One of the biggest challenges facing eLearning professionals today is keeping learners engaged. That's why we're constantly on the lookout for ways to make our courses more engaging and effective.
One way to do this is by using motivational techniques that encourage learners to continue through the course, even when they are having trouble understanding a concept or feel frustrated. It's especially important for online training that you know how to motivate millennials, because they are one of the most difficult groups to keep engaged.
In fact, research shows that only 16% of millennials complete their training courses. Luckily, there are a number of motivational techniques you can use in your eLearning courses that will help you keep your millennial learners engaged and motivated.
We've gathered together six different tips for how to motivate millennials in online training. Try them out in your next course and see if they work for you!
1) Make Them Feel Good About Themselves
You can encourage millennials to stay motivated by making them feel good about themselves when they do well on a task or answer a question correctly. One way to do this is by giving them immediate feedback when they get something right, so they know exactly what they did right and what they did wrong.
If you are using a performance-based assessment, you can also make it so that the learner is automatically rewarded for doing well on the assessment. This gives them an immediate sense of accomplishment and lets them know that they are on the right track. You can do this by giving them a small token or prize as a reward, or by making their score public so that others can see how well they did.
2) Make Them Feel Like They Are Part Of A Community
Millennials like to feel like they are part of a community, so you can motivate them to stay engaged in your course by giving them opportunities to collaborate with other learners. One way to do this is by using peer-to-peer interactions in your course where the learners work together to complete a task or solve a problem.
This allows them to feel like they are working together as part of a team, which encourages them to continue through the course and makes it more likely that they will retain what they learn. You can also give learners the opportunity to create content with each other and share it with other members of their community.
3) Give Them Social Approval From Their Peers And Peers They Admire
Millennials like to feel accepted by their peers, so you can encourage them to stay motivated by giving them opportunities to receive social approval from their peers. You can do this by having them participate in peer-to-peer interactions, or by making it so that their peers or people they admire are watching what they do.
This gives them the sense that other people are watching what they do and that their actions will be seen and judged by others.
4) Make Them Feel Good About How They Are Doing In The Course
You can motivate millennials to stay engaged in your course by giving them regular feedback on how well they are doing. You can do this by periodically asking them how they feel about the course and what they think of it so far, and then giving them feedback on how well they are doing compared to other learners. This helps give them a sense of accomplishment, which keeps them motivated to continue through the course.
5) Give Them The Opportunity To Feel Good About Helping Others Or Contributing To A Cause They Care About
Millennials like to feel like they are helping others or contributing to a cause that is important to them, so you can encourage this type of behavior in your course by giving them opportunities to do so. One way to do this is by having them create content that will be used in the course and sharing it with others. You can also give them the opportunity to donate money or other resources to a cause they care about, which will encourage them to stay engaged in the course.
6) Give Them A Sense Of Accomplishment And Progress Through The Course
Millennials like to feel like they are making progress through a course, so you can encourage them to stay motivated by giving them regular feedback on how well they are doing and how far they have come in the course. You can do this by creating mini-milestones for your learners throughout the course, or by letting them know how much time they have spent on the course so far. This gives them a sense of accomplishment and progress, which keeps them motivated and interested in continuing through the course.
In conclusion, it's important to remember that millennials like to feel good about themselves and how they are doing in a course. They also like to feel like they are part of a community, and making them feel accepted by their peers is an effective way to keep them motivated.
Try using these tips in your next course and see if they work for you!