eLearning has gained a lot of importance in the last few years and organizations have recognized the need to make learning available easily for employees. There are increasing attempts to supplement classroom training with online training as they are recognized as performance enablers. The easiest option for organizations to implement eLearning is to utilize some of the off-the-shelf courses available in the market. However, these decisions have to be taken after a great deal of thought because off-the-shelf courses can’t meet every training need.

Imagine an organization that invests in a huge library of catalogue courses. The training manager perhaps will send out a standard email to employees informing them of the courses available, giving them the access details. A few self-driven employees might decide to check it out but most employees might choose to ignore it. The few employees who manage to access the catalogue courses library may find themselves disoriented by the information overload and might end up being intimidated.

Only the most determined and driven employee might take the initiative and take up the courses in the virtual library. All said and done, employees have to deal with their own daily pressures and targets that they may not have the time to browse through the available courses and identify what best suits them. The result being that most employees might just not find the time for it and be fully occupied with their pressing work-related deadlines.

This cookie cutter approach to implementing eLearning may not be suitable to all organizations because every organization is different with varied training needs. Employees also differ in terms of their motivational levels, expectations and training perceptions. If learning material is designed in the organizational context, using jargon and lingo employees are familiar with is better understood and assimilated by the learners.

That said, off-the-shelf trainings may be suitable for certain standardized technical know-how (such as ISO 9001, Android OS, .NET technology and so on), but might not be viable when it comes to addressing specific needs of an organization. So how far can standard courseware be effective in training individuals in a particular organization? Please share your views and experiences.

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With busy work schedules and advanced technology such as internet, people want everything at a click of the mouse—whether it’s paying bills, communicating with people, shopping and now, even learning. When I think of learning, the first thing that comes to my mind is e-learning.

E-learning is witnessing a boom in every industry and field. With Web-based training, individuals and professional needn’t have to follow the hectic schedules of day-to-day classroom learning, but can work and learn at their own pace. People are beginning to appreciate this flexible, convenient and affordable mode of learning. In fact, there are innumerable reasons why Web-based training is more effective and efficient than the traditional instructor-led training.

E-Learning definitely yields additional benefits including flexible learning i.e., learning is self-paced, accessible anytime, anywhere, around the globe, apart from being highly interactive, available at an optimum cost, and most important, it provides quality learning. But what goes into designing a good e-learning course?

Let’s talk about the basics of designing a course.

Understand the target audience: Firstly, you need to understand the training needs and the nature of the target audience.

Informative content with interactive features: The key parameters for making a good e-learning course include informative content and interactive features such as Rich Streaming Media, simulations and online assessments.

Learner-centric: The design philosophy should always focus on the learner, i.e., it ought to be learner-centric. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and Instructional Designers (IDs) play a vital role in designing effective and engaging e-learning courses. SMEs provide the actual content required for a course that makes it informative and instructional designers make the course interesting and engaging.

Reduced process time: Instructional designers should be capable of reducing the process time and optimize utilization of various resources. They play a pivotal role in the smooth transition of the entire design and development process. A rich learning content and a visually engaging course make for the best pedagogy for increasing learners’ attention and motivating them to learn more.

Whether you’re a novice or an expert, off-the-shelf courses are a great way of enriching knowledge and addressing the training requirements of both individuals and employees. Today, thousands of companies across the globe are offering comprehensive range catalog courses.

CommLab India is a custom courseware solutions and learning technology services company. I am delighted to report that now it’s offering catalog courses on career-enhancing subjects like Lean Manufacturing, Legal & Work Compliance, Authoring Tools, Business Writing and many more.

From first hand experience, I can confidently state that this library of e-learning courses will definitely meet the online training requirements of individuals and organizations. They bring you the complete collection of engaging and interactive courses with features like assessments, case studies and media-rich simulations.

I will elaborate my views in the subsequent post.

Happy learning!

Asma Zaineb

Sr. Executive – Business Development

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