Benefits of interactive learning to improve corporate training

Interactive learning is by far one of the most effective techniques for employee development. The word interactive is key – with this method students and instructors communicate, collaborate and actively participate in the online learning process. They do this through resources that turn ordinary training content into an attractive and engaging visual experience – allowing students not only to read the information in front of them, but also to compare, practice and try. All of this builds into an immersive learning environment that fosters participation, encourages motivation and reinforces learning.

Interaction can take place through chat or collaborative online projects, and even through activities such as games, interactive videos, quizzes, and more. But why are modern companies betting on interactive learning for corporate training? The answer to this question is simple, and lies in its main benefit. Simply put, interactive learning encourages employees to participate in the learning process. By becoming protagonists in this process, they learn more and with greater efficiency.

Examples of interactive learning for corporate training

1. Interactive games

Games have long been considered important tools in interactive learning. But did you know that game-based learning, as a specific training strategy, nurtures the development of both commitment and motivation in professionals? These two qualities are essential for the success of any corporate training program.

Gameplay elements in interactive learning are not only engaging, but also challenging. They allow students to learn from their mistakes, as well as offer immediate feedback. Moreover, players are more likely to remember what they learned from a game than from a static slide show or textbook.

A great example of game-based learning is Trivia, isEazy Author’s interactive game that challenges players to correctly answer the largest number of questions from different categories in the least amount of time – and all in the name of scoring points. It’s fast-paced and fun!

2. Simulations and branching scenarios

Branching scenarios (or decision-making scenarios) are interactive forms of learning that test the ability of professionals to make decisions and solve problems. At each stage of the scenario, students make choices that open up different routes within the learning content. Naturally, each decision leads to a different outcome, presenting learners with the opportunity to observe the consequences of their choices. No two students will take the same path through a branching scenario!

As you can see, simulations and branching scenarios are valuable resources for developing power skills such as communication, leadership and problem solving. They’re also great for putting employees in work situations that cannot be facilitated in reality, or that carry certain risks.

One way to create this type of simulation is the use of ‘linked scenes’, the isEazy Author interactive tool that allows you to build interactive maps, didactic maps with different levels, or even role plays, like the example below:

Role plays like this allow students to take part in a kind of adventure, in which they’ll meet various characters and develop their personal story through a mixture of images, videos and audio. At each step, learners will have to select the most appropriate answer to a series of questions in order to keep advancing.

3. Interactive videos and animations

Interactive animations are learning resources that can capture student attention, facilitate understanding, and even improve knowledge retention. In the same vein, interactive videos can be used to add an intriguing new dimension to standard training videos. Such videos can contain built-in pauses that allow learners to ask questions, or show additional information in the middle of playback, opening up new avenues of interactivity.

4. Interactive exercises and assessments

Interactive exercises and assessments are elements that reinforce learning for students, whilst simultaneously allowing trainers to collect useful information on their performance.

There are many types of exercises and interactive assessments, including completion exercises, multiple-choice exercises, and grouping. One type is ‘matching’, a logical reasoning activity where students are encouraged to associate two concepts connected by the same theme. This kind of interactive activity reinforces two important faculties for the acquisition of knowledge – logical reasoning and general thinking.

Benefits of interactive learning in online training

Interactive content makes learning much more fun because the learner can experiment with the information instead of just reading and memorizing concepts. In addition, interactive online courses allow users to receive immediate feedback and comments, which significantly helps to improve.

Offering interactive online training to your employees allows them to participate actively in their learning. It facilitates meaningful learning and improves autonomy. It increases learners’ motivation, concentration, attention, and engagement, which will help them advance in training and improve their retention level.

The benefits of creating an interactive and accessible learning experience

If we want to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in our company, we simply cannot disregard accessibility. But interactivity is just as important. If we drop it, we also lose its numerous benefits. Below, we take a closer look at some of those benefits:

• Interactivity in e-learning helps students to better contextualize the information they take in, maximizing their memorization, critical thinking and creativity.
• Resources such as videos, exercises or animated infographics also allow students to assimilate abstract or complex concepts more effectively.
• Interactives make content more visual and attractive, ensuring that it captures student attention and maintains it over time.
• Thanks to interactivity, students have the chance to actively participate in learning, enhancing their ability to resolve conflicts and promoting their self-development.

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Types of interactive content to make your interactive training engaging

Our brain is configured to relate through visual elements. These are more easily assimilated than text, even more so if they are interactive. With isEazy Author, you can add the following types of interactive content to your courses:

Infographics, graphics, and images

Cards

This interactive content lets the user discover what is hidden behind each card. It’s effortless; you can fill each card with content on both sides so that the learner interacts with them to discover more. It’s the perfect way to offer question-and-answer or cause-and-effect content.

In isEazy Author, you count with the new interactive slider, so the user can reveal the content by simply dragging the tab. It’s great to show a ‘before and after’ or to compare two images.

Linked scenes

Linked scenes allow you to simulate a large number of situations or exercises. With isEazy Author, you can create simple linked scenes as didactic maps with different levels where you can discover each concept and expand the information, or even more complex decision trees where the student is the protagonist. In this way, each user will create their learning path, which based on their decisions, will help them to move between the contents they’re most interested in to learn while having fun.

Hot spot

Hot spots are interactive content that highlights essential parts of an image or provides supplementary information. They place relevant information on specific aspects of images for learners to discover by clicking on each of them. You can use them as a gamified learning activity consisting of a question that must be answered by selecting a specific area of an image.

Infographics

Infographics are visual representations of text, data, or graphics with which you can summarize topics so that they can be understood more simply. Use them to convey your content in an entertaining and visually appealing way. Displaying the information in this fresher way will make it more attractive and user-friendly. Try it, you’ll love it!

Graphics

Graphs allow you to represent different percentage values on a single image. They’re perfect for learning because percentages and figures are usually an excellent hook for the audience. Incorporate them in the most visual way possible, and you will get the information to sink in much faster, while providing dynamism by presenting the data differently.

Multimedia content

Audio

How about creating interactive training with a podcast? Audio multimedia resources are perfect for conveying relevant or complementary information in e-learning courses. You can play with the content, even adding interviews, to integrate different points of view that your audience will love.

Video

Videos are agile and entertaining formats that connect with the audience instantly, providing context and facilitating storytelling. They’re one of the most valued resources for modern learners, who are 75% more likely to consume a video than read a text.

Offer your audience more information in a user-friendly and entertaining format, explain complex topics using visual aids, and include webinars to expand your training content – with isEazy Author, you can have a video of up to 1 GB!

Interactive video

Interactive videos allow you to take e-learning training to another level. It’s even better than the traditional format because it requires active participation. With isEazy Author’s interactive video functionality, you can create them in just a few steps, adding questions or supplementary information at the point you want to reinforce ideas effortlessly – a real vice!

Exercises

ABC

It’s no secret that we love the questions and answers exercises! And when it comes to reinforcing learning, ABC exercises are amazing interactive content.

Users must test their knowledge through a series of questions by selecting the correct answer from a series of options. It’s probably one of the most effective formats for ensuring (and assessing) whether knowledge is being acquired correctly.

Sort

The grouping exercises are self-training activities very similar to the ABC exercise. They also test knowledge by challenging the learner to drag each answer or concept corresponding to each group. It’s elementary: one image, several answer choices. Drag & drop dynamics make your content much more agile and fun. Engage them through these exercises, and you’ll instantly hook your audience.

Match

Connect concepts from one group to another through this interactive that reinforces learning dynamically and entertainingly. Students must click on a concept from the first group and then select another idea from the opposite group that they think is related, and as they complete the exercise, pairs of concepts will be formed.

Order

The sorting exercises are perfect for learning processes. The students will have a list of answers that they’ll have to select and order correctly, clicking on the arrows to place them in the correct position.

Fill in the blanks

Other exercises that you can add to your interactive online training are completion exercises. Test their ability to memorize and connect new concepts through incomplete texts, which the learner has to fill in by choosing the correct answer. This format is perfect for providing more context to the exercise.

Games

The alphabet game

The classic game of definitions is excellent for reinforcing essential concepts in a short time. It’s a way for your audience to learn without realizing it. The game uses the alphabet to discover words or concepts. To play, users will answer questions about the training content corresponding to each letter until they complete the circle. Once completed, they can play several times to improve their score.

Trivia

Like going back to your childhood! Your audience must answer questions from the categories you have entered and get at least one right from each category to continue advancing. Click on the wheel and answer the questions until you complete the circle.

Swipe

In this addictive game, your students can classify cards according to the option that corresponds to them, competing against the timer!

Memory

Memory is an interactive game consisting of finding each card’s pair. The important thing is to find as many pairs as possible in the shortest amount of time! It’s a fun way to memorize and associate concepts, and you can create several games with different themes for students to play as many times as they want.

Words

Letter by letter, users must find as many hidden words as possible. To do so, they will have 6 or fewer attempts and an initial clue to help them guess and learn. “Words” is the educational version of Wordle and one of the most entertaining and addictive ways to internalize concepts during education.

Best practices to ensure the effectiveness of interactive content

Create relevant content

One of the most important ingredients in learning concepts and acquiring skills is motivation. This is why it’s so important to offer meaningful, relevant and quality content that helps students to achieve their goals.

The idea here is that your training program should offer content that professionals can use to improve their daily tasks. Whether you use interactive videos or interactive quizzes to achieve this, try to ensure that the content is always focused on your employees’ specific training needs.

Usability matters

One of the benefits of interactivity in e-learning is that it offers students a different kind of learning experience – one that engages them and facilitates the assimilation of new concepts. However, interactivity must go hand-in-hand with usability. Employees using interactive learning must be able to navigate the elements of the course without any difficulties.

And how is this accomplished? Pay special attention to the fundamentals: ensure that the basic functions and controls of the course are clear, so users will learn to navigate it quickly and easily. It’s also important to offer the same ease-of-use from any device, whether desktop computer or phone, and to layer in visual components that encourage students to continue exploring the content.

Simulate real situations through interactivity to enhance learning

It pays to get your employees learning through situations, problems or examples from daily life. If they can first practise with interactive learning, then workers will know exactly how to apply the knowledge or skills they’ve picked up when the same situation arises in real life.

Imagine for a moment a role play that helps your customer service team to learn the correct way to deal with complaints, or teaches the sales department how to close a sale successfully. Take into account the needs of your employees, and then build in interactive elements to your courses that complement their daily challenges.

Use an authoring tool that allows you to include multiple interactive elements

Interactivity is one of the best ways to strengthen your employees’ commitment to their training, as well as promote greater productivity and efficiency in their everyday tasks. But, if you really want your training program to be effective, you should look for a course creation tool that allows you to easily integrate the widest array of interactive resources – intuitively and without the need for previous experience.

Create accessible and interactive e-learning courses with isEazy Author

As you can see, it is possible to create both interactive and accessible e-learning courses. All you need to do is meet the criteria included in the WCAG when setting up your accessible interactive elements. To simplify this task, look for an authoring tool that allows you to easily create an accessible version of them.

isEazy Author not only solves most of the problems associated with creating accessible content, but also automates them, making the whole process easier. Effortlessly adapt color, contrast and fonts, implement automatic focus management, or transform the entire user experience into an accessible one. The tool also offers continuous assistance to the editor, providing helpful tips to make the accessible content creation process a breeze. The result? Your e-learning courses will comply with all the latest accessibility standards and regulations, without any extra effort.