“Build it, and they will come” may have worked for Kevin Costner in “The Field of Dreams,” but it’s the wrong mantra for online training.
Firms reconfiguring classroom courses to electronic media are more likely to meet learning objectives when they attempt to do the following:
1. Seek first to understand. As important as identifying learners’ need for content, is understanding their readiness and willingness to use technology.
Do learners know how to use the Web? How well? What’s their attitude about using it? What’s their accessibility to it? Yes, it’s the new millennium, but this reality remains: Only 30 percent of people use the Web at work, according to the March issue of Yahoo! Internet Life magazine.
2. Use learning bytes. Given today’s work climate, the chances of a learner having 30 minutes or more to complete an online learning segment is about as likely as the tide’s failure to rise.
Chunk learning modules into smaller bytes to increase participation and retention. Fifteen- to 20-minute bytes are ideal. Test participants’ knowledge at the end of each byte to take full advantage of retention and development opportunities.
– Make It Easy For
Learners To Train
3.Offer lifelines. Make it easy for first time and veteran E-learners to access and complete their training. Include a tutorial with printable user guides. Just launching an E-training system? Offer a live help line for the first few weeks, in addition to E-mail support.
4. Involve learners. Learners want to do more than turn an E-page. Offer them opportunities to interact. Use videos, quizzes, or an interactive devices that can be found online.
Make it easy for learners to engage. For example, provide placeholders. Learners will be more likely to start a module when they know they can pause, address another job task and then return to their training without having to start all over again.
5. Match the media to the message. Just as training has never been the pill for all that ails a company’s performance, neither is E-training. E-training is a tool that solves some business problems , for some types of learners. As with any type of training, use the tools and techniques that best fit the need. Avoid E-training strategies that are medicine for the masses.
6. Step it up. Provide multiple levels of learning in your E-training , from foundational knowledge to advanced application. Then watch participation increase. Also, show learners their existing experience is valued. Allow them to test out of levels. Sustain their participation by providing increasingly challenging learning opportunities, links to other E-training sites or prerequisite courses.
– Encourage Students To
Learn By Trial And Error
7. Talk back to learners. Give them frequent opportunities to learn from trial and error. Follow up with correct answers and guidance. Let learners know their strengths and weaknesses relevant to topics tested.
Also provide them with specific actions they can take to improve. Popular educational software for youth has embraced this concept well. The concept is no different and no less effective for adult learners. So borrow Jimmy’s or Janie’s math software and have fun inventing a twist that would appeal to adult learners.
8. Write right. Don’t throw out writing techniques that work for classroom training when you write for the Web. Do take the nuances of the Web into account, especially page space and reader attention span. For example:
o Practice verbal ecology, break material into segments of 100 words or less.
o Provide links to documents containing lengthy information instead of including the information on the main site.
o Orient the learner with headlines, subheads and a site index on every page.
o Use short, two- to three-sentence paragraphs.
o Write actively, not passively.
o Include metaphors and similes.
o Use bulleted lists.
The book, “Writing for the Web,” by Crawford Kilian offers more Web writing tips training designers and developers may find helpful.
– Connect Education
To The Real World
9. Do a reality check. Does your E-training include examples that truly reflect the learners’ real world? Does it anticipate questions or concerns learners have about implementation and application? Does the training invite learners to solve business problems they often encounter? Aren’t sure? Ask the learners!
10. Motivate, motivate, motivate. Make it valuable for learners to participate. Tie E-learning objectives to employee development plans. Conduct an E-poll asking learners what training they’d like to see. Then post the poll results and the actions that will be taken.
Make E-learning fun. Include competitions that pit learners against an electronic subject matter expert or that require the achievement of knowledge milestones before progressing to the next level.
Still experiencing low participation? If techno phobia or lack of technology expertise isn’t the cause, then remember: What management measures gets done. Is the importance of E-training capturing a noticeable share of company voice?
11. Create eye appeal. A matchmaker couldn’t have done better. The Web is a visual medium, and many learners prefer visual instruction. Color and creative graphics are key.
Some of the tips listed above in No. 8, “Write right,” also make a site visually attractive. As does text that does not run the full width of a monitor, is hyphen free, and appears in a serif font , type “with feet” , vs. a sans serif font , type “without feet”.
– Combine Visual And
Verbal Techniques
A site that reinforces training topics visually and verbally has double appeal. Movement always attracts attention. Caution: Use techniques that a) make the site feel approachable, b) users can access using standard software, and c) won’t take a decade to download.
12. Budget realistically. E-training saves money at the back end of the training process , during delivery and evaluation. Expect the front end of E-training , needs analysis, course design and course development , to cost more than conventional instructor-led training.
Why? By its nature, E-training includes a programming function , read “more time and resources” , not inherent in instructor-led training. Not to worry. The money saved on instructor fees, room and audio-visual equipment rental, and employee travel time and expenditure likely outweighs the additional upfront E-training costs.
13. Use professionals only. Make sure E-training team players wear the shoes they’re suited to fill. The Webmaster and the Web programmer are responsible for the “E” in E-training. The Webmaster maintains the E-training site. The Web programmer develops programming that enables an E-training site’s functions. Instructional designers are responsible for the rest of E-training.
With E-training, companies may improve their chances of experiencing reduced training time and cost, faster impact, continuous access and reinforcement when they do the following:
o Have an E-training strategy that’s more than implementing online learning for the sake of online learning.
o Have the right fundamental system requirements in place.
o Know what business problems they’re working to solve.
o Incorporate tips like those listed here.
What will the future of E-training be for your company?
Birdsall is chief imagination officer with The SJB Group, Inc., a San Diego- and Ann Arbor, Mich.-based business solutions firm.
