It’s difficult to comprehend why online L&D is still not meeting expectation, especially when you consider the impact of digital on all our walks of life. But for many, it still conjures up visions of passive participation and sketchy take up. When you consider the sophistication of, say video games in this day and age, why L&D is struggling to gain attention and get traction is something of a mystery.
The application for great L&D delivered online is, surely there for the taking and, with companies increasingly expanding to offices and staff all over the world, it’s impossible to put a global training strategy in place in any other way. Face-to-face, traditional classroom-style just can’t deliver that sort of scale with any efficacy and consistency, and even if your organisation isn’t a multi-national, most SMEs have some level of staff working remotely on flexible working hours, and so face-to-face is increasingly unlikely. However, while the need to deliver learning at scale has never been greater, many of the current solutions are simply not fit for purpose. For online learning to be an effective solution, it needs a radical change, and so, in this article I focus on what you should be looking for to gain, not only effective L&D, but also a great online experiences, that can finally turn the tables on the digital L&D malaise that currently exists.
Steer clear of slide-based or PDF content. There’s a huge gulf between those that simply post PDF or slide show content online, and those that deliver what I would describe as online learning. An online course should do what any good teacher would – provide knowledge, check understanding and encourage learners to reflect on what they have learned. It should be a transformative experience, not just a box ticking exercise. Instructional designers play a critical role here, taking the required learning outcomes and content – provided by a subject matter expert – and identifying the best method for delivering each objective. To make sure learners are reflecting at every stage of the course, instructional designers will build in interactive elements that prompt participants to process the new knowledge. For example, incorporating blog writing or interactive exercises is an effective way of encouraging learners to activate their learning. These interactive elements force people to stop and think about what they’ve learned. Watch out for courses that claim to be interactive but are in fact just a page of text with a button at the bottom that reveals even more text. Look for providers that incorporate content proven to engage learners, such as short, bite-sized videos, live presentations by real speakers, podcasts, infographics, comic strips and scripted scenario videos. Most importantly, getting a trial login of the course you’re considering allows you to test it out and see the content as one of the participants will. It sounds obvious, but is invaluable to see if the online experience ticks all the boxes.
It’s very important to check who the content is coming from. Like any good face-to-face course, the people who set the curriculum and provide online course content should be experts in their field. One way to guarantee this is by choosing a course that’s run in partnership with a recognised industry body or thought leader. Work with respected bodies and experts such as the CIPD, ACCA, AAT and Google to ensure courses are delivered by true specialists. These thought leaders define the curriculum, scope out the content of the course, advise on what areas should be covered and make sure the very latest thinking, best practice and case studies are referenced. Ask, does the technology facilitate the learning experience? Any good learning experience should be grounded in science. Anyone can have an impressive-looking tech platform, but if it doesn’t support and guide the learner through their journey, this won’t mean much. A good online platform will guide learners through step by step. This means it will manage a learner’s cognitive load so at any one time, they are only focusing on one thing and are clear about the outcome. The content should be clearly signposted so learners not only know how long each section is expected to take them, but is clearly split into chunks so they can understand what they should learn in that section and what they’ll be expected to do at the end of it.
The online environment should also be user friendly, is intuitive and set up so that learners can navigate it without thinking, so they can focus on learning. Part of this is making sure the layout of pages is clear, but also thinking about how a virtual campus will work on different devices. By ensuring the course can easily be completed on both desktop and mobile, you enable people to choose when and where they want to learn, which will dramatically increase the success of the course. Ask to see the course content in advance. One important thing to look out for is for cohort-based learning, where students move as a group through a course at a determined rate, versus self-paced individual study. Whilst the latter may seem more flexible, we’ve found that grouping participants in cohorts, just like a face-to-face experience, confers a number of significant benefits. Working on the same content as part of a wider group helps people maintain momentum through the course, and allows them to benchmark their progress against their peers. There is also a powerful networking element that shouldn’t be underestimated. When students are placed into groups, and supported with the right community forums and management to foster collaboration, they have a shared learning experience that builds networks both internally for large corporate groups and externally with other students. Within this larger cohort structure, it’s also powerful to incorporate online activities with smaller groups. By working on assignments together, learners can replicate the same support they feel in a face-to-face environment – but online. The best online learning providers will facilitate this interaction that allows course participants to work together, discuss and share ideas and build their network of contacts.
Whilst the learning provider and the learner themselves need to play their part, one of the key common success factors we’ve found in the most impactful corporate online learning programmes is having a proactive internal stakeholder who has accountability for their learners’ progression. They can provide learners with the context and importance of the course within the wider business objectives or change programme e.g. How a course on digital marketing might fit into a wider company-wide digital transformation strategy. No course provider is able to give learners the business’s own reasoning for running the course – but this extra layer of company relevance makes the whole endeavour more engaging and the course is more likely to result in real behaviour change. They can also help follow-up with any internal barriers the students may have to completing the course, such as buy-in from line managers and support around assessment deadlines.
What does the future look like?
If online learning continues to develop at its current rate, we’ll see the end of static resources – that means long pages of text that ask for no interaction or reflection from the reader. We know this is (generally) an ineffective way of conveying knowledge to participants and this will be replaced by more engaging interactive content. As technology improves, providers will also be able to provide personalised learning experiences to individuals at scale. Being able to learn whenever is most convenient, in any location in the world and on your preferred device will be the norm. We’re already seeing people choosing to learn on their smartphone on their morning commute, after work at home or even on their holiday – whenever they feel most able to learn. As this technology becomes widespread, it will empower more people to do the same. We’ll also see learning technology personalise the structure of a course – able to intuitively understand how a learner is progressing and adapt the course to fit their pace. This could mean reinforcing certain modules that require more understanding or skipping ahead when learners are picking things up quickly.
We all know that learning doesn’t stop when a course is over, and we’ll see more online learning providers recognising the need for lifelong learning. The world doesn’t stop changing when the course is over, so it is vital people have the tools to keep developing. While there’s no doubt a lot of work needed from online learning providers to develop standout experiences, change also needs to be driven by organisations themselves. HR departments need to lead the charge by demanding only high quality online courses and dismissing poor experiences that don’t add value for their business. The online learning revolution is upon us and many companies are already reaping the benefits – make sure you’re not left behind.
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