Personalization in eLearning means developing tailored content and programs to suit the various needs of individuals within an organization.
Some of the benefits of introducing personalizing eLearning courses include advanced learning experiences, increased learner engagement and motivation. It helps make onboarding, training, and professional development more efficient, ultimately contributing to cost and time-saving.
Keep reading to learn more about it.
How does Personalization in eLearning Work?
The first thing you need to do when creating personalized eLearning programs, is to understand your audience. What kind of learner are you dealing with, is it an employee, a student, or maybe a customer? What is their goal? How much time can they dedicate to your program? Putting yourself in the learner’s shoes will help you understand how to structure your content. Once you’ve figured that out, you can apply some of the strategies described below to build personalized eLearning programs that can be adapted to the specific needs of each learner.
How to Create Personalized eLearning Programs?
It’s more like a learn-as-you-want environment where users choose how they learn, what to learn, and where to learn from. In a customized experience the learner is able to choose their preferred learning environment (how contents will appear – colors, themes, background, font sizes, etc.)and content format (graphics, text, audio, videos, etc.).
Learners can also set up their profile or indicate their interest areas, strengths, progress, weaknesses, and support. Personalized eLearning also takes advantage of tools and strategies like adaptive technology, tutorials, or gamification to make the interaction/assessment between the learner, trainer, and content more analytical. This way, trainers can help devise custom learning paths for each individual.
Developing Adaptive Content
Developing adaptive content helps adjust the information flow of the learner based on their previous interactions. If a learner is already conversant with an information/module, they can skip the entire module. Instead of offering a linear content program, allow your learner to go back and forth as much as they need or to simply look for just-in-time solutions.
Creating Modular Programs
Best practice suggests running a diagnostic quiz to determine the knowledge level of learners. That will help you know which training modules should be added or removed from their learning path. By understanding the learner’s knowledge gap, you can serve content to their advantage. This approach will reduce learners’ time on a module as they don’t need to work through content they already know.
Implement Learning by Doing in Context
Implementing learning by doing is an ideal approach to personalizing and enhancing learners’ knowledge. Like a show-all-workings approach, it provides a practical experience as learners experiment on the theories they’ve learned.
It’s a way to identify the level of knowledge the learner has acquired so far and also helps increase ofknowledge retention as learners memorize the solutions while practicing.
Make Contents Accessible in Different Formats
Each learner has their own preferences when it comes to learning formats. Some like to read, while others prefer podcasts, interactive objects, videos, etc. Providing the same information in different formats helps keep the learner’s motivation level high, or even engage with the same kind of content multiple times from different angles. .
One vital element to remember is that every learning resource should remain aligned with the module’s central idea.
Localize your course resources
This last strategy is vital for companies and organizations operating in various countries, with people that speak different languages.
Language and culture can significantly impact a person’s ability to learn, and that’s why it is crucial to not only translate your course content but to fully localize it, taking into account your learner’s culture.
Besides just translating words, you should consider things such as
- Image & graphics
- Numeric Formats
- Units of measure for dimensions, volume, and weight
- Subtitles or voice-overs in the case of videos
- Interactive elements (buttons, quizzes, etc.)
Conclusion
You’ve just seen some clear examples of how to personalize your eLearning program to enhance engagement and the overall online learning experience. Always remember that personalization cuts across different areas in eLearning, from the way you structure and build your content to the formats and languages you decide to offer.