Challenges
My client wanted a learning module designed for a basic COVID-19 training for their staff. They wanted it to be clear and engaging without diverting attention away from the content. They also wanted periodic knowledge checks to ensure content retention.
Research
I set out to find existing research on engagement in e-learning for adult learners. There were a variety of resources and research papers but I landed on this one, Gamification of Engineering Courses. The findings in their research indicated that gamification was a powerful tool in engaging learners with content, and helped with retention. The study also found that the learner’s biggest pain points were lack of time, poor time management, and no continuous feedback.
Solutions
I designed a few solutions for my client. Knowledge checks that reenforce learning retention throughout the course. These can be seen below.
To address the issue of time management, I designed a pathing timeline that shows where the learner is in the module, and how much content is left. I also introduced a small amount of gamification with icons on the pathing timeline that indicate correct and incorrect answers to the knowledge checks.
To address the learner feedback, I created two feedback mechanisms, informative and motivational. The informative messages come in the form of an alert notification that references previous material and important “need to know” information.
The motivational messages are chat-style messages of encouragement.
For the illustrations, I used the Open Peeps hand-drawn illustration library.