Supporting and embedding eLearning into your business

Employers are increasingly looking at online training courses to meet their employees learning needs. Some people, and some businesses may find it difficult to adapt their view of how training is undertaken. Some may have had a bad experience of online training in the past, or be unsure about how they would be able to learn in the same way as actually attending a course. So if you are thinking of introducing a full suite of online courses, or a just few to complement your training offering within your business, here are some things that you may want to consider.

Managers first

One of the first things that you need to do is ensure that all senior managers are onboard with the adoption of online training avenues. Could you get them to complete some online training before other employees do? This way they are familiar with the set up and the system, and understand and appreciate any issues they experience.

System training

Making sure that all employers are computer literate enough to complete the training course could be another challenge, so ensuring that your learners are able to use the e-learning system, have access to a computer, and have the ability to ask any questions if they have them, is essential. Most e-Learning software is fairly user friendly so this shouldn’t be too much of an issue, but something to bear in mind.

There’s plenty to choose from, so choose the right one!

E-learning courses can be a lot cheaper than signing employees up to more traditional face to face training courses, so there could be a tendency to send anyone who asks onto a course, but it’s important to ensure that you are choosing ones that actually meet the needs of that employee, otherwise it’s just wasted time and money. The same amount of research, consideration and value should be spent on choosing an online course, as you put into choosing a more traditional type of course. Make sure that the ones you choose have been developed by experts in their field, and check the content before you sign your employees up to the course. It is relatively easy to set up a course and a website, so make sure you know what your signing up to!

Ensure that your employees also understand that although the E-learning platform can be accessed from anywhere, they are not simply expected to complete it in their own time, and ensuring that they have the time and space to complete the course during their working hours, as they would a physical training course, is important.

Build learning groups

If you have more than one employee in your business completing the same online course, then build in some time for them to get together and discuss the content and their learning. This can help the learners to cement their learning and learn from each other’s experiences. Many online learning platforms have forums so that learners can interact with each other in this way, but doing it within your business could help on another level too.

Feedback!

As employees complete e-learning courses, ask for feedback about how they found the experience, what could be improved at each step of the process? Did they find the training useful and can they see how they can apply it to their daily work? Make sure you listen to this feedback, and make changes as appropriate.