I came across a very timely blog post from Cathy Moore regarding the amount of boring eLearning content out there. It is very timely because I was asked that exact question by a potential customer yesterday. My reponse was right in line with Cathy post:
No clear goal: We don’t look closely enough at the business reason for the course.
The wrong tool: We’re using elearning when another method would work better.
Too much telling: We think, “We know things that the learners don’t! We must tell the learners these things!”
Not enough time: Feeling pressured? You’re not alone. Several respondents to Elliott Masie’s 2005 survey mentioned problems like “ever faster development cycles that make it difficult to maintain minimum quality standards”
Lack of internal standards: Rigorous, written standards for elearning materials don’t appear to be wildly popular.
Fear of creativity: We’re sometimes afraid not only of humor but even of “safer” ideas like dialog, scenarios, simulations, “discovery” approaches, and the many other ways to show instead of tell.
The wrong tool: We’re using elearning when another method would work better.
Too much telling: We think, “We know things that the learners don’t! We must tell the learners these things!”
Not enough time: Feeling pressured? You’re not alone. Several respondents to Elliott Masie’s 2005 survey mentioned problems like “ever faster development cycles that make it difficult to maintain minimum quality standards”
Lack of internal standards: Rigorous, written standards for elearning materials don’t appear to be wildly popular.
Fear of creativity: We’re sometimes afraid not only of humor but even of “safer” ideas like dialog, scenarios, simulations, “discovery” approaches, and the many other ways to show instead of tell.
I'm gonna add a few more ideas at Cathy's blog so make sure to check it out.
