Creating a More Inclusive eLearning Curriculum

Make your learners' experience better

Companies who strive for inclusion while developing eLearning courses profit in a variety of ways. Their employees become more responsive to learning, unnecessary harm or offense is avoided as a result of insensitive or unsuitable language, and the whole learning experience becomes memorable and beneficial for the learners.

Those who do not prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) risk receiving criticism from their learners, which increases the potential of higher staff attrition and lower team morale. Culture, according to Matt Cross, a Learning and Development specialist with Trainery, can have a range of effects on eLearning programs. "Learning and Development programs are significantly less likely to meet corporate goals and the intended ROI if employees do not feel represented or, worse, included due to language and cultural obstacles," he says.  

What is diversity and inclusion (D&I) and why does It Matter?

Diversity, at its core, is about empowering people by assisting them in celebrating their uniqueness. Inclusion, on the other hand, is a process and set of activities through which groups of people from various backgrounds are embraced and welcomed. The purpose of D&I is to make people feel respected, valued, and involved. People's differences aren't just tolerated; they're used to achieve better outcomes. Diversity and inclusion can be classified in a variety of ways. The following are the most common:

  • Ethnicity and race
  • Disability
  • Religious convictions
  • Gender and sex

How to increase the inclusiveness of eLearning

Make your educational materials more inclusive to improve the learning experience for your students. Take the following steps:

  1. Content Types - Certain individuals learn more effectively when they read text-based materials, while others prefer pictures, videos, or podcasts. By including a variety of multimedia, learners can select a content type that appeals to them. Having a choice enables kids to acquire knowledge more rapidly and effectively.
  2. ADA Compliance - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that one in every four American people has some sort of impairment. If you do not take accessibility challenges into account when developing your eLearning courses, you will miss out on serving people with impairments.
  3.  Elimination Or Minimization Of Biases - There are numerous strategies for eliminating or minimizing bias in online course materials. Keeping pronouns in mind is a smart place to start. Rather than expressing that "every CEO and his management should value diversity," state that "CEOs and their managers should prioritize diversity." Due to the fact that a CEO can be male, female, or gender-neutral, it makes logical to omit "his."
  4. Multiculturalism In Language And Culture - Localizing courses and materials for varied audiences entails translating the content and customizing the eLearning course from the source content to the target audience's language and culture. This includes altering images, idioms, money, fonts, symbols, acronyms, tone, measuring units, and the graphical User Interface. Through eLearning localization, you may convey the source's exact meaning while also ensuring that the appropriate emotion is expressed in the appropriate cultural context.

Bias is pervasive (how to spot it)

The developers of training and eLearning content frequently serve a variety of audiences. You must respond to the project's stakeholder, take into account Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), and take into account the company's culture (among others). All of this input carries with it its own set of prejudices, on top of your own.

Raising awareness is one of the most effective strategies for identifying and preventing unconscious bias in eLearning. Begin by being familiar with the numerous preconceptions that affect you, your company, and the project. This involves an understanding of the most prevalent biases that may obstruct the creation of an inclusive eLearning course, such as the following:

  • Bias for confirmation. If you place a higher premium on information that confirms your opinions, you may suffer from confirmation bias. It is vital to treat all new material equally, even if you have formed an early opinion regarding the specifics of your course topic. Your own biases should not affect the inclusiveness of your course.
  • Similar-to-me bias. This refers to the proclivity to seek out individuals who have similar features, characteristics, and views. If you seek feedback and subject matter input exclusively from folks who are similar to you, you will miss out on valuable ideas and information from others.
  • Bias toward anchors. Anchor bias refers to the tendency to prioritize the first piece of information you hear. This can make it difficult to process all of the information evenly. For instance, if you rely solely on the information provided by the first SME, you risk significant alignment concerns and a lack of inclusivity in your course content. Overcome prejudices through self-reflection and cultivate an awareness culture within your team.

Teams for inclusive eLearning

As eLearning designers and course material providers, it is your team's responsibility to reflect and respect the various needs, goals, and capabilities of all your learners. That is not always easy to accomplish, as the majority of people, even subconsciously, tend toward a specific prejudice.

That is why you require an inclusive eLearning team, which consists of a varied collection of individuals who collaborate with you to develop inclusive courses. A diverse group of people provides you with a range of opinions that can help you improve the inclusivity of your project or product. Not only is it critical to build an inclusive team, but also to enable team members to contribute their perspectives and listen to their concerns.

Additionally, eLearning frequently reflects the organization or business that creates it. A business that does not emphasize inclusivity within its own structure may have difficulty developing inclusive eLearning courses.

If you want to establish a learning atmosphere, keep inclusion in mind. Inclusive classes instill a sense of security and worth in participants. This encourages kids to be more active and engaged, both of which are necessary for learning.