How To Emphasize The Real World Value Of Corporate eLearning
Corporate eLearning is only effective when employees can apply their knowledge and skills in the workplace. Otherwise, it's merely a resource-draining endeavor that imparts theories instead of putting them into practice. Furthermore, your corporate learners must be fully aware of the benefits of the corporate eLearning course if you want them to actively participate. But how do you boost engagement and on-the-job application? Here are 8 ways to stress the real world value of your corporate eLearning course.
1. Branching Scenarios
There's no better way to emphasize real world value than letting employees learn from their mistakes. Branching scenarios are decision-making scenarios that give them the rare opportunity to use their skills and knowledge base to overcome common challenges. Thus, they're able to see how corporate eLearning benefits them on the job. Active participation instills the information and experience they need to navigate the situation, while sitting on the sidelines hinders their professional development. Furthermore, these scenarios allow them to identify areas for improvement. Thus, they are more motivated to learn in order to bridge the gaps.
2. Online Training Simulations
Online training simulations feature real world situations, characters, and tools. Thus, employees are able to build essential experience, minus the risk. Instead of merely recapping the benefits of your corporate eLearning course with a bullet list, your staff sees it in action. They can perfect their approach and determine how the subject matter translates in the real world. In addition, they have the chance to foster skills they need in the workplace and pinpoint strengths and weaknesses.
3. Immersive Case Studies
Case studies are ideal for employees looking for hard facts and figures. They reiterate the real world value of corporate eLearning by illustrating the point with concrete examples. Rather than using traditional text-based case studies, you can add multimedia to create more immersion. For example, create a presentation that features cut-out characters, background music and an audio narration. Or pair the case study with a drag-and-drop activity to cater to kinesthetic learners.
4. Stat-Rich eLearning Infographics
eLearning infographics offer employees a visual overview of the real world value of your corporate eLearning course. They can identify emerging trends and patterns or see how crucial it is to follow company policy or compliance procedures. For example, the eLearning infographic explores the relationship between online training participation and customer service ratings. Employees who are actively engaged with the corporate eLearning course and earned their online training certifications raised their scores by roughly 25%. Thus, staff members are able to view the benefits of corporate eLearning firsthand. It's no longer a list of vague rewards, but statistical data that proves the importance of corporate eLearning. For best results, include relevant charts and graphs, as well as thought-provoking images that stick with them.
5. Customer Persona Stories
Customer personas involve common characteristics, personality traits, and buying behaviors for specific groups. You can blend these profiles with stories to make them even more powerful. For example, show employees how to provide better customer service by introducing them to a dissatisfied customer who falls into a specific demographic. They have the opportunity to see things from the customer's point of view, which helps them build interpersonal skills. Just make sure that the story ties into your learning objectives and supports the desired behaviors. The goal is to enhance the real world value of your corporate eLearning course so that your employees actively engage, not merely entertain them.
6. Emotionally-Stirring Examples
The real world is full of emotions. Every interaction centers on feelings. As a result, your corporate eLearning course needs to tap into this emotional connection to emphasize the real world value. For example, you can incorporate real world examples that explore the feelings behind workplace situations or challenges, such as a co-worker who seems to be picking fights with everyone on the sales floor. Employees can get a better understanding of their mental state and how to successfully resolve the issue before it escalates. For instance, discussing the problem with the co-worker to discover the reason for their hostility or using their interpersonal and problem-solving skills to achieve the desired outcome.
7. Practical Self-Assessments
One of the major hurdles that eLearning developers must overcome is employees' personal cognitions. They may not be aware of current gaps. Therefore, they don't see a need for corporate eLearning. Even if they do spot the trouble areas, certain employees simply aren't willing to publicly acknowledge them and ask for help. Self-assessments give employees the power to determine their own strengths and areas for improvement, then access additional online training resources to continually develop their talents. Online training simulations and branching scenarios are highly effective eLearning assessment methods, as they allow employees to test their skills and knowledge in a practical setting. Thus, they have the chance to gauge their gaps firsthand, which further emphasizes the real world value of ongoing training.
8. Periodic Reminders
Employees need periodic reminders to refresh their memory and drive the point home. As such, you should stress the real world benefits and applications after each online training activity or module. Tie the related concepts or ideas into a task or problem that employees encounter in the workplace. This allows them to connect online training content to pragmatic uses and enables them to build their existing mental schema by linking new ideas to pre-existing knowledge.
Emphasizing the real world value of corporate eLearning helps employees connect with the online training content and enhance its meaning. Corporate learners are able to see how every online training element brings them one step closer to tackling work-related challenges. They can also put the information into context, thereby improving knowledge retention and recall. All of this translates into more effective online training and ROI.
Are you looking for ways to tie online training to real-world applications? Read the article 7 Tips For Using Real World Examples In eLearning to discover top tips to use real world examples in your corporate eLearning course.
