6 Tips To Use Online Training Libraries To Cut Costs And Enhance Personalization

6 Tips To Use Online Training Libraries To Cut Costs And Enhance Personalization
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Summary: Do you need to provide your corporate learners with on-the-spot online training resources that cater to individual goals and gaps? In this article, I’ll share 6 tips to use online training libraries to minimize spending and maximize personalization.

How To Use Online Training Libraries To Cut Costs And Enhance Personalization

In traditional training, the instructor will often assign supplementary activities or resources. However, they have no way of knowing whether the learner actually acquired new knowledge. This also makes it challenging to deal with one-on-one queries about the learning material, since it’s outside the set curriculum. Online training allows all these things to happen. Your corporate learners get personalized attention and can focus on their individual requirements. Especially if you use an online training library to save time and cut costs while personalizing the online training experience for every member of your organization.

1. Decide Whether In-House Or External Is Best

There are two approaches to online training libraries: The first is to create a repository yourself, which can be accessed by every member of the team, and periodically update it. This gives you the power to brand your online training resources and custom-tailor them to your online training objectives. You might even be able to repurpose online assets you already have to develop a microlearning online training library for your team. The second approach is to look for an impressive online training library that’s already established. Many eLearning companies curate and organize content, then offer it to organizations for a fee. This saves you the time and expense of creating your own online training repository from scratch. Some even allow you to add your branding elements and customize certain aspects of the online training content.

2. Reduce The Cost Of Learning Materials By Moving Them Online

In conventional education systems, learning materials are one of the largest expenses. In the case of online training, manuals and assessments end up occupying the bulk of the L&D budget, and the cost will be absorbed by the employer. If the online training course is sectional or departmental, that means new books for every new set of employees that joins the team. By eliminating the need for paper learning materials, you have the ability to drastically reduce your spending. Moreover, digital learning materials have the added benefit of protecting the environment. The fewer physical books you buy, the fewer trees are cut down. It also means less water is used for pulping, processing, printing, and publishing. Plus, unlike paper books, you can use digital books over and over with no deterioration. Every new class can use the same high-quality online training content.

3. Ease The Learning Process

Online training libraries aren’t just reading materials. There’s a whole world of free video tutorials, audio lessons, charts, graphs, and learning templates. Unlike a textbook, online training libraries give your corporate learners multiple methods of learning. They can mix-and-match, or even select their preferred medium. Audio clips are helpful for long commutes. Employees can listen to podcasts in traffic to broaden compliance knowledge. Video demos can teach skills in a way books can’t because employees are able to mimic favorable behaviors. It’s especially useful for technical skills because they can get the right posture, movements, and steps.

4. Provide Online Training Resources Based On Individual Needs

Since the company is responsible for buying all learning materials, any supplementary resources imply an extra cost. As such, many organizations who rely on traditional training methods are forced to work with what they have and only purchase the necessities. This could mean that their corporate learners are missing out on crucial references due to the tight budget. Or they could inadvertently forego essential skills. However, when the price is no object, you are able to list hundreds of references. The more your team studies, the better they perform on the job. They get exposed to various points of view, widening their thought process. Plus, rather than letting them wade through tomes on their own, you can guide them. You can curate relevant online training materials for your corporate learners to meet their professional requirements.

5. Avoid Non-Compliance Fines

Many forms of online training are geared toward regulatory requirements. You train your team to keep them up to date on industry standards. Unfortunately, these standards are frequently updated, especially in technical fields. As soon as your team is on board with the latest tech, something new comes up. It can be hard to keep up, and pricy to update online training materials on a continual basis. If you use online training libraries, there’s no cost for obtaining reprints or upgrades. Online training libraries are constantly upgraded. As soon as some new license, product, or regulation comes up, it gets uploaded. You just have to know where to look. With the right study spaces, you can almost stay ahead of the compliance curve, avoiding all those unnecessary fines.

6. Build Your Own Online Training Course

You could save a lot of money by hiring a skilled in-house curriculum developer. If they are resourceful and experienced in their field, you don’t have to buy an online training course at all. The developer can scour the web and collect necessary learning materials, creating an online training course just for your team. They can update this course whenever necessary, at no additional cost.

If your business relies heavily on periodic online training, consider pairing your L&D manager with a good app developer. They can work together to create a branded online training course directly tailored to your corporate needs. If it’s good enough, you could even market it to other firms in your industry. This way, you go beyond saving money, because you end up generating another revenue stream.

There are lots of ways that online training repositories can slash your eLearning budget. Learning materials are probably the biggest chunk of educational expenses, and online training libraries eliminate the need for printed resources. Instead, you can direct corporate learners to videos and audio files that teach them faster and make learning easier. Widen your reference list and tweak it for individual corporate learners’ needs. Keep up with industry changes and regulatory adjustments to avoid fines. Finally, get an eLearning professional who can curate free online resources into a tailored online training course.

How do you sift through all the available material and identify what really matters to your online learners? Which methods can you use to curate content more effectively? Do you know how to analyze and organize curated eLearning content? Is there a thorough way to curate eLearning content into learner-friendly formats? Download our free eBook The eLearning Professional's Guide To Becoming A Content Curation Hero to find out about the advantages of eLearning content curation, the online resources that are ideal for curating eLearning content, as well as tips on how to automate the content curation process.