Understand how to create engaging digital learning content to meet specific purposes.

About this package

This package examines how to choose and shape digital learning content for a defined purpose, rather than selecting a format simply because it looks appealing. It distinguishes between learning activities and the materials that support them, then compares synchronous learning, where people participate together, with asynchronous learning accessed independently. Learners consider how these settings affect the explanation, support and practice that content needs to provide. The content covers structured e-learning, slideshows, tutorials and apps, alongside video, screencasts, podcasts, infographics and animations. It also explores simulations, scenarios, games, augmented reality and virtual reality as ways to practise decisions or tasks. These comparisons help learners connect a format’s strengths to the intended learning: observing behaviour, following a procedure, understanding information or exercising judgement. A central distinction is that holding attention does not necessarily mean improving knowledge or performance. Human-centred design provides the basis for evaluating whether resources are usable, relevant and inclusive. Learners examine how design choices can manage cognitive overload, support accessibility and accommodate different levels of knowledge and working conditions. The package also addresses racial, gender and cultural bias, including the risk of presenting a particular cultural expectation as a workplace requirement. Reviewing materials means considering both what helps people learn and what may exclude or alienate them. The final part focuses on curating existing resources to meet a specific learning need. Using Jarche’s Seek–Sense–Share model, learners explore how to find material, interpret its value and share it with useful context. They define learner requirements, weigh resource strengths and limitations, and plan the organisation and maintenance of a resource bank. Copyright, licensing and cybersecurity are treated as separate checks: a resource must be appropriate to use and safe to share. This makes the package relevant to workplace learning decisions involving both newly designed content and selected external resources.

Who it’s for

This package suits learning and development practitioners, trainers and people professionals who select, design or curate workplace learning resources. It is particularly relevant to those who need to justify content choices and review materials for accessibility, inclusion and practical usefulness.

What’s covered

1. Live and independent digital learning

   Distinguishes learning activities from learning content and compares synchronous and asynchronous approaches. Explores how immediate interaction or independent study changes the support content needs to provide.

2. E-learning, slideshows, tutorials and apps

   Examines formats used to structure courses, explain information, guide tasks and provide practice. Focuses on what learners do with the material, rather than the device or software used to access it.

3. Video, audio and visual resources

   Explores the applications of videos, screencasts, podcasts, infographics and animations. Considers which formats suit behavioural demonstrations, procedural explanations, spoken reasoning and visual information.

4. Simulations, scenarios, games and extended reality

   Compares approaches that let learners act on representations of workplace situations. Explains how simulations, scenarios, games, augmented reality and virtual reality support different kinds of practice.

5. Content choices, engagement and learning effectiveness

   Distinguishes learner attention and involvement from the achievement of learning objectives. Examines why an engaging activity must also give learners the practice their intended performance requires.

6. Human-centred design and accessibility

   Explores design around learners’ tasks, prior knowledge, working conditions and access requirements. Addresses cognitive overload, testing with representative learners and features that can support participation or reinforce stereotypes.

7. Reviewing cultural bias and exclusion

   Examines how materials can present one group’s customs or communication styles as the expected standard. Supports review of racial, gender and cultural bias, with attention to separating genuine workplace requirements from cultural assumptions.

8. Purposeful curation and Seek–Sense–Share

   Introduces curation as selecting, evaluating and organising existing resources around a defined learning need. Uses Jarche’s Seek–Sense–Share model to explain finding information, making meaning and sharing it with context.

9. Defining learner requirements

   Connects workplace performance gaps to learning objectives and resource-selection criteria. Considers existing knowledge, language, accessibility and working conditions before the search for resources begins.

10. Assessing resource strengths and limitations

    Explores trade-offs between authority, ease of interpretation and usefulness for the intended audience. Evaluates resources against learning objectives, accessibility, relevance, accuracy and engagement criteria.

11. Organising and maintaining a resource bank

    Covers keeping a curated collection focused on defined tasks, audiences and organisational contexts. Addresses organisation, currency and maintenance so learners can find relevant materials and understand their status.

12. Copyright, licensing and cybersecurity

    Separates permission to use a resource from the security risks of accessing or distributing it. Covers checks on copying, adaptation and sharing, alongside permissions, attribution and appropriate safeguards.

Learning outcomes

By completing this package, learners can:

• Summarise the applications of digital learning content types, including e-learning, videos, slideshows, screencasts, podcasts, infographics, animations, tutorials, app-based content, simulations, scenarios, games, curated resources, augmented reality and virtual reality.
• Compare synchronous and asynchronous learning activities to justify suitable digital content choices for specified learning purposes and contexts.
• Analyse how digital content choices and design features influence learner engagement and the achievement of learning objectives.
• Evaluate digital learning resources against human-centred design principles, identifying features that facilitate learning and those that may exclude or alienate learners.
• Apply a bias-review checklist to identify racial, gender and cultural bias in digital learning materials and recommend specific revisions to promote inclusion.
• Explain the purpose of content curation and the stages of a recognised curation model, such as Jarche’s Seek–Sense–Share model.
• Analyse a given learning context to define learners’ learning and accessibility needs and establish criteria for selecting digital resources.
• Assess the strengths and limitations of potential curated resources against specified learning objectives, accessibility needs, relevance, accuracy and engagement criteria.
• Develop a content curation plan for a specified learning need, covering resource selection, contextualisation, organisation, sharing, review and maintenance of a resource bank.
• Apply copyright, licensing and cybersecurity checks to curated digital resources, documenting permissions, attribution requirements, security risks and appropriate safeguards.

Frequently asked questions

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