Using Pro-Con Lists in E-Learning to Help Learners Make Better Choices #208

Using Pro-Con Lists in E-Learning #208: Challenge | Recap

How Can Course Designers Let Learners Compare Different Points of View?

A lot of e-learning is designed around telling learners what they should and should not do. This “good dog / bad dog” design style is most commonly found in compliance and ethics courses. While there’s nothing wrong with this approach, it tends to produce courses that are heavy on information and light on learner engagement.

Another approach is to engage learners by showing them potential consequences of their actions. That’s where decision-making tools like pro-con lists can help.

Here are a few ideas for using pro-con lists in e-learning:

• Create an interactive sound board to let learners hear from two (or more) different experts on an ethics topic
• Use drag-and-drop activities that let learners sort weighted options into categories
• Design text-entry interactions for pros and cons and ask learners to type advantages and consequences into each column

I can imagine even more ways to use pro-con lists in e-learning. And that’s what this week’s challenge is all about!

Challenge of the Week

This week, your challenge is to share an example that uses a “Pros and Cons” format to help learners make decisions.

Your entry can be static or interactive, so feel free to share anything you can think of. Even silly ideas can help trigger practical solutions, so don’t hold back!

Last Week’s Challenge:

Before you weigh the pros and cons of this week’s challenge, check out the creative ways course designers present FAQs in e-learning:

FAQ Interactions in E-Learning #207: Challenge | Recap

Wishing you a pro week, E-Learning Heroes!

New to the E-Learning Challenges?

The weekly e-learning challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos.