Working in the e-learning sector is a journey more than a destination! Become a learner yourself to keep your skills sharp!
Learn a trade: the first step to becoming an e-learning professional
To forge a career in this sector, having a master’s in e-learning as well as other e-learning certifications are important. These are the first steps towards understanding the theories, requirements and relevant technologies needed to create e-learning courses.
Understand that the e-learning sector is particularly broad. It covers everything from cognitive sciences, to theories of learning, user experience, design thinking, user interface design, visual design, writing, communication, information technology, marketing and commerce. As such, it’s worthwhile defining which e-learning function you’re most interested in. For example, an e-learning designer is very different to an e-learning project head. Specialize to become better!
Step 2: put your knowledge into practice
You don’t become an e-learning professional overnight! The outcomes from learning only become evident through practice. Feel free to play around with the web and multimedia tools for creating online courses. Consider recording a podcast, uploading a video, developing games and graphics, developing an application, writing a blog or publishing an e-book. Also, be active on social networks!
It’s essential to get experience on as many types of software as possible to discover the extent of your possibilities and limitations. And you’ll also start understanding how to properly use them in a learning environment.
Step 3: Improve yourself, constantly
To stay creative and competitive, e-learning professionals must constantly grow and adapt. This helps you to maintain a high standard of quality.
Therefore, you should particularly excel in research and knowledge-sharing. So how do you get there?
- Read books and magazines, follow blogs, then start your own blog to explore new ideas and provide advice yourself.
- Join social networks (professional or not) such as online groups on LinkedIn and Facebook. These contain great tips on tools and techniques, best practices and methodologies to be adopted. It helps you stay passionate about your work! Using social media also helps you gain international visibility.
- Don’t just stick to the virtual world. Meet and exchange with other professionals face-to-face at conferences and seminars. This helps give birth to new ideas!
Dokeos offers articles and business cases that can deepen your knowledge about the e-learning sector and help you discover the latest trends.