Interactive PDFs: Why and When?
Most people think of a PDF as simply an uneditable electronic copy of a document that was intended for paper.
However, it’s also possible to add interactive elements to PDFs. This creates opportunities to significantly enhance the reading experience on an electronic device. This format can be a very attractive option for creating learning materials, particularly if you have a blended learning approach*.
What is an Interactive PDF?
At GuyKat, we use the term Interactive PDFs for documents that have been optimised for viewing on-screen rather than printing. As the name suggests, there will be interactive elements.
What are the common features of an Interactive PDF?
Features that can be added to Interactive PDFs that would not work for printed documents or documents intended for printing can include:
- Animated GIFs
- Audio
- Video
- Forms
- Bookmarks
- Buttons
- Page translations
What advantages do clients see in Interactive PDFs?
Documents with only basic reading experience are dull! Interactivity brings fun and engagement to eLearning, allowing to display exciting and innovative content to motivate the learner and create a more inviting experience.
Hyperlinks in particular allow an enriched learning experience without having to keep a large amount of content within the course itself. Learners can visit other websites or materials at the click of a hyperlink.
Buttons allow you to navigate easily from page to page, trigger an action that could be anything from playing media to answering a question, hover for interaction or allow other information to pop-up.
One of the biggest advantages of interactive PDFs is that they allow offline learners to easily use all of or part of their content.
Interactive PDFs are simple and easy to create and use, relatively inexpensive and easy to view. Distribution of this type of eLearning via email, transfer, share or embedding inside an eLearning module is effective and easy too!
What are the limitations of Interactive PDFs?
PDFs can be enhanced with interactions, however, most of them work best if kept simple. If you require truly interactive eLearning, there are tools like RISE and Storyline which are better suited to the job. Of course, an Interactive PDF may sit nicely within a module created using either of these tools.
Interactive PDFs and other non SCORM files are difficult to track, which results in failing to measure the effectiveness of the training. If you need to understand how your learners interact with the presented material, we’d recommend choosing an alternative to an Interactive PDF.
*What is Blended Learning?
Blended Learning is when you deliver a learning program through a mix of eLearning and traditional classroom learning.
Who should choose an Interactive PDF for their Blended learning?
- Anyone who needs to add further content to supplement and enrich a blended learning experience.
- If you need to share additional content without cluttering your eLearning module, then an Interactive PDF is an ideal option.
- If you need learners to build knowledge but not test their skill/competence level or track their knowledge.
- When learners are required to download and store information for their records or fill out a form to back-up their online learning.
- Use to create an offline version of an online course for users who don’t have internet access.
Final thoughts
At GuyKat, we often encourage using a blended learning approach. If you are wanting to create supporting materials as part of your learning experience, then Interactive PDFs can be a powerful tool.
Building a Collaborative Partnership with Your eLearning Content Provider
Having a collaborative partnership with your eLearning content provider can make all the difference to your eLearning solutions. Collaboration strengthens your long-term relationship and builds trust, which leads to better content.
For this to work, both sides need to align on their expectations of what each party will bring to the table. Our expertise is creating content to teach online; your expertise is providing subject knowledge. Collaboration works best when both parties play to their strengths.
For example:
- If you ask us to build an eLearning module without our creative input, you’re not benefiting from our expertise.
- If you ask us to create a storyboard without access to your subject knowledge, we’re not benefiting from your expertise.
Here are some tips on how to leverage a collaborative partnership.
Your Expertise
Innovating eLearning solutions with a provider requires expertise and open-mindedness from both parties. It’s essential for you to set your expectations by communicating your eLearning needs and goals throughout the project.
Here’s an idea of what we would need from you:
- Who your audience is - we can tailor the content towards them, their goals, and their knowledge.
- Your audience’s learning devices - depending on the devices, we can advise you on the best software to use (e.g., for mobile responsiveness).
- The type of eLearning required - give an idea of the type of eLearning you’re seeking and be willing to discuss other suitable recommendations.
- Subject matter expertise (SME) - provide us with key subject information (the more concise the better) and be open to discussing the different ways that we could present it. Also, let us know if you need translations.
- Digital assets - to assist with the bespoke design of your content, provide any vital graphics, images, or logos as early as possible.
- Branding guidelines - to represent your brand, give clear branding instructions and an indication of the look and feel that you’re aiming for.
Our Expertise
Our goal is to create engaging, beautiful bespoke eLearning. After understanding the scope of the project, it’s time for you to trust us and for us show you what we can do!
Here’s an insight into our expertise:
- Interactive content - trust that we will know the best types of interactions to engage your learners, based on your content (e.g., the different types of quiz interactions for a module).
- Graphic design and composition - we excel at designing visual content that represents your brand and appeals to your learners.
- Instructional design - let us transform your SME input into an eLearning narrative that stays true to the subject matter. Through storyboarding, we can simplify any complex information into digestible eLearning content.
- Learning journey - our aim is to make it easy and exciting for your learners to learn. Where possible, trust us with the flow of your content and module navigation (e.g. when to include a menu).
- Quality Assurance - we want you to have eLearning content that you’re proud of! Therefore, depending on the development level chosen, GuyKat allows for multiple rounds of client feedback to deliver the best content that we can.
The Importance of Collaboration
Ultimately, collaboration elevates the development of eLearning solutions and can strengthen your long-term relationship with your content provider. A collaborative partnership is built on communication, open-mindedness, and trust in both parties’ expertise. You must align your expectations with your provider’s and leverage both of your strengths to deliver effective content - on time! This can lead to eLearning that is intuitive to learners’ needs, advocates for your brand, and communicates your subject matter in a way that has your learners coming back for more.
How to keep learners coming back to the system?
‘We invested money in loads of brilliant eLearning content but people only access their compliance training. How do we encourage people to proactively engage with our whole content library?’
This is a frequently asked question by Learning & Development leaders. It’s difficult to motivate people to take charge of their own learning online. What can you do to improve and see continuous learning?
We identified three themes: Content, Platform and Communication.
Content
Tailored content
You may have a top-class user experience for your platform but if your content is poor, learner’s will sense it. Different audiences require different approaches. It is important to ask yourself ‘Who is this course for?’, ‘Who are we aiming this content at?’, ‘What are the key things I want my learner to take from this course?’. Analyse existing training and find out what works well and why. Go into as much detail as possible to understand the learners, their needs and preferences.
User generated content
Otherwise known as social learning, user generated content gives a sense of control. Nothing motivates a person more than the feel of contribution. User generated content not only allows sharing best practises and wealth of knowledge from learner’s real-life experiences. It also reduces the feeling of isolation, which is key with so many people working from home.
Platform
Organise your content effectively
Effectively organised content is one of the key factors that increase learner engagement. If you want your learners to come back to your learning system, you need to make it easy for them to access the material. Nothing can be more annoying than scrolling through pages of training and not finding what you’re actually looking for.
Related content: Organise Content to Increase Learning Engagement.
Create the best UX
At GuyKat, we’re big advocates that ‘content’ and ‘platform’ matter equally. The bridge between the two is the user experience (UX). For learners to go back to the system willingly, they need to find it comfortable to use. Less is more. Try and use attractive calls to action, clear landing pages and avoid screen clutter. That will eventually result in higher learner engagement.
Communication
Feedback is key
Your platform and content should evolve over time based on new features that have been released and your organisation (or customer) feedback.
Schedule a monthly or quarterly discussion to gather feedback from your learners and identify if there are patterns in needs and wants. Also, keep track of user results and metrics on your eLearning content, such as how long they spent taking the course, if they paused it and at what point if a specific question received a low average score.
GuyKat tip: Learners are more likely to go back to the platform if they believe it’s being frequently updated and they’re likely to find something new and of value.
Long term communication plan
Regularly and proactively reach out to your learners from your learning platform to let them know what’s new! Have you released a new piece of content? Have you rolled out a new feature that your users can benefit from? Drip-feed new/exciting content on a regular basis.
Encourage and reward
Start with listing the accomplishments you think are worth a reward. Tie goals with rewards. These don't have to be physical rewards for completing training (though it could be). You could have ‘leaderboards’ or virtual badges where the intangible reward is kudos. In many working environments, the power of kudos shouldn’t be underestimated.
Related content: To put this insight into action, the Docebo gamification app features a Reward Marketplace, that you can read about here.
Final thoughts
In short, if you want learners coming back to your platform and actually enjoy it, don’t focus on just one thing. Analyse and create a strategic plan for your content, platform and communication. If you want continuous learning, you need to continuously improve your assets and learn how to leverage them effectively.
Learning Platform has great UX? Now focus on content
We’ve seen hundreds of platforms, from the smallest to largest companies around the world, and one thing for sure - if your Learning Platform has the best content but has poor user experience, or if your user experience is brilliant but the content is poor, your learning strategy will not succeed.
The phrase “Content is King” is as relevant in the Learning Platform space as it is in TV, radio, CMS, Social Media or any other platform. To illustrate this, we have identified three micro case studies of how content supports success:
Scenario 1
An organisation has a Learning Platform that is primarily being used for compliance and new starter training. You might also have non-mandatory professional development courses. At this stage, you’re most likely to have off-the-shelf courses for the mentioned skills - they are not customised to your branding. The learning platform has somewhat introduced the company's branding elements, such as logos, colours and font.
Key thing: A similar amount of effort has been invested in both your content and your Learning Platform. You have foundations to grow.
To be aware of: Having a branded system, but not the content, can have a negative effect on your learners' motivation. In your learners’ minds, it will appear misaligned. They will most likely be willing to do the training (especially if it’s mandatory) but won’t be excited to come back to it.
Scenario 2
An organisation has a Learning platform that provides learners with a wide catalogue of content that’s been company branded, tailored to their specific needs and introduced to Q&A forums. Your Learning Platform has been customised to fit your specific needs, with external libraries made available to users on-demand access.
Key thing: Your learner is willing to come back to your training. The custom branded courses and tailored eLearning increases the likelihood of the learners being thoroughly invested in your content.
To be aware of: To fully execute the Learning and Development strategy, you need to integrate the Learning platform into your technology landscape. You’re a Learning Organisation that is ready to cultivate a mature learning culture.
Scenario 3
Learning culture is at the heart of the organisation. Content is tailored to learners’ specific needs, and knowledge sharing and continuous improvement are fully established. Collaborative activities, social learning and the evolving learning strategy is in line with the business strategy.
Key thing: Relevant content is distributed based on individual talent plans and learners have a sense of belonging - they feel that making a change and learning something new is actually contributing to the company’s growth.
To be aware of: We’d be resistant to say that this is the ultimate goal for all of the organisations. This is not something that everyone can do. It requires a lot of dedicated time, resources and willingness to change, take risks and champion new ways of working learning. If done correctly, it is life-changing.
Final thoughts
Not every organisation needs to reach ‘Scenario 3’. If you don't reach this scenario, it doesn't mean that your Learning Strategy isn't working. Everyone is on their own path. However, the key thing to remember is that the content and technology are both key for your success. Neglect one and you’ll go downhill. Keep them in line, put equal effort into them both and see your organisation thrive.
10 key takeaways from GuyKat 2020 articles
We’ve shared a ton of content via articles in 2020. We thought it would make a nice end to the year to summarise 10 Key takeaways from the thousands of words written!
Content is as important as the platform
Unfortunately, many professionals place a higher priority on their learning plan compared to content. It’s indisputable that the look and feel, flow and execution of the platform is key for the success of Learning and Development - however, this should not be the sole focus of your effort. eLearning content plays a vital role in your learning strategy. Even if your platform is the best on the market - if you're using it to present poor eLearning content to your learners it's unlikely to achieve the desired effect and have a positive learning impact. Both parts, content and platform, are important and you can’t do one successfully without the other.
Related content: How to motivate a sceptical learner
Pilot projects spare pain
Test the water of new features, functions and systems with a small pilot project first. This is a low-risk way to get feedback and refine ahead of any larger rollouts. Also, a strong proven approach (or 'template') will help establish a clear process for future projects.
Related content: The ultimate checklist for a successful multi-country rollout
Documentation matters
Keep an offline document of the configuration and decisions made during the original project for easy reference. Additionally, set-up a monthly or quarterly forum to gather feedback from your learners and identify if there are patterns in requests e.g perhaps there’s a desire to expand the social area of your platform, or rollout Gamification.
Related content: Are you getting the most of your Learning Platform?
Be mindful of your learning objectives
One key thing we tell our clients is to always include learning objectives. Sometimes learning objectives are explicitly referenced in the content e.g. you may have a screen that tells the learner “By the end of the module you will be able to explain the procurement process”. Sometimes, you may not want to be so explicit to the learner. Either way, you need to make sure that every part of the storyboard is supporting the delivery of a learning objective. Make the goals of the training clear upfront and ensure they are achieved by the end of the training. You could implement a function that allows the user to tick off objectives as they are completed to help them feel a sense of progress.
Related content: 5 steps to a successful eLearning project
Adapt your approach to your audience
Different audiences require different approaches. Just as TV shows and movies are made to target certain demographics, we need to do the same with our eLearning to ensure the information is transferred to the user in the most effective way. One of the most important questions we ask our clients before we begin development is ‘Who is this training for?’. We need to know who we are aiming the content at; the age range of the learners, their pre-existing knowledge of the topic in question, if they have taken a course like this before and so on. Knowing this information can drastically change how we design and develop our content and affects everything from the look and feel of the course to how long it takes to complete.
Related content: Tailoring your learning content to your audience
Use branding that’s authentic
Authentic look and feel encourage learners to interact with training materials, as it provides them with a sense of professionalism and motivation. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. The first experience a user has of your platform is the landing page. Putting effort into making the landing page clear and intuitive will change how users ‘feel’ about logging on to the platform. A mistake we often see is overwhelming the user with too many options, content and information. Keep it simple, clean and sign-post what to do next.
Related content: 5 easy ways to improve your Learning Platform's UX
Related content: How building a custom landing page enhances your UX
Content that’s organised in Netflix Style is the way to go
The initial one catalogue concept used to be the norm, where you show categories to the end-user and let them filter their catalogue based on those categories. However, this is not something being heavily used nowadays. We’ve seen the shift to have more, and smaller catalogues. This represents the style of modern websites such as Netflix and Youtube on the catalogue page that seems to be working well. Instead of having one massive catalogue that people have to struggle to find things, bite-size catalogues, that are auto-filtered to the end-user seems to work effectively. User-experience at it’s finest – it’s like you’re browsing your favourite Netflix genres.
Related content: Organise Content to Increase Learning Engagement
Analyse your learner’s behaviour (eLearning modules)
Keep track of user results and metrics, such as how long they spent taking the course, if they paused it and at what point if a particular question received a low average score and so on. This could clarify issues with the training and help you pinpoint where users may have lost interest or struggled.
Related content: Tailoring your learning content to your audience
Have a clear strategy if adopting user-generated content
Require expert review before content can be published. Having this setting enabled means that you can allow learners the option to contribute content, however, Admins will need to review it and consciously make a decision to approve or reject it.
Related content: User-generated content: Why is it important and how to use it effectively
Lead by example to motivate your learners
If you are the Head of Learning or Account Executive with a passion for learning – communicate that with others. Nothing compares to human communication. Be vocal about how much you love learning, why you think it’s important for you and the company and others will follow. Become an ambassador for those who need a little bit of a push and you’ll see how quickly the motivation grows.
Related content: How to motivate a sceptical learner
User Levels: How to Leverage Superadmins and Power Users on Your Learning Platform
Implementing a successful Learning Platform is no easy feat - it takes a team! When implementing your platform, it’s essential to establish user responsibilities. You need to understand the different admin levels available since these can significantly impact user experience.
Often, clients’ frustration with their Learning System stems from either:
- Their system being too restricted – leading to issues such as course authors being unable to update courses or team leads being unable to run reports. This creates surplus work for the system Admin.
- Their system being too open – meaning learners can accidentally interfere with, or even damage, the intended system set-up.
These issues can be avoided by understanding the permissions associated with user levels and assigning them strategically. The steps in this article are specific to Docebo but the principals undoubtedly apply to all Learning Platforms.
Docebo employs a user hierarchy, made up of different user levels categorised by their platform permissions. You can leverage these to avoid overloading your Admin with the responsibility of all platform activities (especially when this involves extra features).
Your users can work together to spread the load when you utilise the user levels:
- Users
- Power Users
- Superadmins
Let’s dive into each level!
Users
The majority of people using your platform are likely to be basic Users. Their experience will be determined by their access to the platform’s functions, set up by a Power User or Superadmin. Your Users will have basic authorised permissions, such as attending courses or learning plans and accessing training material. They will not be able to access the Admin Menu or manage any platform features, apps, or settings.
Put simply, your Users are here to learn.
Power Users
Power Users are a level up from your basic Users. Leveraging Power Users can be a great strategy if you want to offer autonomy for managing certain groups of users, branches, or courses. Power Users will have a specific subset of permissions, determined by a Superadmin. They will be able to access the Admin Menu but their visibility will be limited to their allowed permissions.
GuyKat Tip: You can set up your ideal Power User profile and assign it to as many Power Users as you need. You can also assign multiple profiles to a single Power User, giving them all of the permissions outlined in these profiles.
Superadmins
Superadmin Users are the highest functioning users in your platform and have the greatest amount of access. They are the people who lead and maintain your platform throughout its journey. Superadmins will be able to access and configure all platform settings, features, applications, and integrations - including the platform’s look and feel. They can access all areas of the platform through the Admin Menu and there is no way of limiting their permissions.
GuyKat Tip: Superadmins have the greatest responsibility, so choose wisely! We recommend that you select 1-3 individuals to ensure the cohesive management of your platform.
So, why should you be leveraging these user levels?
If you want your users to have the right amount of influence over your Learning Platform, it’s vital to assign user levels strategically. This can elevate your system by providing you with more integrated management.
Leveraging Power Users and Superadmins can help with scaling your platform - you can more easily delegate tasks and establish accountability. Power Users have customisable permissions that can relieve your Superadmin of time-consuming activities. sharing the responsibility of maintaining and improving your Learning Platform.
Are you getting the most out of your Learning Platform?
The original version of the article written by GuyKat’s Joanne Payne can be found on LinkedIn here.
I’ve helped many clients set-up and launch their learning platforms. Careful thought is put into understanding the key audiences (internal learners, customers, instructors, managers, education team), what their needs are and what their user journey should look like. This then informs configuration/design choices we make to ensure that from the point of launch - we’re set up for success.
Fast forward 6 months down the line - the LMS is hopefully embedded to some extent within your organisation and you’re moving to a business-as-usual setting. Ask yourself these questions:
- Are you getting the level of engagement and interaction you hoped for?
- What comes next?
- Are you getting the most out of your Learning platform?
Reporting
To judge success you need a fact base and hard data. To get data you need to be confident your system reporting is properly configured. It’s important to understand:
- How many active users do you have?
- Time spent on course content.
- Courses completed vs those not started/in progress. Is there a pattern? Can you identify from this which content your users are interacting with?
- Learner satisfaction/site feedback.
Reporting, however, is only useful if it’s used to help inform future choices. E.g If your learners are interacting and regularly completing eLearning modules, but are leaving your PPT materials untouched - it may signal a need to shift how your content is created. If you’re consistently receiving feedback that learners are getting frustrated trying to find that mandatory course they’re supposed to complete - maybe take a look at your site navigation to make it more intuitive.
Related content: Organising Content to Increase Learning Engagement.
Remember that “nice-to-have” feature you got excited about during implementation (but wasn’t a priority for your pilot launch)? It’s time to revisit it!
It’s a common approach to launch your learning platform with a prioritisation on the core functionality to achieve a minimum viable product... It’s easy to forget all of the bells and whistles your learning platform has that you’ve yet to take advantage of. These functions can often be the ones that incentivise your learners to keep coming back - e.g Gamification & Rewards, Social Learning, the Branded Mobile App. Stay up-to-speed on new features being released onto your learning platform. Don’t be afraid to continue to iterate and innovate it to help keep you ahead of the curve.
If you have the option, trial setting up new features on a sandbox environment first so you can feel fully confident with then promoting it to production.
Encourage social learning/user-generated content
If you have the option within your Learning Platform to let your learners ask questions, comment/rate content or even contribute their own content - take advantage of it! This can help shift a learner’s mentality from thinking it’s “just another LMS” to feeling like it’s a community that they want to continue to come back to and feel a part of.
Devise a long term communication plan
Regularly and proactively reach out to your learners from your learning platform to let them know what’s new! Have you released a new piece of content? Have you rolled out a new feature that your users can benefit from? Let them know! Drip-feed new/exciting content on a regular basis.
So in short, if you want to get the most out of your Learning platform - don’t be complacent! Listen to the feedback you’re getting from your learners, know what features you have available (and that are upcoming) for your Learning platform and ensure continuous improvement is a part of your learning and development strategy.
GuyKat Nomenclature Video
For this year’s #DictionaryDay, GuyKat's word of the day was Nomenclature!
Nomenclature is the system of names used in a particular specialist field.
We asked the staff to define words from eLearning nomenclature. One take. No ‘camera shyness’. Be yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skBtlAuXPrQ
Organise Content to Increase Learning Engagement
Our clients often ask “How do I make my learners want to come back to our platform?”. They can ‘force’ the learners to logon for compliance training, but ideally, they’d like learners to ‘want’ to go to the learning platform of their own accord. In our experience, there are various factors that increase employee engagement. Organised content is one of them.
The best method for organising content depends on your approach to giving access to your material:
Self-enrollment
Self-enrollment is the method whereby users can choose to enrol themselves into a course and/or learning plan.
Auto-assignment
Auto-assignment is the method whereby users get assigned a course and/or learning plan based on predefined criteria, such as their role or geographic location.
In Docebo, there are three ways to organise content:
- Channels
- Catalogues
- Categories
Let’s cover each of them in more depth:
Channels
Generally, channels are aligned more to the social side of the platform, referred to as Discover, Coach & Share on Docebo. You can use channels for formal content, however, more traditionally it’s used for organising the informal side of the platform.
Channels are often based on topics such as Marketing, Sales, and Service, but can vary depending on specific use cases. Each channel can be set up to show content to all users or a specific subset of users.
Categories
Typically speaking, categories can be used to organise formal content for your admins. You might have hundreds of courses on your platform, but the usage of categories allows you to create organisation by topics, roles, or whatever makes sense for your use case. Categories can also be nested to create hierarchical relationships within categories.
If you have three, four or 500 courses, you can easily find courses to update materials, process enrollments, or view quick course-level reports.
Catalogues
Mainly, catalogues are used for self-enrollment for formal training. The learners are presented with the library of content that they can pick from, for example, professional development.
You’re allowed to set up one or more catalogues for users to browse through. You can either create one large catalogue and allow users to filter by categories or you can create many smaller catalogues without the category filter.
Division concepts (categories continued...)
If you're a super admin, you're going to see all the categories, as super admins have global visibility. Once you create power users, it can be specified that power users only see a certain category tree. So in that case, if you're creating a power user for division one, that power user only sees courses within the division one category.
GuyKat tip: Netflix Style catalogues
The initial one catalogue concept used to be the norm, where you show categories to the end-user and let them filter their catalogue based on those categories. However, this is not something being heavily used nowadays.
We’ve seen the shift to have more, and smaller catalogues. This represents the style of modern websites such as Netflix and Youtube on the catalogue page that seems to be working well. Instead of having one massive catalogue that people have to struggle to find things, bite-size catalogues, that are auto-filtered to the end-user seems to work effectively. User-experience at it’s finest - it’s like you’re browsing your favourite Netflix genres.
GuyKat tip: Netflix Style Channels
If your platform has a social element such as Discover, Coach & Share, we usually recommend the same thing for channels. Multiple channels based on topics or roles, whatever makes sense for the user and organisation.
Advice from Jamie, GuyKat's Director of Client Services in North America
Catalogues - formal situation
If the client doesn’t have Discover, Coach & Share, the perfect solution is catalogues if the use case is self-enrollment. Visually it will look like channels but will also give the self-enrollment option whereas channels only show formal courses if the user is enrolled.
Channels - informal situation
If the client has Discover, Coach & Share, channels are the perfect solution. Split channels out for informal assets shared within Discover, Coach & Share while using catalogues for the formal content within the platform. While informal and formal content can be mixed within channels, we typically see it split.
Strategy before execution
Strategy comes first. In order to have a perfect solution for you, you need to know the steps in achieving it.
Generally, less than 10 catalogues is a sweet spot. If you start getting more than that, then the user experience suffers. Try to avoid excessive scrolling as users will eventually give up if it’s not easy for them to find the content they’re looking for.
Think about your favourite department store. Now imagine that there were no signs labelling the various departments and every aisle was void of signage. Imagine the frustration of trying to find anything in that store. Now tie that back to your learning platform and one massive catalogue that isn’t labelled or split out. You’ve just created the same frustrating experience for your learners.
If you’re not sure - start small, you can always add additional catalogues or channels later. A small pilot is also a good idea to see if users found content easily or had any struggles.
The whole problem that we see a lot is over-engineering, where the client thinks they have to come up with every possible way a learner might search for content. Instead, think about how typical users might search for content and start there. Always ask yourself ‘If I’m the person who just started in the company, what would be the easiest way to find a particular course?’
7 reasons why you should embrace learning
The original version of the article written by GuyKat’s Ru can be found on LinkedIn here.
One thing about the world is that it never stops changing. While education and learning are interrelated, education is just one part of learning throughout your life, and learning shouldn’t stop after your education. Instead, you should embrace learning every single day. Below, I’ve listed just a few reasons why you should embrace learning:
1. Learning makes you happy
In my previous article about motivating sceptical learners (you can find the article here), I mentioned that people are motivated by extrinsic and intrinsic factors. The same principle of internal forces of personal growth, or a desire to succeed that stimulate you to finish a task, can be applied here. Human beings simply become happier when making progress on a task. Don’t you love that sense of achievement? And learning is all about setting goals and achieving them.
2. Creates new ideas
Learning plays a major role in opening a new, undiscovered world. Understanding how certain things work, how other people think, and most importantly practising metacognition activities help you come up with new ideas in your personal, or corporate life.
For example, you’re in a meeting with a Software developer. Don’t just nod your head and agree with everything they say, letting them think it all comes naturally to you. Ask questions and analyse the way they solved the problem, noticing and learning their tactics on how to overcome a certain problem, and then apply it in your own setting.
3. Boosts your abilities
Once you master continuous learning, no one can stop you. You’ll enhance your career skills. These will benefit you forever. Chances are that you’ll switch jobs and certain skills you developed before, will apply to your new job.
4. Helps you to stay on top of the league
It is key to understand your industry by keeping up to date with trends. You need to stay on top of the league to have quality conversations with your colleagues, prospects and peers. Being curious about something you’re expert in, will help you to remain relevant.
5. Inspires others
Sharing ideas and talking about new learnings with others might inspire them to develop skills in certain areas they’ve never thought about. Being someone that increases and pushes (in the best possible way) others to learn something new - is a reward in itself!
6. Creates confidence and motivates
Being able to get involved in interesting discussions and understanding a variety of things gives us a sense of achievement. This consequently boosts confidence and helps to increase higher self-esteem.
7. Helps to control change
If you continuously immerse yourself in how the industry and world changes, you won’t be surprised when the next big change happens. This helps you to be more open-minded, helping you to be more adaptable to change.
