Moving from traditional course into eLearning format? Here’s how

Before COVID-19 suddenly made us all remote workers and students, mobile learning apps, performance support tools, and self-paced learning were already a trend. Given the large number of people staying at home, organizations are undertaking a digital transformation of training.

When we think about job training and traditional education, we picture ourselves in a classroom or a training room with a subject matter expert or instructor sharing knowledge. Instructor-Led Training (ILT) has always been part of training even with the boom of eLearning. Engagement delivers great results and increases productivity,

However, those are the old days, not only due to the new reality caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because we have at our disposal great innovative tools to make your training courses even more engaging. If you’re looking to maximize your training budget, this article provides valuable tips.

How can you transform your ILT into something more valuable? Whether you choose a blended or fully online training delivery, it will be a good idea to make the investment now, during the pandemic, as the ILT approach is simply no longer an option in the short term.

Uploading your PPT slides, videos, audios and PDFs to a Learning Management System will not create engagement without a strategy to make your online training work.

How do I decide what content is suitable to become eLearning and what are the critical steps to start the process?

1. Identify the course format. Analyze your students’ needs and decide if you should go with:

• Asynchronous learning. This is when a single student interacts directly with the content such as online self-paced courses, online discussion groups and Q&A mentoring.
• Synchronous learning. This happens when all participants are logged in at the same time like a virtual classroom or a live webinar.
• Blended. This could be a combination of both like a recorded training session or webinar with interactive QA or an instructor-supervised eLearning course.

2. Plain text is not great for engagement. Creating interactive experiences does not have to be complicated or techy. Use simple tools like polls or simple games to keep the audience engaged.

3. Make sure your content is in simple language and the concepts are clear; remember that during instructor-led training you have the opportunity to ask for clarifications. Avoid elaborate wording or concepts that do not serve a purpose on the course.

4. Use interaction whenever possible. Simple games of drag and drop or place in the right order, can go a long way in getting that idea in the student’s head (and we all love to feel like kids from time to time). Polls are also a great way to get into your student’s head and understand their perspective. Don’t miss any opportunity to get valuable input.

During these difficult times, having the ability to keep training and investing in productivity will prove a great competitive advantage. Companies on a training freeze, not prepared for remote learning, will end up with ill prepared teams for the post pandemic economy.