Content Creativity: A Space to Play and Learn

Content Creativity: Why It’s Important in Your Learning Programs

Content creatives interpret what a client’s subject matter experts want to relay, and impart this knowledge in a way that holds a user’s attention all the way through the course, enabling effortless learning.

Large slabs of information overload learners, causing them to switch off and stop taking in information. Over the years, designers have learned to curate the information into “bite-sized chunks”. Information is revealed slowly, in small snippets so the user can absorb it. Additionally, key components of the content are highlighted and the user is encouraged to read on via interaction and gamification.

This continual change of focus forces the user to engage and participate in their own learning. There’s a risk of becoming gimmicky: however, if a common thread is maintained or a theme or story is explored, this can subtly lead the user through the course and keep interactivity and gamification relevant to its educational context. The goal is to take the user on a journey, rather than having them repetitively hitting back and next, with only a few drag-and-drop activities dotted in.

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Amplify Learning With Creative Content

Modernizing instructional design has required content creatives to use more sophisticated methods at each step. Whereas it may have once been typical to supply simple descriptions of the content in a Word document to the client, it’s now more common to supply storyboards containing high-fidelity mock-ups of each screen. Another recommended practice is to now map out interactions and animations in an Adobe XD working prototype. This visual design-based practice is a game changer, matching app design, advertising agency, and tech start-up standards for visual storytelling.

Clients are happier with this approach because this has taken the guesswork out of visualizing, which doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Additionally, developers no longer have to guess what instructional designers are thinking. Though storyboarding now takes slightly longer, it ultimately saves time and money, with less to-ing and fro-ing in the development stage. There are no surprises: everyone knows how a course works and looks at the storyboarding stage.

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Use Media that Encourages Retention

The use of digital imagery, illustration, animation, video, and diagrams throughout course development is crucial. Visual imagery reinforces key points, breaks up the monotonous text, and helps support visual learning by delving deeper into concepts. Frankly, it keeps things interesting, so a user doesn’t nod off at their desk. A boring subject needs extra experimentation and a bigger dose of creativity to keep a learner in the moment. Anything can be made interesting with a bit of trust from the client and a whole lot of creative vision.

Part of the challenge is to educate the client to take a risk and back a design that pushes the boundaries of creativity. The best thing a designer can hear from a client is that an end product is “better than they could ever have imagined.” Then they’ll know they’ve nailed it. Designers are often catering to audiences that are not only digitally savvy but expect more from content design, sometimes with a short attention span. Keeping users engaged requires intelligent design decisions.

Learning design must reflect what learners and clients are seeing on their phones and screens every day. And it can be pushed even further: designers have the opportunity to be design and learning leaders by being agile and innovative. This requires a perspective that goes beyond the learning industry, into cutting-edge design in apps, tech companies, or even emerging art forms. Think about the user experience: users should be not just pleasantly surprised, but inspired with a sense of wonder when completing a course. If content creators have space to play and learn, then they create spaces for users to play and learn.

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Improve and Scale Your eLearning Content

When it comes to content creativity, the needs of learners are constantly fluctuating and changing based on cultural shifts, technological innovations, and other factors. In order to consistently support and empower your learners, a flexible and scalable solution is essential.

Open LMS provides an all-encompassing, holistic approach to eLearning support. This includes custom content creation based on your organization’s needs. With our expert analysts there to support your goals, we’re able to create and provide high-impact courses that keep your learners engaged while meeting learning goals.