What makes a compellingeLearning programme?

Introduction

The title of this Slideshow, “how do we practically and inexpensively enhance, streamline, plan and better manage the training, development and knowledge requirements of our staff” is quite broad, but if we ask one simple question, “what makes a compelling e-Learning programme” we draw several key answers which, when aligned, lay the foundation for a successful performance management strategy that will aid employee retention, reduce operating costs, increase productivity and positively affect the bottom-line.

But before I ask the question “what makes a compelling e-Learning programme” let’s take a look at what e-Learning means to business “today”...

FACT - Almost 25% of employees leave their job due to a lack of training or learning opportunities.

FACT - 12% of HR Managers state that “not enough training” is the top reason that employees leave.

FACT - Companies that do provide e-Learning report an average 26% increase in revenue per employee.

FACT - It’s estimated that every £ spent on e-Learning generates £30 of increased productivity.

FACT - 85% of every pound set aside for classroom training is spent delivering it.

These hard hitting facts will, in some way during the past 12 months have influenced the

current shape of your business and importantly, the people within it.

The benefits of deploying a successful e-Learning strategy will become clear but, “what forms a

compelling e-Learning programme” that can positively influence “your team, your organisation and

your customers”? And “what are the pit-falls”?

Let’s take a look...

People

It’s well documented that “employees don’t leave organisations, they leave people”, and “people” form the basis upon which your e-Learning platform should be developed. e-Learning needs to be flexible enough to accommodate individual needs, age groups, learning styles and differing learning abilities.

Understanding your employees is paramount because varying age groups, differing levels of technical competence, personal views, how people prefer to learn and the aesthetic look and feel of your system will all influence the outcome of your e-Learning programme. If your employees can’t relate to the content and if the system is too rigid to react to changing needs, you won’t engage, and your outcomes will be weak.

People

It’s worth noting that;

57% of employees say that collaboration and knowledge sharing within a team is an ‘essential’ way of acquiring skills – ‘interaction’ within an e-Learning platform proves to positively enhance results.

and

48% of employees use Google to acquire role-specific knowledge. Shouldn’t this information be readily available to employees within your e-Learning programme? It helps to keep the programme in a controlled environment where only predetermined outcomes are available.

People

Interestingly;

Just 15% of employees see e-Learning as an essential tool for personal and professional development.

This suggests that in such circumstances the e-Learning environment hasn’t been targeted specifically at the individual, and is perhaps too broad, or not engaging, or the outcome(s) have been far from specific.

People

Your employees will want to learn only if they can relate to what’s being taught. A learner-centered approach will enhance motivation by making your employees feel that the information they’re receiving isn’t just something “they’re being forced to retain”, but rather meaningful material that can be applied directly to their lives. If they feel they’re able to tie what they’re learning to their personal and professional experiences, you’ve engaged them, and your outcomes will be positive.

Interactive Content

Interactive content is also an absolute must to secure engagement and should occur at least every four to five slides. By incorporating simple, interactive elements like questions, polls and links to additional resources you can deliver more effective content that better holds the attention of your staff. Typical examples Include;

• Fill in the blanks• Multiple choice questions• True or false questions• Videos• Tests

• Self assessment tools• Gamification• Online chat• And importantly, social interaction

Social Media

In order to enhance learner motivation does your e-Learning platform offer an integrated social learning strategy? Social media will play an integral role in the lives of many of your employees. Take advantage of this familiar environment and encourage interaction amongst staff. People are more motivated to learn if they don’t feel isolated. Provide staff with social collaboration tools and encourage them to share their experiences. Arrange online discussions, Q&A sessions and debates. Encourage your staff to communicate, participate, and share information so they can deepen their understanding of your subject matter. Social learning can foster powerful relationships among staff and offers them an overall, particularly satisfying learning experience. And isn’t this a great reason to want to learn.

Personalised, Engaged Learning

So, personalised, engaged learning affords the learner a degree of choice about what is learned, when it is learned, how it is learned and with who it is learned.

Retention and outcomes are considerably higher where interaction occurs in e-Learning. The bar is raised even further when learners are able to engage with a tutor for ongoing support and feedback throughout their learning experience – known as blended learning. We’ve found that conducting role plays or testing learned practices in a live working environment immediately after programme completion enhances retention even further.

Measuring Success

We now understand that a successful e-Learning programme must align individual preferences with organisational outcomes, but how do we measure “success”?

This answer to this is simple;“You need the right Learner Management System, or LMS.”

There are many learner management systems on the market, ranging from inexpensive or free open source software to fully integrated commercial platforms.

Choosing the right LMS

I won’t labour the subject of which LMS to choose, other than to say your LMS must;- Be mobile friendly.

- Contain varying methods of interaction or playful elements.

- Have an aesthetically pleasing interface.

- Allow employees to enrol online and keep track of their personal details, course progress and submit test or assignments.

- Have a virtual classroom or video facility to permit face-to-face interaction either on an individual or group basis.

- Allow social networking, at least within your organisation.

- Offer tight methods of communication between learners and their tutor.

- Enable a flexible work flow that guides learners towards a ‘learning pathway’.

- If required, enable language translation.

- And, importantly, delivers robust and detailed data.

BIG Data

Understanding your data is the underlying pin that will govern the future

success of your e-Learning programme, and many refer to this as ‘BIG DATA’.

The term BIG DATA doesn’t apply to the volume of data itself, but rather to the individual

parts of data that are being collected. These pieces of data can help you to track how

employees are acquiring information, at what pace and who with, as well as identifying

problems that may exist with your e-Learning strategy as a whole.

BIG Data

Enabling you to track every movement, Big Data allows you to pinpoint areas that may

need to be fine tuned within a course or isolated module. It can determine where reality-

based scenarios are more effective than text-based problem-solving activities. It allows

you to design an effective workflow that accurately aligns the needs of your employees

against actual business objectives, and allows you to predict, in a controlled environment

the future of your e-Learning strategy.

In Summary

The current speed of change means that employees need to be trained continuously in

order for Companies to avoid the dangers of being out-thought and out-manouvered

by competitors. Training initiatives therefore need to be monitored and managed via a

consistent and reliable tracking system that can be consulted and analyzed. The system’s

data is essential for creating management reports on productivity and also for assessing

individuals’ career advancement against overall business objectives.

In Summary

Efficiency is the name of the game. With e-Learning enabling employees to absorb more

material in a shorter amount of time you can reduce training costs and also reduce the

amount of time employees spend on training so they can get back to work faster. The

result is greater productivity for the company as a whole.

In Summary

With employees retaining more, and a streamlined means of measuring e-Learning

progress, we can more efficiently identify not only areas that could benefit from additional

training, but also areas that employees have mastered so you can eliminate training

redundancy.

In Summary

For many, e-Learning is fast becoming the most important method of training within

organisations, with companies increasingly moving towards blended e-Learning, rather

than instructor led training sessions.

In Summary

How much does it cost to take your staff way from their day jobs and put them in a

training room for a period of time? You lose productivity, may have to pay for temporary

replacement staff, the trainer, training materials, travelling expenses and more.

Measuring the impact of “standard face-to-face learning” against the bottom-line isn’t

an easy task... Measuring the actual impact of e-Learning in performance and monetary

terms is however information that should be readily available via your LMS.

In Summary

In order to determine if your e-Learning deliverable works, evaluating it is essential. The

evaluation of your e-Learning programme enables you to assess its quality and

effectiveness and, most importantly, understand what did or didn’t work in order to keep

it, or change it.

Continuous improvement therefore of your e-Learning deliverable should be one of your

top priorities.

In Summary

e-Learning platforms are developed using advanced technologies with the ability to create

engaging graphical interfaces with intuitive techniques for delivering content including

mobiles and tablets that will engage your employees, but it’s the detailed preparation,

the continued evaluation of your e-Learning strategy and the focus of aligning this with

your business objectives that will determine the future of e-Learning within your

organisation.

As the saying goes... you can have the system... it’s what you do with it that

counts...

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Further InformationFor details relating to eLearning please contact:

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