3. Grounding in Humanities and the Arts

Effective eLearning designers require grounding in Humanities and the Arts. They must take into account the many facets of human behaviour and have a connection with popular culture.  Designers in tune with these things can effectively incorporate humour, audio, video, and social conventions that are relevant to our culture.  They also need a keen eye to visualize the best way to convey a concept or idea on the screen for our current generation of learners.

Again sometimes designers are guilty of regurgitating what they have been given from subject matter experts who have developed a very narrow view of their area. It is precisely this narrow focus that makes these SME’s great. However, it is the job of the eLearning designer to take this information and to connect it to a larger picture for a particular audience. This takes consideration of the great big world beyond the boundaries of the subject area.