Asynchronous eLearning

Asynchronous eLearning is any kind of learning that can be consumed at the choosing of the learner. The product can be a full course, a job aid, a video, or a podcast. Think of it as anything that can be taken on demand, unlike a live one-time event. These products can range from the most simplistic help sheet all the way up through a full interactive curriculum.

Interactive / Adaptive eLearning

Interactive and adaptive courses seek to find what the learner’s knowledge gaps are and then teaches back in a customized feedback experience. It’s interactive in more complex ways than a standard quiz that is true / false or multiple choice and often uses Storyline’s free form object scoring to test applied knowledge. These courses are almost always scenario driven.

In the two images above, the course is done in Storyline where a clinical professional is presented with a patient scenario and then has to take the correct interactions in a clinical systems program. If the correct assertions and actions are not taken, the learner gets taught forward and given the opportunity to go back, but with some risk / reward built into the logic and scoring that gets passed to the LMS.

Fixed eLearning

A fixed eLearning is what many of us know as the most common. It’s generally an eLearning course that is linear in how it is presented, and all users get the same experience. Let’s not be quick to judge that as bad, because think of TED Talks as being a fixed delivery to an audience.

Many fixed experiences can be just what is needed and often come in at a good cost compared to experiential and fully adaptive eLearning. It comes down to what the performance goals are for your course. Just because a course is fixed in its experience does not mean it’s unengaging and not well retained. These can be a great asynchronous offering with a long shelf life if they are created when they will stand the test of time and are often easy to update with changes compared to interactive offerings.

Choosing the Right Product

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