Successfully create e-learning content

Do you want to create e-learning content or have you already started and now realized that it might take more than just an initial idea? Don't worry, because with us you will learn which important points need to be considered in order to get the full potential out of e-learning!

What is e-learning?

The term e-learning stands for "electronic learning" and includes all electronic tools and digital media that can support and optimize the learning process. Examples include video courses, web-based training or online webinars.

Digital learning offers greater flexibility for both the authors of the learning application and the course participants: While authors can also make spontaneous corrections or additions to the content in order to always bring the course participants up to date, learning is made possible at one's own pace, which makes the learning process much more individual. In addition, participants are not tied to a specific place or time, so that the learning workload can be perfectly adapted to the daily routine. With e-learning, everything is in one place and it can be reused as often as users want - saving time and money.

The areas of application of an e-learning platform are diverse - but they are particularly suitable for companies that regularly conduct employee training, coaching and safety instructions. Here, learning checks can be carried out excellently, as participants are able to test themselves on multiple-choice tasks, for example, and find out directly afterwards what was right and what was wrong. This keeps the learning process manageable and increases the motivation of the participants.

E-learning is therefore already used very frequently in companies - and how you can best create content for it, you will learn from us below.

The individual steps

Here we show you clearly the individual steps you should follow when creating e-learning!

Your e-learning course can only be as productive as your previous planning. Therefore, it is of enormous importance that you take enough time to perform some preparatory activities. This way, you address problems before they can even occur.

First of all, you should ask yourself what exactly you want to create an e-learning for, i.e. define training objectives. In other words, it's about considering with what result the participants should complete the e-learning. What exactly should be the learning goal or what they should be able to do after completion.

Since it does not make sense to create an e-learning for everyone, the objective goes hand in hand with defining a specific target group. Who will complete the e-learning and why? What are the learners' positions or demographic metrics and characteristics? And how can they benefit from the digital learning?

Next, be sure to review and gather all materials already available. This means notes, videos, audio files, images or previous training material. Gathering this in one central location will save you time later when creating the e-learning content, as you won't have to start from scratch. It also gives you the opportunity to see which materials are still missing. This way, you don't waste resources and get a better sense of what content needs to be created for successful e-learning right from the start.

At the end of the preparation phase, you will summarize all the results in a table and thus have an overview of what requirements and expectations your e-learning must meet and what is necessary for its creation.

Once you have gathered all the necessary information for creating the e-learning content, it's time to create a storyboard. This is a visualized form of a script that sets the framework for the e-learning course.

If you want to provide a training video, for example, the individual scenes are pre-drawn before filming so that you have a visual guide. The most important thing here is to prepare the necessary resources for this and record them in the storyboard.

For all written content, on the other hand, a kind of script is written, in which it is also determined which text and image content follows at which point in time, so that it becomes clear which knowledge builds on each other.

It is advisable to pay attention to a certain "look & feel". Here, among other things, you decide on typography, colors, content arrangements and a certain style that makes up the visual branding of the e-learning. For example, should it be more sober or unconventional? Many people opt for a look and feel that matches the company and does justice to its branding.

At this point, all digital materials such as graphics, voice-overs, image/and video files are designed and finally assembled into an e-learning course. The key here is to create a unit that you can use in the future to help participants achieve their learning objectives.

It is worth taking a look at already available Learning Xperience Platforms (LXP). datango offers you such an LXP, which allows you to design your training content in a clear and instructive way.

With datango creator, you can create e-learning content at the touch of a button in 25 different formats and in over 40 languages.

With datango collaborator, on the other hand, you manage all relevant interfaces and enable effective and transparent collaboration between authors and with learners. Courses and learning units can be created and managed with datango collaborator - with three different exercise modes.

datango live! offers context-intensive live help, so learners get the best possible support within seconds at any point in time.

This tool offers you everything you need for efficient employee enablement and optimal knowledge management!

Before you finally publish your course, you should conduct a series of tests where people from the target group can go through the e-learning and give you feedback on it. This may help you identify weaknesses early on.

But even after go-live, it's important to remain open to feedback - after all, it all comes down to how satisfied the participants are with the e-learning and to what extent they were able to meet your learning objectives with it. A feedback form here can ensure that your e-learning remains effective and relevant in the longer term. Good LXPs like datango usually offer this as a fully integrated functionality.

Our tips for your e-learning

You should secure the participants' attention right from the start - that's why it's a good idea to start with a short entertaining intro video or a game to loosen things up. This way, learners know directly what to expect and can look forward to an exciting learning process at the same time.

Also important is the user-friendliness and readability of the content. Therefore, make sure to use simple and clear language and visually provide appealing animations that can support the learning process. As a general rule, however, less is more. Topics should therefore rather be divided into small, manageable and digestible learning units to keep the motivation of your participants high. That way, your e-learning will be a complete success!

We hope that this step-by-step guide will help you to successfully create your own e-learning content! If you have any further questions about the basic processes or around the e-learning platform, we are always here for you!

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