How To Use LMS Widgets To Promote Learning Beyond The LMS Platform
LMS widgets are integrated apps or plug-ins that allow learners to easily find and explore LMS-based training courses, activities and support resources. They point learners in the right direction and showcase their key training opportunities.
Ready to get started? Here are 6 tips for using LMS widgets to promote learning beyond your LMS.
1. Recommend Supplemental Training Courses And Activities
A course catalog widget helps your learners find relevant training courses based on their goals and past performance. For example, you can display a list of training courses that focus on individual gaps after a learner completes a new learning scenario or simulation. Catalog widgets give them the ability to quickly access training content, instead of having to search the entire catalog to find the right next step. Certain LMS platforms even support contextualized course catalog widgets that target particular groups or job roles. For example, you're able to embed the LMS widget on social media pages, in emails or even on SharePoint to reach specific learner groups with targeted, highly relevant content.
2. Offer Immediate Help And Support
Even the most tech-savvy and experienced learner needs assistance from time to time. You can offer them immediate training support courtesy of a contact us LMS widget. They simply click the integrated link to get immediate answers for the specific learning question or tech support. Not only does this lower your help desk costs and volume level, but it also improves the LMS user’s experience. So, they are more likely to stick with their training program and revisit the LMS for other learning resources.
3. Spread Peer-Based Knowledge
Geographically dispersed learners don't often have the opportunity to engage in face-to-face discussions with peers. For example, external sales partners can be based all around the world, or your internal sales team may be frequently on the road, meeting with clients to land the next big contract. However, an online discussion forum widget allows them to quickly view posts from their peers on relevant topics and scenarios. With one click, they can learn new tips, tricks and techniques from fellow sales staff, even if they don't have the time or ability to interact with them during their busy work day.
4. Promote An Upcoming Live Event
Are your webinar attendance rates dropping? Are your course sign-ups surprisingly low? The issue may be that learners are simply unaware of upcoming events and training course launches. The solution is to promote live Q&A sessions, presentations and other notable events with embeddable LMS widgets. Since these widgets are placed where learners spend a good chunk of their time (social media sites, SharePoint, etc.), they’re more likely to see your learning announcements. They can then click on the event that interests them to access a summary page, to learn more about it, and immediately enroll or RSVP. You can even link to an events calendar that showcases upcoming learning and synchronous training sessions.
5. Easily Gather Learner Feedback
Feedback from learners helps you identify areas for improvement in your training programs and create more personalized training materials. It also helps you remove unnecessary content from your learning programs to improve resource allocation. A survey widget allows you to collect training feedback from your learners in a more efficient and convenient manner. They simply click the widget to answer survey questions directly within the LMS platform. Additionally, they are more likely to see, and take, the survey because the widget can be placed in an email or on a social media site they frequent. Either way, you’ll have a better chance to explore their thoughts and insights in order to improve your learning endeavors.
6. Send Contextualized Training Recommendations
As I mentioned above, you can better connect with learners and reach them beyond the LMS platform by embedding LMS widgets into your eNewsletters or emails. This is a streamlined way to give learners contextualized training recommendations, since they arrive directly to their inboxes. They don't even need to login to the LMS platform or visit an external site. Corporate learners just click on the embeddable widget in their email to access their required or most valuable training resources.
LMS widgets may be small in size, but they have the power to drastically improve training results and grow your learning’s revenue or ROI. They highlight relevant training resources that can help your employees, partners or customers become more proficient in their roles or loyal in their purchases. These mighty widgets also optimize the functionality of your LMS and help you break down existing learning barriers.
Beyond these 6 tips for promoting learning outside of the LMS, you can learn more about raising training engagement by downloading this free report: Bringing Learning to Learners: How It Pays to Deliver Training on Their Terms. Read it now to discover how the right LMS can maximize your resource allocation and learner retention rates.