7 Ways to Make Your Learning Content More Memorable
July 22, 2022
The Research Institute of America found that e-learning increases retention rates 25% to 60%, but even so, creating learning experiences that are both engaging and memorable can be a challenge. If you’re wondering how to deliver impactful e-learning content, here are seven content creation tips that can help increase learner comprehension and improve recall when it matters most.
- Require less reading: video, simulation, interactive graphics, and gamification provide engaging alternatives to a text-heavy and narration-heavy learning experience. Getting learners to interact with information beyond static reading or listening forces them to process information, which is critical for future recall. Diversifying content delivery in format, style, and medium is a powerful and easy way to maintain learner engagement.
- Use a narrative: create learning that flows like a story, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Cohesive content makes for a learning journey that is easy to follow and more likely to be completed. Defining the learning journey at the outset lets learners know what to expect and provides a level of initial comfort that will help them engage more quickly and fully.
- Be repetitive when necessary: consistent and repeated processing of information is key for learner retention. Don’t be afraid to emphasize important concepts more than once. Critical information worth repeating can be delivered in different mediums and formats throughout a course so there is not only variety in presentation but also consistency in driving home key points.
- Include assessments: inspect what you expect. Knowledge checks are a great way to confirm learners are comprehending critical concepts. Nobody likes a pop quiz, so it’s great to prepare learners for this part of the journey by letting them know early on an assessment will be coming up.
- Make learning applicable: finding a way to connect with learners can help them relate to the concepts being delivered and process information through the lens of their role and personal experiences. When learners can identify with a concept, there is a greater chance they will be able to effectively apply learnings in practice. Stories, case studies, and workplace examples that are relevant to and resonate with your learners will support concept retention.
- Group information according to relevance: organizing similar concepts into subject-specific sections will not only give e-learning experiences structure that improves the overall learner journey, but also help learners digest and process information more easily. Delivering related information together or consecutively aids in retention as well because these concepts will then be connected in recall, and remembering one concept can help a learner envision other key concepts from that section.
- Teach others: if learners redeliver lessons learned to others, they are forced to process and organize concepts. By reviewing and then recapping e-learning experiences for others, learners are interacting with course information again, and this repetition combined with the act of summarizing lessons learned lends itself to a deeper level of content comprehension.
With all these tips in mind and implemented, there’s no doubt you’ll find your learners more engaged. If you’d like to discuss your e-learning strategy with a member of our team and create more engaging learning content, please contact us today.