E-learning can save your business time and money while training staff, and it can also be more convenient and effective, so what do you need to do to ensure you optimise your e-learning strategy?

Practical considerations

You need to consider how e-learning will benefit your business, so you need to identify the key business drivers. Is there an urgent need for e-learning? You need to consider whether your current training needs are appropriate for e-learning as well as your future needs. Remember, e-learning possibilities are very broad and are only limited by your audience and possibly your budget.
Will you be able to train a larger number of people more effectively in less time? You will need to take into account where learners are located, how many there are, what jobs they do and factors such as their IT skills and abilities

Will e-learning provide a measureable return on investment? Consider how much money you are willing to spend on e-learning. Cost will depend on many factors including number of learners, functionality, interactivity and accessibility for example.

Developing content

Content will need to be engaging and appropriate. Develop content in a brief format by trying to keep each frame to 70 words or less. This means it will need to be to the point, and just contain need to know information. There is a trend for shorter modules, as busy people don’t have time for one or two hour modules; they prefer bite-size chunks of 10-15 minutes.

And remember, the content must be learner-directed, and include additional information via pop ups, callouts and hyperlinks for example to keep it interesting and engaging – sophisticated systems use collaboration with other learners via videos, tutorials and simulations.

And remember to take advantage of technology while you can to allow effective e-learning where and when it is needed by also using mobile devices and tablets for example.

In-house or out-source?

So, if you have decided that e-learning is viable, you need to consider if you have capacity to use in-house resources or the budget to out-source.

You will have to evaluate the options available and choose one that fits your organisation, both in terms of staff skill levels as well as information technology (IT) requirements. How many people will be using it, where will they access it from?

A Learning Management System (LMS) can be basic or very advanced, with costs being proportionate. For example, do you want the LMS to have the capability of creating complex video streaming, interactive modules, and collaboration? As a minimum, you need to be able to enrol, track and monitor participation in learning programs.

Implementation

The successful implementation of an e-learning strategy relies upon its marketing as well as the endorsement of management. The rollout needs to be managed to engage workers, so you may need to involve your marketing team to brand e-learning as a new exciting, fun way of learning.

You can invite them by e-mail, for example, to try the system and you will need to consider whether there is phased implementation, or if it’ll be available for everyone from the start. Bear in mind the system’s user capacity - you don’t want it crashing on day one as everyone rushes to use it. It may be best to test the system with a small number of users then roll it out to the organisation.

Importantly that’s not the end, it’s critical that you constantly evaluate the e-learning to ensure it continues to deliver for the business as well as your workers.