Some people are known for their ability to always think ‘outside the box.’ They seem to know how to approach a situation from different angles and perspectives, consistently solving problems and coming up with innovative solutions. What makes some people better at this than others? Well, it’s likely these individuals have strong lateral thinking skills.

Many creatives, for example, use lateral thinking habits to solve problems, pitch new ideas and produce strong results for their teams. These traits are very valued by employers and managers, as organizations can greatly benefit from individuals who know how to think in this way.

Do you want to know how to develop your own lateral thinking skills? While some people are more naturally gifted when it comes to this area, there are certain things you can do to improve the way you approach problems and offer solutions.

Creative Exercises to Improve Lateral Thinking

Rolestorming – what would you do if you were someone else? Put yourself in someone else’s shoes, or brain, and imagine what they would do in your situation.

Switch on your 5 senses – look at objects around you, analyze their shape and color; listen to sounds in your environment; use the senses of touch and smell. These elements will help you to start generating new ideas.

Create a Mind map – start off with your problem in the center, and branch out to draw the major topics, then sub-topics. This will help you visually organize information and show relationships among pieces of the whole.

Reverse thinking – think about what everyone will typically do, then do the opposite.

Write a 6-word story of your problem – make the language as simple yet imaginative as possible.

Christopher Pappas, founder of the eLearning Industry’s Network, suggests asking your online learners thought-provoking questions – he calls this “identifying limiting cognitions.”

“Maybe a past experience is an obstacle that they must overcome. For example, they naturally assume that this solution is the ONLY solution because it's always worked in the past,” Pappas says.

Asking questions that (respectfully) challenge an individual’s beliefs and assumptions helps to identify whether learners are looking at problems in a particular set frame of mind. People get stuck in the same old ways of thinking – stepping outside the comfort zone helps them to acknowledge these limiting cognitions and move beyond them. Riddles are an example of lateral thinking. Many riddles and puzzles work on assumptions, with the answer being a surprising side-step of the status quo. Lateral thinkers know how to identify clues other people overlook, and ask questions that will lead to the right answer.

Using Collaboration to Improve Lateral Thinking

Pappas also recommends incorporating group activities into your eLearning course, with online learners working together in a culture of collaboration.

As he explains, “every member of your audience has unique insights, experiences, and knowledge that they have to share.” By working as a group, each learner will be able to gain an insight into the problem-solving techniques of other learners. This encourages people to consider things from different perspectives, which Pappas considers “the greatest gift of all.”

“Online group collaboration projects allow them to collectively problem-solve and offer their point-of-view. As a result, every online learner gets to look at the problem from a new angle. They also recognize that there's more than one way to achieve the desired outcome,” he says.

There’s nothing to lose by trying out some of these things in your everyday work life. And by encouraging your online learners to do the same. Doing activities like this regularly will certainly help you become more aware of the way you use your brain to solve problems and approach issues. You may just surprise yourself when you start coming up with some cool solutions from out of left field. You might also find it quite relaxing, to switch your brain over to a different way of thinking throughout the day!

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How to improve your lateral thinking skills

No matter which industry you work in, landing your dream job isn’t easy. Sometimes even the best grades and technical skills aren’t enough to get you further than the first interview round, or noticed for promotion. Sound familiar? You may need to look at the soft skills you can offer an employer – because it’s often skills such as self-awareness, self-control and teamwork that will set you apart from the competition.

Having the right technical skills and knowledge to successfully carry out your job is only one part of being the best you can be in the workplace. In addition to these hard skills, you need a good combination of soft skills to know how to work well with others.

According to a survey by Talent Q, “nine in 10 employers believe that graduates with soft skills will become increasingly important” – yet a massive 80% of employers are struggling to find graduates with the soft skills they need! While this is bad for employers, it's great news for anyone who is willing to put some time and effort into their professional development, because soft skills are something that can be learned and improved upon.

You can even do this online, through soft skills courses that you can complete at your own pace, in your own home. While your employer (hopefully!) offers plenty of training and development in the workplace, learning materials can often be focused more on those hard, technical skills. So it could be up to you to take the initiative and work on your soft skills in your own time, if you really want to get ahead.

In a previous article, we looked at the top 5 soft skills you need and how to get them, highlighting a selection of online courses to improve:

Today, we’re going to look at 3 online courses that offer an overall perspective and introduction to soft skills. This way, you can get more of a ‘crash course’ in soft skill development, while covering all the elements mentioned above.

With the 10 Soft Skills You Need course, you’ll start to understand why it’s so important to develop a set of soft skills – for both personal and professional development.

This course has been created for employees at all levels, including managers and supervisors, so is suitable for any audience. It discusses the 10 key soft skills that contribute most to career success, presenting practical ways to improve interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, communication, self-confidence, and more.

It’s particularly good for anyone looking to work on their communication, problem solving and conflict resolution skills, to build more positive relationships at work. Another great thing about this course is that it encourages learners to have the right mindset and expectations when starting the course, acknowledging that while technical skills can be learned in a short period of time, soft skills on the other hand require a change in habits and self-awareness.

Similar name, different content - The Essential 10 Soft Skills You Need course speaks to a broader audience, making it just as suitable for business owners, startups, and entrepreneurs, as well as employees.

This online course breaks down soft skills to the fundamental perspective that “no matter what your position, organization, or industry, you work with people!” You’ll learn how taking the time to build effective soft skills can contribute to a more efficient, more harmonious, and more productive workplace, as well as to your own overall job happiness and satisfaction.

From this course, you'll gain a better understanding of how to apply soft skills to specific situations in the workplace. There’s a good focus on attitude and work ethic, which can often be overlooked or simply assumed when talking about employee development. You’ll also look at improving your time management skills, flexibility and adaptability to change – all important things for successful employees and entrepreneurs.

You might also like to look back at our previous articles on soft skills:

 The Importance of Soft Skills in Today’s Workforce

 The Top 5 Soft Skills You Need and How to Get Them

How to Write Soft Skills Learning Objectives

Soft skills courses everyone should complete

We talked recently about the fact that many workers are leaving high-paid corporate positions to pursue a more meaningful career that aligns with their personal values. For these people, it’s often the non-profit sector that provides that important connection between values and job satisfaction. In fact, in today’s workforce, we’re seeing significant growth in the non-profit sector, with not-for-profit (NFP) organisations employing more people than ever before.

Not all non-profit employees are working out in the field for humanitarian aid organisations. The sector encompasses a wide range of roles and positions – from doctors and lawyers, to policy makers, researchers and communication professionals. Employers may indeed be humanitarian organisations, but they can also be social services, aged care providers, or early childhood educators.

According to the 2017 Australian Charities report, not-for-profit organisations account for 10 percent of Australia’s workforce, with non-profits employing more than 1.2 million people – making it Australia's second largest sector for employment. We can see the same trend happening in the United States, with figures from late 2016 showing that over 10 percent of the domestic workforce are employed by registered nonprofit organisations.

For staff working in the non-profit sector, it’s important to receive high levels of training and professional development. NFP employers and managers need to provide tailored training programs that will educate and empower their staff, so they can feel focused and motivated towards their purpose.

Online courses can be a smart solution for training employees in the non-profit sector. Many eLearning courses are designed specifically for NFP staff – covering areas such as management, finance, governance, marketing, leadership and communication. To give you an idea of the high level training materials out there, we’ve hand-picked 5 of the best online courses for non-profit organisations.

Nonprofit Fundamentals is a great course for those involved in, or working towards, leadership and management in a non-profit organisation. Renowned author, Leslie Crutchfield, explains how NFPs are different than for-profits, and the challenges and opportunities that this brings.

Through this course, you’ll get a comprehensive overview of how fundraising, governance, finance, and accounting work within an NFP. This means you’ll learn about fundraising, grants, social media, talent recruiting and working with volunteers. You’ll also gain a better understanding of how to shape your organisation’s vision and strategy, and scale both your organisation and the impact it has on the world.

There are many online courses around that focus on social media strategy for non-profits, but this is our pick of the bunch.

Social Media Strategy is best for anyone who works or volunteers for a non-profit and is responsible for their social media. It’s particularly good for NFPs who only have a small budget to work with. Often, when budget is tight, social media is handed over to anyone who’s willing to get the job done – but that doesn’t mean they have the skills and experience to develop and execute a proper social media strategy.

Through this course, internationally recognised influencer Devin Thorpe will help you identify your goals and develop a simple and effective social media strategy. You’ll learn tips and tricks to raise your non-profit's profile and accelerate its fundraising, including:

Using Twitter and Facebook to build awareness for your cause, attract more followers and foster a community

Optimising your social media posts to expand your mailing list and raise more money.

Use time-saving tools like Hootesuite and Bufferapp to manage your social media channels.

You’ll learn all this in just one hour, so if you’re keen to become better at social media, it’s well worth the time.

Even though your organisation is non-profit, it still requires and uses financial resources to function. In fact, successful financial management is what allows your organisation to continue providing much-needed services to the public. So if you’re working in a management position within a NFP, or aspire to be, it can help to have a good grasp of the world of finance for non-profits.

Financial Management can help you with that. The primary focus of this online course is on providing strategies and tips on analyzing the finances of a non-profit. You’ll learn all about budgets, cash, costs, financial statements, and various financial ratios used to evaluate non-profit finances.

This means you’ll be able to understand and create different types of budgets, analyse financial statements, understand tax filing basics and establish internal controls to combat misuse of funds. With real world practices, this course will leave you feeling more confident and comfortable when it comes to financial management.

Nonprofit grant writers: how to find foundation funding

This is a more niche course, specifically created for those who want to learn more about finding appropriate foundations to approach for funding. Foundations are a major source of funding for most non-profit organisations. But it can often be challenging to find appropriate foundations that are interested in what you have to offer.

The Grant Writers course will help you understand what foundations are and how to find ones that you can successfully apply to for money to assist your non-profit. Presented in one hour, the course presents strategies, through written documents and videos, in a step-by-step manner to help you locate the right foundations to apply to.

The course doesn’t focus on how to write a grant, but how to locate appropriate foundations to apply to – so it’s best for those who are already writing grants for a NFP. You’ll be able to use the information you gain over and over again, as you search for different foundations and write your grants. You’ll also feel a lot more confident and obtain better results when approaching foundations for money.

This is another course designed with a specific audience in mind. Are you interested in using Salesforce within your non-profit organization? The Salesforce course is ideal for NFP managers and directors who want to learn how to administer and develop Salesforce specifically for the non-profit environment.

Hiring a consulting firm for a full-on Salesforce deployment can cost a lot of money. This online course can save you that cost, helping you to set-up Salesforce within your organisation for various uses – donor management, grants, volunteer management, event management, receipting, communications and many more.

Presented by video, this online course will help you to understand and use Salesforce in a cost-efficient, effective way. After completing the course, you’ll be able to perform basic tasks and advanced customisations common to non-profits; use campaigns to manage programs for events and fundraising intitiatives; enter donations related to pledges, recurring donation commitments and campaigns; and much more. Knowing how to use Salesforce within a non-profit environment can be very beneficial for your skill set, giving you a definite advantage in the competitive non-profit sector.

In fact, all of these online courses will help give you that edge when it comes to working within the non-profit sector. And you can complete courses at your own pace, at a time and place that's convenient to you. Get started on improving your skill set today.

Online training for employees in the non-profit sector

As more employers recognize the important link between soft skills and career success, greater emphasis is being placed on the development of non-technical skills in the workplace – skills such as flexibility, leadership and good communication.

If you’ve read our previous article on the importance of soft skills in today’s workforce, you’ll know that employees with high-level soft skills can bring many benefits to an organization. In light of this, hiring managers and HR departments are increasingly keen to attract and retain employees who possess a good mix of hard technical skills and soft interpersonal skills.

However, this does present some challenges. Because while most technical skills can be measured and tested, soft skills such as empathy, resilience and a positive attitude are harder to define and qualify in certain terms. How do you measure someone’s resilience? How can you test the level of compassion a person shows?

Clare Dygert, senior instructional designer at Sweetrush, agrees that the most difficult thing about creating soft skills learning objectives is “the general lack of precision around how you will know if the learner has accomplished the objective.” Usually, managers and HR professionals will establish learning objectives for staff, to clearly define:

and what successful mastery of the objective looks like.

So how do we write learning objectives for soft skills? 

Here are some tips for writing soft skills learning objectives, to help you understand, define and measure employee success in these areas.

Make sure you understand key terms and their context


The first step is to make sure you have a thorough understanding of all key terms that are used in relation to learning objectives. Before you even start writing any objectives, think about how the concepts of empathy, resilience and leadership are used within your organization.

Understanding key terms within the context of your own organization is imperative, as it will help you identify ‘real world’ scenarios that can be used to measure these skills. For example, compassion is an important part of many roles in the non-profit sector, and can be directly linked to the values and culture of that industry. Define each key term in your own words, before you even begin to try and measure them.

As Dygert says, “a well-defined list of knowledge, skills, and abilities for job roles can provide the foundation for learning objectives and help you use keywords in a way that others will understand. It will also help you understand what success looks like.”

Write learning objectives that focus on employee actions 

When you start writing learning objectives, make sure you’re writing them in a way that focuses on the learner. You want to outline actions and behavior of the employee – what they are doing and will be able to do.

Try to avoid vague language – be clear about what an individual is doing and will be able to do in the future once they master the skill. The more specific you can be, the better. For example, talk about employees performing tasks and completing actions, rather than “gaining an understanding of the policy.” Focusing on things that can be observed, not just assumed, make measuring a lot easier.

As we said before, the hardest thing about writing learning objectives for soft skills is knowing whether an employee has actually accomplished the objective or not. Therefore, you need to find an effective way to measure and test each objective.

You can do this by seeing how staff members apply new knowledge to their roles. If employees aren’t able to successfully apply freshly acquired knowledge to a relevant work scenario, you may need to review your learning objectives to make sure they were specific and clear enough. Dygert gives a very good example of a clear, specific learning objective:

“Given a situation, a task to accomplish, and a disruption to the situation, the learner will adjust her plans so as to accomplish the task within the time allowed and at the budget given, in spite of the disruption.”

Here, we can see that the employee’s behavior was observed, within a well-defined, specific situation, where both time and budget outcomes were also measured. With this learning objective, it's clear what is being taught, how it is presented and what successful mastery of the objective looks like.

Consider these guidelines when writing learning objectives for soft skills – they'll help you define, test and measure your employees' success in these areas.

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

Soft skills are essential to success in today’s workplace. In this blog, we will show you how to write learning objectives for these skills.

How to write learning objectives for soft skills

Are you thinking about starting a new business? Getting a new business off the ground is always a very exciting experience, but it can also be quite challenging. Fortunately, these days you don’t need to have a college degree to be a successful business owner. There are plenty of online courses available that can help you get your business up and running.

From registering your business name to basic accounting skills, online courses can help you launch your business and give it the best chance of success. Once you’ve successfully launched, you’ll also need to make sure you stay in business – eLearning courses will provide you with the knowledge and skills to do that too!

Here are 5 of the best online courses for starting a new business. These eLearning courses will provide you with the practical knowledge you need to get your new business started, and help existing businesses grow to new heights.

How to Setup Your New Business From Scratch

The best place to start? From scratch, with this practical step-by-step course that takes you through everything you need to know about setting up a new business. If you’re looking for clear, basic guidelines on how to turn your business idea into an actual company – this is the course for you.

You won’t find information or guidance on things like management styles, or growing your business, but that’s okay – there are plenty of other online courses that are specifically focused on those skills. This is the course you need first, that will show you how to:

Set up your business technology, such as email, phone, files

Plan, organize and keep your business running smoothly

Understand the different types of marketing available

Understand and start building your social media presence

This course is also great for anyone who is looking for guidelines on setting up a new business, but focuses more on the ‘business models’ side of things, rather than those practical first steps. It provides plenty of information on essential topics related to entrepreneurship, while helping you to develop your business idea.

Through descriptive examples and exercises, you’ll gain an introductory understanding of the knowledge and skills required in the entrepreneurial journey. In the last two sessions, you’ll be given the resources you need to design your first plan and important information on business laws and raising capital.

How to Prospect and find New Business & Clients

As we said before, it’s not just about getting your business up and running – you also need the skills and knowledge to stay in business. And to do that, you’ll need to know how to attract and retain clients or customers.

Prospecting, referral and networking skills have more to do with the success of any small business than any other skill. This online course will provide you with a deeper understanding of how different prospecting strategies work to produce results. Through a mix of video, audio and practical exercises, you’ll learn how to increase your client or customer base – and ultimately increase profits.

Throughout the eLearning course, you’ll be given a toolkit of ideas, scripts and practical tips that will help put you in front of the right potential clients. Learn how to develop a constant prospecting awareness, with the skills to deliver a great elevator speech, work a room, network successfully, and get appointments through phone calls.

To be successful in running your new business, you’re going to need to get your head around the numbers. This can be very daunting for many small business owners, but it’s vital that you take the time to understand the financials of your business if you want to avoid failure.

As this course acknowledges, in the first year of business, it’s quite difficult to plan. Financials can be all over the place, including some months where there is no income at all. In these early days, how do you budget for expenses, salary, and projected growth?

That's exactly what this course helps you to do. You’ll gain an understanding of the ebbs and flows of your company finances and learn how to stabilize first year income, take an appropriate salary, and create realistic financial income projections.

The Cost of Capital: The Key To Attract Venture Capitalists

This last course takes things one step further, helping you to find and attract venture capitalists to invest in your business. The eLearning course is for small business owners who want to understand the meaning of the cost of capital and its applications in corporate finance.

Through this eLearning course, you’ll learn to speak the same language of advisors and venture capitalists. You’ll be able to recognize if a new project will create value for shareholders and if it has chances to be financed by venture capitalists. You’ll also gain the skills and knowledge to:

Use the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) to work out the cost of equity

Calculate the yield-to-maturity for corporate bonds

Use the y-t-m to calculate the pre-tax cost of debt

Calculate the weighted average cost of debt for projects

Hopefully these online courses will help you to overcome some of the challenges in starting your own business. By taking the time to develop your basic business skills, you'll have far greater chance of being a successful business owner.

5 online courses to help you start your new business

A helping hand from those who have been there and done it is never a bad idea. For entrepreneurs looking to get the next step up, there are many courses available to help in the department.

The internet is a great source of information, but sometimes it’s awash with too many “100% guarantees” and “Make a Million in 30 Days” offers.

To save you the trouble, we’ve searched through only the most reliable sources to give you a quality list of the Top 5 Courses to Help Entrepreneurs. They won’t hold your hand and do the heavy lifting for you, but they can certainly set you off on the right path.

#1: Taking the Next Step in Leadership: An Introduction to Becoming an Organizational Champion

This course helps entrepreneurs understand and implement the organizational strategies of the most effective leaders in industry today. This course is based on Mike Thompson's hit book, the organizational champion, and these modules will help you place your organization on a path to overcoming obstacles and difficulties as you begin to grow.

Understanding how Organizational Champions differ from leaders

Defining the four characteristics within the ECChO Model

Describing the benefits that each Champion characteristic brings to an organization

#2:   Management Lessons From Steve Jobs and Richard Branson

Both of these incredible entrepreneurs have been incredibly successful in no small part due to their unique approaches to management. This course gives you an up close look into these two powerful and fascinating men and gives you insights into the management philosophies that help them build their brands.

If you are an entrepreneur then understanding how your management style affects your company is paramount.

In the very beginning years your company culture is going to be what attracts talent to your new opportunity. If you have a management style that does not engage and motivate your employees in the right way, they simply will not stick around.

This course gives you access to two exclusive interviews, two quizzes and further reading to help you down the road.

#3 How To Build a Business Model For a Startup Company

So you have an idea and you think it may become the next AirBnB or Uber. What do you do from here?

The truth is that failure rate for startups is astronomical and if you want to have any hope of becoming profitable and actually having a successful business on your hands then you need to have a bulletproof business model.

This course will show you how to build the perfect business model for your startup, explain why you need to develop one in the first place, and show you how to build and cultivate your initial customer base.

Inside you get access to exclusive video explaining how to build a great company, step-by-step, a comprehensive article on validating your business model, and a quiz to help you retain the information you learned.

#4: Building a Business - Financial Projections For Startups

Your startup needs to have real metrics that backup the rest of your projections. Without a bulletproof financial section of your business plan then you have very little hope of actually gaining financing for your company.

Even if you decide you don't need to take on a bank loan or find angel investors, you should absolutely take the time to go through your financials so that you can make better decisions in the critical months and years ahead as you're starting out.

This course gives you everything you need to know to create  the financial portion of your business plan, and lets you know what obstacles to look out for as you move ahead.

#5: Startup Business: How To Raise Seed Capital

Most companies will need some form of “war chest” when they are created. This startup capital is the bare minimum you require to like the spark that will ignite your entrepreneurial engine and take you where you want to go. This program shares key insights into how you can raise up to $50,000 for your startup.

You'll get access to a cash flow template, information about key funding sources, a partnership checklist and much, much more.

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

Raise the seed capital you need to get started with your business…

Know where to find the money you need for your business…

Understand the critical psychology behind gaining startup funding…

You can get access to all of these courses and hundreds of thousands more when you browse our marketplace at go1.com.  We've created a one-stop portal where you can find the most effective e-learning courses and materials for your organization, whether you're a startup or part of a multibillion-dollar corporation.

Online learning has proven to be one of the most effective ways to train your staff and become more competitive in today's business climate.

Click here to explore our marketplace and find the right training courses for your organization today!

Many companies, from global organizations to small business, have chosen to move away from traditional learning methods in favor of eLearning. Online courses have proved incredibly effective for employee training, in areas of compliance, professional development and acquiring new skills.

For staff, eLearning delivers a training solution that is flexible, efficient and convenient, with employees able to learn at their own pace and in the comfort of their own workspace. However, while we talk a lot about the benefits of eLearning, online courses can also have their drawbacks – just like all training methods.

If you’ve just enrolled in an online course for the first time, or are thinking about using eLearning materials at work, it’s important to be aware of the problems you may come up against when learning online. This way, you can be prepared, and ready to overcome any challenges in your learning journey!

The most obvious difference between eLearning and traditional classroom teaching is that you won’t have the usual face-to-face interactions with your teacher and other learners. For some people, especially extroverts, who bounce off the energy of others, this can be a problem. However, for introverted employees, having the choice to complete training in your own comfort zone, without any distraction or interruptions, can definitely be a positive!

If it’s important to you to have a strong sense of connection with your trainer and other learners, think about ways in which you can recreate that connection online. Thanks to technology, it’s really not that hard to do. These days, many remote workers and telecommuters are able to remain just as closely networked with workmates and leaders working out of the office. And collaboration technology continues to make remote teams just as efficient and productive as traditional workplace environments.

Before taking your online course, think about how you can connect with others through Skype, video chats, conference calls, social media groups and discussion boards.

Online courses offer students and employees a very flexible, convenient way of acquiring new skills and knowledge. But participating in eLearning can actually require extra levels of self-motivation, discipline and time management.

Just like in traditional teacher-led learning environments, problems will soon arise if you don’t put in the proper time and effort. Some people find themselves a bit lost in online learning environments, without having a teacher or instructor in the same room to constantly look over their shoulder or urge them on. If this happens, it’s important to overcome this challenge, as you don’t want to slip further and further behind.

Read through our previous article on knowing how to study effectively for your online course. This will really help you maximize your eLearning experience and results, with helpful advice on:

As with any kind of learning materials, staff or students will fail to engage with an online course if its content doesn’t apply to the real world. In classrooms, universities and employee training rooms alike, it’s natural to want to know that you can apply your new skills and knowledge to real life situations and work environments.

If you enrol in an eLearning course, but are unable to see any value or benefit, that is definitely going to be a problem – especially if the course is compulsory for your job. To combat this, look for courses that use scenario-based training and offer real-world benefits.

These eLearning course are designed to place learners in the real world, rather than relying on predominantly text-based learning. Using eLearning scenarios makes training far more interactive, engaging and effective for learners. If you aren’t able to choose the training courses you participate in, do some research into scenario-based courses online, then have a chat with your manager or employer about the benefits these courses could bring to you as an employee.

Thinking your tech skills aren’t good enough

The next problem you might run up against in eLearning is thinking that your tech skills aren’t good enough. Unfortunately, many people, particularly older generations, miss out on the world of online learning because they’re intimidated by technology.

If this is you, or someone close to you, you can overcome this challenge. eLearning professionals and online course creators must design materials in a way that’s accessible to all people – not just the ones who are tech savvy!

A well-designed eLearning course will be easy to navigate, able to be used on a wide range of devices (including mobile) and will feel intuitive to the learner. Don’t let fear of technology stop you from taking advantage of all the knowledge out there – online courses can really help advance your career. What’s more, as you change your mindset towards technology and overcome challenges, you’ll become a more resilient and effective learner.

Not having support from trainers or teachers

On that note, it can also be a problem when learners aren’t aware of the support available to them – for tech support and learning assistance in general. Unfortunately, it’s a common misconception that online courses offer no support to employees or students.

Because in fact, one of the best things about eLearning is that you can work at your own pace, from anywhere in the world, while still being able to tap into the experience and skills of your trainer and fellow learners. In the same way that we suggested making sure you have the right tools to collaborate and connect online, make sure you’re aware of the support channels available to you.

Most eLearning courses will have a comprehensive FAQs section, an instant messaging tool, discussion boards and support staff you can email or chat with online. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your trainers and instructors – that’s what they’re there for!

Hopefully this has put your mind at ease, when it comes to common eLearning problems. Remember, all training and teaching methods will have their pros and cons. What’s important is that you’re able to identify the challenges and are willing to overcome them.

Common eLearning problems and how to overcome them

Designing an eLearning course for your staff or students? We recently published a handy eLearning course design checklist, to help you feel confident that you’re designing your online course in the best way possible for your audience.

Our comprehensive design checklist will help you make sure you’re covering important aspects of eLearning design throughout the process – such as accessibility, navigation, graphics, multimedia and assessments. Why are these factors so important to course design? Because you want people to be able to get what they need from your online course - and enjoy taking it!

If you’ve already read through the design checklist, and are looking for more in-depth discussion of online course design, you’ve come to the right place. As we said in the checklist article, the design process plays a major role in how effective and successful your course will be, with factors such as graphics, multimedia and accessibility all playing a part. Even the fonts you use in your course materials can have a positive or negative impact on learners.

Karla Gutierrez, Inbound Marketer at Aura Interactiva, recommends looking at the science behind what makes an eLearning design effective. “If you learn the science behind good eLearning design and use it properly, you will be able to connect with your learners, make them care about the subject and even change what they do and how they think,” she says.

So let’s look closer at what makes a good online course design, in terms of the fascinating science behind the design process.

Using Gestalt’s Theory of Perception and Visual Hierarchy

One of the interesting concepts Gutierrez raises is Gestalt’s theory of perception and its consideration of visual hierarchy. According to Gestalt, the human brain is wired to make sense of the world by ordering and structuring diverse elements into an organized, logical whole.

How is this important to eLearning course design? Well, you need to work with visual hierarchy, rather than against it. As Gutierrez explains, when designing your online course, "your screen's organization should create a visual hierarchy – leading the learners’ eyes from the first thing they should see to the next, in the proper order."

She recommends following these guidelines when designing each screen of your course:

Create a definite focal point for the most important element of the screen – doing this will lead the learner’s eye and attention to that part of the screen

Use large, eye-catching fonts for headings and sub-headings – this will help important information stand out

Make clear sections on the screen, using boxes and frames

Use plenty of white space to further define your sections and make things less overwhelming for learners

Using Shapes and Icons to Help Learners Navigate Content


Another concept Gutierrez explores is the way in which visual content is digested by learners. It’s important to use design tactics to streamline the scanning process for your students or staff. There’s no doubt about it, learners will be bored and frustrated by long endless screens of text – so you need to use design elements to break them up.

As Gutierrez explains, “this is where shapes and icons come in. The use of shapes and icons helps organize content into a scannable and easily digestible form. This discourages distraction, and helps learners make sense of your content quickly.”

Shapes, lines, arrows and icons can be used to successfully point out info, allowing people to quickly identify and grasp the most important concepts on each screen. Shapes can also control the speed and direction at which learners take in content. Think about the way arrows guide your eyes across the screen, or bullet points lead you through information in a very clear and logical way – the clever use of shapes is particularly important for eLearning, where people are being asked to digest and absorb a lot of information in short periods of time.

Using the Psychology of Color and Emotions


Last but not least, Gutierrez discusses the psychology of color and how this needs to be considered when choosing the colors of your eLearning course. The use of color is about much more than just aesthetics and making things look ‘pretty’ – color also has a strong impact on the way we feel about things and respond to them. Even if that's happening on a subconscious and intuitive level.

In fact, 90% of quick decisions we make regarding products are based on color. Color speaks to our emotions, with red often signifying anger, blue bringing a sense of calm, and yellow evoking happiness or joy. Certain colors can also have particular cultural associations – think about how green and red are used at Christmas time, orange is traditionally associated with Halloween, and how blue and pink are marketed in a gender-specific way.

You should also consider the age of your learning audience – in general, older people tend to prefer darker, more mellow colors like purple, green and blue while younger learners may be drawn to bolder, brighter colors of yellow, red and orange. Whatever colors you decide to go with for your course, Gutierrez suggests using "a harmonious color palette that works to enhance your information, not distract from it."

Hopefully this glimpse into the science behind eLearning design helps you to feel more confident in the design process. With this information, as well as our eLearning course design checklist, you'll be well equipped to create online courses that are well-designed, engaging and enjoyable for your learners.

Building resilience is one of the best ways to help reduce stress levels in the workplace. In today’s fast-paced work environments, employees with increased levels of resilience are known to be far more productive, successful and happier in their career. They’re also able to bounce back from obstacles or adversity, often with renewed strength.

That’s because with improved levels of resilience, you become more adaptive and flexible to stress or sudden changes. This means that when confronted with challenges, both at work and in your personal life, you’ll feel better prepared to deal with them as they arise – comfortably and calmly.

Are you keen to start building your own resilience? The good news is that resilience is a skill that can be learned and improved upon. And just like a muscle, the more you practice being resilient in everyday life, the more you can increase your resilience over time.

We’ve handpicked three of the very best eLearning courses for you to enrol in, to help you become more resilient at work.

This practical online course offers a great introduction to the topic of resilience, with the aim to help you change your health, your thinking and your life. Through Power Up your Resilience , you can develop the skills you need to bounce back from adversity, manage stress and reach your full potential in life.

The eLearning course is broken down into seven videos, based on content from Dr Sven Hansen, founder of The Resilience Institute. Dr Hansen is a medical practitioner with a background in special forces and sports medicine, and since gaining an MBA in 1993 has focused on applying the science of resilience to business.

You’ll cover a wide range of topics in this course, as you discover how building resilience can help with all aspects of your life, including your health, emotions, sleep patterns, stress levels and relationships with others.

Dealing with Change and Building Resilience

Dealing with change is a large part of learning to be more resilient and managing stress – particularly in the workplace. This popular eLearning course has a definite business slant to it, making it very effective for staff training.

Dealing with Change and Building Resilience is presented by Clare and Anne of BrainSmart, graduates of the Neuroscience of Leadership and Change and Positive Psychology. From this background, they help learners to understand the nature of stress and change from the perspective of evolution and the brain. This can help you better manage your emotional responses to situations that usually trigger a stress response.

return to thinking clearly and rationally regardless of the levels of pressure

problem-solve in a calm and considered state.

Want an online course that you can complete in an hour? Personal Resilience in an Hour is top of the list for a short and sweet introduction to resilience that’s well worth your time.