ISTC Meets ...Emma Eynon!

Published on 14 Sep 2023 by Emma Eynon

How exactly do we create ENGAGING eLearning?

As a member of the ISTC (Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators) I (Emma Eynon) was absolutely delighted to be invited to give a web talk on this very subject!

On the 14th September 2023, I delivered a live web presentation for an ISTC MEETS event to help anyone who may be interested in developing engaging eLearning.

I was happy to share our own experience on how we set about lowering the barrier for learning while maintaining a high quality of digital content.

Creating engaging eLearning is a challenge that we set ourselves back in 2019, when we were faced with delivering training on difficult technical topics to a global audience.

I'm happy to say that since then our eLearning has been a big success with our chosen audience. We have even been privileged to win many awards for our rather unique approach. (Including a highly distinguished ISTC merit award!)

ISTC merit certificate

What is eLearning vs Digitally Published Materials?

As the world turns to digital services for ...well, everything really! ...the experience of eLearning is still very much templated, and let's face it, dreary!

The trend is to simply publish online materials like articles or videos online and call this eLearning because they cover set learning topics.

So how to present online materials in such a way as to give more of a training experience instead?

The key word here is "experience"!

An eLearning experience

Thinking about eLearning from the student's perspective as we build our courses is in fact the core of our entire approach.

We considered what kind of barriers might prevent effective eLearning, like:

Individual learning styles (visual, textual, practical etc)
Existing knowledge and experience level
Languages
Time and scheduling availability
Ability to consolidate or practise the learning meaningfully
Help and support to understand key points
Accessibility (and even technical accessibility)
Age and gender differences

We (at Fantom Factory) were determined to produce professional eLearning to overcome as many of these perceived barriers as possible, simply through design.

In this (35 minute) presentation, I explain just how we do that!