How to Elevate Self-Development on a Budget

I thought about how to elevate self-development on a budget because I am currently in the market for a mother-of-the-groom dress for my only son. I want to elevate my style for the wedding but I cannot afford designer prices. Sadly, I no longer fit in the gowns I own so recycle is not an option. I need to elevate my style for the wedding on a budget. My plan is to look at a lot of different designer gowns for inspiration and then find a gown on sale from one of my favorite designers. Elevating self-development is a bit more complicated than elevating your look for a wedding. For example, there are a limited number of up-scale gown designers but there is an endless array of self-development options such as mentors, professional coaches, in-person training, online training, and self-help books. Further, gowns can be purchased on the Internet where price typically reflects quality while price does not necessarily reflect quality of self-development options.

So, what do I mean by elevating self-development? To me, elevating self-development means improving learning per unit of time and money invested. For example, a good self-help book may cost an average of $20 in paperback format (Gemini) and it can take 3 to 12 hours to read 300 pages (Gemini). Learning is limited from a book because the average retention rate from reading is 10 percent. Alternatively, a good online course may cost an average of $137 (Gemini) and can take an average of 3 hours to complete. But an online course can use learning techniques that can increase retention to 90 percent. So, an online course has the potential to provide more learning per unit of invested time and money than a self-help book.

Book Clubs are popular because discussing a book with others taps into the neuroscience principles for learning to stick (check out my free book club kit for When Bad Teams Happen to Good People: Your Complete Repair Guide for Successful Teamwork here: https://s83ebe.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/When-Bad-Teams-Happen-to-Good-People-Book-Club-Kit-10Oct2023.pdf). Book Clubs are a way to increase learning from reading books. A well-designed online course provides a higher baseline of learning then reading a self-help book because an online course can deploy techniques to increase retention. So, a way to elevate self-development on a budget is with an eLearning Club which combines the retention benefits of an online course and the benefits of learning with others.

eLearning Retention

A core principle that makes eLearning more effective than reading a self-help book is the picture superiority effect. The picture superiority effect was discovered in 1973 and is the finding that pictures lead to better recall of information than words (Paivio, A. and Csapo, K. Picture superiority in free recall: Imagery or dual coding? Cognitive Psychology, 5(2):176-206, 1973). Effective learning occurs when the learning need is met and there is retention of the knowledge or skills acquired because the brain can access the knowledge or skills when needed. One technique for retention of the knowledge or skills acquired is the picture superiority effect.

Research on learning shows that the degree of retention depends on the learning process used. The higher the retention, the more effective the learning because new knowledge and skills that are retained in the brain can be applied when needed. The National Training Laboratories in the 1950’s developed a learning retention pyramid or cone of learning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_z4gdv7t88). The cone of learning shows that at one extreme retention is 90% when you learn by teaching others but at the other extreme is only 5% when you learn from a traditional classroom lecture. The cone of learning with retention rates is as follows:

• Teaching Others (90%)
• Practicing by Doing (75%)
• Using a Discussion Group (50%)
• Using a Demonstration (30%)
• Audio Visual (20%)
• Reading (10%)
• Lecture (5%)

A well-designed eLearning course can, through assignments, tap into teaching others for 90% retention, and practicing by doing for 75% retention. A well-designed eLearning course can also, through lesson design, tap into demonstrations for 30% retention and audio visual for 20% retention. These four methods of learning all outperform reading at only 10% retention.

There are poorly designed online courses that make it difficult to learn just as there are poorly written books that are difficult to understand upon reading. You want to find a well-designed online course to elevate your self-development which means looking for three key elements. First, a well-designed eLearning course embeds the neuroscientific principles of adult learning. Second, a well-designed eLearning course has well-constructed learning objectives. Third and finally, a well-designed eLearning course is based on the principles of instructional design, including a rubric that measures progress towards the overall learning objective. Now let us explore each of these three elements of a well-designed eLearning course and what clues to look for when you are in the market for eLearning.

Neuroscientific Principles of Adult Learning

The first element of a well-designed eLearning course is embedding the neuroscientific principles of adult learning which are attention, generation, emotion, and spacing. Attention because scientists understand that our brains learn best when focused attention is not required for more than 20 minutes at a time and when our attention is not divided. Generation because scientists understand that our brains encode and retain information best when we generate connections between what we know and new information. Emotion because scientists understand that we need enough emotion to motivate learning but too much emotion degrades learning. Finally, spacing because scientists understand that learning is best when spaced out over several sessions and especially when there is sleep between sessions.

There are some clues for the first element of a well-designed eLearning course which is embedding the neuroscientific principles of adult learning. The clues that the neuroscientific learning principles of attention, generation, emotion, and spacing have been used in an eLearning course are in the training material. For example, slides need to be designed in a way that does not divide attention between the trainer and the slide content. Also, trainers need to create opportunities for generation through lesson assignments and can create opportunities for spacing with well-designed post-course assignments and interactions. Finally, trainers need to trigger interest at the outset of a training session and use video techniques to maintain interest throughout each lesson. An example clue for the neuroscientific principle of attention is checking that all lesson videos are less than 20 minutes long. You can also gage the level of emotional engagement and the quality of slide design by watching sample lesson videos provided for free.

Well-Constructed Learning Objective

The second element of a well-designed eLearning course is well-constructed learning objectives. A well-constructed learning objective has three components. First, the learning objective uses observable verbs like incorporate or develop and avoids abstract verbs like study, appreciate, know, or believe. Second, the learning objective describes what the learner will be able to do because of completing the training. Finally, the learning objective specifies how the learning will be measured. An example learning objective for my course on virtual meeting mastery (https://valerie-s-site-68ec.thinkific.com/courses/ai-placeholder) is as follows: Plan, design, and lead great remote meetings that participants rate as having more benefits than concerns. So, this learning objective uses the observable verbs of plan, design, and lead. This objective also specifies what learners who complete the course will be able to do which is lead great remote meetings. Finally, the objective also explains how the learning will be measured which is by the meeting participants rating the meeting as having more benefits than concerns.

There are some clues for the second element of a well-designed eLearning course which is well-constructed learning objectives. The primary clue is assessing what the overall course and each lesson enables the learner to do upon completion. You can look for clues of a well-constructed learning objective in the course sub-title which typically articulates what the course promises you will be able to do because of taking the course. For example, my course on virtual meeting mastery has the sub-title “How to Lead Virtual Meetings that Produce the Most Results for the Investment.” So, taking this course enables learners to lead virtual meetings with as much return on investment as possible. You can also look at the lesson and lesson assignment titles to assess the quality of lesson learning objectives. For example, one lesson title from my course on virtual meeting mastery is Why Remote Meetings are Hard and the lesson assignment is Actions to Combat Remote Meeting Challenges Worksheet so this lesson provides ways to combat remote meeting challenges.

Principles of Instructional Design

The third and final element of a well-designed eLearning course is using the principles of instructional design including a rubric that measures progress towards the overall learning objective. The principles of instructional design are captured in different course design processes. For example, the instructional design process I use comes from Rebecca Frost Cuevas (Rebecca Frost Cuevas, Course Design Formula: How to Teach Anything to Anyone Online, California: Learn and Get Smarter Inc, 2019.) A rubric is a template for self-assessment. The rows of a rubric are the primary topics or concepts in the course needed to realize the overall learning objective. The columns in a rubric are a measure of performance or competence such as excellent, above average, average, below average, and poor. Each cell in the rubric contains a description of what that state looks like for self-assessment by the learner. An example simplified rubric for my course on the science and practice of fulfillment (https://valerie-s-site-68ec.thinkific.com/products/courses/science-and-practice-of-fulfillment) is as follows:

There are not many discernable clues for the third and final element of a well-designed eLearning course that instructional design principles and a rubric have been used. The presence of instructional design principles might be gleaned from the sequence of lessons. For example, a “how-to” course should include the big ideas and concepts, the discriminations, the step-by-step process, and the exceptions. A clue for the presence of a rubric is the use of an assessment to provide a baseline for the course topic. For example, in my course on fulfillment, the first lesson assignment is the fulfilled life scale which is a fulfillment assessment. Also, in my course on virtual meeting mastery, the first lesson assignment is a remote meeting mastery assessment.

Summary

An eLearning Club can elevate self-development on a budget by providing more learning per unit of time and money invested than a book club. A well-constructed eLearning course provides more learning potential than a self-help book because of the ability to tap into higher retention learning techniques like the picture superiority effect, demonstrations, and assignments that let you practice by doing. A book club enhances learning from a self-help book because discussing a book with others taps into the neuroscience principles for learning to stick. An eLearning Club provides the higher learning potential of an eLearning course over a self-help book plus the learning benefits of discussing the course with others. To help you start an eLearning Club, check out two free course club kits for the Science and Practice of Fulfillment: How to Apply Research Findings from Positive Psychology to Improve Happiness and Contentment (https://fulcrumconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Science-and-Practice-of-Fulfillment-Course-Club-Kit-25Jan2025.pdf) and Virtual Meeting Mastery: How to Lead Virtual Meetings that Produce the Most Results for the Investment (https://fulcrumconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Virtual-Meeting-Mastery-Course-Club-Kit-5Feb2025.pdf).