Content creation is something that you need to be careful with. It is not just the content that is important. It is how you deliver the content that will eventually help you make your elearning course or training program successful.
There are various techniques that will help you make it successful. Most of the time, it is in the way the content is delivered. If you are looking for new ideas for your course, you may want to consider using open-ended questions.
Now what are open-ended questions? These are questions that will encourage your learners to think for themselves. It is a type of question that does not have pre-determined answers to choose from. It is also known as an open question. When learners are asked this type of question, they are forced to formulate their own answers. It is a great way to assess learners regarding the extent of their understanding of the lessons or ideas you are presenting to them.
Among the skills that will be developed here includes critical thinking, reasoning, creativity and communication. These are skills that will help strengthen the work ethics of any employee. This is why it should be considered during the content creation process.
The question is, how can you apply this in your training program?
A great way to implement this is to start with a close-ended question. A close-ended question is a type of question that has pre-determined answers. Most of the time, it can be answered by Yes or No. You can use this question to determine the level of understanding that the learner has about the topic. Your close-ended questions can help you provide learners with the right open-ended question that that is aligned to their current knowledge. For instance, if the close-ended questions reveal that the learners know little about a topic, you can lead them to more basic open-ended questions that will allow you to further identify how much they know. If their understanding is more extensive, then you can give them the more difficult questions.
You can also use an open-ended question to spark an online conversation. Post it in the group chat and let the learners post their answers. Allow them to discuss their thoughts and expound on the topic. You can sit back and read about their thoughts – and jump in every now and then to add fuel to the discussion.
Another way that you can implement this is to tie it up with your learning goal. This is a simple way of assessing how successful your content creation effort were. Naturally, if you delivered it correctly, the learner should be able to answer your open-ended question well. If you intend them to learn a particular skill, provide them with a scenario that will implement that skill and ask them to expound on applying what they learned to that particular scenario.
One problem that you may encounter during content creation is determining if you have an open ended question or not. It is easy to solve this problem. You simply have to check if the question can be answered by Yes or No. If it can, then you have a close-ended question. You need to rephrase your question. You also have to make sure that you do not have a loaded question – which is a question that already places an opinion within the question. For instance, asking learners “how did this event make you feel dissatisfied about the project?” It is better to ask “how did the event make you feel in relation to the project at hand?”
Ensure that during content creation, you will provide enough time for your learners to ponder on the question before they answer. Since you are asking them to provide you answers with more depth, you need to allot more time for them to complete their answer.
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