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E-Learning is now more than an emerging trend, it is the preferred way of learning for industries worldwide. Forward looking organizations are serious about training and L&D managers keep looking into the needs of the learners to create learner-centric e-learning solutions. To keep up with the increasing need, they also often employ e-learning services from external resources to cater to the ever changing and dynamic learner needs.

To make e-learning truly effective, it needs to be developed keeping the nature of technology-aided delivery in mind. So designing an e-learning course should not follow the same strategies as designing a PowerPoint Presentation. If the same strategies are followed to create custom e-learning, the result is bland and uninteresting. Furthermore, it fails the first and foremost objective of training – it fails to engage the learner and as a result fails to perform his or her job within expected standards. The solution is to treat e-learning development separately and create strategies that align to the strengths of self-paced learning.

In the absence of an instructor, custom e-learning courses cannot just have one word ‘pointers’ with no explanations. Even if there are space constraints, e-learning designers have to make sure that each point is well explained to aid novice learners. An impactful way of doing this is to utilize audio to describe concepts in detail without taking up too much screen space. While the visual impact of the screen remains intact with minimalistic text, audio provides suitable descriptors to help learners understand better.

To further aid the individual needs of the learners, the option of turning off the audio can be provided for expert learner who do not need explanations of the introductory concepts. To provide learner re-enforcements and a chance to revise the topics taught through the e-course, the audio script can also be provided as a downloadable resource. The learners can later refer to it to re-enforce learning as per their needs.

Images are a powerful way of communication in an e-course. But here too, keep in mind that only appropriate images should be utilized and enough space should be provided in each screen to create visual ‘relief’.

Diagrams and Tables are also useful in reducing the text in an e-course – and can be liberally added to e-learning just like a PowerPoint presentation. But the difference is that diagrams and tables have to suitably labeled or explained to create the intended impact on the learner. Complicated diagrams or detailed graphs can share a lot of information. But this information can also confuse or startle the learners – especially if they are new to the subject.

In addition, detailed documents can be provided along with all e-courses that can be used as a job-aid as well as easy reference from time to time. This provides the learners the opportunity to study the subject in detail – as per their own need and pace.

E-courses should also be accompanied by a detailed ‘Help’ file -that aids the learner go through the course without any hitch. At any point if they are stuck or want to take a detour in the course, the help document should give them the required information then and there. Many learners are not accustomed to the technology-aided platform and e-learning developers should keep that in mind and create provisions for them.
E-Learning is an impactful way of delivering training in the corporate sector. But it is impactful only when its strengths as well as weaknesses are suitably studied and understood. Treat e-learning like it is and reap its many benefits.

Passover was a dreaded holiday for me as a teenager growing up in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was a time when my uncle, who thought of himself as a “lay Rabbi,” rose at the head of the table and straightened himself out as if he was the Chief Rabbi in the grandest synagogue in Europe. He ceremoniously opened the Haggadah, the text recited at the Seder on the first two nights of the Jewish Passover.

As he began reciting in Hebrew the narrative of the Jewish exodus from Egypt, my aunt looked adoringly at him. At the other end of the table, my mother rolled her eyes, my father grumbled curses under his breath, and I pretended the conflict and anger I saw didn’t exist. In this week’s three-part series, I’ll share some of my thoughts on the nature of family conflicts occurring at holiday gatherings.

Family Conflict and Reduced Inhibition and Expectations

Family gatherings during holidays are supposed to be happy events where we shove personal issues to the side, forgive past wrongs, and the “good” of the family is most important. The expectation is what happened in the past is irrelevant now, and the joy of the moment; Passover, Easter, or other holidays will sooth over unskillful behaviors as warm milk does to an upset stomach. Neither anecdotes are always successful.

Our Present is Based on Our Past

We don’t live in a vacuum where our lives were immaculately conceived. You don’t need to believe in Freudian psychology to understand what a person does in the present carries with them their past.

I’m sure my uncle’s love of the family during the Passover Seder was genuine. For a brief time, he was able to reinterpret or ignore how his past behaviors hurt the family. Unfortunately, those on the receiving end couldn’t forget. Regardless of how genuine his love, my parents couldn’t go beyond his past.

Upcoming Holidays

We would like to think the joy of a holiday or it’s greater meaning will overshadow “petty” disagreements. In the 1960′s many sociologists wrote about the role of rising expectations in social turmoil. They believed inequities and injustices weren’t as important in creating conflicts as was the belief things could be changed.

It may be prudent as you approach the new holiday season to adjust your expectations of what’s possible during your family gathering. You may not have a “want to-be” Rabbi in your family, but don’t expect your cousin’s irksome behaviors that irritated you forever to vanish because you wish they will.

In the next part of this three-part series, I’ll talk about why family truths are always relative. In the final part, I’ll suggest some attitudinal adjustments that worked in my counseling and coaching of families dealing with crises.