Published on March 23rd, 2017 | by Guest
0Everything You Should Know About Successful Online Employee Training
If you want your business to expand, offer a superior service and keep up with your competition. To achieve this, you will need capable employees. Hiring professionals might not be the option as it can hamper your budget, but by relying on employee online training you can improve and upgrade the skills of your current workforce to meet new standards.
Picking the right eLearning system to deliver your employee training can be difficult. As an employer, you will have to consider various parameters before you make your decision.
In this guide, we will go over some of the things you should have in mind when picking an online learning system and the benefits you should focus on. The first thing you need to do is to pick an online employee training platform considering the aspects that are mentioned below.
Choosing the right features
In order to ensure that you have selected the right tools for learning, you need to go over the features a certain platform has to offer. It should be user-friendly so that the course attendants won’t need any additional training in order to use it efficiently.
You need to go for a solution that allows you to design a course with ease. The idea is that the course design process should not take up too much of your time. It should not be difficult to instruct employees on how to navigate through the course.
The courses you create should be interactive and engaging since the main idea is to make learning fun and informative. Each employee should realize how this course will benefit them from the very start. In other words, it needs to contain real-life simulations and interactive material.
Start up costs
Pricing is one of the other element you should consider. Are there monthly fees? Are there different packages and, if there are additional purchases, what are they? Furthermore, check if the supplier will provide you with IT support, troubleshooting and other services you might need in case a problem appears.
The main idea is to save funds by switching from traditional training to an online program that can be used again for future employees. The software you are purchasing needs to cost less than live instructors, printing training manuals and other materials necessary for employee specialization.
Go for a cloud-based system
Training platforms can be installed locally, or they can be cloud-based. One of the advantages of online training is definitely flexibility in attendance. Cloud-based systems are easy to access since all you need is a device and Internet access. If you allow your staff to access the training material from anywhere, they are more likely to complete the course faster.
With platforms that require installation, it is best to hire someone for the initial setup, in case it is too complicated. Furthermore, employees will need to have the platform installed on all of the devices they want to use to access the training courses. Hence, a cloud-based option is definitely a better choice as it isn’t complicated.
Up-to-date learning programs
One of the most important aspects are the updates and how they are done. You need to know if you will have to update the system personally, or if your IT support needs to work on it. On some platforms, this is done automatically. The third option is definitely the most favourable one. If you can create an online course that will be immediately accessible to all course attendants, it will save you a lot of time.
You should also check if you can create your course using the predefined templates available. There are eLearning platforms that come with a set of pre-made courses, which are updated and edited by the providers. If these courses work for you, then it is ideal, since you won’t even have to bother creating one in the first place. However, if the courses do not align with your company’s training objectives and you cannot alter them or create new ones, then your online training won’t be effective.
Learning styles and tracking progress
Tracking progress is an essential part of the employee training program and a competent eLearning software should have this feature. Additionally, find out how this progress will be evaluated, recorded, and reported.
Another quite essential element is the variety of learning styles the training platform offers. Training needs to cater to different types of learners. While some are better with auditory instructions, there are many who prefer visual aids. Hence, you need to find a system that can be used for webinars and something that has interactive games, images, videos and infographics. If your program can ensure all learners have the best tools at their disposal, it will be more effective.
Check the Internet requirements
If your employees will attend the online course from the office, you need to know if your Internet bandwidth can withstand it. Also, you should ensure that the equipment you use has the minimum requirements to support the program and allow it to run smoothly. If there are too many attendants, you might have to divide them into groups, so that course can go unobstructed.
Extra source of income
Lastly, there are income benefits from online training. When you create a quality online course that works, you can monetize it. There are managers and employers all across the world who would be willing to pay for a quality online training course. In other words, an online training course is a budget friendly investment and it can pay for itself.
Conclusion
As you can see, choosing the right software for training employees is quite a complex task. However, the benefits of quality training are definitely worth the trouble. If you follow the suggestions provided in the guide, you will certainly be amazed with the results and your business is going to improve significantly.