Design is something that is very unique to each individual or organisation. Every time I create an online course it is TOTALLY DIFFERENT to every course I've ever created. 

Why? Well there are a number of reasons. 

1. E-learning, like branding, is fully customised to an organisation, or designed specifically with the student in mind, or both!
2. Everyone's taste is different. 
3. The content drives the design. 

So when I came across this blog by Freepik I thought to myself, ooooo let's see what's going to be different for 2020. What can I lean to help my customers? 

The two trends that stood out to me were "Movement/Animation and Micro Interaction', and 'Accessibility'. Let me break it down. 

Movement/Animation and Micro Interaction
Short cartoons and explainer videos are, as Paris Hilton would say "so hot right now". With software like Toonly creating animations has never been easier and more fun! Check out our little video using Toonly below

These 30 sec videos teach you something quickly and keep you entertained. 

They are also perfect for the millennial crowd who are bombarded with information every second of the day and are filtering information at the speed of light. 

Accessibility

Honestly, I was shocked to read this as designing for people who are impaired has been ingrained in the e-learning community for many years. It's something we all do! 

But what is it you say? design for accessibility is design for impaired people who need assistance using digital devices. This includes, designing graphics and colours that will not hinder a vision impaired persons learning or ensuring content can be read by a screen reader. The list is large but these are a few examples. 

I'm so glad that accessibility is now becoming mainstream. 

What are your intentions for design in 2020?

Do your staff know WHY they come to work? 

Is it to pay for their next trip to Bali or pay off their excessive mortgage? 

As a business owner (and correct me if I’m wrong!) but your sole reason to come to work every day is to do one, some or all the following: 

1. a)     Make more money than what you would working for someone else
2. b)     Create your own career opportunities
3. c)     Make a difference
4. d)     Give yourself flexibility 

Your staff do not come to your workplace for these same reasons. Sorry, but it’s true. 

You need to GIVE them a reason WHY they should come to work. Because paying them is apparently not enough. 

Do your staff truly understand the PURPOSE of your organisation?

Do your staff hold a broad VIEW of your organisation’s strategy?

Do your staff CARE about the organisation and provide INNOVATIVE ideas?

If you answered no to any of these questions, you may not have provided the RIGHT kind of professional development to your staff which has caused them to become disengaged and dreaming about their next Bintang

Stay tuned because I'll release 5 ways you can TOTALLY CONTROL these issues. 

Yep, they are fully sick. And I don’t mean in the cool way. 

Your staff are genuinely sick. Colds, flus, stomach bugs etc. You have heard it all!

But do you know what can cause these? 

Low immune system and an un-healthy lifestyle. 

Do you encourage your staff to look after themselves? YOU DON’T?? Why? Because that’s not your problem, right? WRONG. Mind blown right?

Encouraging your staff to get/stay healthy KEEPS YOU IN BUSINESS! 

Healthy people turn up to work every day. They have energy and a clear mind to give their all for YOUR BUSINESS. They make you money, not waste it.

So, do you have a constant flow of sick people in your business? 

Does ‘flu season’ roll around 4 times per year?

It is up to YOU to do something about it. 

I'm going to share a few tips over the next week about how to keep your staff healthy. But the first thing you need to do is ensure you and your staff are working in a CLEAN ENVIRONMENT. 

Here is a great page on healthy offices by Star Express Cleaning. 

More information to come so stay tuned! 

Are you like the other 159,000,000* people who have searched “Why do staff call in sick?” on Google? *Actual number!

According to Safe Work Australia, WORK-RELATED MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS are a “major concern” in Australian workplaces.

Do you want your staff to join the 7,200 other Australian’s each year claiming workers compensation due to mental health conditions caused in WORKPLACES JUST LIKE YOURS?
I’ll guess your answer is a fat NO.
​
Major, but COMMON, incidents in workplaces that result in sick days include:

• poor workplace relationships
• low role clarity
• high job demand
• low job demand
• violent or traumatic events
• poor organisational justice.

​
Your staff may smile at you as you walk by their cubical each morning, but they might be EXTREMELY UNHAPPY with their working conditions...on the inside. THEY ARE JUST AFRAID TO TELL YOU.

Think about the staff you currently have in your office. Are any of them taking more sick days than normal? Ask yourself, do they fall into any of the dot point categories above?

Reason 2 of 3 will be posted tomorrow! After that I'll share the 5 ways you can COMBAT these sick days.

Don't you hate it when you have an awesome e-learning built for your company and then a link needs to be changed? Or a policy changes? Or your branding changes? It can be so frustrating! 

Sometimes, we are all so busy that we forget to update previous e-learning courses and then WHAM! you get bombarded with emails from learners saying...."the link doesn't work" or worse...."your information is out of date". 

Out of date information, old branding and broken links may not be at the top of your priority list but they do make your organisation appear unorganized and unprofessional.  *GASP*

Of course you are neither of these things. You are just busy! But we can help you :)

Updating old e-learning courses is one of our specialties.

If you have e-learning files in any of the following authoring tools then we can amend them: Articulate Storyline 360, Lectora and Captivate. 

Depending on the nature and size of the changes, the time it will take us to amend the courses for you could start from 1 hour!

For more information on the types of maintenance you should be considering for your e-learning courses, check out this nifty blog post by E-Learning Heros - E-Learning Maintenance Checklist. 

As always, we are here to help! 

​Lisa 

Have you been unlucky enough to read through a PowerPoint presentation or printed learning guide that involved little to zero personal interaction with the content? I sense you are nodding your head furiously.

Would you prefer that same information presented in an engaging and interactive way; where you choose your own adventure through the material and interact WITH the content? I sense your head is still nodding but now you have a smile on your face! 

Learning is only enjoyable and satisfying if the content is ENGAGING to the learner. A printed course workbook or boring Power Point slide deck is not engaging...let's be real. 

E-learning is the remedy to this common snooze-fest of a situation. 

We turn your one dimensional course content into interactive, engaging, colourful online e-learning.

Customised scenarios give your learner ownership over the actions they take within the course. Up to the minute design concepts, videos, audio and clickable/dragable/text entry keep your learners eyes and hands on the course. 

With this kind of learning on offer, why are you still providing less engaging (boring) courses for your learner? 

Contact Lisa today for a free consultation. 

For more information on how interactive e-learning has changed overtime and what we now offer, check out this blog by Articulate. 

Have a great day!
​Lisa 

The beginning of a new e-learning project gets me very excited. The clean slate. New ideas. Fresh images and colour. Up until recently, choosing colours for e-learning has not been an issue. I chat with the product owner about suitable colours and we come to a conclusion -simple. However, recently not so simple.

​A product I recently worked on was particularly insightful in regards to personal preferences for colours. "That green is TOO green", "that yellow looks like baby poo", "I don't like that purple" were some of the comments I received. To be fair, every time a comment was made I agreed with the person making that comment. I would think to myself...."yes Lisa, that shade of yellow does look a bit like baby poo" and so forth. For background, I used the commonly known Jewel Tones colours shown above. What are your thoughts on this shade of yellow?

​During this time of colour conversations, I came across a fantastic web page 50 Gorgeous Colour Schemes for Websites. The page is by Visme, a visual learning centre and incredible source for designing online presentations. None of us are perfect and even the most professional designers need fresh ideas sometimes. Their colour schemes page provides collections of colours that create different feelings and impacts for web based products - like e-learning! Have a look and think about the colours that speak to you the most. Texturised and Dynamic is my favourite. 

Our full 4 module course on Resilience is finally ready to purchase from our Shop!

I must say, this course is very close to my heart. When I first decided to write a course, that wasn't driven by an outside company or organisation, I wanted it to be personally and professionally meaningful. Resilience was a topic that I kept seeing raised as an issue in the workplace but honestly, it's something a lot of us lack in our personal life also. As such, resilience became my chosen topic. 

With e-learning, it is super important to get your user to DO SOMETHING to enable them to learn to their highest potential. Sure reading and looking at pictures is lovely, but actually doing something unlocks our brains and allows the learning to sink in deeper.

As such, I've included quite a few activities that get the person to think and then do. For example,   thinking about some stress triggers and writing those down. The act of writing the triggers down helps slow the thought process while the writing is occurring and allows the person to remove themselves from their triggers for a few moments, looking at them at a distance. The triggers can then be analysed objectively in front of the person instead of a million miles per hour in their head. I've also included some case studies and a lovely meditation exercise at the end.

I place a big emphasis on getting professional mental health assistance if/when needed. Breaking  the MH taboo is so incredibly important for us all because over 65,000 Australians attempt suicide every year and 3000 people suicided in 2017. This is bloody serious and we need all the help we can get. In fact, I am no stranger to mental health issues including anxiety and stress and would challenge people who say they cope 100% all the time. 

This course is for adults. You can use it to build your resilience for work or at home or both. If you feel your staff would benefit from such a course you can roll it out to them (in its current format) for no additional cost. If you would like it customised, I can do that also. 

In the world we are all living in, resilience is key to survival. Do yourself, and the people around you, a favour and download the course here. 

As always, it's such a pleasure bringing you online learning that is relevant and needed. 

Lisa :) 

Resilience = The ability to recover quickly from difficulties.

I don't know about you, but I can sure use more resilience in my life. Work demands, home demands, health problems, self imposed expectations to have ones life in balance while maintaining a perfectly toned body and limiting sugar intake to a reasonable amount per week are all things I battle with.....and I know I'm not alone. To be real, none of my life is in balance and that is ok :)

However, to help cope with stress, anxiety, pressures and expectations, we all need a bit (or a lot of) resilience. According to HealthDirect.gov.au resilience is your ability to cope with tough times by applying your inner strength and engaging support networks. Resilience can not only enable you to face difficult situations, but often provides an opportunity to further develop your coping skills.

Recognising this is something we all need, and fast, i'm in the process of developing a four module, self-paced e-learning entirely on Resilience. The course will help you:

1. identify your current level of resilience, your stressors, triggers and demands
2. identify your supports and resources
3. teach you ways to build and strengthen your resilience and actively cope with stress.

While I'm madly typing and designing away, I have given everyone FREE ACCESS to the first module Introduction to Resilience which includes a quiz to identify your current level of resilience.

The final course will be available to download on your computer, tablet or mobile device for $75. If you sign up to our newsletter now, you will receive 50% off! We will notify you as soon as it has launched.

As always, if there is any courses you would like me to build please email me at sparkle.elearning@gmail.com or give me a call on 0439 710 944 if you are in Australia.

Keep learning!

Lisa :)
Chief Executive Octopus
Sparkle E-Learning