Training has always occupied center stage for organizations that want to improve the efficiency and productivity of their workforce. Over the past decade, online training has become the choice method of developing employees because of its many advantages.
Online training is convenient because it removes the constraints of time and space. It is possible to train employees at different places and in different time zones simultaneously. It also has flexible features that make it easy to customize the learning material based on the training needs of different employees.
When the pandemic hit the world two years back, online training was in the spotlight because it was the only way to educate employees who were working remotely. It was also an efficient method to get staff up to speed on the changing demands of the business owing to the changes brought about by the pandemic. Now, post-pandemic, an increasing number of human resource managers are keen to adopt online training in the organization.Â
As an HR professional, if you are looking for training options that are easy to use, easy to implement, provide an engaging experience to trainees, and save time and money, then online learning checks all these boxes. While it can be customized to different learning needs of employees, it can also be used to provide general company training, such as compliance, safety, diversity, and product training.
Let’s look at a few online training methods that can be used effectively in the corporate setting.
eLearning
This has become the most preferred method to train staff simply because it lets employees learn individually, anywhere, and at any time. eLearning has moved beyond delivering PPTs online. Today it includes a whole gamut of learning content from online courses and video tutorials, to simulations, interactive games, quizzes, and gamification, all of which seek to increase the engagement level of employees and improve their learning experience.
eLearning can be delivered to smartphones, making it easy for employees to learn on the go or at their convenience. The other advantages of this training method are as follows:
- It’s cost effective because it doesn’t require the physical presence of employees in a classroom and therefore reduces travel, accommodation, and other expenses.
- It supports individual learning styles: visual, auditory, etc., thus helping to improve knowledge retention.
- It allows employees to fit learning into their schedules and revisit the content for revision when needed.Â
While some might argue that creating eLearning courses requires an investment of time and effort, today even non-professional instructional designers can do this easily with the help of specific software. There are authoring tools like iSpring Suite that enable users to build professional eLearning content from ready-made templates, with no tech or design background.Â
Video-based learning
The immense popularity of YouTube is evidence of how videos have a deep impact on us. Videos are a versatile teaching modality because they can combine graphics, text, animation, and audio to create a multi-sensory learning experience for employees. And research shows that using videos in corporate training results in better retention among learners.
Video-based learning can take the form of animations to explain a concept. It can also be an explainer video created by an expert or one with interactive elements that can provide an immersive learning experience for employees.
In reference to increasing learner retention, video content can also be adapted to provide microlearning to employees. Long video courses can be divided into short tutorials that employees will refer to when they have free time. Videos are adaptable to mobile learning as well. Employees can access them right on their smartphones while on their way home on the metro or when in line at the bank.Â
Virtual training
Virtual training is basically a training method in which both instruction and learning take place in a virtual environment. It simulates the classroom learning experience, but the learner and trainer are in different places and connect together virtually via a web conferencing platform. This type of learning became the norm to a great degree during the pandemic.Â
The advantage of virtual training is that it requires little investment in terms of designing the learning material and is highly interactive. And it is also easy to adopt and implement.
Blended learning
Human resource managers who are looking for ways to combine traditional instructor-led training with the convenience of letting employees learn outside the classroom can consider blended learning. The primer to blended learning defines it as the combination of classroom training and online learning activities. The advantages of using this approach are the following:
- Blended learning serves the learning needs of both millennial learners who are used to digital learning as well as traditional learners who lean towards classroom learning.
- While classroom training offers an opportunity for immediate feedback, the use of online learning allows self-paced learning.
- Online learning lends itself to an interactive learning experience through videos, simulations, games, or quizzes, which enhance the effectiveness of what was taught in the classroom.
However, blended learning comes at a higher cost, considering the fact that you will need to invest in resources to organize classroom training and create online training activities as well.
Conclusion
With the advances in technology, it is now possible to train employees online using multiple modalities. You can choose any of these training methods or combine two or more of them based on your budget and training needs. Each method has proved to be effective in delivering the desired results.
Written by HR Future Staff writer.