As instructional designers, we often focus so much on designing the bulk of our course that the closing screen becomes an afterthought. This can be a huge missed opportunity to point learners to additional resources, not to mention leaving learners feeling lost and unsure about what to do next. Here are a couple of things to consider adding to the closing screen of your e-learning courses to ensure a smooth ride from takeoff to landing.
Additional Resources
If additional resources on the course subject matter exist, why not use this opportunity to direct learners to them? This encourages any learners who are itching to learn more to take that extra step and has the advantage of guiding them to resources that you know contain accurate information, instead of leaving them to their own devices, which could result in them finding information that’s not current or correct.
Contact Info
No matter how well-designed your course is, some learners are bound to have follow-up questions. For this reason, it’s important to include an e-mail address or phone number where learners can reach someone who can help. Depending on the course, this could be you, the training coordinator, the subject matter expert, your LMS administrator, or someone else within your organization.
Pro tip: You might want to consider using a generic email address (for example, training-course@company.com) that redirects to the person responsible for answering questions, instead of using a specific email address (name@company.com). That way, if that person switches roles or leaves the company, you won’t have to update the course.
Next Steps
Once your learners reach the end of your course, be sure to let them know if there are any next steps they should take. For example, do they need to go back to the LMS and download a certificate proving they’ve taken the course? Do they need to let their manager know they’ve completed the course? Do they need to be enrolled in a follow-up e-learning or in-person course? Whatever the case may be, including this information on the course closing screen is your opportunity to point them in the right direction.
If there are no next steps, your closing screen can also make that clear so learners aren’t left wondering what they should do next.
Exit Instructions
You might feel like it’s obvious how to exit your course, but some Learning Management Systems (LMSs) make exiting a course more confusing than you might realize. Some LMSs include redundant navigation buttons or vaguely worded exiting instructions. To ensure learners know how to close the course so their completion is properly recorded, include some clear instructions, such as “click on the Exit button to close this course.” A simple instruction might be enough to remove confusion or doubt.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to closing slides, the key is to make sure you’ve included all the instructions learners need to feel confident that they know where to find any additional information, who they can contact, what (if anything) they need to do next, and how to exit the course so their scores or completion status are properly recorded. After all, you don’t want your learners feeling lost or confused just as your course is coming to a close.
Are there any other important tidbits you like to include on your closing screens that I didn’t mention here? If so, please feel free to share them in the comments section below!
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Published 5 years ago
Version 1.0
