3 Visual Design Tips for Effective E-Learning

Posted: 01 Apr 2013 12:28 AM PDT

Articulate Rapid E-Learning Blog - what to learn when getting started with elearning

At a recent elearning conference I ran into my mentor and elearning thought leader, Dr. Werner Oppelbaumer. He was showing off examples of elearning courses and offering tips on visual design for elearning.

While he was swamped as usual, I was able to steal a few minutes of his time and talk about his latest Werner Labs project and asked if he had any tips to share for the blog readers.

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Articulate Rapid E-Learning Blog - rapid elearning expert

I really appreciate all you do to push the science of elearning research forward. It helps the blog readers and anyone who wants to learn how to build elearning courses.

As you know, one of the main issues people have is a lack of resources and time. Your conference presentation on building PowerPoint presentations and elearning courses seems to fill that need. Can you explain more to the blog readers who couldn't attend?

Articulate Rapid E-Learning Blog - rapid elearning expert

Each day there are thousands of PowerPoint presentations and many of them are not very good. On top of that, most elearning courses created with PowerPoint are not very good. That's not going to change any time soon. But what we can change is the time it takes to build bad PowerPoints.

So we created a system where anyone who creates a bad PowerPoint can upload it and share it with anyone else who needs to create a bad PowerPoint. On top of that you can mix and match your bad PowerPoints to create custom-designed bad PowerPoint files.

Articulate Rapid E-Learning Blog - reuse PowerPoint files

It's our new Collaborative Resource Automating PowerPoint system. Bad content is going to be created anyway; we just make it easier to do so. That will be a big time saver for most organizations.

We've already signed on many large corporations and government agencies.

Articulate Rapid E-Learning Blog - rapid elearning expert

I'm interested in seeing where that goes in the future. Let's switch topics. You gave a presentation on visual design for elearning. Afterwards, people were buzzing about what they learned. Can you share your tips for the blog readers, too?

Articulate Rapid E-Learning Blog - rapid elearning expert

Sure. The presentation covered three key areas of graphic design for elearning.

How to build better elearning in your organization
Get past low-value bullet point elearning courses
Apply NEW research to your elearning courses

I've included my presentation below.

Presentation on How to Build E-Learning Courses

Click here to view the elearning presentation on visual design.

Articulate Rapid E-Learning Blog - rapid elearning expert

Thank you Dr. Werner. You always offer fresh insight and new perspectives on how to build elearning courses. I am sure that the blog readers really appreciate all you do for the industry.

Learn more about Dr. Werner Oppelbaumer:

Want E-Learning Success? Make Sure Your Learners Are Dressed For It!

Tidbits:

Upcoming workshops for 2013:

April 2 &3: San Diego, CA. Two workshops. Sign up before it sells out.
Day 1 – General elearning tips & tricks.
Day 2 – A hands-on Storyline session.
April 16 & 17: Austin, TX. Two workshops.
Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop
April 18: Austin, TX. Free jam session with the Central Texas Articulate User Group. It's a great time to get answers and meet your peers. Here are the details. Seating is limited so RSVP to reserve your spot.
May 14 & 15: London, UK. How to Become a Rapid E-Learning Pro: Two-day master class filled with lots of hands-on activities. Sign up before it sells out.
June: Philadelphia, PA. Details coming.
June 26-27: Portland, OR. BlueVolt eLearning Conference. Join the Articulate community team for a series of how-to sessions using the Articulate elearning applications.
June 12 & 13: Miami, FL. Two workshops. Details coming.
Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop.
September: Greensboro, NC. Details coming.
September: New York, NY. Two workshops. Register here.
Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. I'll also be presenting at the evening chapter meeting.
October: Baton Rouge, LA. Details coming.
October: Los Angeles, CA. Details coming.
November: St. Louis, MO. Details coming.