How To Create Corporate eLearning Courses
What is the purpose of a corporate eLearning course? Of course, employee Learning and Development (L&D) is an objective, but what is the intention, the end-goal? The goal is to make sure that the organization these employees work for, grows and prospers in a world which is harsh and highly-competitive, i.e. the market. The decision-makers in an organization allot a budget to corporate training or L&D for the sole purpose of upgrading their employees, their human resource, which drives the organization forward. To achieve this goal, corporate eLearning needs to go beyond just teaching new skills to employees, it needs to condition the employees for a market that is ever-changing and is highly dynamic. The corporate eLearning program needs to equally focus on upskilling and educating all sorts of employees in an organization, from the lowest-level workers to salespeople and managers. When training occurs systematically, growth skyrockets and profits increase. This article provides some tips that can be applied to create corporate eLearning courses which are completely business-oriented, and help organizations achieve business goals.
1. Perform A Need Analysis
A need analysis is the first step to creating business-oriented eLearning courses. The need analysis should focus on two aspects: first, the training needs of the employees, and second, the organization’s business goals. Both aspects need to be considered with respect to each other. The training needs should stem directly from organizational goals. For example, if the goal is to lower production costs, the employees need to be trained to efficiently create the end product or service without faults, while making sure resources aren’t being wasted. Similarly, employees in Sales should be trained to identify the correct target audience if an increase in sales is the goal.
2. Set Clear Goals
Once you’re done with the need analysis, you need to set clear goals, like the ones mentioned above. To do that, consider the following points:
- The goal should be quantifiable, i.e. specific in terms of numbers or percentage. For example, "we need to increase sales" is not a clear objective. "We need to increase sales by 20%", is a clear objective.
- The goal should be realistic and achievable. One should factor the time an employee will take to learn a skill, as well as the time they will need to apply that skill in real life and obtain results from it. For example, increasing sales is a huge objective, and cannot be achieved in a span of time as small as 3 months.
- The goal must have a deadline. Deadlines ensure that employees work hard to master a skill so that they can provide expected results.
3. Make Sure The Learning Is Applicable
There are various organizations which provide their employees with eLearning courses that are filled with theoretical drivel with zero real word application. It is hardly surprising when later on their employees fail to provide the expected results. Choose your eLearning content wisely and design the courses in such a way that each learner/employee leaves having learned applicable skills from the course. Ask the employees to apply their acquired skill in a real-life situation, and then write about their experience.
4. Consult The Higher-Ups Regularly
You don’t get to sit atop an organization unless you know a few tricks, or a lot actually. The higher-ups, the decision-makers of an organization can offer invaluable insight regarding the organization’s business goals, and what can be done to achieve them. Use these insights to create courses with significant, tested advice. Keeping the higher-ups in the loop also ensures that mistakes are reduced, due to the fear of authority keeping an eye on you.
5. Plan Pre-Training And Post-Training
Learning doesn’t begin with employees beginning an eLearning course, and neither does it end with employees finishing one. To ensure all-time learning, you should plan pre-training as well as post-training. Pre-training can include microlearning courses that quickly take an employee through what they’ll be learning. It can also include just one chapter of the actual course to heighten anticipation. Post-training, on the other hand, should largely be revision or reinforcement, as repetition has been proven to be the best tool for knowledge retention.
When eLearning courses help an organization reach its goals, everyone’s happy. Higher-ups because they get good ROI, training or L&D managers because their program worked, and employees because their hard work paid off!