Engaging your Learners

Do you provide pre-simulation learning content to your participants? In what ways will they interact with the learning?

To make the most of time at the center, many of the classes that are run at WISER require completion of an online portion of the course so that participants will be ready for the hands-on, simulation learning event.

What does that online content look like? Besides pages to read, what other types of content can we provide to engage the learner? A popular way to produce multimedia is to take a PowerPoint presentation, record narration, and export it to a video file. The learner can engage by viewing and listening, and use the video player controls. Online learning can be a better experience when the modules are designed to create learner engagement.

Why not take that learning to the next level? At WISER we use the authoring tool Articulate Storyline 360. It’s easy to make an interactive learning module, simply by importing a presentation. The user can navigate through a menu, click through the slides in a timing that works for them, while listening to a narration.

You can choose from over 20 types of engagements such as drag and drop, sorting, labeled graphics, and multiple choice questions. Answering a few questions gives the learner a moment to pause and reflect on what they just learned, especially when feedback is provided.

A course director recently shared with me some results from a course evaluation: some participants felt there needed to more interactivity was needed in the online pre-learning.

I looked at the items in the course. Besides clicking through videos and pages, the learner didn’t have other ways to engage with the content. I found a chart in the presentation that showed the positions of the healthcare roles in a Trauma Bay and developed this static image into an activity.

We created a drag and drop activity, where the learner drags the role title over to the position around the bed. When the role is placed in the correct position, the name fits in the white slot. If incorrect, the name snaps back to the list on the left. This type of practice is a great way to reinforce the learning all the while helping your learners stay engaged.

Whether you use Storyline or another authoring tool, I encourage you to add interactivity to your online learning.

Do you provide pre-simulation learning content to your participants? In what ways will they interact with the learning?

To make the most of time at the center, many of the classes that are run at WISER require completion of an online portion of the course so that participants will be ready for the hands-on, simulation learning event.

What does that online content look like? Besides pages to read, what other types of content can we provide to engage the learner? A popular way to produce multimedia is to take a PowerPoint presentation, record narration, and export it to a video file. The learner can engage by viewing and listening, and use the video player controls. Online learning can be a better experience when the modules are designed to create learner engagement.

Why not take that learning to the next level? At WISER we use the authoring tool Articulate Storyline 360. It’s easy to make an interactive learning module, simply by importing a presentation. The user can navigate through a menu, click through the slides in a timing that works for them, while listening to a narration.

With at least 20 types of engagements such as drag and drop sorting, labeled graphics, and multiple choice

knowledge checks. Answering a few questions gives the learner a moment to pause and reflect on what they just learned, especially when feedback is provided.

A course director recently shared with me some results from a course evaluation: some participants felt there needed to more interactivity in the online portion of the class.

I looked at the items in the course. Besides clicking through videos and pages, the learner didn’t have the opportunity to engage with the learning. I found a chart in the presentation that showed the positions of the healthcare roles in a Trauma Bay.

I saw there was a way to make this important content piece more likely to be retained.

We created a drag and drop activity, where the learner drags the role over to the position around the bed. When the correct position is placed, the name fits in the white slot. If incorrect, the name snaps back to the list on the left. This type of practice is a great way to reinforce the learning.

WISER Highlights – Fall 2021