Exploring eLearning Design that Drives Engagement

Host JW Marshall welcomed award-winning freelance eLearning designer Tim Slade to offer insights. Slade also founded the eLearning Designer Academy where he supports other designers with courses. Slade, like many in the field, didn’t have a typical journey to eLearning. He started in retail loss prevention. He was so good at his job; the company wanted him to train others. That was his introduction to online training, and he’s charted a new path ever since. Coming from unique backgrounds isn’t a challenge for eLearning designers. What is, according to Slade, is understanding how to create good learning for adults. That central concern accelerated during the pandemic. Slade explained, “Companies realized they would have to deliver training virtually and did some haphazard conversion, which worked for the first part of the year. Then they reevaluated and determined they needed good virtual learning content.” Slade defined some of those best practices. “Create training that’s actually solving training issues. It’s looking at the cause of the performance issue and delivering something that will change behavior, not a knowledge dump.” Slade also spoke about the concept of learning, in general. “Learning is a process of experiences over time, not a thing that happens in a classroom or behind the screen. It’s often a mix of different learning opportunities.” Companies will find no magical offering that shrinks an 8-hour class to a quick video. Approaching as a way to “speed up” learning isn’t effective.