Why Use Off The Shelf Content In Your eLearning Platform?

Organizations are constantly adapting themselves towards digital learning with the changing taste of the learners. The change in the aptitude of the learners is not only heavily influenced by the evolving working conditions but also the new generation of workforce that has been growing considerably in the past few years.

So, most organization which are restructuring and reworking on their learning and development strategies are finding out ways to leverage on the digital learning format.

While organizations and eLearning service providers who have been early adopters to the evolving way of learning already have the attention of the learner base, a lot of mid to small size organization are trying to find their way to this new world of learning.

Considering that they are new, sometimes the advanced world of learning overwhelms them with its possibilities. However, eLearning service providers are constantly working everyday to make the onboarding process easy for any organization who are opting for eLearning for the first time with off the shelf content.

Most LMS service providers provide off the shelf content along with other basic LMS functionalities.

• So, how will it help you or your employees?
• Will it actually create an impact in the learning initiatives you are going to drive?
• Can it be counterproductive?

If you understand how off the shelf eLearning content adds value to the learning and development process, you will find the answer to all the above questions. In our experience these are 5 reasons why you should use off the shelf content in your eLearning platform.

Give Choice to Your Learners

One of the most important factors that drive eLearning is the fact that is keeps learners at the centre. With off the shelf eLearning content you are able to reinforce that. You learners get to see what they should, what they would and what they could learn all at one glance. Their learning is not limited to learning programs identified by the HR or the learning team, they can choose to learn anytime and anything nit just based on their need, but based on their interest too.

Identify Future Learning Needs

Data that you extract from your LMS will not only give you a nice insight about the status of the current learning programs that you are driving for different set of employees but will also help you understand and analyze if your learner base have other interest areas. It will help you identify if there is a gap between what the organization is driving as a learning need vs. what the employees recognize as a learning need.

Learning Reinforcement

Off the shelf modules mostly comprises of ready to go skills at workplace which can be learned and applied by all irrespective of their position or role in the organization. So, if you are driving some learning initiatives which are instructor led learning sessions or a program which employees might have attended long back, off the shelf eLearning content is a great way to revisit these learnings. Learners have the flexibility to go through it. With the help of he off the shelf eLearning content library learners never lose sight of the most important learnings that they have been a part of.

Make Learning Efficient for All

Sometimes the learner base is so small that conducting a classroom session may not be cost effective. There are also some learning needs which crop up from time to time and to set up a facilitator led session, coordination with stakeholders to make the session happen may not be always a feasible in a constantly moving business environment. Off the shelf eLearning content brings in consistency even in the most uncertain situation. Once the content is uploaded anyone can visit it as many times they want to upskill themselves.

Drive a learning and development culture not just a learning program or intervention

Off the shelf eLearning content is a great way to spread the message that as an organization you believe in learning and development and are heavily invested in employee upskilling. You might have to keep revamping the off the shelf eLearning content from time to time but having an off the shelf eLearning content library is a must have if you want to make learning a habit and not just a task.   

It is not wrong to have ambitious plans around employee upskilling and development but if your employees are being exposed to this world for the first time it is important that they have the right perception and expectation.

Therefore, it is very important to identify the type of eLearning you would want to offer in your organization.

A customized approach to learning is always more effective because employees are able to relate to it faster, they feel that the content has been designed keeping them (the learner ) at the centre rather than just trying to drive an initiative to showcase the presence of the learning and development team.

However, a customized approach to learning is also a longer process which not only requires considerable amount of investment in terms of time and effort.

The need for off the shelf eLearning content and customized eLearning solutions will always be there.

If as a learning and development expert of your organization you understand your learner, their learning need, their interest, their performance goals and the type of learning and development culture you are trying to establish you should be able to identify the right approach to eLearning.