OMG! Did you just shoot the learner? What did you do? Did you misfire a bullet? Or did you pump in too many bullets? Be careful. The bullet is a powerful weapon. You must use it wisely to create the right "impact." We are talking eLearning here. And the bullets are those little black dots that instructional designers are either obsessed with or hate with a vengeance. The former breed litters their courses with bullet lists—an overkill. The latter group avoids bullets like the plague; they probably do not know how bullet lists make learning matter more comprehensible. As an instructional designer, you have to tread the middle path. Do not pay heed to what the fatalists say. Bullets are not bad. Period. On the other hand, don't be too trigger-happy either. Use bullets wisely to make your courses look good, read intelligible, and make sense to the learner. But before shooting off the tips, here's what you must remember about bullet lists: Bullet lists help to structure ideas and present them in bite-sized chunks that are easy for the learner to skim over. Bullets are like mini headlines. The ideal bullet item is a crisp phrase that presents just the essence of an idea; it is not a rambling sentence that makes the learner trail off midway.

They say, one rotten apple spoils the whole basket. If you are an instructional designer, you are probably nodding your head in agreement. Someone somewhere churns out a few trashy courses and manages to shoo away learners and business owners. Business owners take one look at these and decide they don't want to commission another one ever while learners doze off midway through the course and decide they won't waste their valuable time any more.

Let’s face it: sometimes we may feel as we’re subbing for the whole personnel in a circus. Day in and day out, we are faced with the challenge of juggling content, walking the tight rope of creative storytelling and making our audience gasp with amazement at sensational graphic design. As an instructional designer, we welcome all the help we can get! The good news is we have lots of it, if we look in the right place. So, without further ado, here to assist you on your one-man (or woman) eLearning show is a toolbox of small yet enormously helpful apps and websites for your everyday tasks.

So, you think you found your calling?

The specialized and in-depth knowledge subject matter experts have is a treasure trove for their organization. If leveraged with a learning initiative and transferred properly, it can significantly boost overall performance within that organization.

Attractive, compelling, easily consumable —People have come to love Infographics. They simplify data and makes consuming them easier. They are exciting! And they jazz up your eLearning course like few other elements can!

Concepts are knowledge tools that identify, define, explain, analyze, and demonstrate real-life elements and events. These are broad ideas that are in many instances, true across geographical and cultural boundaries. There are two kinds of concepts: sensory and abstract. The characteristic features of sensory concepts are tangible, can be picked by one or more of our sensory organs, and are apparent in any example you may pick up. For instance, a course for trainee physicians to help them learn how to diagnose diseases will mostly deal with sensory concepts. On the other hand, some features of abstract concepts are neither visible nor tangible. Courses on people management and leadership often contain abstract concepts. As an instructional designer, you will have to teach both sensory and abstract concepts. Here’s a three-step process to help you teach concepts:

Remember how you learned math? You went through four stages. You learned what adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing mean (tell). Then your teacher taught you how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide (show). You practiced sums (do), and then came the dreaded exams (apply). This is how all learning takes place, and it is no different with eLearning.

A metaphor is a powerful figure of speech. It strings together seemingly disparate ideas and/or objects to create novel associations that bring to life and simplify an abstract concept or a complex process. It creates a "shortcut to understanding." Metaphors grab eyeballs by creating novel (sometimes wacky) associations that tickle readers and keep themengaged. Metaphors can also trigger powerful emotions. His business went bust. Vs. His business collapsed like a house of cards. The field is full of yellow flowers. Vs. The field is a carpet of yellow blooms. She felt hopeless. Vs. She was in a bottomless pit of despair. The two sentences in each of the above sets convey the same idea, but the second sentence in each case paints a more vivid picture or evokes a stronger emotion. That's because the sentences use metaphors to emphasize an idea or to expand on the meaning.

Your e-Learning course must have a narrative that flows. Like a cinematic masterpiece, your selection of graphics, text, audio, and video all need to work together — complementing one another so that your learners remain glued to the screen. A great way of developing a narrative that flows is by using various cinematic techniques. Hence, this post will highlight some film techniques that will give a touch of Hollywood to any eLearning course, and which (of course) every eLearning designer must have in their toolbox. But before we can start calling/taking some shots, there is some storytelling to be done.