eLearning Storyboard Template and Process Layout
Do you ever think about your eLearning course as a movie? Probably not, but eLearning and movies have something in common: they both need good endings.
Have you ever seriously thought about how you end your courses? Most course creators focus on the meat of the course itself with little thought about the ending.
But in reality, how you end the course can have just as much impact as the course itself. Here’s how to design eLearning endings that will wow your learners.
How to Build a Powerful Ending
These tips will help you write better endings for your eLearning courses. But remember that there is no one right way to end your course. Whether you want to summarize the content, inspire learners, or resolve a story, these are all valid ways to end your course.
When it comes to writing your ending, design with the end in mind. Decide on the ending and build your course from there.
Here are five ways to end your course with a bang.
1. Create a Complex Quiz
End of course quizzes used to be super easy. But does that really test learners’ knowledge? Instead of treating end of course quizzes as a task to complete, design them as a true test of learners’ skills.
Go beyond multiple choice here. You want to encourage deep understanding and real-world application with your learners; a checkbox won’t cut it.
To get the most out of an end of course quiz, try:
Essay-based questions: Ask the learner to apply their knowledge to a real-world situation.
A quiz storyline: Why not create an interactive animation as the quiz itself? It’s emotionally engaging and keeps learners on their toes.
Something new: Anything but the tired post-course quiz. Keep your learners awake and engaged with new question formats.
2. Turn It Into a Game
Use the principles of gamification to convert your traditional multiple choice quiz into an engaging game for learners.
Add gaming elements to the ending, allowing learners to see their score and progress through levels as they answer correctly.
You can even turn it into a competition with learner polling and a leaderboard. Badges celebrate learner achievement and even help them feel more motivated to use course knowledge in the real world.
3. What’s Your Call to Action?
eLearning courses are about changing behavior. If you want your learner to change how they’re doing things, you need to end the course with a call to action.
A call to action is a next step for learners to complete after they end the course. It’s a way to hold learners accountable as they apply course knowledge to their lives.
You can assign learners a call to action in a few ways:
Give them a task: Make sure the task translates to learners’ work. For example, if you had a managerial communication course, maybe you would ask learners to analyze their team members’ communication styles. Ask the learners to follow up with the information for a discussion.
Discussions and groups: Who says learning ends when the course is complete? Create a group where learners can troubleshoot and share stories after the course.
Commitments: Ask learners to sign an agreement that they’ll change a certain behavior. For example, tell them to email you two months after the course to check in on their progress and detail how they’ve used the course content at work.
4. Support Learners After They Finish the Course
Learning never really ends. eLearning course creators have a responsibility to give learners the tools to succeed after a course.
Give your learners job aids that they can use at work. Make sure the material is compact and easy to read at a glance. Infographics and one-sheeters are great support materials in the workplace.
5. Build New Beginnings
Every ending is just a new beginning. In this case, it’s the beginning of learners applying new knowledge in the workplace.
Your course is just a launchpad for new things. Create new beginnings after your course in three ways:
Community: Build an online community exclusively for your learners. Social media and even your LMS empower learners to discuss and engage after completing the course.
Connect learners with resources: Link to resources that learners can use in the workplace in addition to your support materials.
Suggest further reading: Let your learners know about other courses, books, or videos that complement what they learned in this course.
The Bottom Line
The end is just the beginning for eLearning. Design powerful endings that don’t just wrap up the course, but that encourage ongoing learning.
Want to pick the brain of an experienced instructional designer? Chat with Ninja Tropic now. We’ll set up a free brainstorming session to create your next eLearning course for bigger impact.
