3 Mistakes That Are Killing The Effectiveness Of Your eLearning Programs

3 Mistakes That Are Killing The Effectiveness Of Your eLearning Programs
Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com
Summary: Are you disatisfied with your eLearning results? It might be because you're relying too much on automation, not leveraging peer mentorship, and are giving your learners a little too much freedom.

What Can Kill The Effectiveness Of Your eLearning Programs

Learning technology is essential for keeping up with the evolving needs of modern learners. A state-of-the-art Learning Management System (LMS) can help organizations centralize and organize learning content, cut down administrative time, maintain compliance, track learner progress, and ramp-up new hires quickly and effectively.

Although a Learning Management System can bring many benefits to an organization, it’s important to note that (like most technology solutions) a Learning Management System can’t reach all of these advantages on its own. Great eLearning programs require organizational readiness, as well as the support of people and processes. In other words, if you’re not satisfied with your learning technology, it’s possible that this dissatisfaction arises from mismanagement or an over-reliance on your learning technology.

Aberdeen Group recently conducted a survey to determine the current state of learning management and to better understand how best-in-class organizations are leveraging their Learning Management System. According to their data, here are 3 common practices that are killing the effectiveness of your eLearning programs.

1. You’re Over-Automating

Aberdeen Group found that more than 80% of Learning Management System deployments are fully automated with little to no human interaction, instruction, collaboration, or social engagement.

When it comes to learning, automation is a double-edged sword. One of the key benefits of learning technology is that it allows learning administrators to save time by automating redundant tasks. However, automating too much can be dangerous because it limits social development.

Most Learning and Development professionals are familiar with the 70:20:10 methodology, which outlines how learning actually happens (i.e., through a blend of formal, social, and experiential learning activities). Social learning is essential to learning effectiveness. If your learning technology is completely removing any human interaction from the learning process, it’s not going to yield results.

2. You’re Not Enforcing Peer Mentorship

Despite the importance of social learning, Aberdeen reports that 30% of organizations lack any kind of mentor or buddy program. A lack of peer mentorship can be problematic because it halts the pace and ease at which skills are transferred from existing talent to new hires.

A formal learning approach “pushes” information onto learners, which can negatively impact knowledge retention. According to Neil Rackham, 87% of training is lost within 90 days if there is no coaching or reinforcement. When learning programs blend formal and informal approaches, learning happens through a more organic “push and pull” effect. This approach allows learners to engage with experts, participate in knowledge exchanges, and curate valuable knowledge capital.

Formal vs. Informal Learning

 3. You’re Allowing Learners To Manage Themselves

According to Aberdeen, 80% of organizations push their Learning Management System out to employees, but expect them to manage their own development, on their own time, through their own initiative. The issue with an entirely self-managed approach to learning is that it can kill participation and results.

Self-paced learning is hugely empowering for learners and is crucial for building a learner-centric experience. When learning is entirely self-managed, however, it can be overwhelming for the learner, discouraging them from becoming an active participant in the learning process.

As John Donne famously wrote, “no man is an island”. Learners won’t thrive when isolated from others. Learning administrators and managers still have an important role in the learning process – even the state-of-the-art learning technology can’t entirely replace these types of roles.

Leveraging People, Processes, And Tools

In summary, learning technology offers a plethora of benefits for your organization; however, relying on learning technology to the point where humans are removed from the learning process can be harmful to your learners.

Determining the right level of human involvement with your learning technology will vary depending on your organization and your specific learning programs. Technology alone isn’t the key to eLearning effectiveness – it takes a combination of people, processes, and tools in order to see results.

For more insights on the current state of learning management, register for Docebo’s free webinar with Aberdeen Group – Employee Development Evolved: The Adaptive Approach to Learning Management.