won’t be impressed long-term when the learners don’t take anything away from the course and give negative reviews.
More interactivity doesn’t necessarily translate into more engagement.
There’s a fine line between an digital learning course being richly interactive, and one that confuses the learners by having them jump through endless hurdles, disrupting the flow of their learning.
Example
Let’s look at an example that one of our instructional designers created, Unconscious Bias. The introduction is basic, with minimal complexity. It requires passive learning – simply text on screen.
When we come across content that’s more complex, it requires some learner engagement. So, we consider what level is needed. If it’s a case of remembering some key points, we display it in a visually engaging way with moderate interaction.
In the second topic we come to the main focus of the content. This requires the learner to understand the effect bias has on different environments and people. In order for the learner to really understand this, the learner needs to dive deeper into the content and relate to the subject. To do this, we create relevant and emotive stories that help the learner to retain the information (or, beat the forgetting curve).
This example doesn’t contain flying objects or jigsaws, but it does contain interactivity that’s appropriate to the content, complexity, and that’s meaningful and within budget.
In our next post we’ll look at the science behind instructional design and how we beat the forgetting curve.
This is a guest post by Rachael Asling, one of our Senior Instructional Designers.
