I was recently reminded of the real world of IDs being faced with certain compromises during development.  Sometimes IDs become discouraged when they believe project stakeholders are putting the importance of course completion ahead of actual learning. Sometimes there’s a push to sacrifice storytelling, video, interactive features, and even challenging quiz questions in order to save time and money.  The idea is to just get the job done, which is to force successful course completions and move staff members through the LMS and back to their desks and real jobs.

But it should never be this bad. In these cases, sometimes it’s good to speak up and share some insights on how to add a little something extra and improve the learning experience. With only a little more work, a course can sparkle. This can be as simple as adding text based scenarios that test a hypothesis.

In its simplest form, the idea is to consider creating a multiple-choice quiz that challenges students to think. Of course, a nuanced question could lead to fewer successful completions, but that may be okay and even preferable. The so-called incorrect answers are not necessarily incorrect, but just not the best answer. The user is now curious as to why what appeared to be the best answer is not really the best. The feedback is delivered and the learner is forced to reflect on their decisions. Now the student actually has to stop and think a bit!

This added effort has turned a dull page turner into a thought provoking learning experience.