The eLearning industry has greatly advanced over the years. New concepts are introduced, and eLearning developers are using new and innovative techniques to increase the interest of learners. Concepts like gamification, instructional design and many more have greatly increased the need for eLearning professionals to stay current.
An eLearning developer may have the adequate knowledge to create basic courses, but the methods to make the course more effective and more interesting are becoming increasingly important. How can eLearning developers enhance their development skills to effectively deliver knowledge to the learner? There are number of FREE online eLearning courses that help you explore new technologies and concepts, enhance your knowledge of learner’s behavior, and brush up on instructional design. Following are a list of FREE courses we recommend.
- Virtual Teacher Program: This program helps the learner enroll for free and a sequence of courses are provided. It is offered online by The University of California, Irvine. After the completion of the course you will also receive a verified certificate; you can also earn a specialization certificate for a certain course, but you will have to pay a fee for that.
- The ABCs of Instructional Design: If you are new to instructional design and want to know about the basics of instructional design then this is the ideal course for you. This course involves two instructional design models – ADDIE model (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate) and UBD model (Understanding by Design Model). Assessments, case studies, videos and instructional websites are used in the course to make practical application of what they teach.
- Gamification: This course delves into the strategies to apply the concept of gamification into the learning development program. It includes the basics of gamification, game thinking, gamification design work and enterprise gamification. This course is about 6 weeks long and each week covers 2 units; entire course is divided into 12 units.
- Fundamentals of Online Education: Georgia Tech is the provider of this course which is a total of 6 weeks. After the completion of this course you will have a comprehensive understanding of how to transform traditional courses into online interactive courses.
- Motivating Students to Learn: Motivation is the key-component which helps the learner to take on the course and complete it. The secret of one’s success is motivation which helps the person to achieve their goals. This program helps to understand the basic factors which affect motivation and basic theories which involve ways of boosting learner’s motivation through goals and personal interest.
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