Most trainers and HR managers know how in-person training works. But how do you convey the same learning content online? Find out now what really matters when explaining in an online course and how to create easily understandable e-learning materials!
Digital training can be successful, as the last two years have clearly shown us. Nevertheless, the learning success in online courses often fails due to the same issues:
Training managers lack direct feedback from their participants on whether they really understand the learning content.
Participants often feel left alone. They do not know who to turn to if they do not understand the content or the tasks.
You can avoid both problems by paying attention to a few essential things as a course leader. In an online course, two central elements matter: good explanations and regular exchange between the trainer or course leader and participants. The direct feedback from looking into questioning faces is, of course, absent. Thus, your concrete instructions and explanations in the course become even more important.
A crucial note upfront: The goal of your course should always be for participants to understand the content immediately, to process it easily, and to internalize what they have learned.
What matters in good explanations in online courses?
An online course is as individual as the subject you want to convey with it. Therefore, there is, of course, not THE schema that fits every course. After all, it depends on both your course topic and the selected learning media.
To engage as many people as possible in the course, a varied structure of your online course is helpful. Variety maintains motivation and attention. Both are needed as a foundation even before substantive explanations begin. You will learn how to create appealing e-learning materials in this article: In 4 Steps from Boring Online Course to Successful Highlight.
4 Tips for Better Explanations in Online Courses
1. Understandable Language
For participants to be able to focus on the content of your online course, simple language is important. This makes it easier for participants to understand the content quickly and without problems.
Do not use or use very few technical terms that you have to explain.
The same applies to foreign words, especially Anglicisms.
Keep your sentences short and avoid unnecessary adjectives.
Address your participants directly and use an active voice.
Formulate examples and content in positive language rather than negations.
2. Spark Interest
An important factor for the learning success of your online course is of course the participants' interest in the course content. Online, this can be significantly more complicated than in person, especially since you cannot directly ask the participants.
Find a hook topic that interests or personally affects your participants and use this as an entry point.
Remembering is easier when the topic is linked to other things. Make connections to everyday situations and explain why the topics are important.
Don't forget the fun of learning and use playful elements such as edutainment or gamification elements in your online course.
Create closeness between you and the participants by "speaking the same language" and paying attention to linguistic peculiarities.
3. Establish Connections
You're probably familiar with it from your school days: before one vocabulary test or another, we all memorized everything robotically and then quickly forgot it all again. While rote memorization may work for a short time, the learning effect is lost: To retain things in the long term, you need connections and clear goals.
Make clear what the learned material is good for and when it can be useful.
Package learning content in exciting stories and build a plot arc in the sense of storytelling.
Focus on real practical examples, especially when it comes to more complex learning content or processes.
4. Take Small Steps
Take it slow in your online course, after all, all participants need to get used to the new learning circumstances. Make it as easy as possible for yourself and the participants and focus on simplicity.
Convey a clear goal in each learning unit that you want to achieve with it.
Keep the complexity of your course low and avoid any elements that could cause confusion.
Focus on small self-contained learning content, entirely in the microlearning style. This way, participants can better manage their learning time.
Conclude each topic with a short summary or a quiz. This way, participants reflect more on whether they understood everything before starting a new learning chapter.
Conclusion: You don't have to reinvent the wheel for your online courses! Use your existing content, e.g., from one-day workshops or presentations, and break them down into small learning bites. Ultimately, it depends on both your explanations and the course structure! With these tips, there should be no questions or problems in your next online course 🙂
