It’s true that traditional training in a classroom setting is still a frequently used form of training—and it has it’s own set of advantages.
In fact, we help create blended learning and facilitated training courses for clients who incorporate in-person sessions with eLearning.
But when employees miss out on the opportunity to re-visit their training, mistakes happen. People feel less confident in their decision-making. Entire departments fall victim to broken processes.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s look at 4 reasons your team needs on demand eLearning to be more successful.
Retention
Learners who are only taught a lesson one time and are expected to remember it often have a hard time retaining the information.
In fact, Edgar Dale’s research on learning retention rates indicates that lecture-style teaching results in a knowledge retention rate of only 5%. In contrast, practice by doing and real life application pulled rates of 75% and 90%, respectively.
Therefore, a blended learning approach that lets a learner take advantage of all of the different ways one can learn (audio, visual, reading, video, demo, discussion, practice, teaching others, and application) makes for a much more powerful experience and greater information retention.
When you then make the eLearning portion of that training available on demand, learners can revisit the information and tap into that knowledge any time they need to.
Flexibility
Scheduling trainings can be difficult—everyone’s availability is different. On demand eLearning allows teams and departments to fit training into their schedules so that learning happens when the trainee has time to devote his or her full attention to it (and isn’t rushing through a course just to get back to something else.)
Deadlines and unexpected projects can mean traditional format training gets pushed to the wayside. Increased availability, however, means learners have the freedom to flex their training to when it’s convenient for them and also allows them to move at their own speeds.
Agility
Costly re-prints of hard-copy materials drive up your training costs and can take a long time to turn around. When you only need a few small edits made, these re-prints can be painful and eat away at your bottom line.
eLearning lets you update material quickly and efficiently and then deploy it to your trainees. This increased agility means less time lost, lower costs over time, and employees who never miss a beat.
Improved Technology Skills
Getting learners comfortable with an on-demand eLearning course has the wonderful side effect of improving their technology skills. As they move through the interactive elements of the course, they gain greater familiarity with technology—and can apply those within their daily roles.
Some trainees are more tech-savvy than others, but any time you can create a learning experience that taps into improving multiple skills at the same time, it’s good news. With training made on demand, learners can re-visit and practice those technology skills whenever they need to.
On Demand eLearning: Multiple Benefits
Training a team is never easy. However, improving the experience for the leaner via on demand eLearning can take some of the pressure off of the learners and instructors by increasing availability, being flexible, and more.
As we mentioned, there is certainly still a time and place for facilitated training and blended learning—but an eLearning component makes an excellent companion for almost any type of training.