There has been a massive change in the educational world of today. Moreover, companies are also conducting annual meetings online. Even educational activities are conducted online. 

There has been investment by organisations in online events. Companies also are investing more in online training platforms. However, there are many ways, in which elearning can be made better. So, what can elearning companies do to enhance learning retention?

There has to be an understanding of the cognitive load theory. This theory helps learners in shifting information from whatever is in there working memory to memory of the long term. But for this to happen, information needs to be presented in a specific manner. The information should be presented before the learners in such a way, that unimportant terms are decreased and topics concerned with information processing are increased. So, the cognitive load in elearning has to be decided properly.

This is the focus of the elearning companies as of now.

Making someone learn is not an easy task. For this to happen, there needs to be a proper design of the learning matter. 

The learning material needs to be defined differently for newbie learners while it is different for those with experience. The material to be learned also decides how its instructional theory will apply. These are the various techniques which can be applied to the learning material to maximise learning:

Effect of worked example: The novice learners don’t have any knowledge about the subject. Hence they have to be made familiar with the topic first to increase their processing. So, they should be given solutions of unknown problems first. This way, it can be shown to the learners what the solution will be when the problem arises. They will get an introduction to the problem. Extreme knowledge can’t be shown to such learners at once. 

Effect of split-attention:This happens when the different sources of information must be mixed before an understanding can be drawn from them. A diagram should be shown to the learners so that various parts of the theory can be understood. The text should be shown along with the different parts of the diagram. This is a way to make the learner learn various parts of the theory rather than showing the theory in different sections which are tough to grasp. 

Effect of modality:Working memory can store information for a limited time. It is used for decision making and reasoning. It has two different kinds of processors visual and auditory. The auditory processor works in a different way than the visual processor. A learner grasps up information shown to him quickly rather than when it is narrated. Therefore, it’s important that the cognitive load i.e. the topics which have to be understood have to be segregated between these two different processors. This can be done when the cognitive load i.e. the information is distributed into two parts. One part is shown visually with images and word and the 2nd part is shown using narration. 

Effect of redundancy: There should be no use of obsolete information in the module. This implies information such as narration included in the module. If the learners can read the text from the screen, there is no need to add narration in audio. Sometimes, background music is also obsolete to an elearning video and can cause wastage of time for the learner. 

So, these are the few points which elearning companies can use to increase learner’s processing.