GlobalBX

What do people do with their computers nowadays?

They basically check email, surf the Internet, and post on Facebook.

With this in mind, why don’t you think about creating an online training course that imitates these actions?

Most e-learning courses have a typical structure, are centered on communicating data, and lack interactive features… sometimes this is OK; it is what’s needed and expected; however, you can always go a step beyond and communicate things in a creative way familiar to the learner.

How about if instead of clicking the ‘next’ button to access more data, the learner found himself inside an imitation of Outlook and had to click on an email to open a “message”, or in a Facebook page full of the data you want to share?

Much more interesting and fun, right? You can create a story to unify the information you are providing in a relevant and amusing way.

Here we show you 3 ways in which you can put your creativity to the test:

Imitate an instant messaging scenario

Everyone uses instant messaging, whether it is through Messenger, Skype, Yahoo, etc.; so, it would be interesting to make it look like two people are chatting.

How do you do this?

• Create two or three people that will be chatting. Each one of them will symbolize a specific part of the information.
• Create a reason why they are chatting. Maybe one of them is having a problem and is asking for help, or they are discussing the final details of a project.
• Adapt the information to a dialogue.
• Create a ‘forward’ button learners will click to advance the conversation.

Imitate an inbox

Most everyone checks email daily today. It would be a lot of fun to find yourself in someone’s inbox and having to open email messages to get to the information.

The messages’ subjects would be your slide titles, and the body of the email would be the information. You can also create an interesting story here, linking several emails that complement each other.

You can put some messages in the sent or archived boxes, and… how about creating a case study where the learner had to gather the information sorting through the emails?

Also, share links in the email content to offer extra resources and data, and add some meaningless, humorous emails to make the search more appealing!

Imitate a Facebook page

A Facebook page has lots of potential because of all the resources it offers. You have a wall to post updates, an inbox, a pictures section, a video section, a notes section, and a place to upload files and applications.

In this case, you can use all sorts of media to enrich your training and development courses.

There has to be a reason for the learners to click around your Facebook page; so, create one, and you will evaluate them according to the information they gathered.

How does this sound? Engaging, right? Give it a try!