The professional world has gained a lot of insight into how people learn over the past several decades. Engagement is important to keep learners coming back and to improve knowledge retention. The more a learner remembers, the more successful they will be with the course, and later when they apply that knowledge on the job.
How can a business improve engagement with its employee training program?
Interactivity is a good start. When a learner can interact with the training content, they will be more likely to engage multiple senses and have a more memorable experience. They will also be more likely to not lose focus or motivation.
Consider learning in elementary school. A teacher can give a lecture on a topic or turn the topic into a game. The first option may do the job, but chances are students won’t retain as much of the information. It won’t be as memorable, and they may mentally check out at some point during the lecture.
The game, on the other hand, is more engaging. It is fun and requires participation. This will have a lasting impact that improves knowledge retention. That same principle applies to adults.
The 4 Types of Learners and What They Need for Success
There are four general types of learners, each with different needs. The nuance between individuals may vary, but the following list serves as an overview of how different people learn.
- Visual Learners
Visual learners like to see photos, images, and visual aids. They will likely retain more knowledge from a chart with graphical elements than a page of written text. They may lose interest over spoken lectures or lengthy text documents. For the best chance at success, visual learners need more imagery to help understand and remember topics and concepts.
- Auditory Learners
Auditory learners do best when they can hear the information being taught. They thrive when presented with lectures or audio clips. They may not do as well when the only resources available are written pages or images. They also process information through spoken word, so class discussions are helpful for success.
- Written Word Learners
Written word learners do best with text, both read or written. They like to read and will have an easier time understanding concepts that are written down or explained in a book. Taking notes helps them process information. Giving them access to documentation and manuals can help set them up for success.
- Kinesthetic Learners
Kinesthetic learners prefer to be more hands-on with their training. Personal experiences help them retain knowledge. They process information by practicing what they learn, so giving them practice tasks or hands-on demonstrations is beneficial.
What do the four types of learners have to do with making your training courses more interactive? They give you insight into how to add interactivity in a format that will benefit as many trainees as possible.
This information also applies if you want to know how to use eLearning to strengthen your customer training program.
Creating Interactive Situations for All Learner Types
You don ‘t have to create four courses for each topic to address all learner types. Instead, you can incorporate elements of each into every course.
For example, you can add interactive videos to courses. These can display charts, graphs, photos, and other images for visual learners. They can also have an audio track with a lecture or voiceover for auditory learners. Captions give written word learners something to read. And incorporating activities like a virtual scenario or simulation will engage kinesthetic learners.
Many modern LMS platforms include features that give businesses more ways to build interactive training content. Check out our list of LMS reviews online to see which systems offer the features your team needs to be successful.
10 Things You Can Add to Make Your Employee Training Interactive
Whether you are building a new employee training program or already have one running, you can make it more interactive. Enhancing your existing content with more engaging activities will have a positive effect on training outcomes.
What can you add now to make your employee training more interactive?
- Quizzes and Assessments
Quizzes and assessments have multiple benefits. They give you another way to meet the needs of different learner types. You can use different question formats or have questions that include images or video clips as well as text.
Quizzes also give you and the learner insight into how they are doing. They can reveal weak areas in the learner’s training.
Strategically place quizzes and assessments after completing topics or key pieces of information. This will also drive home the importance of these topics and encourage knowledge retention.
- Demonstrations
Don’t just tell your training class how to do something. Show them how it is done with a demonstration. This can be done through a live webinar or a pre-recorded video when using eLearning.
Show them how to complete the task while explaining verbally what’s happening. Text captions can also be added. This will address multiple learner types in one piece of training content.
- Roleplay Scenarios
Roleplay scenarios are a great way to improve interactivity. These can be guided by a live trainer or done using AI or a pre-made sequence.
Put the learner in the driver’s seat as they complete a task or deal with customer interactions. These scenarios allow you to present challenging situations without putting anyone at risk. Roleplay can be done as a text or verbal conversation and can include visuals like a scene or photo of an object.
For example, verbal conversation can be used to roleplay a customer phone call. Or a series of interactive images could be used to let the learner show that they know how to follow instructions in the correct order.
- Practice Activities
Practice activities can come in a variety of formats. These could be worksheets with questions or supplemental videos or audio clips.
Some businesses build practice games or experiences. They can be added as a requirement to complete a course or as an extra way for learners to engage with the content in a different format.
- Interactive Videos
As described above, interactive videos are a valuable tool when improving engagement and addressing learner needs. Remember to keep them shorter and focused on a specific topic or task. This will help improve knowledge retention and make learners more likely to watch.
- Class Discussions
Discussing topics helps auditory learners process information. Host a class discussion after live sessions. Schedule regular online group meetings to give learners the chance to talk about topics.
Discussions can also be hosted in text chat or on a forum. These can include images and links to videos and audio clips for a more varied experience.
- Gamification Features
Gamification features go well with interactivity. Most LMS platforms provide built-in gamification.
Gamification encourages users to interact with each other and engage in training activities. These can include games, quests, challenges, and more. Incorporating storytelling will help optimize the effectiveness of gamification.
- Self-Guided Training Resources
Provide learners with self-guided training resources that they can access after class. These can be used to supplement courses that lack the level of interactivity needed for each learner type.
For example, a class that’s primarily a lecture could include self-guided resources like a slideshow of images or a video. These round out the experience for learners who may not do as well with auditory learning.
- Social Learning Activities
Social media is another employee training resource. These platforms can facilitate discussions and interactions between learners, trainers, and subject matter experts.
Businesses that prefer to not use public social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn can instead use an internal social network. Some LMSs include social media features that allow employees to build profiles and interact internally.
- Audio Clips and Recordings
Try to incorporate multiple media types into each course. Audio and video content is essential.
Make sure the content is relevant to the topic. Using lengthy clips that discuss multiple topics won’t be as impactful as a shorter clip that’s focused on the topic. That applies to both audio and video content.
Adding so many different types of content can be overwhelming. Learn how to refine your eLearning course creation workflow to optimize the return on your training investment.
