Getting learners to really want to pay attention to your content, have fun, and learn from it can sometimes be a challenging task. For example, let’s take a look at a simple interaction we produced for a course on Managing Employee Performance. The topic of “Managing Employees” doesn’t exactly make most people think of a “fun time” or “I can’t wait to learn!” But as course creators we can think creatively to make content that might seem boring or dry at first, just a little more interesting.
When a learner comes upon this interaction (screenshots below), we’ve already told them about something called the Job Maturity Matrix. The matrix is simply a graph that visualizes how an employee is performing. An employee’s position on the graph depends on both how willing and how competent they are at their job.
Now, it’s the learner’s turn to evaluate an employee and place them on the matrix. So, we created an interaction that allows learners to get a short description of a sample employee and then use that information to place them in the correct quadrant of the matrix by literally dragging a photo to the correct spot. This type of interaction engages learners because:
- It presents a clear task
- It allows the user to visually practice what the course is teaching
- It has attractive graphics and animations
- The user is interacting with the content by discovering information and dragging and dropping items on the screen
- Even incorrect choices provide feedback that directs users towards the correct answer and allows them to try again
Use this link to give it a try for yourself and be sure let us know what you think.