Enhance eLearning Assessment to Maintain Learner Engagement

One way to improve the learner experience is to aim to improve engagement in our eLearning assessment by addressing the variety and format of the questions and answers we use.

We tend to spend the bulk of our time in creating engaging content with varying fonts, graphics, colors, calls to action, multimedia and considerable instructional design investment, before often presenting a bland final assessment which leaves our learners with a less than ideal impression of the amount of effort we put into the rest of the learning material.

The scope of assessment variation is sometimes reduced to whether to use a Boolean, multiple choice or multiple answer question type. We might stretch to the odd use of basic text formatting, emphasizing a particular word or phrase, or maybe even using still images. The use of animations, transitions, and engaging multimedia all take considerable time and effort unless we have a large instructional design team well versed in HTML5 and CSS3, or an all-singing and dancing content creation suite, along with the requisite graphic design, animation, video editing etc. skills to hand.

An easy, quick and effective way to address this is to look to the use of embedded streaming media via the use of iFrames. Here, WBT Systems' Lead User Experience and Design Architect, James Sheil, talks us through how to enhance eLearning assessments easily with multimedia.

Using iFrames to Enhance eLearning Assessments

Wikipedia defines an iFrame as:

"an HTML document embedded inside another HTML document on a website. The iFrame HTML element is often used to insert content from another source, such as an advertisement, into a web page"

A number of social media streaming and other sites currently allow us to freely embed rich and engaging content for inclusion on our web sites, blog sites etc. We can harness this capability to greatly enhance our assessments. All you require is access to the underlying HTML that makes up your assessment questions. As we’ll see, using this content is generally a simple matter of copying and pasting to the appropriate location.

Screenshots from the examples shown are based on the WBT Systems' TopClass LMS online content editor.
Any eLearning content creation tool which allows access to the underlying HTML code can be used.

*Please Note: The examples shown below are for demonstration purposes only. Any personal or commercial use of media from external sites must comply with the copyright and usage policies for that site.

Video

Why not embed video from media streaming sites such as YouTube or Vimeo? Other sites such as MetaCafe can also be used.

Many organisations already have a repository of video uploaded to a corporate YouTube or Vimeo account. These videos, or any others (that fall within the appropriate copyright and usage policies) can easily be added to enhance a question.

For example, to embed a YouTube video:

Navigate to the video you wish to use.
Click on the Share link/icon.

Click on Embed.

Enhance eLearning Assessment with multimedia youtube embed

Copy the highlighted text
```
<iframe> ... </iframe>.
```
Paste at the appropriate location within your HTML question body editor, e.g.

Enhance eLearning Assessment with multimedia embed iFrame

Test your generated question output in a browser.

Enhance eLearning Assessment with multimedia iFrame display

Don’t forget that you could consider using embedded video for assessment question answers as well. This is a good way to ensure that learners watch the video content you intend.

For example, an online course might contain a module with a number of videos relating to important organizational knowledge that you want employees to watch and take note of. By also embedding these videos within the body of answers, and by posing the related question in such a way that it requires the learner to have viewed the videos, there is an increased likelihood that the intended learning will occur.

An example based on the content shown above might look something like the following:

Enhance eLearning Assessment with multimedia iFrame Answers

Presentations

What about embedding an important presentation in the body of a question (or answer)? SlideShare allows you to do this. Again, you can use your corporate account uploads, or the large volume of publicly available existing presentations (that fall within the appropriate copyright and usage policies).

Embedding a presentation involves similar steps to those used for YouTube.

Navigate to the presentation you wish to use.
Click on the Share link/icon.
Copy the Embed text
```
<iframe> ... </iframe>
```

Enhance eLearning Assessment with multimedia slideshare embed

Paste at the appropriate location within your HTML question body editor.
Test your generated question output in a browser.

Enhance eLearning Assessment with multimedia iFrame Question

Maps

Google Maps allows for similar functionality. You could introduce a sense of discovery and adventure using the Google Maps Street View of the interiors of many of the world’s most famous museums, such as the Tate Gallery (London), MoMa (New York) and the Musée d'Orsay (Paris).

Open Google Maps.
Search for your desired location (the example shown uses MoMa, New York).
Enter Street View.
When you find an appropriate starting point, click on the settings icon.

Enhance eLearning Assessment with multimedia google art settings iFrame

Choose Share or embed image.
Copy the Embed text.
Paste at the appropriate location within your HTML question body editor.
Test your generated question output in a browser.

Enhance eLearning Assessment with multimedia google art iFrame alt

Learners can walk through the gallery and zoom in to view paintings, and in this example view the placard alongside the painting which lists the painter.

Maintain Learner Engagement with Interesting Assessments

Assessments can often underwhelm our learners. We invest a lot of time and energy creating rich, engaging content, only to present a bland final impression of the overall eLearning experience via the final assessment. iFrames, and the use of freely available social media streams, allow us to greatly enhance our eLearning assessment and engage the learner in a richer assessment process. Introducing dynamic and interactive media to your assessments will engage your learners in new and interesting ways to interact with your content.

If you would like some tips on enhancing eLearning assessment to maintain learner engagement with your content, why not request a demo of TopClass LMS and see how else it could help you to take your education programs to the next level?

A version of this post was originally published on eLearning Industry.

Debbie Willis

Debbie Willis is the VP of Global Marketing at ASI, with over 20 years marketing experience in the association and non-profit technology space. Passionate about all things MarTech, Debbie has led countless website, SEO, content, email, paid ad and social media marketing strategies and campaigns. Debbie loves creating meaningful content to engage and empower association and non-profit audiences. Debbie received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing Information Systems from James Madison University and a Masters of Business Administration in Marketing from The George Washington University. Debbie is a member of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority, American Society of Association Executives and dabbles in photography.

Filter resources

Explore Posts by Topic

Best Resources

The TopClass Blog