You have devised a learning system chock full of terribly valuable information. But there’s a problem, a very common problem: how do you keep your learners engaged? A learning system needs to keep the learners’ attention alive, which is even harder to accomplish when your learner is working alone, without instructors or peers, and the material is deathly boring.

Making the material interactive is key here. Cut out a chunk of the passivity inherent in sitting down and becoming an information-absorbent receptacle, and make your learning system successful. Your learning system must interact with the learners. For example, your learners must be challenged, made to make decisions, inquire, probe—and they shouldn’t be fearful of making mistakes, or they will be reluctant to explore.