2023 E-Learning Trends Online Course Creators Need to Know

The world of e-learning and online course creation has become increasingly popular, as a new way for people to acquire knowledge and skills.

By the year 2030, studies show that the online learning market is expected to reach $645 Billion.

With advancements in technology and the ongoing shift to online education, online learning is poised to continue its growth in the coming years. So let's see what the most popular e-learning trends of 2023 for online course creators are:

Personalize Your Online Course

Personalization will be one of the most popular e-learning trends in the course space this year, as people are looking for a deeper connection with others online and are in need of personalized advice.

As a course creator, this means offering a personalized experience for your students to a certain degree.

There are several ways to personalize a course to meet the specific needs of individual learners:

Customized learning paths

You can structure your course in a way that lets students choose their own learning path, by starting from different lessons or modules based on their interests and skill level.

You can also create individualized learning plans based on assessments or pre-course evaluations.

If you are using Heights Platform, you have the flexibility to structure your course learning material as you prefer.

You can set a drip to lessons (meaning that new lessons unlock as students progress through your course) or you can let students view your whole course and allow them to jump through different sections.

Personalized feedback and coaching

The most obvious way to provide a personalized learning experience for your students is by coaching them one-on-one. You don't necessarily have to completely change your business model and become an online coach overnight. You can simply decide to offer some degree of individual or group guidance, to better connect with your students and improve their learning experience.

Segmentation

Another way to offer a personalized learning experience to your students is by segmenting your customers and audience into different groups, depending on different factors (such as their progress, background or more...)

You can use segmentation to send more personalized email newsletters to your students or even suggest different products depending on their individual situations.

Social and collaborative learning

Encourage learners to connect with peers and collaborate on projects or discussions, and provide opportunities for learners to share their own knowledge and experiences.

On Heights Platform, this can be done by setting up a community space where students can connect with others, ask questions and gain a more personalized experience as they learn.

Personalized projects and assessments

Use assignments throughout the course to track learner progress, and provide personalized feedback and recommendations for improvement.

On Heights Platform you can add an assignment under each lesson and easily review your students' answers. This allows you to provide personalized feedback to your students and help them according to their situation.

You can also set up Projects, where students can showcase their work and gain feedback from you and their peers.

Build an Online Community

Another trend to watch in 2023 in the e-learning industry is community building and the use of social learning.

Building a community in an online course can be a great way to increase engagement and motivation among learners and use social learning as part of your program. A community is a place where learners can share their thoughts and ideas, ask questions, and provide feedback to one another.

With Heights Platform, the online community lives directly inside of your program, so your course students can easily access the community as they learn.

Heights also lets you set up projects and assignments, where learners can work together to complete a task or solve a problem. This can foster a sense of collaboration and teamwork among learners.

Building a community in an online course can help create a sense of belonging and engagement among learners and promote social learning.

By providing opportunities for interaction, collaboration, personalization and creating an inclusive environment, course creators can foster a sense of belonging and help learners feel more connected to the course and each other.

Learn more about building and growing an online community:

• Why You Should Build an Online Community of Engaged Customers and How to Do it
• How to Choose the Right Online Community Platform For Your Knowledge Business
• 7 Steps to Revive Your Online Community and Increase Engagement

Make Your Online Course More Inclusive

Today is important to make sure that your online course is inclusive and can be accessed by all types of learning.

Creating inclusive online courses requires taking into account the diverse backgrounds, experiences, and needs of your students.

The course design and interface play a role in making your program accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Keep your lessons simple and consistent so that learners don’t miss anything as they progress through your course.

Remember to add alt text to images and use a high-contrast color scheme to help visually impaired individuals access your content. The platform you choose should also allow those using screen readers to consume and navigate through your content.

It's also important to consider that learners all have different learning styles. Diversifying the content formats offered in your course (videos, text, audio, images, interactive activities...) can make the course more inclusive.

Check out this article from our blog to learn all about the different learning styles: How to Tailor Your Online Course to These 4 Types of Learners

One way to achieve this is by providing closed captioning or transcripts for audio and video content to make the course accessible to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Additionally, offering multiple language options can cater to non-native speakers. It's also important to use inclusive language and avoid stereotypes or biases in your course content and materials. This can be achieved by incorporating diverse perspectives, voices, and examples in course content to reflect the experiences of different groups of people from diverse backgrounds.

Employ Artificial intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence and machine learning will be integrated more deeply into e-learning systems, to create more adaptive and responsive learning experiences that can adjust in real-time to the needs of students.

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and learn like humans. AI systems are able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as speech recognition, decision-making, and visual activities.

Online course creators can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a variety of ways to improve their courses and enhance the learning experience for their students.

One way is to use AI virtual assistants or chatbots to assist learners and potential customers with immediate support, such as providing information or answering frequently asked questions. These AI-powered tools can help learners find the information they need quickly and easily, without having to wait for a human to respond.

Another idea is to use AI to help you brainstorm new topics to cover in your course. While asking for real learner feedback is often the best way to discover what content should be added to your course, if you need ideas for additional content, AI can help you find similar topics.

Creators can also use artificial intelligence to analyze data and track learner progress, which can help them identify patterns and make data-driven decisions to improve their course. By analyzing data on how learners interact with the course, instructors can identify areas that need improvement and make changes that will benefit learners. We will talk more about data and analytics to track later in the article.

Overall, AI can be used to create more personalized, interactive and adaptive learning experiences, and to improve the overall effectiveness of online courses. It can also help instructors make more informed decisions and improve student performance.

Add Gamification to Your Course

Gamification is not a new trend in online learning, however, experts say that in 2023 we will see more course creators using gamification techniques to enhance their programs and students' engagement.

Gamification is the process of applying game design and mechanics to non-game contexts, such as courses and educational materials. It can be used to make the learning experience more engaging and enjoyable for students.

Here are some ways that course creators can use gamification in their courses:

• Incorporate game-like elements: Course creators can use elements such as points and badges to create a sense of competition and progress.

• Use projects for real-life learning: If you are using the Heights Platform, you can create projects where students showcase their work with others. This can be extremely motivating for students and incentivize them to reach the end goal of your course.

• Create challenges and quests: Course creators using Heights Platform can also build challenges, a type of online course that requires students to consume the content on a schedule before it expires. Challenges can be extremely engaging for learners, as they go through lessons as a group and are able to apply what they learn in a real-life setting.

• Use storytelling and narrative: Use storytelling and narrative to create a more engaging and memorable learning experience, by tying the content to a relatable and interesting story.

• Provide instant feedback: Provide instant feedback to learners on their progress and performance, which can help keep them motivated and engaged.

Overall, by incorporating game-like elements into the course, learners will find the content more relatable, relevant and engaging and will be more motivated to complete the course. Additionally, by using gamification, learners will be able to practice and apply their knowledge in a safe and fun environment, which will help them retain the information better.

Enhance Mobile Learning

Another online learning trend to look out for in 2023 is the popularity of mobile use for online education (mobile learning). Mobile devices will be increasingly used to deliver e-learning courses, making them more accessible and convenient for learners on the go.

Making an online course mobile-friendly is important for several reasons. First, an increasing number of people are using mobile devices to access the internet: as the creator, you should make sure that the course can be easily accessed on mobile devices.

Mobile-friendly courses are more accessible to learners who have limited access to a computer or internet connection. This can be especially important for students in developing countries or from remote areas who may not have access to a computer but may own a mobile device with an internet connection.

Making your online education program mobile-friendly can also help increase engagement and retention among learners. By providing a seamless and convenient mobile experience, learners are more likely to stay engaged with the course and complete it.

So making an online course mobile-friendly is essential in today's digital world, but how do you actually do it?

Heights Platform is fully optimized for mobile learning, so you can be sure that students purchasing and going through your course on their smartphones will have the same experience and ease of use as on laptops.

Try Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technologies are expected to take on the online learning world.

These kinds of technologies are able to create immersive and interactive experiences that simulate real-world scenarios and allow learners to interact with virtual environments.

Users can access these simulations through a VR headset to display the virtual environment and track their movements, allowing them to look around and interact with the virtual world as if they were physically present.

VR can be used for a wide range of applications, including entertainment, education, training, and therapy. With that sense of presence provided by VR, educators can see and react to the body language of those they are teaching as if they were in the room with them, and learners have the opportunity to practice hands-on by grabbing and interacting with virtual objects.

This opens up a range of possibilities to learn by doing as some tasks that would be dangerous or difficult to train in a real-life scenario, can now be repeatedly practiced in VR without risk! Some examples of this would be performing surgery or defusing a bomb, both scenarios that are not ideal for practicing in real life.

Even though virtual reality is not yet the primary format for online courses and online learning, keep an eye on this trend to be ready once it becomes more accessible.

Track Your Analytics

Tracking your data and checking your analytics is not a new practice, but it will become increasingly important in the years to come.

Course creators can use data analytics and assessment tools to track and measure students' progress and business performance. While most online course creators are already familiar with tools such as Google Analytics, used to track the performance of their website and marketing campaigns, not enough creators use analytics to improve students' learning experience in their courses.

So how do you track students' progress and which metrics should you focus on?

On Heights Platform, you can check each student’s progress and access detailed analytics about performance. The picture below shows an example of what you can see as a creator about a student in your program.

Here are some key analytics that online course creators should focus on:

• Student completion rates: The percentage of learners who complete your course. This metric can help course creators identify any areas of the course that may be causing learners to drop out.
• Time spent on lessons: The amount of time that learners spend on different lessons within the course. This metric can help course creators identify which lessons are most engaging and effective, and which ones need to be improved.
• Retention rate: The percentage of learners who return to the course after an initial engagement. This metric can help course creators understand how well the course is retaining learners.
• Learner satisfaction: The level of satisfaction that learners have with the course, measured through surveys or other feedback mechanisms. This metric can help course creators identify areas of the course that may need improvement.

By focusing on these key analytics, course creators can gain valuable insights into how well their course is performing and make data-driven decisions to improve the online education experience for their students.

Check out this article from our blog: Which Web Metrics Should You Track? Online Business Analytics Explained

Use Microlearning Techniques

Microlearning is and will continue to be a growing trend in online learning.

Microlearning is a method of delivering educational content in small, bite-sized chunks, typically around five minutes or less in length.

The goal of microlearning is to make learning more accessible and convenient for busy students, by breaking down complex topics into manageable pieces that can be consumed quickly and easily.

It also allows learners to focus on specific skills or knowledge they need to acquire, rather than overwhelming them with large amounts of information.

This type of content delivery is particularly effective for students who need to acquire new skills quickly, or for learners with short attention spans or limited time to devote to learning.

Check out this article from our blog on how you can add microlearning to your online training: How to Use Microlearning to Drive Engagement in Your Online Course or Membership Site

Conclusion

Overall, these trends indicate that online learning will continue to evolve and become more interactive, personalized, and adaptive to the needs of learners.

If you are a course creator, keep an eye on these trends to improve your online course and meet the new needs of your students, while providing a great learning process for your customers.

If you haven't already, create your Heights Platform free account today and take advantage of our features specifically designed to build an awesome adaptive learning experience for students.