5 Ways to Create Effective Interactive Training Content (2024)
Employee training is no longer limited to sitting back and watching PowerPoint slides. L&D teams are looking out for interactive training content so that the employees can learn and retain the information effectively.
Interactive training content, as the name suggests, requires interaction between the trainer and the employee. But today, as mobile-based training is on the rise, the interaction now has to be between the course module and the learner.
Creating interactive training content ensures that the employees are engaged in the training program. When people find the content interesting and are engaged in the training, they are more likely to retain the information.
An interactive training model makes the learner take certain actions to proceed with the training. A simple button which the user is required to click in order to move to the next page is also interaction. But that’s too basic.
Your employees are part of the millennial crowd who have access to good quality content online. You need to try and make your training modules more dynamic and engaging with more interactive elements and an intuitive interface.
In this blog we’ll take you through all you need to know while creating interactive training content. Here’s what we’ll cover.
Table of Contents
5 Effective Ways to Create Interactive Training Content for Employees
- Design Short Videos with Rich Graphics
- Include Simulated Scenarios
- Use Gamification Techniques
- Include Game-Based Learning
- Include Frequent Quizzes, Tests and Assessments
Conclusion
5 Effective Ways to Create Interactive Training Content for Employees
1. Design Short Videos with Rich Graphics
Videos are a great way to keep the learners engaged with the training content. With most of your workforce being millennials who are regular viewers of video content online, they might expect a similar level of quality and engagement factor from a corporate training video.
So, in order to meet their expectations and keep them engrossed with the interactive training content, you need to create visually appealing training videos. You don’t have to hire professional actors or crew to create a training video. Online software packages can create a highly attractive video for you in minutes.
Ensure that you include rich graphics and high-quality images. Or you can have stock videos which you can leverage for a minimum subscription fee. These are cost-effective ways of creating a professional looking training video. When it comes to the text part, remember that a video is like a PowerPoint presentation.
It need not have a lot of text content. But, ensure that you highlight the important points. Corporate training videos should be short and concise so that employees can quickly refer to and recall the information.
You can provide certain elements like click and reveal, drag and drop etc to keep it interactive. If you can provide a voice-over for the subject, then that would be more effective than reading plain text.
If not a voice over, then add some pleasant music in the background. So, with eye-catching visuals and relevant content, you can create an interactive corporate training video which will keep your learners engaged in the course module.
2. Include Simulated Scenarios
This type of training mimics real world situations. Simulation is used to give the employees a glimpse of actual situations that might arise on the job, preparing them for different scenarios.
It allows employees to make decisions without the fear of tarnishing the company’s reputation. Simulation is usually done in a risk-free environment.
For example, pilot trainees learn to fly an aircraft inside a simulated flight environment, where the learner experiences an artificial aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies.
In corporate training, this situation can be replaced with an irate customer on the phone, where the employee has to provide immediate solution. Or a software glitch, where the employee needs to find a quick resolution.
All these scenarios are played on the employee’s mobile screen. Creating scenario-based training modules with options to choose from will urge the employee to think and undertake an action that she thinks is appropriate.
If at some point the learner feels that this is not going the right way, allow them to reset the simulation program so that they can apply their renewed ideas and figure out how to deal with the situation.
Provide them with the option to modify the previous choices. This exercise helps them develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
And if the employee makes wrong choices, allow the tool to offer suggestions and feedback so that they understand where they went wrong. Working on different scenarios will give them some experience in handling difficult situations.
3. Use Gamification Techniques
By adding fun to the learning experience, you can aim for higher learner engagement. Gamification in corporate training means incorporating certain gaming elements into the training program.
Gamification is used to motivate employees to perform better. It creates a healthy competition in a fun and engaging manner. But you need to ensure that they are competing against their targets instead of one another.
For example, you can maintain a leaderboard/scoreboard with names of the best performing employees in order. Just like a player aims to score the highest points so as to lead the scoreboard; similarly, in corporate training, trainees would try to learn better and score maximum points in quizzes and activities in order to lead the scoreboard.
You can give out badges or certificates as rewards for best performance. These simple elements that are borrowed from the gaming sector help in keeping the training program interactive and engaging. Employees usually want to be acknowledged for their work.
So, include tasks where employees have to give out suggestions and ideas, and in return, allow managers to provide constructive feedback. You need to ensure that the activities and tests are set up in such a way that learners are motivated to perform better every time. Gamification thus leads to improved results and better outcomes.
4. Include Game-Based Learning
There’s a difference between game-based learning and gamification. While gamification uses gaming inspired elements (points, badges, leaderboards) in a non-game environment, game-based learning requires the learners to play games.
The games could be played in a digital or non-digital environment. Before you decide to go for a game-based learning program, you must first finalize your objectives.
What do you intend to achieve through this exercise? Based on that, you must decide the games which you want to incorporate in your training plan. There are a number of games that are played out in corporate environments for team building, trust building, collaboration, problem solving etc. By including games as part of your course module, you can keep your employees motivated and mentally active throughout the training session.
Playing a game keeps the player engrossed in the activity. You can have your employees play serious games which requires them to make collaborative decisions.
Multiplayer games can be included, allowing employees to play together in the virtual space, promoting interaction and team work. A practical approach to learning improves the memory and increases their ability to think and act quickly.
Millennials, who comprise a large part of your workforce, are familiar with computer games since their childhood. They’ve spent hours playing video games on their PlayStation and Xbox.
Incorporating games as part of the training program is bound to pique their interest and keep them engaged. Corporate training need not be dull and boring, it can be fun and entertaining while being informative and instructive at the same time.
Guide:
How to Create Mobile-Friendly Training Content
5. Include Frequent Quizzes, Tests, and Assessments
In an instructor-led training, the best way to keep the training session interactive is to ask questions and encourage discussions. Basically, you want people to talk, to communicate.
Online training lacks that element of communication. So instead of an instructor asking questions, you can include quizzes and tests in your course module to keep the learning process engaging with interactive training content.
The most common format of quizzes used in online learning is multiple choice questions. You can include a variety of other quiz formats like drag and drop, labeling, fill in the blanks etc. Sequencing questions can be used where employees have to rearrange certain processes in the order in which they need to be performed.
You can provide questions where the employees have to write answers in brief. Instead of providing multiple options every time, these kinds of questions will help you assess their soft skills, their ability to put thoughts into words, their capability to retain information and their thinking process.
The purpose of incorporating different types of quizzes is to gauge the employee’s understanding and keep the training interactive. Frequent quizzes and tests motivate learners to remember the information that they have learned.
Also, in case they have given wrong answers, always ensure that you provide them with the correct answers at the end of the quiz. This will help them remember where they went wrong, and they’ll definitely remember it the next time.
Conclusion
These were some effective techniques which you can incorporate in your employee training program to create interactive training content. An employee who has understood your work process in and out can deliver better outputs on the work floor.
Implementing the above-mentioned features in your course modules will help you deliver engaging and interactive training content which employees will remember and recall.
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