5 ways to measure your eLearning ROI
Find out how to identify gaps and needs of your eLearning program.
During 2020 the demand to bump up professional skills increased as employers from around the world found the need to move from a brick-and-mortar office to an all virtual or hybrid set up. Employers and employees were forced to adapt fast or perish (well, or at least reconvert).
Many companies considered that in order to keep up with the evolving world, they needed to implement learning strategies that are simple, require less resources, and can be deployed globally very quick.
A study from Forbes Magazine mentioned the worldwide eLearning market is expected to be worth $325 billion in 2025. On this article we will discuss the benefits of eLearning and how to measure its impact.
The benefits of eLearning are very clear:
- Whenever, wherever
- Interactive
- Self-paced
- Cost effective
- Consistency between courses
- Simple to update
- Simple to track student progress
Last year, a variety of clients came to us looking for an alternative to in-person or instructor conducted training. Most of them showed concern, or had the impression that in order to move to eLearning they will need extensive resources, not only financially but also technologically, and that their employees will have a hard time making the switch. However, after a proper evaluation of the return on investment for the conversion of their courses from instructor led to eLearning, the choice becomes obvious.
Research from the ATD (Association for Talent Development) determined that 84% of organizations stated that eLearning was critical to help them meet their growth and corporate development goals. But, how can you measure ROI?
Here are 5 key performance indicators that will help you determine if you will make a sound investment.
1. Compare metrics
Collect some data before beginning the course, such as team performance, individual performance, and behavior or bias of your employees when it comes to taking eLearning courses as opposed to instructor led training. This will help you determine areas requiring improvement at a department or team level, as well as an individual level, and overall behavior towards using eLearning.
2. What do you mean by success?
Define the results you want to get; which goals are you setting for this specific training?
3. ROE (Return-on-expectation).
Return-on-expectation is the process where the trainers or learning experts request feedback from the key business stake holders, to create measurable results expected from the training or eLearning. In other words, what are the measurable outcomes expected once the course has been completed by a student. ROE helps learning professionals convert generic expectations into data which can be used to measure the success of training initiatives.
4. Know the value of applying new skills.
Are your employees actually doing what they are taught to do on the course including any best practices? In other words, are they putting the skills to work? Do they need to take the course again periodically to reinforce concepts if the content is more general rather than task specific?
How much is your team learning? Knowledge without application has no value on the job, how are they applying it in the real-world environment? Are you creating metrics to focus on things such as knowledge retention and assimilation?
5. Keep an eye on data.
Learning Management Systems (LMS) can be a great ally in the age of data. They can show you how one learner got from one place to another and if they are achieving the course goals. Reports and analytics give you a comprehensive review of your online program, which elements are worth the cost and which need to be updated or removed. This is an excellent way to improve your online training strategy.
Not sure how to start measuring ROI on eLearning? Contact us. We might be able to help.
