Three things that increase e-learner engagement

We’ve all had to endure bad e-learning, and it’s a dismal experience.

You know the kind of thing. Twenty-five minutes’ worth of videos and slides delivered by patronising presenters and topped off by a predictable set of multiple-choice questions at the end. We’re bored rigid after the first 5 minutes and chances are that a couple of hours after we’ve completed it (if indeed we ever did) we’ve completely forgotten most of what we’re supposed to have ‘learned’. So what was the point?

A bored learner is a disengaged learner, and one who’s unlikely to take away anything from their training. Good e-learning is all about getting people to put what they’ve learned into practice, and the capabilities of online platforms to engage, enthuse and connect people are growing every year. However, cutting-edge functionality is only part of the story.

When it comes to effective diversity, equity and inclusion e-learning, the ‘secret sauce’ is understanding the psychology of how to bring about real and lasting behaviour change – something we’re experts in after 40 years of working to help organisations be more inclusive.

With 84% of Kandola+ e-learners completing their courses, compared with the average rate of just 20-30%, and with 89% demonstrating more inclusive behaviours as a result, we know that we’re getting it right. So here are our three must-haves for engaging e-learning that gets real results.

Passive learning is, well, passé – and there’s no place for it in the digital space. Our online learning platform offers huge scope for exciting learner interaction, with insightful digital inclusion tools and assessments, situational simulations and quizzes to get people enthused and engaged. People love to learn about themselves, and our interactive inclusion assessments allow them to explore how they would handle real-life situations and find out more about their biases, what motivates and engages them and where their inclusion strengths and development areas lie.

Online learning lets us get up-close and personal. We’re far more likely to engage with training if we can see the personal benefits to us, so e-learning that pinpoints learners’ specific development needs and lets them define their goals and shape their own learning journey makes them far more likely to commit to reaching their targets.

As well as creating personalised learning plans, we give learners the tools to track their progress and see the impact they’re having motivates them to do more of the same – greatly increasing the likelihood of sustainable learning transfer.

A lot of e-learning bears very little resemblance to many people’s working reality. We’re all too often confronted with e-learning content that’s so generic as to be meaningless, accompanied by images of diverse teams happily high-fiving each other in sunny, state-of-the-art boardrooms. If you want people to apply what they’ve learned in the real world, they need real-world context and content that resonates with them.

Including realistic workplace situations and challenges and providing practical tools and techniques for handling them helps bring learning to life, particularly for soft-skills training and learning around diversity, equity and inclusion – and the beauty of online DEI training is that it can easily be updated and reconfigured in line with new developments and ways of thinking, or to reflect changes in your organisational goals and strategy to keep it relevant and on-message.

Ready to ditch the dross and discover great online diversity and inclusion learning that’s guaranteed to engage your learners and get the results you want? Get in touch with us at Kandola+ to find out more.