Asynchronous learning allows learners time to pause and review virtual materials until they fully grasp key concepts. For many learners, this is the optimal way for them to learn. Some asynchronous platforms, however, miss the mark. If you find that learning engagement is down on your learning platform, it may be time for an upgrade. Here are six ways to improve your asynchronous professional development platform, and how they can transform your workplace learning.
How to Improve Your Asynchronous Learning Platform
1. Custom Characters
Utilizing characters in asynchronous learning creates an emotional connection between the learner and the content, and those emotions help learners to recall the content more quickly. Generic characters, however, can have the same effect as watching a video lesson. Learners are more likely to learn from someone that they know, or at the very least feel that they know.
By creating custom characters, your learners learn from someone with which they already have an emotional connection, which means they are more likely to stay tuned in during training and utilize that training later.
2. 3D Virtual Scenarios
Virtual Reality Training is the digital simulation of lifelike scenarios for training purposes. Trainees enter a 360°, active learning environment, experiencing sights and sounds that dissolve the barrier between virtual and actual reality.
Virtual reality has shown over 70% improvement in job performance in comparison to traditional training, with increases in learning retention of up to 80%. Virtual reality training also eliminates the cost of unnecessary travel.
Include 3D virtual scenarios on your asynchronous learning platform, and you will see enhanced team collaboration and dramatic reductions in on-the job errors, since trainees will have truly experienced scenarios before facing them in the workplace.
3. Gamification
The power of video games lies in the ability to tap into a person’s innate tendency to compete. Whether it is competing against themselves or against others, humans, in general, have a natural inclination to try harder when competition comes into play. By gamifying your training, you spark this natural inclination, and turn it into workplace learning.
Next-level gamification can catapult a learning process into a competitive cultural experience. As learners lean into their competitive drive, they also learn and grow in ways that go far beyond recall. By creating an environment of friendly competition using gamification, you will also foster continuous learning.
4. Animated Graphics
Animated graphics are a great source of storytelling that combines animation and graphic design. As animation design uses not only simple visual elements such as text, shapes, or images but also engages auditory receptors to communicate ideas, it is more memorable for viewers than just static pictures.
Animate graphics are a way to communicate with the viewer, and add depth to the story. Together with music and effective copy, they can give us a message. It’s an effective way to support a concept because it can help the viewer visualize it in a way a presentation can’t.
Animated graphics are great for explaining a complex or dry concept. By incorporating them into your learning platform, you make materials more visually appealing and thus more memorable.
5. Click and Reveals
A click-and-reveal is a type of e-learning interaction which has hidden information that is revealed by the user clicking on tabs or menu items.Click-and-reveal interactions are a great way to break up large chunks of information and put content into context for your learners. The learner is in control of how much or how little information to pull, and when. This makes learning more autonomous and interactive, and creates a storytelling experience for your learners.
When was the last time you read three pages, only to realize that you couldn’t remember a word of what you read? It happens all the time, but this is highly problematic in workplace training. Incorporating click-and-reveal interactions is ideal when you have a lot of information that needs to be broken into shorter, more digestible chunks.
6. Explainer Videos
Assessing learning is an important part of workplace learning. You need to know that your learners understand the content. It is highly unlikely that your learners will get every question correct the first time. Instead of missing a question and moving on, however, it is important for your learners to know what mistakes they have made and why.
Explainer videos transform the assessment process because they offer immediate feedback and give the learners another opportunity to absorb the content. Upon missing a question, an immediate relevant video clip will appear which will lead learners to the correct answer. This also keeps the learners from clicking through guesses or having to rewatch an entire video in search of the answer. If a learner has missed something in training, reteaching is necessary. Explainer videos make this teachable moment brief, relevant, and more engaging.
Try these upgrades to your asynchronous professional development platform, and watch your employees grow in engagement, skills, and motivation. Want to know more? Contact us to see how we can help.
