Choosing interactions to suit the learner and the purpose

Recently I did a talk for about 60 people on choosing specific interactions for different learners. I realise now that my talk is influenced heavily by the flexibility which Articulate Storyline allows me, but I like to think the essentials would be true for most elearning tools.

Why do we have interactions?

To truely allow learning, we cannot create passive content, because it simply won't be absorbed by the brain in useful ways. Remember the four Rs of learning: Read, Recall, make it Relevant and Reflect. If you are creating elearning that is simply reading information, you are doing your learners a disservice. Having said that, we have to aim our interactions at the right literacy and computer skill level of our learners.

What do we mean by interactions?

Even when reading content, we can encourage interaction and exploration by tab interactions, free navigation, and themed pathways. For recall, we can have quizzes and scenarios which ask us to recall the information we have just learnt, The more relevant the scenarios, and any examples, are to real life, the more easily they will sit in the brain and be useable in day to day life, as they tie to current memories and experience.

It can also mean drag and drop or sorting activities, reflection on current situation with free text, printing resources to do real life activities, questionnaires and checklists.

To read the whole blog, which specifies which interactions to use for which kind of learners, click on the link below

http://www.workbrightelearning.com/blogs/news/33029188-choosing-interactions-to-suit-the-learner-and-the-purpose