If I can get your attention, make you interested in my product/service, create an incredible desire in you to use my product, and propel you into action by getting you to buy my product, would that be of interest to you?
From an Instructional Designer’s perspective,this may sound a lot like something you would hear coming out of your Marketing department. In fact, it is the steps or events that are often undergone when a person is selling something. According to our friends over at wikipedia, the term AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action) and the approach I just described are attributed to American advertising and sales pioneer, E. St. Elmo Lewis.
Here’s how AIDA breaks down:
- Attention (Awareness): attract the attention of the customer
- Interest: raise customer interest by focusing on and demonstrating advantages and benefits
- Desire: convince customers that they want and desire the product or service and that it will satisfy their needs
- Action: lead customers towards taking action and/or purchasing
Ever wonder how you could use this as an Instructional Designer in creating e-Learning materials? Wonder no more! Our friends at Kineo have an excellent article I think you should read. In the meantime, I’ll summarize some of the article’s key points.
Attention: What is your hook for getting them to look at your course? Consider putting the “What’s in it for me” factor out there as early as you can. Another way is to ask a question to get them engaged, share a powerful statistic, etc.
Interest: Avoid feature dumps and instead focus on how the new process you are teaching is going to make a difference.
Desire: Although we can’t sell people that e-learning is going to make them stronger, sexier, or smarter, we can incite desire by letting them know they’ll make fewer errors, be more efficient, etc.
Action: At the end of the e-learning program, you want them to go out and do something.
As a physical education instructor I can’t help but feel like I’m constantly fighting an uphill battle when attempting to get some of my students to make more of an investment in my class. I like this concept as an instructional designer for several reasons: first, in an interest to stay current, improve instruction and be more innovative I’m motivated to include an “e-learning” component to the courses I teach. Secondly, I think AIDA and its related concepts could also be beneficial when implemented into plain old direct instruction. Many times it feels as though students need to be convinced that what is being taught will benefit them somehow and I often don’t design instruction with this in mind. I think that using the idea of “Attention, Interest, Desire, Action” could help engage learners and inspire them to value the importance of learning concepts related to their physical education. A comment by Dr. Jeanne Ormrod on information processing and learning that stood out relative to this notion while viewing a video resource in a course I’m taking through Walden University: “Instructional designers need to keep in mind the very human nature of learning and those emotional overtones.”