We all have heard about the famous saying, “laughter is the best medicine”. In fact, in today’s stressful work environments it is imperative to have lighter moments at the workplace to ensure your employees are happy and satisfied. So, as L&D team members, how can you contribute to spreading some smiles which in turn makes your learning modules a fun and joyful experience and at the same time ensure your learning objectives are met. In this blog we would be talking about how we as learning professionals can use humor-based learning to deliver some seamless eLearning modules.
As we know, eLearning has become a popular and effective way to deliver training and education to adult learners. However, it can be challenging to engage adult learners who are often busy and may perceive eLearning as dull or tedious. One way to overcome this challenge is to incorporate humor into eLearning. Humor-based eLearning is a teaching approach that uses humor and comedy to make learning more engaging, enjoyable, and memorable for adult learners.
Humor-based eLearning has several benefits for adult learners, which include:
- Increased Engagement
Humor is a powerful tool for engaging adult learners in the eLearning process. When learners are engaged, they are more likely to retain information and apply it in their work. By incorporating humor into eLearning, instructional designers can make the eLearning’s more enjoyable and memorable, leading to better engagement.
- Reduced Stress
Adult learners may find eLearning stressful, especially when they are required to learn new skills or concepts that are outside their comfort zone. Humor-based eLearning can help reduce stress by creating a more relaxed and fun learning environment. This can lead to better learning outcomes and a more positive learning experience.
- Improved Retention
When adult learners are engaged and relaxed, they are more likely to retain information. Humor-based eLearning can help reinforce key concepts and make them more memorable. By using humor to create associations with important information, L&D teams can help adult learners remember what they have learned.
- Increased Motivation
Humor can be a powerful motivator. When adult learners are motivated, they are more likely to be successful in completing the learning objectives they are trying to achieve. By using humor in eLearning, L&D teams can create a more positive and energizing learning environment that inspires adult learners to learn and grow.
Now, the next question you may ask is how do we Incorporate Humor in our eLearning modules?
Incorporating humor into eLearning may seem challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. The most important consideration is to make sure that the humor is appropriate for your learning audience and is relevant to the topic at hand.
Here are some tips for incorporating humor in your eLearning programs:
- Use Relevant Jokes and Anecdotes
One of the easiest ways to incorporate humor into eLearning is by using relevant jokes and anecdotes. This can be a great way to introduce a new topic or to break up a long eLearning session.
- Make Use of Visual Aids
Visual aids, such as cartoons, memes, and videos, can be a great way to inject humor into eLearning. These can be used to illustrate key points or to provide a humorous break from the eLearning material.
- Use Humorous Scenarios and Simulations
Humorous scenarios and simulations can be a great way to make eLearning more interactive and engaging. These can be used to illustrate key concepts or to provide a humorous take on a particular situation.
- Encourage Interaction and Feedback
Finally, one of the best ways to incorporate humor into eLearning is to encourage interaction and feedback from adult learners. This can help create a more collaborative and enjoyable learning experience, which can lead to better engagement, retention, and motivation. Encourage adult learners to share their own humorous stories and jokes, and make sure to provide feedback and support. This could be more relevant in hybrid training environment.
We at PassionPro Learning Solutions have been instrumental in developing and delivering humorous plugins for various subject areas like customer service trainings, compliance, sales, cybersecurity and more. Whether it is developing humor based eLearning modules from scratch or taking your existing modules to add humorous elements, we have done it all.
Following are a few ideas which you can try to incorporate while developing your next humor based eLearning module:
- “The Office” Inspired Compliance Training: This eLearning module can take inspiration from the popular TV show “The Office” to deliver compliance training in a fun and engaging way. The module could feature video clips, quizzes, and interactive scenarios, all presented in a humorous and relatable way.
- Stand-up Comedy Style Leadership Training: This eLearning module could deliver leadership training in a stand-up comedy style, complete with jokes and humorous anecdotes. The module can use humor to break up the learning content and make it more engaging and memorable.
- Comic Strip Style Cybersecurity Training: This eLearning module can use comic strips to deliver cybersecurity training in a fun and engaging way. The comic strips can feature relatable scenarios, characters and use humor to convey key cybersecurity concepts and best practices.
- “Game of Thrones” Themed Diversity Training: This eLearning module can use the popular TV show “Game of Thrones” as a theme for delivering diversity and inclusion training. The module could feature video clips, interactive scenarios, and quizzes, all presented in a humorous and engaging way.
- Cartoon Style Health and Safety Training: This eLearning module can use cartoon-style animations to deliver health and safety training in a fun and engaging way. The animations could feature humorous scenarios and characters, and use humor to convey key health and safety concepts and best practices
These are a few ideas to get our instructional designers start thinking in the humorous direction in case they haven’t thought about it already.
In conclusion, Humor-based Learning can be a powerful tool for engaging adult learners. By incorporating humor into eLearning, Learning and Training Development teams can create a more enjoyable and memorable learning experience that leads to better engagement, retention, and motivation. We would like to hear your thoughts and whether you have been successful in implementing Humor based learning in your organization. We look forward to hearing more and please feel free to post your comments below!