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In today's world of rapidly advancing technology and decreasing attention spans, it is crucial to provide learners with an exceptional user experience (UX) in eLearning to keep them engaged and motivated. To help you achieve this, we have compiled our top seven UX tips for delivering outstanding online courses:
1. Design with phones in mind
There are now more smartphone users than those using a desktop, and these smartphone users expect their online courses to be accessible and delivered to the device of their choice, so they can access them on the go. But they may also want to sit down in the evening at their laptop and continue the course on there. Since various devices often display content differently, you need to think about the UX for all devices.
2. Take advantage of dopamine design
Dopamine, the chemical in our brain associated with 'rewards', keeps us motivated and on-task. Including elements such as a progress bar, badges, leaderboards, competitive elements, and celebrating achievements like passing an assessment, can give learners a sense of accomplishment and trigger the release of dopamine, leaving them feeling satisfied and motivated to continue.
3. Include lean, value-focused content
To avoid decreasing engagement levels, resist the urge to overload your courses with excessive information and images without a clear direction. Instead, prioritise important information, emphasise key points, and incorporate exercises and reflections that add value.
4. Ensure intuitive design and navigation
It is important to ensure that your courses are intuitive and easy to navigate. This means that learners should be able to quickly find the topic or lesson they want, and that titles and clickable images should be clear. Avoid changing the appearance of buttons or navigation elements, as this can be confusing and have the opposite effect of what you intended. Try to keep everything as uniform as possible, while adding graphic flourishes in other areas. Including a lot of white space also helps the learner to feel clear and comfortable, and leave them enough cognitive space for effective learning.
5. Keep accessibility in mind
It's crucial to make sure that your courses are accessible to everyone. That means thinking about the needs of learners who may have cognitive, physical, visual or auditory impairments. Also, make sure your resources can work on as many devices as possible and can be adapted to meet different needs.
6. Use multimedia strategically
Multimedia can include various types of content, such as videos, audio recordings, animations, infographics, images, and interactive simulations. It can also involve gamification elements, such as quizzes, assessments, and branching scenarios. Using multimedia strategically can enhance the learning experience and improve engagement levels. It's important to use multimedia that aligns with the course content and complements the learning objectives.
7. Ask for feedback
Getting feedback from learners can provide valuable insights into what works well and what doesn't in your eLearning course. By addressing their concerns and incorporating their suggestions, you can continuously improve the course UX and ensure a better learning experience for future learners.