Regis Learning Solutions

How to Design E-learning for Multiple
Generations … as Easy as 1-2-3
How do you design e-learning when your audience consists of multiple generations? Here are three solutions that work.
By Brandon Fleisher and Kevin Himmel

Designing e-learning to appeal to multiple generations would be a snap if each learner audience consisted of a single generation. In the real world, however, most e-learning audiences comprise a mixture of learners from all three generations. Designing a course that will appeal to each one of them is the challenge that most e-learning designers face.

In a perfect world, we would separate learners by generations, offering each group a different version of the same course based on its own unique learning preferences.

By building e-learning in modules as reusable learning objects, for example, content can be repurposed for each target audience. Under this scenario, each generation’s learning experience would cover the same information, but content would be presented in different ways to each group.

Gen Y learners, for example, might take a course featuring more technology and interactivity, while Boomers would be offered a more conventional, linear course, as well as a facilitator to guide them along the way.

If one e-learning course is all you have the time and budget to support, the next-best approach is to create a course that appeals to all. Here are three tips for doing just that:

Incorporate choices into the training, allowing each participant to learn according to his or her preference. Keep all of the e-learning you design as open as possible and design in such a way that learners themselves can choose how to learn and interact with the content based on their preferences. For example, provide the same content in multiple formats, allowing learners to choose the format that works best for them. This might include a self-study option, a gaming option, a chat or cross-participant interaction option, and an audio or video option. Also be sure to include “show me” and “try it” paths, so as to allow learners to see a task performed and to interact with a scenario, getting feedback and help along the way.

Step up the engagement factor. All learners, regardless of generation, want their learning to have real-world applicability, so be sure to address the What’s in it for me? (WIIFM?) question by developing an engaging storyline that illustrates why the learning is important to each learner, individually. Involvement and experience are the most powerful teachers, so giving participants the opportunity to try out what they’re learning also offers tremendous value to learners. And all adult learners—especially the Internet generations—like active involvement, so where possible, incorporate relevant knowledge checks and other participatory activities.

Include opportunities for cross-participant interaction and facilitation. Including interaction with other participants as well as with real-life coaches within an e-learning environment drastically increases the richness of the experience for learners from all generations. Feedback can come in many forms, from face-to-face instruction to graphed results to actions. Including classroom sessions and opportunities for feedback outside of the e-learning course itself ensures that Boomer participants, in particular, will be more comfortable learning “online.” Gen X and Gen Y learners also benefit from this approach because they like to see the results of their actions and want to receive recognition when they perform well.

Another option is to forgo traditional “e-learning” and use a simulation instead.

Simulations typically place learners in a virtual environment and encourage them to collaborate and compete while they run through a series of decision scenarios within a continually adjusting environment that mimics the complexities of a real-world business.

Gen Y participants enjoy the interactivity that such simulations afford, as well as the element of competition and the opportunity to see the outcomes of their decisions. For Gen X learners, simulations boast the undeniable applicability to the “real-world” that they crave. And classroom-loving Boomers appreciate the fact that most simulations feature both an online and a classroom component. Knowing that a seasoned facilitator is on hand to lead them through the process is typically comforting to this group, allowing them to dive into the simulation in earnest and derive maximum value from the learning experience.