Note: This post has been guest authored by Christopher Pappas, who is the Founder of eLearning Industry’s Network, which is the largest online community of professionals involved in the eLearning field.
Elearning solutions have taken the world of business by storm. At present, almost all of the major business houses are using Elearning platforms to educate their employees. Those who haven’t embraced Elearning are struggling to make their presence felt in the world of business and employee engagement.
Businesses spend millions in order to educate customers regarding their beliefs, goals, core values, etc. They organize seminars, talks, discussions, etc. in order to spread brand awareness, but nothing can match the extent of the impact created by an Elearning course. All of the employees can be provided with a specially designed Elearning course. You can have a separate Elearning course for each of the departments. In this way, you will be able to cater to everybody’s needs and requirements.
Here are certain things (tips) that you need to keep in mind while introducing a new Elearning course within the organization.
1. Know your goals and objectives by heart
Goals and objectives form the heart and blood of your Elearning program. Without a set of clearly-defined goals, you won’t be able to achieve the results that you so desire. Take this for example: If you are looking to educate the employees within your organization regarding a new policy that needs to be brought into force, then your objective has to be ‘employee education’. Similarly, if you wish to inform your employees regarding a new product you are about to launch, then your course has to be a bit promotional in nature.
2. Have a management tool in place
You can choose from a wide range of online project management tools. These will help you keep track of the assignments you have shared. Using an efficient project management tool, you can collaborate effectively with your colleagues and friends. Go for a cloud-based Elearning course as it can be accessed anytime, anywhere, and on any device. You can go for tools, such as Asana, Trello, Wrike, etc. All of the documents you open and share are stored in the cloud.
Furthermore, the training you provide/develop needs to be foolproof for there is no margin for error. Your training needs analysis solutions to help it become more precise in delivery and value. Without adequate analysis, you won’t be able to create the perfect Elearning course.
3. The next step is to list down the key players
If you are planning to conduct online training sessions, you will have to involve a lot of players and stakeholders. Make sure you include all of them.
The key players will be:
- Managers
- Training teams
- Tech teams (IT)
- Instructional designers
- Project managers
- The experts
- Content strategist and creators
You can have a separate set of modules for people at different levels, for instance, the beginners can have a simplified set of modules for the beginners, whereas those belonging to the management can be given slightly complex modules.
4. A comprehensive content plan is required
To implement the Elearning modules across different levels, a content plan will be required. Here are a few people you need to take into consideration
- Your target learner
- Your content ideas:
- How smart or how dumb the idea is ( your users are here to you this).
- No matter how creative the idea is, it’s redundant if it doesn’t sell.
5. Everything needs to be scheduled
Having a detailed schedule in place will streamline everything. You cannot leave anything unattended. This will allow you to keep everything in consideration. Even the slightest of errors can end up being fatal. There is absolutely no room for carelessness.
Keep these in mind the next time you plan to create an online course.
