BLOGs
eLearning Software
Published June 03rd, 2016 by

How to Manage eLearning for your Staff Successfully

Summer might not arrive officially for another month, but now that Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, everyone is geared up for the season.

It’s not difficult to get excited about things like outdoor concerts, outdoor parties, baseball games, barbecues, and all the events synonymous with summer. What it can be difficult to get excited about is education in the workplace. Many people don’t realize that education is a lifelong process, and that just because you have a job, you no longer need to learn. The fact is, you never stop learning, even at work. Things like rules and procedures are always evolving, as is technology, which can sometimes complicate our lives if we don’t learn how to properly leverage it.

Speaking of technology, online training has all but eliminated the need for sending employees to off-site training seminars. Instead of getting in the car or on an airplane for training, it can now be accomplished without needing to leave the office. It can even be accomplished from home. This should be motivation enough for employees to embrace online training, but unfortunately, the word “training” is enough to cause eyes to roll and heavy sighs to escape from just about everyone.

Is there a way to consistently and successfully manage online training in a corporate setting? You bet. Keep reading to find out how:

1. Start By Getting Your Entire Team Involved

In order to motivate everyone at the very beginning, make sure each member of the team has a role to play. Everyone should have input into which courses are chosen, which online training methodologies will be used, and how each team member will provide feedback about the experience. One of the best ways to do this is including a learning management system for maintaining employee data in the entire process of online training.

2. Think About Hiring Freelancers to Pick Up Any Slack

If there is work to be done that can’t be rescheduled during online training strategy sessions, consider hiring short-term freelancers to pinch hit. The great thing about the current sharing economy is that there are plenty of talented people with flexible schedules that are willing to perform short-term jobs.

3. Turn to Experts and Course Creators For Help

If you don’t have much knowledge about online training, who better to turn to then the people who create online training courses? Course creators are experts on the subject matters they disseminate, and most of them are more than willing to help companies and organizations that are new to online training. Moreover, it exposes their work to even more people.

4. Don’t Forget to Include Review Tools

The best way to ensure that education “sticks” is to include the ability to review the course materials. Choose courses that give learners the ability to test themselves as they progress through the material. If there are topics they need additional help with, they can ask for help, or go back and review sections of material.

5. Gather Everyone in the Cloud

If your team is physically not all in one place, the best place to gather them is in the “cloud”. Use online meeting software and cloud storage capabilities to ensure that everyone has access to all materials, and remains on the same page with what needs to be done.

6. Encourage Collaboration

Using cloud technology and online meeting software is just the beginning of keeping everyone up to speed. Try hosting online “hang-outs” where team members can gather to share their online training experiences, and discuss the pros and cons of the methodologies they’ve been using. Assess the materials and coursework, and discuss how what is being learned will help improve efficiency and make their jobs more productive and enjoyable.

7. Encourage Everyone to Learn the Same Skills

Even if the jobs certain team members perform don’t require all the new skills they’ll be learning, teach them anyway. It never hurts to have knowledge even if you won’t be using it on a regular basis. Life can be so unpredictable that it never hurts for someone to have your back. When every team member has the same knowledge, responsibilities can be shared, and there will never be anymore missed deadlines because someone was out, and someone else didn’t know how to perform a certain task.

8. Agree on a Realistic Timeline

In today’s fast-paced business world, everyone seems to want everything done yesterday. When it comes to learning, slow and steady wins the race. Discuss options for a realistic timeline with all team members, and make sure to account for vacations and other events that might impact goals. Maybe summer isn’t the best time to start online training; it’s best to let everyone decide how best to proceed in order to ensure success.

9. Ensure Everyone is Well-Equipped

Once the timing is agreed upon, and the courses are chosen, the last thing you want to have happen is technical issues. Does everyone have a device capable of supporting all the graphics, audio and video in the courses? Does everyone have access to a high-speed Internet connection? It is best to make sure all equipment is in place before commencing online training so there will not be any delays.

10. Will Courses Work in Specific Browsers and on Mobile Devices?

Even with loads of technology at our disposal, sometimes, we can’t use all of it. Make sure chosen courses will work in specific browsers and on mobile devices if team members will be using them. If a course is not compatible with the browsers your organization likes to use, or if it will not operate correctly on a tablet or smart phone, maybe it would be best to choose something else.

11. Can Courses Be Translated?

Some team members might be more comfortable learning in their native language. If this is the case, make life easier for everyone by checking if coursework is translatable, or available in different languages. When you want someone to learn something new, make them as comfortable as possible. If that means learning in a different language, do everything possible to make that happen.

12. Agree on Goals and Milestones

Perhaps the most important aspect of getting team members to embrace online training is to set goals and achievable milestones. Everyone should be on the same page in terms of what they expect to achieve with online training, and which milestones they hope to reach. Just as with figuring out a reasonable timeline, milestones should be realistic and attainable.

The key to achieving success with online training is to make everyone feel like they are working towards a common goal. Once that happens, they’ll wonder how they ever survived in the workforce without it.

Kathy Amato

Kathy Amato is the Director of Marketing at Coggno.com, a website that aggregates online training courses and also offers a free Learning Management System.

Our rankings are completely independent, transparent, and community driven; they are based on user reviews and client sentiment. These elearning software companies had to earn their way up and didn't just pay their way up.

View Rankings of Best eLearning Software Companies