Measure The Learning Effectiveness Of eLearning Courses

This free eBook How Can You Measure The Learning Effectiveness Of eLearning Courses And Create A Positive ROI provides insights on how you can predict, evaluate, and validate the learnability or learning effectiveness of your eLearning courses and how this impacts ROI.

How Can You Measure The Learning Effectiveness Of eLearning Courses And Create A Positive ROI

This free eBook How Can You Measure The Learning Effectiveness Of eLearning Courses And Create A Positive ROI is designed to help organizations that are on the lookout for measures to enhance employee performance and see an improvement in the ROI.

As the Chief Learning Strategist for EI Design, I have practical experience of architecting eLearning and mLearning solutions (including performance support) for customers globally for over 15 years. I also head our Learning Innovation Lab initiative and closely track the changing landscape of tools, technologies, learners’ expectations, and business needs.

This eBook features our unique Learnability Evaluation Framework that is a product of our Innovation Lab. It took us nearly 2 years of sustained effort to create it. The framework enables organizations to predict, measure, and validate the learnability or learning effectiveness of their eLearning courses.

I begin with the definition and significance of learnability and show you how it impacts ROI. Then I walk you through our unique Learnability Evaluation Framework.

I share two case studies that showcase how you can practically measure and validate the learnability or learning effectiveness of your eLearning courses.

I have the essence of all these pointers as three microlearning nuggets that include the summary of the salient aspects covered in this eBook.

What You Can Expect From The eBook

Through a series of questions and answers, this eBook How Can You Measure The Learning Effectiveness Of eLearning Courses And Create A Positive ROI addresses the typical questions you may have on how can you measure and step up the Learnability index of your eLearning courses and how can this be seen in your ROI.

The eBook addresses questions like:

1. What is learnability or learning effectiveness of eLearning courses?
2. What is the significance of learnability or learning effectiveness of eLearning courses?
3. Why is measuring learnability or learning effectiveness of eLearning courses vital for Learning and Development teams?
4. Does learnability impact the computation of ROI on training? Is this impact direct or indirect?
5. What are the challenges that Learning and Development teams face in determining learnability of their eLearning courses (legacy as well as new)?
6. How do we at EI Design measure learnability?
7. How can you use our framework to maximize ROI on training?

Additionally, through two case studies, I showcase how Can You Measure and enhance the learnability of eLearning courses as well as validate the same with your learners.

About The eBook
The eBook is organized as:

Section 1: Learnability Basics

This section covers the definition of learnability and what is its significance.

Section 2: Learnability And Its Impact On ROI


This section covers two important aspects: First being why measuring learnability or learning effectiveness of eLearning courses is vital for Learning and Development teams. After this, it outlines how this impacts the ROI.

Section 3: Learnability Measurement

This section outlines the intrinsic challenges in measurement of learnability and introduces our unique learnability Evaluation Framework that you can use to predict, evaluate, and validate the learnability of your eLearning courses (both new as well as legacy). It also highlights what value this will bring to the Learning and Development teams.

Section 4: Case Studies And Videos

This section features 2 case studies:

1. Case study on how to measure and enhance the learnability of eLearning courses.
2. Case study on how you can validate the learnability of eLearning courses.

Video Links: I have also included three video links (microlearning nuggets) that summarize these aspects.

Do download this free eBook How Can You Measure The Learning Effectiveness Of eLearning Courses And Create A Positive ROI for insights on how you can enhance employee performance by measuring and uplifting the learnability or learning effectiveness of your eLearning courses. If you have any specific queries or would like to see how you can use our framework in your organization, do contact me at apandey@eidesign.net.

How To Convert Instructor-Led Training To eLearning

With pressures on training budgets, many organizations are evaluating conversion of existing ILT material to online delivery. This article outlines how you can do this effectively and how you can integrate current and emerging trends into your online training strategy to do so.

The Key To Convert Instructor-Led Training To eLearning: Is Instructor-Led Training (ILT) Dying?

Is instructor-led training (ILT) dying? No, ILT isn’t dying. But there sure has been an increase in large-scale conversions of ILT materials to online learning. While a lot of this is triggered by challenges on training budgets, I believe it also provides an opportunity to relook at the traditional format and enhance the training delivery. According to the ‘2016 Benchmark Report: The State of Online Training’, “Technology has not decreased the demand for instructor-led training, but gives instructors new tools to reach learners…The trend in instructor-led learning is enablement through technology, both in hybrid and fully virtual delivery”.

Easier said than done. Right?

The process of converting your ILT collateral to online is certainly more than converting a PowerPoint deck to an online format. You need to plan for several aspects to ensure a successful conversion of your ILT to online training.

In this article, I will provide cues and process steps that will help you make this effort successful.

But before getting down to the process you should follow to convert instructor-led training to eLearning or mLearning, let’s take a quick look at the benefits you will accrue.

What Are The Benefits That You Will Accrue As You Convert Instructor-Led Training To eLearning Or mLearning?

Benefits For Businesses

1. Savings in cost.
This is probably the biggest factor that triggers conversion of ILT to eLearning and results in cost savings.

2. Scalability.
Closely linked to the savings in costs is the related advantage of being able to reach out to your entire audience in one go. This scalability also brings in higher efficiencies in rolling out as well as managing these training programs.

3. Leverage new and emerging trends.
As organizations draw up the strategy to convert instructor-led training to eLearning, they can double the impact by embracing approaches that resonate with learners and contribute significantly to ROI. These include mLearning with flexibility of responsive designs that support multi-device delivery as well as strategies like microlearning, gamification, Story-based learning, scenario-based learning, and so on.

4. Higher training efficiency.
Organizations have discovered that switching to eLearning can help increase their training efficiency. IBM’s switch to eLearning helped their employees learn five times more the material they would otherwise learn in the same time in a standard training session.

Benefits For Learners

1. Shorter seat time.
Typically, the seat time of an online program will be less than half (or one-third) of the ILT program. This is seconded by the fact that a Brandon Hall study concluded that eLearning takes 40-60% less time to complete compared to traditional classroom training. This means that the learner can achieve the same learning outcomes in much lesser time.

2. Providing control to the learner.
The eLearning approach is learner-centric and provides the control to the learners, enabling them to go through the training at their own pace. Plus, they have access to this training to refer to or refresh when required.

3. Providing flexibility to the learner.
eLearning provides anytime, anywhere access to training. Additionally, it provides a choice to learners as they can select the device on which they want to learn.

4. Higher retention of learning.
According to a study carried out by the Research Institute of America, the retention rate was in the range of 25-60% for eLearning whereas it was 8-10% for face-to-face training.

You can also take a look at this video to learn about the benefits of converting ILT material to online learning.

Why Is This Exercise Not About Converting A PowerPoint Deck To An Online Format?

At EI Design, our ILT/VILT and blended solutions practice is 15 years old. However, even today I find that more often than not, the conversion of ILT collateral to online is still treated as an exercise of converting an existing PowerPoint deck to an online format. Let me set this bit in the right context.

Since the existing ILT collateral was already instructionally designed, it is assumed that direct conversion of the existing Powerpoint deck into an online format (preferably HTML5 so that it can be accessed on all devices including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones) is all there is to it as you venture into converting your ILT to eLearning.

While the source material is instructionally designed, you still need to go through the classic steps involved in creating online training or eLearning (ADDIE model of development).

What Process Can Be Followed To Ensure An Effective Conversion Of Instructor-Led Training (ILT) Collateral To eLearning Or mLearning?

The most commonly used process to create online training is the ADDIE model of development. This is what you need to follow even though you are converting an instructionally designed collateral to online training (eLearning or mLearning).

The ADDIE model stands for:

• Analysis.
• Design.
• Development.
• Implementation.
• Evaluation.

What Aspects Should You Watch Out For To Ensure An Effective Conversion Of Instructor-Led Training (ILT) Collateral To eLearning Or mLearning?

Based on my practical experience, I recommend that the following aspects should be part of your conversion strategy from Instructor-Led Training (ILT) to eLearning- or mLearning-based online training.

Prior To The Conversion Exercise

Prior to initiating the conversion exercise, take some time out and quantify the following aspects of the existing ILT program:

1. What is working. 

This should be used to determine the “success factors” for the online version.

2. What is not working. 

These aspects need to be identified and right strategies to offset these challenges must be part of the online training strategy.

3. What more can be achieved. 

As you embark on the conversion path, you can set additional goals that were not feasible in ILT delivery. As I had highlighted earlier, today you can use various strategies that engage the learner better. These could include:

• Story/Scenario-based learning.
• Gamification.
• Microlearning.
• Social learning.
• Learning paths: Rather than offering discrete training, you can design it as a “learning journey” that can have components of formal learning and performance support or informal learning. You can supplement these through new trends like social learning and content curation to engage your learners over longer periods of time.

During The Transformation Phase

1. Relook at developing the learning outcomes for online training. 

This is a pre-requisite and your updated learning outcomes must map precisely to the online training content.

2. Assess if you can convert the ILT program to a fully online training or you need to think of a blended approach. 

Just because you have a mandate to go online, don’t miss this step and do a holistic assessment that the conversion process will indeed meet the required outcomes. Otherwise, identify if certain aspects need to be retained in the ILT format and pick a blended solution.

3. Relook at the content and layer the information. 

Instead of converting the entire source deck “as-is” to an online format, layer it into “Must Know” or the information aligned to meet the learning outcomes and “Good to Know“. Remember, the online training format allows you to do an effective layering of your source content thereby reducing the seat time but still provide learners with additional supporting information that would enrich their learning.

4. Map existing classroom activities to interactivities. 

This is an important exercise and the range of interaction types available today across various eLearning authoring tools will help you do this mapping. You can pick from several, standard approaches like click to reveal, drag and drop, hotspots as well as scenarios with complex decision making options.

5. Assessment strategy. 

Base the assessments on your “Must Know” information. You can, however, add Inline Checks to checkpoint some aspects of the “Good to Know” information. The online medium provides several interesting formats for evaluation so use them to make them more engaging and effective.

By following these simple steps, you will be able to ensure an effectve conversion of your ILT collateral to online training (eLearning or mLearning).

You can also take a look at this video that serves as a checklist for aspects to consider before you convert your ILT material to online learning.

I hope this article will be useful in your conversion of existing Instructor-Led Training to eLearning or m Learning. Do use this opportunity to “transform” the learning and create a higher value to both business and learners. Do contact me if you have any queries.

Also Read:

• Digitize Instructor-Led Training Sessions To Increase Employee Engagement And Performance
• How To Effectively Convert Face-To-Face Instructor-Led Training Into Online Training

Source: https://www.eidesign.net/convert-instructor-led-training-elearning/

5 Questions Answered: Why Should You Use Content Curation To Support Your Corporate Training?

Today’s learners need information that is relevant, up-to-date, and fresh and accessible. That’s where content curation comes into play. In this article, I outline how you can use the content curation strategy to support your corporate training.

5 Questions Answered: Why Should You Use Content Curation To Support Your Corporate Training?

Let us have an analytical look at some questions that explain why you should use content curation to support your corporate training.

1. What Is Content Curation And How Does It Add Value To Your Learning Strategy?

Let me describe how we at EI Design see it. Our definition is based on its relevance for both businesses and learners.

We see content curation as an exercise to continually find, filter (group, organize), and share the most relevant content on specific topics and offer it to learners as an online tool or through a portal or platform.

To expand on this, content curation encompasses the following:

1. Finding the best content from multiple sources (usually external content but could also be from your existing knowledge base).
2. Filtering it so only the most relevant content makes it through.
3. Sharing it with the right internal audiences, at the right time, through the right platform.
4. Adding value to that content with commentary, context, or organization.

Content curation provides the following unique benefits and adds punch to your learning strategy.

1. Aggregates Meaningful Content.

It gathers and organizes all online and offline resources available in your network and allows learners to access them all on a single platform.

2. Enables And Empowers Learning And Development Teams And Learners.

Normally led by experts from Learning and Development teams, it facilitates everyone in the organization to curate learning resources. The process ensures that only the highest quality, most relevant, and contextual content is presented to the team.

3. Motivates Employees.

It enables employees to get recognized and rewarded for their contribution, effective usage, and learning achievements.

4. Propagates Learning As Continuum.

It also establishes a constant engagement model through social media usage – like forums, discussions, chat for peer level collaboration, and choice to learners to build paths and share content (community of learning approach) and establish strong relationships between expert and learners.

5. Provides Personalized Feedback Through Analytics.

It can also provide personalized recommendations/feedback to get learners on the right track regarding how to “consume” content by the intelligent use of data analytics.

2. Why Does It Make Business Sense To Have A Content Curation Strategy?

There are many factors that are changing rather rapidly – business dynamics, global economic volatility, and pressure on training budgets. On the other hand, learner expectations are increasing.

So, the Learning and Development teams need to think beyond the current approaches to deliver training and look at options that can augment or support their current learning strategy.

As we know, traditional learning focuses predominantly on formal training that is necessarily discrete and happens over a finite number of days every quarter or year. Often, the formats used here do not map to the way learners want to learn. This is on account of the fact that they are not always in sync with immersive or new trends.

What would really help is the adoption of “Learning as a continuum” wherein learners see this learning journey as an intrinsic part of their daily/weekly/monthly planning.

Creating a culture of continuous learning is a tough mandate and this is where content curation finds a great fit. By finding the information that is most relevant, packaging it for an easy retrieval and usage, giving learners the flexibility to share and add further, you will be able to create the required mind shift in aligning to learning as an ongoing journey.

Content curation is not at loggerheads with formal training nor will it replace it. However, Learning and Development teams can use this approach very effectively to not only support formal training but create a culture on learning as a continuum.

3. What Is Content Curation’s Value In Learning, And Can The Content Curation Strategy Support The 70/20/10 Model Of Learning?

We all are familiar with how we learn and the 70/20/10 model is a commonly used approach to define it. While formal learning constitutes only 10% of how we learn, most organizations have focus predominantly on this. On the other hand, social learning or learning from others that constitutes 20% of how we learn and 70% that is experiential is often ignored or not focused upon.

While formal and structured learning will always have its place under the sun and is certainly needed, we need to note its limitations as well.

• The time to go live and people having to sit through for longer periods of time to gather knowledge makes it relatively lesser appealing to today’s learner.
• It is certainly expensive and cannot be changed/updated as easily.

Look at it from the learner side as well.

• How often would they sign in to the Learning Management System to seek a specific input that they need on the job?

Content curation aligns to the way learners want to learn. Its value in learning can be summarized as follows:

• Focused.

It has the dynamism of delivering the right information that learners want. Furthermore, it is filtered by experts so that it maps exactly to learner needs.

• Continuous value enhancement.

Once this is in place, you will see the curated information becoming richer by ongoing contributions by learners.

• Social learning and performance gain.

The information will get a wider audience as learners will share it and apply it as this info now maps to their moment of need.

• Changing the learning culture.

Over time, it will create a learning culture that maps to “Learning for life – Learning as a continuum”.

4. What Are The Benefits Of Content Curation For Learners?There are several benefits of content curation for learners.

1. The learner is the “HERO”: They don’t have to plough through masses of content from Learning Management Systems, portals, intranets, wikis, social forums, news feeds, and search results to find quality content. The platform will do that for them!
2. Learners feel empowered as they browse through various kinds of relevant content and pathways.
3. It enables learners to get recognized and rewarded for their learning achievements.

5. How Does The Content Curation Strategy Enhance The Value Of Learning And Development Teams?

At any time, we all have access to valuable information but we end up googling again at the time of need. Very often, we do not have time to wade through the ocean of information to pick what is most relevant.

Learning and Development teams can play a pivotal role by adding value to address this moment of need. They can:

1. Identify the most appropriate inputs for the learners (bring in the Subject Matter Expertise).
2. Provide context and observations to highlight the relevance and usage (provide Expert guidance).
3. Keeping learning current and relevant: Everything learners need to know is out there but not everyone is willing or capable of going and finding it. That’s where Learning and Development teams can really add value – being the people who help people find really good stuff and keep updating it to keep it current and relevant.
4. Provide a platform to share and curate further knowledge.
5. Help learners access all kinds of learning resources (internal as well as external) in one place.

To summarize, with content curation, Learning and Development teams will be able to provide value-adds such as:

For Learners

1. Giving learners just what they’re looking for.
2. Saving their time.
3. Providing smarter insights to learners.
4. Helping learners chart their own learning path.
5. Encouraging exploration of information.
6. Encouraging sharing of information.

For The Organization

1. Helping organization reduce costs and stay agile.
2. Offering a more responsive service.
3. Creating a comprehensive resource bank for frequent and lasting usage.
4. Fuelling innovation, continuous learning, and collective intelligence.

In the process of solutions through content curation, Learning and Development teams get an opportunity to build and showcase their expertise. This approach would go a long way in creating a culture of constant learning in the organization.

I hope this article provides essential clues on why you should integrate Content Curation in your learning strategy. This support to your corporate training will add tremendous value to the organization, highlight contribution of Learning and Development teams and most significantly appeal to the learners. If you have any further questions or observations on this, do contact me at apandey@eidesign.net.

Source: https://www.eidesign.net/use-content-curation-support-corporate-training-5-questions-answered/

Performance Support Tools – Tips And Strategies To Boost Employee Performance

Formal trainings are often not enough to obtain the required gains in workforce performance. This article provides tips and strategies on how you can use Performance Support Tools to supplement formal training and boost employee performance.

How To Boost Employee Performance With Performance Support Tools

How do we learn?

70% from on the job experiences (experiential learning).

20% from interactions with others (social learning).

10% from formal (structured learning).

While the exact ratio of how we learn may be debatable, what is evident is that Learning and Development teams need to go beyond the focus on 10% of formal training and must align their learning strategies to encompass the need for informal learning.

Performance Support Tools (that supplement formal training) fit in precisely to address this need. You can integrate them into your learning strategy and see the “performance changing” gains accrue.

What Are Performance Support Tools (PSTs)?

Performance Support Tools or PSTs are just-in-time learning aids designed to assist employees with on-the-job support and enhance workforce performance.

They provide support and guidance to employees at work exactly when they need them.

They are easily accessible and are usually available in the learners’ workflow, serving the purpose of providing the required task support to employees, thereby leading to enhanced employee performance.

PSTs are ideal to bring about continuous improvement in the workforce performance that organizations look to achieve.

Why Does It Make Business Sense To Adopt Performance Support Tools In Your Learning Strategy?

The origins of Performance Support can be traced to nearly three decades ago. In the words of Gloria Gery, a key proponent of Performance Support, “Performance Support focuses on work itself while training focuses on the learning required to do the work. Integrating resources in the workplace is inevitable, and the need is urgent. Filtering resources so people get the tools and resources they need while actively working is the goal. Work process and roles are the primary filters. The mechanisms vary: Portals, performance-centered workflow interfaces, enterprise applications, integration projects, etc, but what’s important is that performer be able to name that tune in one note, to perform in exemplary fashion“.

I think Gloria Gery was ahead of her time but what she predicted on usage of Performance Support is finally gaining momentum today. While the core of what Gloria stipulated is valid today, success can be achieved only when Performance Support integrates cohesively with your current learning strategy. Only then can the training result in enhanced employee performance and impact businesses resulting in a positive ROI on training.

I believe that organizations today are ready to make this change and several supporting factors (mLearning or mobile learning, microlearning, and social learning) will help build momentum in the adoption of Performance Support Tools.

What Is The Difference Between Performance Support And Formal Training?

It is important to note that Performance Support is not training nor does it replace formal training. It co-exists with formal training and actually uplifts the impact of formal training by pushing the envelope from knowledge acquisition to application.

As we know, the gap between knowledge acquisition (through formal training) and knowledge application (applying the acquired knowledge meaningfully on the job to create the required impact) is a huge one. Learning and Development professionals constantly struggle with and find a challenge in demonstrating the impact of training to business. When used in conjunction with formal training, Performance Support Tools achieve this mandate by helping learners apply their learning on the job.

How Can Performance Support Be Integrated Into Your Overall Learning Strategy?

The answer lies in having an approach of Learning and Performance Ecosystem as shown here that integrates components of all three aspects of how we learn.

Learning and Performance Ecosystem - EI Design

How Do Performance Support Tools Help Learners And Boost Employee Performance?

Learners like learning at work and learning informally. Performance Support Tools (PSTs) allow learners to learn and work at the same time.

Performance Support Tools (PSTs) are extremely beneficial in terms of enhancing employee performance as they:

Enable learners to perform tasks on their own without depending on external assistance.

Save time that would otherwise have been wasted in the form of senior employees providing guidance to lesser experienced employees.

Enable new employees to perform tasks quickly with the required quality, irrespective of a formal training being available or not.

Help new employees understand complex tasks in a simple way.

Help learners learn about new systems, upgrades, or a new introduction in the workflow/process.

How Can Organizations Use Performance Support Tools To Boost Workforce Performance?

PSTs accelerate learning as they are part of the learners’ workflow and are available precisely at the time of their need. By design, they are easy to assimilate and easy to apply.

Specifically:

They are a great fit for informal learning.

They can be also be used to support formal training to improve the stickiness of learning and its eventual application on the job.

You can integrate microlearning based strategies to create them and see the application levels zoom.

Couple them with platforms for social learning and you will see the impact of your training multiply.

What Are The Possible Formats To Offer Performance Support Tools?

You can offer Performance Support Solutions to improve employee performance in a variety of ways.

At EI Design, we offer Performance Support Tools to increase workforce performance in various formats, including:

1. Mobile Apps.

The very fact that these apps are “mobile” helps learners obtain just-in-time information and Performance Support anytime, anywhere.

2. Videos And Interactive Videos.

Videos have proved to be one of the most sought after Performance Support Tools and the fact that “How-to” searches shoot up 70% every year on YouTube justifies it.

3. Decision-Making Scenarios.

More often than not, learners will be in need of just-in-time support when they are stuck in a complex situation at work. You can offer Performance Support in the form of decision-making scenarios to help them and achieve higher retention of learning and application of that learning on the job.

4. Whiteboard Animations.

Animations and illustrations are one of those things that catch your eye instantly. When packaged as a Performance Support Tool, they can help not just capture learners’ attention but retain it and help them internalize the learning effectively.

5. Kinetic Text/Animations.

Like Ronan Keating and the rest of the Boyzone members, “words” is all you need to have to take your learners’ breath away if you can present them as kinetic text animations. They’re extremely handy when you want to convey concepts that are difficult to visualize.

6. Interactive PDFs.

Save the learners the travails of going through lengthy documents. You can offer them Performance Support in the form of Interactive PDFs with a touch of user-friendly navigation and appealing visuals. They make great PSTs when used to present tips, checklists, fact sheets, and so on.

7. eBooks.

These can prove to be useful Performance Support Tools (PSTs), especially if you’re looking to convert your documents into multi-device and HTML5 compatible resources. They provide the added benefit of converting lengthy documents into manageable chunks. You can also integrate audio and video to increase the impact.

8. Expert Videos, Webinars/Recorded Webinar.

Expert insights are always treated by with respect by learners. Expert videos, webinars, and recorded webinars have plenty of takers in the learner community and they can serve as a useful Performance Support Tool.

9. Webcast/Podcasts.

The ease and flexibility of accessing them on-the-go makes webcasts/podcasts ideal for Performance Support. They come with the added advantage of being brief and entertaining, much to the liking of the present day learners.

What More Is Possible To Engage Your Employees And Boost Employee Performance?

To enhance employee performance and encourage on-the-job learning, Performance Support Tools (PSTs) can be used in conjunction with other learning strategies, such as:

mLearning or Mobile learning (by offering PSTs in mobile-friendly formats).

Designing learning for the millenial generation (innovative formats of PSTs can be aligned to the way millennials learn).

Gamification.

Learning portals.

You can also watch this video to know about the different formats that can be used to offer Performance Support.

What Gains Will Organizations Accrue If They Adopt Performance Support Tools?

Today, with wider adoption of mLearning or mobile learning, organizations have an enormous range of options to provide Performance Support solutions to their employees and boost workforce performance.

Adding Performance Support to your formal training will not only enhance the impact of the formal training but more significantly enable learners to apply the learning on the job. Having access to these learning aids precisely at the time of learner need encourages the learners to use them effectively. The final outcome is “performance changing” learning that Learning and Development teams seek.

Additionally, technology allows us to offer Performance Support within learners’ workflow (for instance, on their smartphones) and in varied engaging formats that appeal to different learner profiles and create sticky learning.

I hope this article establishes how you can use PSTs to supplement your training. Do contact me if you need any specific support.

Source : https://www.eidesign.net/performance-support-tools-tips-and-strategies-to-boost-employee-performance/

How Personalized eLearning Engages Learners – Featuring A Case study

Learners today have specific needs. Contrary to the “one size fits all” approach, personalized eLearning engages learners as it provides to them a far more immersive and meaningful learning experience. This article highlights the key aspects of personalized learning along with a case study that highlights its impact.

Why Personalized eLearning Engages Learners

Personalized eLearning is customization of eLearning to meet specific needs of learners. It is typically done in the following ways:

1. Avatar-based selection followed by customized elements like themes, fonts, backgrounds, and so on.
2. Customization in the format of content delivery (for instance, options to use audio/video or otherwise, degree of interactions, and so on).
3. Customization at the learning path level (for instance, a pre-assessment can help us understand the baseline proficiency and the learner can be given a personalized learning track that corresponds to the competency gaps. Alternately, we can use a survey to assess where learners’ interests lie and then offer a personalized set of recommendations regarding how to “consume” this module [which parts of it could be skipped and which should be taken with special attention]).

What Are The Key Benefits Of Personalization?

Personalization of eLearning empowers learners to select what they want to learn, how they want to learn, and how much time they would like to spend on it. Being more focused (particularly, through the control on picking the right learning path), they get exactly what they need.

From an Instructional Design perspective, personalization of eLearning offers an approach that is far superior to traditional eLearning. Instructional Designers can craft learning designs that offer tremendous control to learners.

Specifically, through personalized eLearning, they enable learners to:

1. Set their own goals.
2. Set manageable milestones.
3. Select their own learning path.
4. Select the device they wish to learn on.
5. Take the learning at their own pace.
6. Select the kind of interaction levels they feel is relevant for them.
7. Get personalized feedback and use it to assess their progress .
8. Use the offered recommendations to enrich the learning path.

Besides Providing A Customized Learning Experience, Can Personalized eLearning Offer Other Benefits?

Absolutely! You can use the personalized eLearning approach to promote a culture of learning as a continuum. You can additionally:

1. Integrate content curation and continuously enhance the online resources.
2. Add a “community of learning” approach to enhance collaboration between learners and with experts. Essentially, you can provide learners with a platform to interact with their peers and online experts on a regular basis.

All these approaches will help you see better learner commitment, higher completion rates, and better results.

What Are The Approaches To Offer Personalized Learning?

At EI Design, over the last two years, we have been increasingly focusing on crafting learning designs that offer control to learners. Essentially, we want to create learning experiences wherein learners can “pull” what they want rather than be “pushed” into a prescriptive learning journey.

We have created various approaches to offer personalized eLearning that map to the following 4 levels:

Level 1: This is the most basic level of customization that offers personalization of Learning. It includes:

1. Using the name of the learner in the course (welcome, in the feedback, when learning a level, and so on).
2. Selection of fonts, color schemes, and so on.
3. Avatar based selection.
4. Offering themes at the beginning of the eLearning course.

Level 2: This is the next level of customization that offers personalized learning. It includes:

1. Usage of Pre-Test and use of the proficiency level to offer a particular sequence of learning.

Level 3: Unlike level 2, where the control is still not fully with the learners, at this level we use the following techniques to empower the learners:

1. Usage of surveys at the beginning of the course to determine the learners’ interest as well as their own estimate of what they know.
2. In conjunction, we use the formative feedback of the interim Check Your Understanding questions to re-direct the learners. This aspect is crucial to balance the learning path in case the learners had opted out of certain sections but their performance in knowledge checks clearly points otherwise.
3. Additionally, we share a survey to determine the interests of the learner (including their won assessment of the proficiency levels). We use the cues from surveys to provide personalized, recommended learning elements.

Level 4: We designate this as the fourth level as it involves creating multiple variants of the learning elements that provide flexibility to learners to learn through a learning experience that is most relevant and engaging. Typical choices would include:

1. With or without audio.
2. With or without videos (only text based).
3. Microlearning nuggets instead of lengthy eLearning courses and supporting information as downloadable resources.
4. Courses with varying levels of interaction (Level 1/2/3).
5. Understanding of browsing patterns in topics and recommending learning elements that will provide greater proficiency.

Case Study – Features Personalized Learning For Millennials Using Gamification In A Mobile App Format

This solution is a great example of how we have used personalization of learning to help learners get better at skills to create their own brand and excel at work.

It is a microlearning nugget packaged as a mobile app. The solution helps learners build their own personal brand by helping them understand their strengths and mitigating their weaknesses.

Learners get to experience personalization right at the start where they can create their profile and choose an avatar.

Step 1: After they log in, they have to answer a few questions on their personal traits and activities as part of a survey.

Step 2: The responses they provide will be a reflection of their preferences and thoughts which then form the basis for personalized recommendations.

Once they are done with the survey, they obtain 1000 points and are prompted to proceed with the learning journey.

As they go about their learning journey, they will be able to see various learning topics. While they have the flexibility to choose the topics of their choice, recommendations are provided to them as to what learning assets will be beneficial for them. These recommendations are based on the inputs given by the learners in the initial survey.

Learners need to undergo a set learning path featuring microlearning nuggets such as videos, fun info nuggets, interactive content, exercises, and gamified quizzes. They can also share and comment on the learning nuggets that they view.

On the dashboard, learners can see their progress, leaderboard and points, social activity, feedback from mentors, specific resources or just-in-time aids, and so on.

Learners can access all their learning, recommended learning, and resources at one place.

The Impact

As the intended target profile of learners constituted mainly of millennials who are usually on a path to self-discovery and need guidance in terms of enhancing their personal skills, this solution provided them with the right kind of guidance in a way that engaged them.

• Learners could experience personalized learning based on their personal traits and preferences.
• It provided learners with relevant content and concise information on what they need to be doing right.
• The learner analytics provided greater insights about learner preferences and made the training more relevant for the learners.
• The elements of gamification and social learning added to the personalization element besides engaging and motivating the learners.
• The solution being packaged in a mobile app format helped learners to take the training anytime, anywhere irrespective of whether they were online or offline.

You can also take a look at this video that showcases how personalization of eLearning can enhance the overall learning experience.

Summary

Personalized eLearning addresses one of the most significant expectations that learners have, that is, to have full control on what they want to learn and how they want to learn. This strategy enables us to align the solution closely to learners’ interest and learning style and helps them achieve the required level of cognition.

I hope this article provides the required insights on why it makes business sense to adopt personalized eLearning and the case study helps you assess the impact it will create. If you have any queries, do contact me at apandey@eidesign.net.

What is social learning and how can you use it to foster collaborative learning

As learning professionals, most of us are familiar with the 70:20:10 Model for Learning and Development that describes how learning happens. According to this, most of us pick:

70 percent of our knowledge from our on-the job experiences
20 percent from interactions with others
10 percent from structured or formal training

It is no surprise that today more and more companies are using some form of social learning solutions in their learning strategies that enables employees to learn from each other. In this article, I will touch upon the concept of social learning, its benefits and how can it be used meaningfully in an organisation to enhance collaborative learning. I will also share some best practices.

What is social learning?

In simple terms, social learning is learning with and from others. This can either happen online (for instance over popular social media tools like LinkedIn, Twitter and so on) or offline (during group discussions, over coffee or during conferences).

What are the aspects that most of the popular social networks provide that can be used to learn or collaborate and learn?

All of us use their standard communication and collaboration features like comments, posts, instant messaging, group discussion boards, wikis, video chats and so on. As an extension, you can bring a semi-structured approach to encourage this collaborative learning by building virtual communities to encourage them to provide a forum to share ideas, share knowledge and curate new inputs into a knowledge centre.

What is the relationship between social media and social learning?

Social media provides basic technology to connect people. All of us use it to keep in touch with our friends or for networking with business contacts and often to share our thoughts and opinions. But its capability does not end here. It can also be leveraged as an effective tool for collaborative or social learning. The key being, how we use this meaningfully to encourage exchange of ideas and knowledge sharing.

How can social learning help people learn?

According to Mason and Renniet (2008)*, there are four major benefits of learner-generated content that these tools provide:

• Users have the tools to actively engage in the construction of their experience, rather than passively absorbing existing content.
• Content will be continually refreshed by the users rather than require expensive expert input.
• Many of the new tools support collaborative work, thereby allowing users to develop the skills of working in teams.
• Shared community spaces and inter-group communications are a massive part of what excites young people and therefore should contribute to users’ persistence and motivation to learn.

Is there a flip side?

The jury is still out on determining the value of social learning and the time it takes to create an impact. While it is true that the process of going beyond individual learning to learning collaboratively can take time, it is still a worthwhile approach.

Are there any best practices that can help?

Yes. Some of these best practices can make your online Learning design initiative a success are as follows:

Facilitating a social learning platform where learners are spaced apart; this will help:

• In distributed problem solving whereby small problems could be nipped in the bud without being allowed to cause bigger challenges later on
• Nurture a creativity-fostering environment
• Form temporary workgroups to tackle business challenges
• Create a flexible work environment

Encouraging learners to build collaborative knowledge base of their own rather than depending on others’ assistance

Bridging the distance gap between learners and fostering team spirit through:

• Increased participation
• Projecting them as representatives of the corporate brand
• Developing a community

Providing them adequate motivation and learner engagement as it is a prerequisite for any learning to take place

How to use social learning meaningfully?

Social media has a number of benefits and uses. Some of the ways in which it can be used to good effect are:

• It can serve as an auxiliary element to formal learning in the form of discussions, sharing of experiences, lessons learned and so on.

• It can be used as a tool to encourage employees to generate, gather, explore, get access to, learn and relearn and review knowledge and skills to unravel hidden information.
• It can also help learners with “personal knowledge management” or “smart working”. For example, they could use blogs to gain that extra bit of information or learn on demand using forums such as Wikipedia or YouTube to seek answers to any queries that they may have.

• It helps create “Communities of Practice” for groups such as those of new employees, teams, project team members or other similar groups.
• It facilitates the creation of a structured social learning framework. With social learning, one can accumulate informal content from learners and extract useful ideas and find solutions to problems that formal training may not be able to address.
• With social learning, managing the inflow of informal content effectively and measuring of the benefits accrued on account of the same is possible.

I hope this article was useful in understanding what is social learning and how you can apply it to foster collaborative learning. Do contact me if you have any questions on how you would like to supplement it with your current learning strategy.

Source: https://www.eidesign.net/what-is-social-learning-and-how-can-you-use-it-to-foster-collaborative-learning/

How To Use Mobile Learning To Increase Employee Engagement And Boost Performance

Modern-day employees expect a lot more from trainings. Organizations need flexible and exciting approaches to keep them hooked. This article outlines how you can use Mobile Learning to increase employee engagement and boost employee performance.

Using Mobile Learning To Increase Employee Engagement And Boost Performance 

Mobile learning or mLearning involves the use of mobile technology to enable learning anytime and anywhere on mobile devices at the learners’ own pace. Generally, the same training would be available across multiple devices (desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and so on), enabling learners to learn on the device of their choice.

Just about everything has gone mobile today and Learning is no exception. The number of takers for mobile learning is only increasing, and this is on account of:

1. Changing learner profiles.

The millennial generation is now a significant part of the workforce and they are addicted to mobile devices.

2. How learners want to learn.

Learners today need “just-in-time” information and instant gratification of their infotainment needs.

3. Changing learning device preferences.

Today’s learners look for the flexibility to learn on the device of their choice.

4. Maturing of tools and technology.

Today, there is no dearth of authoring tools, platforms, Learning Management System, and other technology to support mobile learning (supporting both adaptive and responsive designs).

Why Does It Make Sense To Adopt Mobile Learning To Increase Employee Engagement?

Working styles and preferences in organizations are undergoing a sea change. Taking the mobile route to working is catching up big time.

Adam Kingl, Director of Learning Solutions at the London Business School says that flexibility is “the number one reason” why employees of today join a workplace. With exposure to modern day communication methods and having been accustomed to communicating with people anytime and from anywhere, flexibility at work is something that employees expect companies to provide them with, Kingl says. It is no longer a perk or a reward, he observes.

Besides, factors such as high speed and inexpensive broadband/Internet access, maturing of technologies, and increasing concerns with regard to work-life balance are prompting employees to look for employers who would provide them with a “no strings attached” approach to work as far as presence in the workplace and flexibility to work/learn from any location is concerned.

With its flexibility, ability to offer Performance Support at the time of need, and several other factors, mobile learning is just the dose organizations need to pump up employee engagement.

5 Ways To Use Mobile Learning To Increase Employee Engagement

As we have seen, mLearning or mobile learning easily maps to what learners want and how they want to learn.

You can multiply the impact of your strategy by weaving in the following elements that have a direct bearing on employee engagement:

1. Gamification.
It is a mature approach today and can be used to uplift almost all corporate training needs. Gamification for serious learning brings in high engagement, high completion rates, and sticky learning. All these lead to an increased probability of application of the acquired learning on the job, just what the Learning and Development teams dream of.

2. Interactive Videos.
They offer an interesting step-up to the classic video based training. Interactive videos flip the passivity of standard video based learning to a richer, interactive, and stickier learning experience.

3. Microlearning.
With dwindling attention spans and higher distractions for the average learner, the answer lies in offering bite sized learning that is available to learners exactly at the time of need. mLearning or mobile learning can be used for both formal training as well as performance support (just-in-time learning aids). The flexibility of accessing this in between meetings or when one is stuck goes a long way in ensuring these nuggets or micro courses get completed and internalized.

4. Millennial-Centric Learning.
mLearning or mobile learning intrinsically appeals to the increasing millennial workforce. You can use the cues of their traits, learning styles, and learning preferences to create a customized strategy that will deliver the required learning experience.

5. Mobile Apps For Learning.
Given the prevalent use of apps in daily life, it comes as no surprise that usage of mobile apps for learning is gaining momentum. They can be used for formal training but their strength lies in their use as Performance Support Tools.

6. Social Learning.
Collaborative learning is accepted as a strong methodology for adult learners. Today, mLearning or mobile learning makes it easier for learners to discuss, deliberate, share, collaborate, and learn.

How Can You Use Mobile Learning Or mLearning To Boost Employee Performance?

The key advantage of mLearning or mobile learning is its flexibility. Learners can access it on the go and precisely when they need it. Access to this information in a format that is easy to review, internalize, and apply further enhances its value to organizations and learners.

The improvement in employee performance has a direct co-relation to accessibility of learning, its availability in a format that learners find exciting, and its learnability or learning effectiveness.

Once these are in place, there would be application of the acquired learning and a gain for learners as well as businesses.

To boost employee performance, you can use mLearning or mobile learning as follows:

1. Formal Training. 

Do not be limited to the structured and traditional formats of delivery but provide further flexibility to learners through Learning paths. Having access to learning as a continuum (rather than discrete sessions) goes a long way in using learners to apply and achieve a demonstrable gain. You can also opt for specific Learning portals that can leverage on microlearning, gamification, and social learning to multiply the impact.

2. Performance Support Tools (PSTs). 

These on the job, just-in-time learning aids that are available to learners within their workflow (and at the precise moment of need) have shown to create the required behavioral change. You can also use them to re-inforce learning by engaging with learners post the formal training.

3. Digitize ILT. 

You can embed elements of mLearning or mobile learning into the traditional ILT delivery and see the impact you seek. This can range from pre-workshop collateral to exercises, simulations, role-plays during the workshop to its workshop assessments. You can retain the connect between instructors and participants as well as between participants and use this channel to provide learning nuggets well after the workshop. All these measures have a direct impact on learning, application, and the desired behavioral change.

What Are The New Or Trending Approaches That Can Increase Employee Engagement And Boost Employee Performance?

My personal recommendations are to integrate the following aspects in your learning strategy:

Personalization.

The learning design in mLearning or mobile learning should include feedback along with reinforcement or supplement options. This personalization shows a manifold increase in both learner engagement and their performance gain.

Learning portals.

As highlighted earlier, you should invest on Learning portals for your key learning or change management initiatives. You can leverage on microlearning, Gamification, and Social learning to multiply the impact.

Content curation.

I believe this is the next big thing to watch out for. It provides learners to curate content, create personalized learning paths, bookmark assets they can use on the job, and share these inputs with their peers/seniors. Organizations can use this to support primary training initiatives and create portals that provide information at the time of need.

Summary

Mobile learning is a powerful approach that allows learners to experience exciting learning with the kind of flexibility they desire, increasing employee engagement and boosting learner performance, thereby resulting in an increased ROI on training.


I hope this article provides you with insights on how you can use mobile learning to increase employee engagement and boost learner performance. If you need any further assistance, do contact me at apandey@eidesign.net.

Source: https://www.eidesign.net/how-to-use-mobile-learning-to-increase-employee-engagement-and-boost-performance/