Wake ‘Em Up!
Ten Tips for Interactive e-Learning
If they like it, they will play.
Clark Quinn
Engaging Learning, 2005, p. 17
Many trainers consider interactive electronic learning (e-learning) to be an oxymoron, in that the words “interactive e-learning” cancel each other out. e-Learning can’t be interactive, they say. After all, most training done via computers or phones usually consists of lectures or self-study manuals, sometimes combined with PowerPoint® slides and maybe a question-and-answer period or test at the end of the program. Even though there are now many computer software programs available for training that include interactive features—whiteboards, chat rooms, breakout areas, polling and signaling features, and the like—most of what people call e-learning, also called computer-based training, is still predominantly lecture or self-study.
e-Learning means many things to many people. Here, we’ll define e-learning as information that is electronically delivered in one or more of the following ways:
• Teleconferences. These are auditory only, using phone lines as means of information delivery. Participants dial into a specific teleconference number that supports multiple callers. There is usually no computer-based component to a teleconference call.
• Webinars. These are both auditory and visual, using phone lines, computers, and the Internet to deliver training. The actual delivery is done in real time, with a trainer and participants in attendance via voice and Internet components. There are a number of webinar software programs available, some that have interactive features and some that don’t.
• Synchronous or distance learning. These are live, televised programs that have both auditory and visual components, usually delivered over televised or satellite networks. A trainer facilitates the face-to-face training in one city, while numerous other sites around the country receive the training at the same time it is being delivered. If the other sites have auditory and visual components, the trainer may be able to see and hear the participants while they see and hear the trainer. This type of e-learning is also done with computer cameras, software programs, and Internet hosts as an alternative to television or satellite components. Whatever electronic media are used, the training happens in real time, with trainer and learners meeting in “virtual” classrooms that can be in many places at once.
• Asynchronous or self-directed computer-based training. These are training programs that have been created and uploaded to a website, web host, or company intranet site. The training is usually in the printed form of worksheets, slides, tests, and other written material to be read by the learner using her own computer at a time of her own choosing. Sometimes there are pre-recorded voice-over components or short video segments as well. There is no trainer and no class. This e-learning format is also called computer-based self-study.
While some of the ideas in this chapter may apply better to one form of e-learning than another, I am including all of the above electronic information-delivery systems under the term e-learning.
Let’s begin with two false assumptions about e-learning:
• e-Learning is boring (it doesn’t have to be).
• e-Learning is not interactive (it should be).
As with classroom instruction, boring and non-interactive e-learning programs are design and delivery issues, not content or learner issues. Even the most complex, technical material can be made both interesting and interactive. And even the most passive learners can be invited to participate in short, relevant learning activities.
So how can you go about creating interesting, interactive e-learning programs? Here are ten simple ways to begin.
1. Send Out Warm-Ups with Built-In Accountability
Warm-Ups are pre-program instructions, sent via email, detailing a variety of simple, topic-related activities that learners do before the e-learning class begins. You can apply the Warm-Up activities listed in Part One of this book to e-learning as well as to face-to-face instruction.
For teleconferences and synchronous distance learning, participants can report their Warm-Up findings verbally to the training group. For asynchronous training, learners can email their findings to their supervisors, instructors, or to other persons whose names and email addresses are part of the course.
Following is a list of some of the Warm-Ups from Part One that work especially well with e-learning programs:
• (For a webinar)—Make a written list of as many topic-related facts as you can that you already know. Be ready to state some of these facts during the webinar.
• (For a teleconference)—Interview an “expert” (someone who knows more than you do about the topic), and be ready to tell the teleconference group what you learned.
• (For a webinar)—Do an Internet search about the training topic and be ready to use the chat room feature to share what you learned from your search.
• (For all e-learning)—Ask co-workers what they know or have heard about the topic and make a list of facts and opinions. Email a summary of this information to the other class members.
• (For all e-learning)—Make up a short, pre-training quiz with some questions you want to have answered during the training. Email these questions to the instructor before the e-learning class begins.
Give learners choices: They can do one or two, or do all but one, or make up one of their own.
2. Create an Interesting Graphic Organizer
Create a note-taking page (called a graphic organizer) and email it to the e-learning participants before the training begins. Use Adobe Acrobat PDF format, which is the most stable for email attachments.
The note-taking page should be visually interesting, with plenty of space for writing and doodling. It should not be a PowerPoint® handout with slide images and lines to write on—use these as resources only. Instead, the note-taking worksheet should have topic-related graphics, shapes, forms, and writing spaces. In Part Two of this book are five Concept Maps, which are examples of graphic organizers.
Send out an email reminder before the class, instructing participants to print the note-taking page and have it and a pen/pencil ready when the class begins. During the program, be sure to stop and direct learners to write important words, phrases, or concepts. Don’t assume they are writing just because they have the page in front of them. Instead, say, “This is profound, so write it down!” and then stop speaking to give them time to do so.
For asynchronous training, include a graphic organizer in the computerized materials with instructions that the learner download, print, and use it as he or she works through the course.
3. Begin with a Fast Pass
At the beginning of an e-learning class, participants are expecting introductions, technical information, program agendas, learning objectives, and any other housekeeping details that most training starts with. Imagine their surprise when you direct them (via voice, slide, or other visual) to jot down the three most important things they learned from the Warm-Ups they chose and to be ready to report this to the class. You give them a minute or so to do this, then you begin the class with their reports. If the class is large, you might ask for only a few reports.
There are five Fast Pass activities in Part One of this book. When adapted to e-learning, these Fast Pass strategies engage learners from the moment they log onto the e-learning experience. The immediate involvement and novelty motivate learners to pay attention.
For a teleconference Fast Pass, you verbally state what you want learners to do. For synchronous distance learning, post the Fast Pass on the computer, camera, or television screen and instruct participants to report to their site’s groups. For asynchronous training, have printed instructions that direct learners to write a short summary of what they learned in the Warm-Ups.
Here are a few more specific examples of e-learning Fast Pass instructions:
• (For a webinar)—Using the chat room feature, print a topic-related question that you want answers for.
• (For a teleconference)—When I call your name, please state one thing you want to learn from this program.
• (For a webinar)—On the whiteboard, print a word or phrase that you associate with this topic.
• (For distance learning)—With the other participants at your learning site, brainstorm what you already know about the topic, and be ready to report back some facts from this list.
• (For self-study)—On blank paper, make a list of five facts you know or have heard about this topic. Come back to your list after you finish the course and check your facts for accuracy. Correct any that are incorrect.
4. Follow the Ten-Minute Rule
Regardless of the type of e-learning class you are facilitating, always use the ten-minute rule, meaning that you will divide your slide show, lectures, or printed material into segments of about ten minutes in length. In between each ten-minute segment, insert a short, one-minute review activity that gives learners the opportunity to review the information just presented. Both the chapter titled “Brain-Friendly Training” and Part Two of this book give you the rationale for using the ten-minute rule, as well as a variety of quick review strategies. Listed below are a few e-learning adaptations of some of these strategies:
• Think and Write (for all e-learning)—On your note-taking page, write one sentence summarizing what you just learned.
• Pair Share (for webinars)—In the chat room (or at your distance learning site) pair up with another participant and share the two most important facts from the lecture.
• Shout Out (for teleconferences)—As a group, we need to state eight new things we now know about the topic.
• Whiteboard Writing (for webinars)—We’ll now take one minute for everyone to quickly write a word or phrase related to the information just covered.
For an asynchronous course, insert the short review activities as printed instructions between information segments. Examples:
• Write four main ideas from this chapter.
• Write eight facts you now know about this topic. Look back through the chapter to see whether you listed them correctly.
• Write a review question that could be on a test.
• Think of how you might use this information. Write this down.
• Think of what you just learned. Write down a question you still have. After reading the rest of the material, come back to this question and see whether you can answer it.
5. Build in Body Breaks
Stop reading this book now and do the following one-minute Body Break: Stand, stretch, and take a couple of deep breaths. Walk one time around your chair, the room you are in, or down the hall and back. Return to this book and continue reading.
The paragraph above just instructed you to stand and move. Could you instruct your e-learning participants to do the same? Of course you can! There is no rule that says they have to be sitting during the entire class. When training participants stand and stretch, even in e-learning classes, they wake up their bodies and minds.
Will they do it? You have no way of knowing for sure, but they probably will. After all, you are the “teacher” and they are used to doing what teachers tell them to do. Besides that, they’ll feel better standing and stretching after sitting a while. The chapter “Brain-Friendly Training” in this book give you more information about the physical benefits of learners standing, stretching, and moving during training.
Here are some adaptations for e-learning:
• Stand, Stretch, and Speak—Stand up, stretch your body, and then state a topic-related fact you have learned that you didn’t know before.
• Mini-Walkabout—Stand up and walk one time around your chair, breathing deeply as you do so.
• Micro-Macro Stretches—A micro stretch is a small stretch such as in fingers and toes. A macro stretch is a stretch such as arms and legs. We need a volunteer to verbally lead us in a micro or macro stretch, telling us all what part of the body to stretch as we stand.
For teleconferences, webinars, and distance learning, ask for a volunteer to verbally lead a whole-group stretch. For asynchronous self-study, print the Body Break instructions into the material, as I did at the beginning of this section. You can also put the Body Break instructions on a note-taking page. Or include a page of suggested Body Breaks with instructions to choose one to do every ten to twenty minutes.
6. Become Familiar with Interactive Features—And Use Them
As I stated earlier, many webinar software programs have a number of interactive features built into them. Explore the ones that are available to you and become familiar enough with them that you don’t have to learn them “on the fly,” that is, while you are training. Such interactive features may include whiteboards, chat rooms, hand icons, polling, applause, and other visual signals. You can also have participants circle important concepts with the electronic pencil, draw doodle representations of important concepts on the whiteboard, or fill in the blanks. The point is to make learners use these interactive features and, to ensure that they do, you have to be comfortable using them as well.
Listed below are examples of interactive instructions using these features:
• Raise your hand by using the hand icon if you agree with this statement . . .
• Let’s take a poll to see how many of us agree or disagree with the following . . .
• Using the electronic pencil, circle the most important bulleted fact on the screen.
• Using the highlighter, mark the question that is most important to you.
• In the chat room, write a one-sentence opinion about the usefulness of what you’ve learned.
• On the whiteboard, draw a doodle representing one important concept.
• When you’re ready to answer this question, signal with the button icon.
7. Lengthen the Learning with Follow-Up Action Plans
Action Plans are the learners’ written or verbal commitments to use what they have learned. Action Plans help learners review and evaluate the new information as they decide how they will put it all to practical use back on the job. Action Plans can also have an accountability piece built into them as well, meaning that learners must report their plans to someone else. Part Four of this book contains a variety of Evaluation and Learner-Led Summaries that also include Action Plans.
Here are a few e-learning adaptations:
• (For all e-learning)—On your graphic organizer, write one or two sentences describing how you plan to use this information at work. Also write the name of one other employee (or your supervisor) with whom you will discuss your Action Plan.
• (for webinars)—In the chat room, write your Action Plan for how you plan to apply what you’ve learned. Put your name beside your plan. We’ll copy the Action Plans and email them out to all participants when the class is over.
• (For all e-learning)—On an index card, write one thing you can do immediately with what you have learned. Tape this index card to your desk or bulletin board at work. Send an email to the instructor in a week letting her know how your Action Plan is going.
8. Follow Up with Blogs or Wikis
A blog is an online web log where you post information and learners can respond by commenting on the posted material. A wiki is an online encyclopedia where you and the learners can both post and respond to posted material. If you know how to set up a quick blog or wiki site, these can be ways to lengthen the learning as well. If you’re not sure how to begin using these follow-up tools, do an Internet search for “setting up a blog or wiki” and browse through the free instructions. For wikis, you can also log onto www.wiki.wetpaint.com, which is a wiki about creating wikis. Or skim the many books at www.amazon.com that give how-to instructions for both electronic tools. Many Internet blog and wiki hosting sites are free. Two examples of free hosting sites are www.blogger.comand www.wikidot.com.
Make sure that e-learning participants know how to access the blog or wiki so that they can post their after-training insights, questions, best practices, responses, comments, and the like. For self-study, include an access instruction sheet at the end of the computerized materials.
9. Give Them Changes and Choices
As noted in the chapter on brain research earlier, habituation is when the human brain begins to ignore anything routine, repetitive, or boring. Whether you are conducting a classroom or e-learning training, the trick is to keep habituation from kicking in. Any changes you make that help hold learners’ interest and curiosity will work: activities, graphics, sound, movement, stories, video segments, and colors and images in printed material, to name a few. In addition, any time you give participants choices during the training, you enhance their motivation to learn. Examples: choosing from a list of quick review activities, choosing a way to report back to the group, choosing what to write, choosing a question to answer, choosing someone to work/partner with, or choosing whether or not to participate in the interactive segments.
10. Go with the Flow
Nothing works all the time. Be okay with the fact that no e-learning experience runs perfectly. There will always be technical, program, participant, and content challenges (not unlike classroom-based training). Even the best plans—and interactive strategies—can occasionally crash—in more ways than one. So be patient with yourself and your e-learning participants, start with baby steps, and give yourself plenty of kudos for creating e-learning experiences that are interesting, participatory, and memorable.
Putting the Tips to Work
Look back through this chapter now and circle one or two tips that you will include in your next e-learning program. When you have time, redesign an entire e-learning training using three or more interactive strategies from this chapter. Or adapt three or more strategies from other parts of this book.
Let’s do a quick check of what you have learned about interactive e-learning. A list of training-related sentences follows. Underline the correct phrase in each sentence, then check your answers.
1. e-Learning should be (lecture-based; activity-based), with (short; long) periods of direct instruction.
2. (Standing and moving; sitting for a long while) helps e-learning participants learn better.
3. Accountability means learners have to (just show up; show they did the activity or assignment).
4. An effective graphic organizer is (an interesting, visual note-taking page; a copy of the PowerPoint® slides).
5. Learners must (remain standing, remain seated; do some sitting and some standing) during an e-learning class in order to remain alert.
6. To create interest, send out pre-program (Warm-Ups; tests).
7. Begin with (introductions, agendas, and technical information; a Fast Pass) that will engage learners right from the start.
8. Divide your lecture material into (thirty-minute; ten-minute) segments.
9. End with participant-created (Action Plans; training evaluations).
If you underlined the correct phrases, the sentences should read:
1. e-Learning should be activity-based, with short periods of direct instruction.
2. Standing and moving helps e-learning participants learn better.
3. Accountability means learners have to show they did the activity or assignment.
4. An effective graphic organizer is an interesting, visual note-taking page.
5. Learners must do some sitting and some standing during an e-learning class in order to remain alert.
6. To create interest, send out pre-program Warm-Ups.
7. Begin with a Fast Pass that will engage learners right from the start.
8. Divide your lecture material into ten-minute segments.
9. End with participant-created Action Plans.
Be creative! Experiment with these tips, make up your own, and share what you have discovered. Begin to design e-learning programs that capture and hold the interest and involvement of your learners from the moment they log on until the moment they log off.
You’ll “wake ‘em up” and keep them interested, learning, involved, and wanting more.
The extraordinary power of interactivity
is to get people thinking through doing and doing
well by thinking.
is to get people thinking through doing and doing
well by thinking.
Michael Allen
Michael Allen’s Guide to e-Learning, 2003, p. 312
Michael Allen’s Guide to e-Learning, 2003, p. 312
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