Ideas for VERY dry content

I agree with what everyone said above about chunking the information down into bite-size pieces. And depending on the information, I find it very helpful to have an example that you refer to throughout each step of the module.

For example, I just created a module on Incident Investigation. I started off by giving an example of a real incident that occurred in our company, then I proceeded to describe the steps of the investigation while walking them through what we did to investigation the actual incident. Applying the information as they learn it can be a very powerful tool and connects those dots for them. 

Another thing I've found extremely impactful is to start with a true story in the beginning. I tell a story of an incident where things went wrong and how it all could have been prevented if that person had the information included in the module. For me, it's safety-type stuff. For you, if it's financial information, you can probably provide what can go wrong if they don't have the information you're providing.

Do an informal needs assessment with whomever you're developing the course for:

Ask:

• What can go wrong/where do people get this wrong?
• What mistakes do people make/can people make?
• What are some examples of things that have gone wrong recently that could be cured by training?
• Stories of when things went wrong/went right in the past?
• Where can people get more information and help?
• What training does the audience say they need?
• What training does management say the audience needs?
• What are the major gaps between actual and desired performance?
• If we only accomplish three training goals for this project, what would they be?

"Module" implies something the participant can complete in one sitting, which would be 30-60 minutes. Aim to address as many of the issues you identified by asking questions as possible in that window.

One thing I like to do is look for inspiration outside of eLearning. There are two sites that have been very inspirational in the past are Jellyvision (from the makers of You Don't Know Jack) and Epipheo.  But you can find inspirations in almost anything from marketing ads to games.

This topic of boring content comes up often for many of us in the field. As outlined above the solutions generally revolve around three key steps.  What I will add is that those three steps be taken in this particular order....

1. Focus on what you want them to DO, not everything SMEs think they need to KNOW.
2. Be relentless in completely removing, or attach as reference only, EVERYTHING that is not minimally required for the what the learner must be able to DO after the training (see #1).   This includes focusing only on the 80% situations , not the once in a blue moon situations they won't remember anyways without a job aid/reference.
3. Then (and only then), look for fun, interactive, graphical, creative ways to deliver what remains.

Hope this helps!

Hi Jen,

There's a lot of great content in the E-Learning Heroes community. I recommend searching for "boring" or "compliance" to find some ideas on how you can liven up dry topics.

I'd also recommend focusing your course on what people need to do. As much as possible, keep the background information outside the course or in bonus content.

Cheers,
Simon

You could do " A day in the life of a transaction/bill/account"  or whatever financial process that goes through your company. You can anthropomorph a transaction as it experiences the process it goes through your system. This will add a character that your users can make an emotional attachment to.  And if you have quizzes or interactions, this transaction can get lost in the system with an image of a sad and depressed character if the user fails.  

Take a look at a similar technique used to antropomorph a bill going through congress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyeJ55o3El0

I'll second what Simon has recommended.

Something I have just done for a process was to break it down into the small steps, then create graphics to represent each step and put them into a flow diagram with numbers along side. The learner would then click on each number to find out what happens at this stage of the process.

If you don't have too many steps this can be useful to break a lot of content into manageable chunks.

Cheers

I am from the same finance background, the above all really help you a lot. Along with those I want to make a point, "Allow pictures to speak" as most as possible replace your text with images, clip-arts, etc. Best examples are info-graphics.

All the best! 

I turn boring, abstract and complex training into comics and/or series of cartoons. The key to bring financial/legal stuff alive is to come up with a story  (some good suggestions in this thread on how to do that) and then come up with a visual metaphor. The problem with abstract information like finance is that you can't take a photo of it - it doesn't "exist" in real life. Hence the visual metaphor that brings it to life. Here's a piece I did as part of a management training course.

Me and my colleagues do this type of work all the time (turn complex information into fun visual stories), feel free to drop me a line if you need more ideas: www.businessillustrator.com