This is the Renaissance Period of Learning in India and eLearning is all set to play a strong role in this movement which has and will revolutionize the approach to learning.
Starting from Career options to Courses options to Platform options; eLearning is a huge ecosystem in itself.
As a learning and development consultant for an eLearning company, it is encouraging to find out that quite a large section of the professionals is actually keen to experience eLearning module as a part of their learning intervention and find value in it.
However, at the same point of time I have also sensed some of the challenges that the HR or the Learning Teams still face to get people to take eLearning course before or after the training.
At Contoole, we are committed to continuously exploring ways to engage our learners in a way that encourages them to take accountability for their learning rather than just being compliant to the learning hours.
Here are 5 things that we found effective in motivating learners towards eLearning.
- Capitalize on the learner interest during the launch
An introductory email is a great way to launch the series or the course but is the content of your email appealing to the interest of your learners?
Take the help of your learning partner to design the introductory emails or mailers.
Most importantly don’t stop at one and then start sending reminder mails.
Create a series of teasers which gives them a glimpse of the learning and what’s in it for them.
- Align it to the performance goals
It is important to make learning purposeful. Tie their performance and their individual development plans to the eLearning modules.
Follow these courses up with short challenges or DIYs for the learners as assignments.
While, it may not be relevant for all types of training but the more project based learning you create, the more successful your courses will be.
For example, if an employee has taken a course on Assertive Communication – give them a challenge to talk to a difficult employee within 7 days using the learning from the program and share their experience through the assignment
This acts as a feedback for the course and also a great source for identifying future learning needs.
- Keep it short and simple
A very critical factor in keeping the employees motivated for learning is the duration of the modules.
If it is possible to break down a topic into a series of chapters where learner have the flexibility of treating the courses as stand-alone modules or as a series.
Mobile friendly learning modules have already started gaining popularity and will continue to do so.
- Make it competitive
Create a reward and recognition program or a campaign around these courses. Recognize employees with highest scores in shortest duration or employees who have completed most courses even outside the assigned ones or employees who have been consistent with the timelines
Learning badges have definitely been a favorite among learners.
Brainstorm with your team to come up with innovative ways recognizing the learners or learners from a particular team or location
- Don’t look for building experts – keep them hungry for more knowledge
One of the mistakes we often tend to make when designing eLearning modules is that, we try to cover everything.
eLearning modules in my experience is one of the finest aids to learning but to rely on it solely maybe too much to expect.
eLearning modules can orient your participants towards key concepts, tools and metrics required in their day-to-day work. They can be used during the pre-training phase to make virtual sessions more effective. They can also be used in the post training phase to reinforce learning.
However, uploading a bunch of eLearning modules in the LMS and leaving it to the employees saying ‘these are courses assigned for the next quarter’ defeats the purpose of learning and demoralizes the learners too
It is very crucial that the eLearning modules are designed in a way that gives the learner enough to get started but it is also imperative to keep them curious and wanting to gain more insights.
Sure, it can be made available to the employees so that they have an opportunity to go through them even if those skills are not a part of the individual development plan but, what we might need to think is – how do we incentivize such learners?
Author – Sumitra Paul Chatterjee
Associate Director
Contoole – More Power to The Learners
