What is e-learning?
E-learning is a general term that stands for electronic learning. It was coined in the early 90s when people began teaching and learning online. As technology evolved and more people started using the Internet, e-learning became more mainstream, and you could search and learn almost anything online.
When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, we saw an even massive shift to online learning environments, and everything from work to school went online. With this sudden switch, new ways of dispensing information began to emerge. As the pandemic continues, more companies are making the permanent switch to remote work or hybrid offices. This means that in order to offer learning and development programs for your workers, you need to find ways to do this that will work in the new virtual world.
Here’s a look into e-learning and other L&D trends that can help keep your company progressing and your employees reskill for remote work:
Learning during work
Many companies now have programs that promote learning during work. This allows workers to learn and understand what is needed for the job while still being productive. This type of learning and development program focuses on making learning more relevant to the day-to-day job. The idea is that your employees would be able to learn small things during the day during work or on a break. These programs typically have 5-10 minute classes designed to make employees more productive or give role-specific instructions.
An example of this is an interactive walkthrough of the information needed for new hires for on boarding purposes. Once you develop this type of program, you can use it for any new hire and cut down on the amount of time another employee would have to spend training the new hire. It also lowers the cost of training and allows employees to learn at their own pace.
Personalized learning
Having personalized learning and development programs is an excellent way of engaging your employees in their work. By creating personalized learning sessions, you can cater to the individual’s needs and schedule. After all, not everyone has the same skills and talents, even if they perform similar duties. Other than that, employees who need extra training in a particular area might be reluctant to alert managers of their potential weaknesses in a group setting. It can be much easier to motivate workers to attend training sessions and share their views if they are personalized and address the exact needs of the individual. That way, they can also work at their own pace and do the training when it best suits them. Moreover, since there can be a wide variety of knowledge to be shared regarding technology, it is better to offer personalized learning so that people with advanced skills are not bored and people with fewer skills do not become lost. With personalized learning sessions, employees can learn without fear of judgment, making them more likely to participate in the training. A great example of this is when you need to train employees on new technology. Not everyone will understand the technology at the same pace, so having things like individual tutorials can be helpful for those who might need more time to understand the details.
Hybrid classrooms
As the pandemic is dragging on, more and more companies have embraced hybrid work environments. This means that there is an office space in which half the workers can work in person while the other half is working remotely. This concept has also made its way into learning and development programs at work. If, for example, you have someone in your office to teach your workers a new skill, you can have the conference room set up so that participants can be online or in person. This means you can get the same lesson across without having to do the whole thing twice. Some companies even record the sessions so that workers can view them in their own time, or new employees can view them later on.
This type of hybrid classroom can also be helpful in companies that have freelancers or contract positions. Offering learning and development programs to your freelancers is a great way to keep them working for your company, increasing their job satisfaction. It can also ensure that all staff has access to the same training regardless of their position.
Accreditation and certificates
Offering accreditation or certificates for e-learning courses is yet another trend that has become more popular. With the emergence of online learning, more and more companies now provide access to online courses that offer certificates once completed. Online learning sites such as Udemy and Coursera have become very popular in the last few years and offer comprehensive courses in subjects such as administration, human resources and leadership. Some companies offer to pay employees to take these courses, which is a great way to enhance their learning and development programs. This approach works because people are usually more drawn to taking an online course if they get proper accreditation or certificates after completing them. By offering this type of acknowledgement of their work, you can motivate employees to take and finish the courses, bringing more skills and knowledge into your workforce. You can also approach the online learning companies to create a cross-promotional partnership that benefits both companies.
Upskilling
Upskilling refers to the idea of learning new skills for a job that a person already has. This might come in the form of learning a new technology or learning a new skill that will enhance an employee’s existing skill set. This type of training program became more well-known when the pandemic hit, and offices had to go online. Not all workers were comfortable with working from home and had to get extra training for online tools that would allow them to do their jobs from home.
Many companies now offer leadership training as part of their learning and development programs. You can also promote workers from within your organization by providing leadership training, allowing you to save on recruitment and training. A great example of this is a mentorship program where a worker with more experience can mentor a newer employee to gain the skills needed for a higher position.
Some of the trending upskilling training programs are:
- company and culture training
- leadership and management training
- role-specific training
- diversity and inclusion training
These types of programs can be very popular among workers as it allows them to update their skills to help advance their careers.
Knowledge sharing
Knowledge sharing refers to creating, curating and organizing essential organizational knowledge. In other words, you create a database of any processes or procedures that are unique to your business. You can create step-by-step instructions on different internal processes that you can use for training purposes as and when needed.
Knowledge sharing allows you to recognize and share your employees’ talents within the organization, which is an excellent way of keeping a productive workforce. When you have a way of easily transferring knowledge from one employee to another, training new employees becomes easier. Normally, when a new employee is on boarded, another employee must stop what they are doing and train the new employee. This doesn’t have to happen with a shareable knowledge base as the new employee can learn as they work.
An example of this is an online database where your entire workforce uploads their job responsibilities and other organizational processes. You can then make this information accessible to all employees using file-sharing software or cloud technology. You can further encourage employees to use the information and learn more about the organizational processes while staying productive by creating this database with a searchable FAQ section.
Feedback surveys
Surveys are a wonderful way of getting feedback from employees. When creating learning and development programs, it is important to engage your employees. People tend to want these programs to be quick and easy to participate in, so many companies now have feedback surveys for their learning programs to check if they work. You can also add satisfaction and feedback surveys to your learning and development programs to understand the needs of your employees and give insight into which methods work. This way, you can promote constant improvement within the organization, and your employees will know that you care about their learning and development.
By implementing these e-learning strategies, you can continue to provide your employees with great development programs that will benefit them and the company.
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