Clarity Learning & Development Blog
Perspectives on the continuous evolution of workplace training, learning and leadership development.
The 4-1-1 on Section 508
The most important part of developing an online course is also the part most often overlooked: making the content equally available to all learners, including those who have disabilities that impact the way they use technology.
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January 25, 2016
Five Tips for Creating Successful Instructional Videos
In 2015, having video in your online course is almost an imperative—video can demonstrate and illuminate concepts that are more difficult to express in text, and its mass appeal is apparent with both young and mobile learners. But if you use this tool, you have to do it right—learners associate the quality of instructional tools with the quality of the content.
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January 18, 2016
The Four People You Need on Your Team
Social Media integration can be a real game-changer when it comes to staying ahead with your learning & development efforts. The flexibility and unique learning opportunities offered through social channels can be surprisingly effective. You might not immediately think that social media is a valuable way for your trainees to spend their time, but in today’s modern and highly mobile workforce, a new perspective on L&D might be just the spark you need to fan the fire of innovation. Here are four ways you can incorporate social media into your programs for real results.
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November 11, 2015
Designing Culturally Inclusive Learning Environments
An inclusive learning environment is one in which every learner feels welcome, able to access and engage with course materials, and safe to express personal viewpoints. Because eLearning creates the possibility of a global classroom, with students representing many different cultures and backgrounds within a single course, inclusivity becomes both a necessity and an interesting challenge for online instructors. How can you facilitate a learning environment in which all voices are both able to be expressed and heard? How can the teaching materials accommodate everyone?
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November 1, 2015
6 Ways to Create Authentic eLearning
Educational courses and training programs have often followed a very familiar route: instructor presents information, learners ingest information and prove they’ve understood it via a test, and then instructor releases learners into the world to utilize their newly gained skills.
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October 30, 2015
Cultivating Instructor Presence in an Online Environment
One of the toughest parts about leading online instruction is the missed opportunity for face-to-face contact time with students, which some course leaders believe can establish authority, strengthen the instructor-learner relationship, and set the tone for learning. And research shows that a strong instructor presence leads to better student learning, cognition, and motivation. But how can you do this in the online environment?
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October 29, 2015
What Learners Really Think about eLearning
Want to know what eLearners really think about online courses? Below are the top three complaints we’ve heard from online learners, as well as remedies that can help you sidestep learner complaints and start basking in positive feedback.
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October 18, 2015
Increasing Learner Motivation with Gamification
Games have long held a position of power in the world of online content. Even before mobile devices became a popular form of game consumption, computer games were an excellent way for a user to interact with the online world. Gamification is so powerful because it is fun and addictive. People want to keep playing, they want to compete, they want to win prizes, and are happy to learn some important lessons along the way. So, if you are at all interested in exploring how gamification can play into your eLearning strategy, read on for 5 surprising benefits of this learning strategy.
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October 8, 2015
When the Going Gets Rough: Surviving the Top 3 Hassles of Being an Instructional Designer
It may be fun at times, but no one said this line of work would be easy. Developing courses for outside audiences can be difficult, especially for designers who are neither content experts nor teaching the course once it’s launched. In fact, instructional designers are called upon more and more often to be project managers in addition to their regular responsibilities.
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September 17, 2015
Rubrics: The Scaffolding of Quality eLearning
Rubrics are a necessary part of any effective training, but many instructors and designers struggle with creating them. Rubrics serve as a guide for determining whether or not the learning process was successful, and once written, they can guide design decisions, such as the appropriate types of assessments to use.
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September 16, 2015
Online or Blended: Which is Better?
If you Google “online or blended?” you’ll find a number of opinions, the surprising majority of which offer a concrete answer: blended. But is that true? Is one delivery method really superior to another?
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August 19, 2015
Once Upon a Time, Stories Transformed eLearning
Story-based learning (SBL) uses narrative as the main way to present course material. And there are multiple formats this strategy can take on: video or audio production, written text, dramatic scripts, live storytelling, interactive narratives (“choose your own adventure” stories), and gamification are a few examples. Courses may present content to learners in the form of stories, or learners may tell their own narratives as a way of integrating new concepts into their lives.
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August 10, 2015
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