Addressing engagement in elearning

The author of the Courseware Development blog posted an interesting entry about the challenges of keeping people engaged in elearning. In addition to the bang-on comments of other readers found there, I'd like to add two that I think are important to capturing attention:

1. Addressing the WIFM (what's in it for me) factor
2. Applying the psychology of change management (refer to Michael Allen's sage advice found on his website here)

For #1, corporate sponsorship of any large elearning rollout is critical. People think - if this is important to management, I probably need to pay attention. Making the learning as engaging as possible and addressing cognitive load are also key factors.

For #2, Mr. Allen deals with the psychology of change management, which is often overlooked in our field. Since much of our elearning material aims to change a situation in business, e.g., reducing workplace hazards, improving compliance, increasing sales, it is important to consider learners' current perception of the need to change. If the perception is that the status quo is fine, there will be limited interest in more training. In such cases, deal with the perception first and, as people see how their lack of knowledge fits into the larger picture, they will be more motivated and receptive to learning. Mr.Allen has a number of resourceful webinars and interviews on his site that address this topic and others like it.

Since I already added the above thoughts in the comments section of the original post, you might want to go there to add any comments you have.