Consistency is King!
Keeping your course content consistent is important! Formatting, style, naming conventions, voice, branding⌠it ALL matters! Here are the elements to keep your eye on throughout the course creation process to keep things as consistent as possible.
Style
The brain hiccups when it detects change, so keeping things constant is key in not interrupting the cognitive process of your learners. If youâve been using one specific header style, font, or punctuation approach throughout your course, make sure to stick to it. Switching to something different only serves to shift the learnerâs brain towards distraction; the brain engages (often subconsciously) on the change, asking âwhy?â or trying to process whatâs different.
Here are a few style elements to be cognizant of:
- Visually â be mindful of your formatting and keep things such as font size, headers, color palettes, indentation, bullets and numbering constant. Not only will this make your course aesthetically pleasing, but itâll create a visually repeating pattern for the brain to organize and process the information.
- Dates â thereâs numerous formats, all of which are correct, but donât switch back and forth.
- Capitalization â is internet capitalized? Donât scratch your head at each use of reoccurring words, pick one, and run with it throughout the course.
- Spelling â thereâs a surprising amount of gray/grey area in grammar. If thereâs multiple spellings or phrases (especially with industry specific lingo) settle on one version throughout.
- Hyphens â thereâs a lot of leeway on hyphen use. While it may be a free-for-all, keep the distraction down by using them consistently.
- Acronyms â this one can get overwhelming when dealing with jargon that youâre not 100% familiar with. To keep things straight, make a list with the preferred acronym and use it as your copy/paste reference. Also, be purposeful in your punctuation and either use periods or donât, throughout.
Donât underestimate the importance of style; companies adopt in-depth style guides ((Hartâs, Chicago Manual of Style, Economist) and require employees to use them for all published work. Creating templates and relying on your own style guides will help with your work flow and content creation. Youâll no longer be pausing to question whether to use wifi or WiFi, or what font size looks best as a subheader. Youâll have a system thatâs repeatable, without scrolling back a dozen slides to see what you used previously.
Voice
1st vs. 3rd
Active vs. passive
Are your word choices and colloquialisms the same throughout?
There are two main culprits when it comes to inconsistencies in voice.
- Creating the content over an extended period of time. Some courses are developed over years! To avoid an inadvertent shift in voice, whether it be in tense or tone, give your previous created content a brief review to get back into the original voice you began with.
- Multiple content creators. Mixing different authors, SME generated content, and outside materials into your course often leads to that noticeable shift in voice. Have you ever read a piece of work that seems to have been written by two different authors, switching tense and rhythm randomly? Itâs extremely distracting! Whenever outside content comes through the door, take the time to edit it specifically for consistency with all of your other course content.
Structure
Make it easier on your learner to follow how your course is structured by sticking to the same naming structure throughout your course. This is particularly useful if the course is part of a bigger curriculum.
- Use terms such as Chapters, Modules, Lessons and Topics consistently
- Use consistent Table of Contents elements along with outline formats (numbered vs. alphabetical)
- Keep navigational elements, learner instructions and assessment access/completion consistent
Brand
Thereâs no lack of resources on how to keep your brand consistent! If your online course is for sale, begin thinking of it as a product that customers want (if you havenât already). Build your brand and keep it consistent with your promotions, stakeholders and subsequent courses.
Marketing and achieving consistent branding with logos and ads arenât guesswork. A blue Coca-Cola just doesnât compute. Keeping the message and branding consistent is the easiest way to build familiarity, trust and ultimately fans of your courses and content.
Take the time to keep things consistent! Itâll pay off in a course that not only looks polished and professional, but will assist your learners in having a better experience with your content.
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