Consider an intrinsic eLearning experience: Think like an advertiser on Madison Avenue.

Design an Intrinsic Learning Experience in Your eLearning: Elearning must be simple, accessible, fun and effective. Let’s face it, an employee watching a training project for a fast food restaurant does not have much intrinsic motivation (the stuff that comes from within) for learning how to flip a burger or smile at the cash register. Many of these employees are high-school aged in their first job – a means to $10 an hour and their parents off their back. On the flipside, there may be an external motivating force that encourages them to focus on their training and score better as this extra effort may translate into better hours and tipping opportunities. There are plenty of ways to create an externally motivating training experience.

However, it’s the intrinsic eLearning experience that requires much more creativity and imagination from the ID. Entertaining and emotionally inspiring situations will cause anyone to turn their head, pay attention and buy-in to the message.

Good corporate eLearning must also be user-friendly and timely. It cannot be too long or complicated to complete. The employee must also believe that the course is important and relevant to their job, whether it’s busing tables, serving food or washing dishes.

And finally, there must be a trigger. The trigger is the trainer’s last call to action, which is to be a happy, qualified employee that contributes to the continued success of the company. It’s a happy ending in a video that caps the message with the final take away: “Enjoy yourself!” After all, if the learner is not happy, neither will be the customers.

Creating a great eLearning course is no different than creating a great product. I personally like to call them inventions, and this puts a lot of pressure on ourselves to keep reinventing new ways to sell our training message.  It’s no different than inventing a product to fit a demand, whether consumers know they need it or not. Consumers or end users are constantly barraged with new products and services, most of them useless in their eyes. It’s when the consumer is dealing with a problem (and sometimes may not even know it) and a solution comes their way and suddenly they engage. Not only does eLearning need to be timely and user-friendly but relevant. So consider designing an intrinsic learning experience in your eLearning!