How To Pick The Right Communication Medium Communication For An eLearning Program: 4 Factors To Consider
So how do you pick the right medium to communicate? There is a number of factors to consider.
1. Size Of The Learning Group
The size of the learning group plays a big part in deciding the medium of communication. A small group deserves a one-on-one focus. Skype or any other video conferencing tool could work in this scenario.
2. Type Of Content
Some lessons are best imparted through specific medium of communication. A class on arithmetic would require the educator to work out math problems and a video based communication medium works best. However, a chapter in computer history does not require a lot of talking and so an eBook would be adequate.
3. Budget
A corporate eLearning program may have a lot of marketing budget to work with. This allows them to create high quality webinar and training materials for the learners. On the other hand, eLearning targeted at schoolkids from remote rural areas may not have adequate budget. Such programs may need static content delivered through an eBook or Learning Management System.
4. Infrastructure
Another important factor that might impact the kind of medium you choose for your eLearning program is the infrastructure available. If your learners are located in places with intermittent or low internet connectivity, then online courses may not be of much use. Hosted LMS solutions are perhaps a better bet. Also, depending on the availability of other amenities like electricity and charging points, it may also make sense to use mobile LMS tools rather than desktop alternatives.
3 Communication Media For Your eLearning Program
Taking these factors into consideration, you may go for one of the following medium to communicate with your learners.
1. Learning Management System
Learning Management Systems cater to specific requirements of the students. For example, hosted LMS tools are necessary when the learners do not have internet connectivity. Similarly, the content of the LMS may be made visually appealing to explain complex concepts with static reusable content.
2. Webinars
Webinars are a good medium to educate when learners are spread across different geographies, but have good internet connectivity. Also, webinars are handy when the content is theoretical and does not require application either from the educator or the learner.
3. Online Instructor
Online instructor-led classes are different from webinars in the sense that they are application-oriented. This would only work if the teacher-student ratio is high and the learners may need occasional one-on-one attention. Similar to webinars however, they need good internet connectivity.
Other Ways To Impart eLearning And 3 Case Studies
There are several other ways to impart eLearning. Mobile eLearning is suited for remote learners who suffer from intermittent power disruptions. Gamified learning modules are suited for visual education among millennials or post-millennials. eBooks are a safe and simple mode to impart static or theoretical lessons to learners who have infrastructure issues. The medium of communication in eLearning is always evolving and a right medium needs to be identified on a case-by-case basis.
Here are a few use cases of how various organizations have imparted their lessons.
1. Subway
The global fast food chain has over 44,000 locations worldwide. Subway makes use of webinars in countries like Russia to educate and engage with its franchise business owners. Russia is a geographically vast country with people tuning in from half a dozen timezones. With webinars, it is easy to train new business owners in real-time as well as provide recordings that may be played back at a later date.
2. American Red Cross
For their babysitting eLearning course, the American Red Cross targeted young children between the ages of 11 and 15. Although classroom instruction and training have been available for a long time, the organization invested in a series of CD-ROMs containing games and interactive exercises that could appeal better to the target learners.
3. Samsung
Training retail and operations staff on your consumer electronics goods is an ongoing process that only sees occasional upgrades (when new products launch). Also, given that this learning is imparted each time there is a new recruit, the need is an eLearning platform that can be reused and also be updated on a continuous basis. Samsung uses the Backstage online learning platform which is essentially an LMS that is branded with Samsung for its internal consumption.
