eLearning training facilitates management in many ways. They save time and resources spent on conventional in-person online training for employees and continuing training. Companies across the world are switching from physical forms of learning and training.
They can use eLearning to make sure that their employees remain up to date with the latest knowledge by using eLearning software to provide educational courses. Employees can access these online courses at any time and from any place via the Internet.
In many companies, the management has already set up online learning management systems and is looking to improve the quality of their online training.
After managers adopt eLearning, it’s important for them to figure out the most efficient method to implement it – it can include looking for the suitable support to help with proper planning and execution of the software. This guarantees that everything goes off without any glitch. Or else, all the time-consuming and creative efforts dedicated to planning and creating the eLearning solution are likely to be wasted.
If you are unable to create an online course for your employees, start by reading this guide.
What is an eLearning Module?
An eLearning module is a building block of an online course. Simply put, it is learning content created to teach a specific skill or topic. Training modules can be presented in various forms such as video tutorials, quizzes or assessments, informational online courses, point-and-click interactions, and demonstrations.
Instead of limiting yourself with a specific content type, try to offer a broader range in terms of content to produce an effective eLearning module for your employees.
Let’s start with a step-by- step guide on how you can offer an eLearning module that delivers positive outcomes.
Step 1: Define the Problem
First, know what problem you are looking to address. For instance, do you feel that your sales professionals need better training? Or do you feel that your IT team needs to adopt modern technology stacks?
The key to top-notch training lies in communication. To resolve a business problem, get a better understanding of the problem and how it impacts the on-the-job performance. One of the initial steps needed for developing an eLearning module is to ask thorough and inquisitive open-ended questions, such as:
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What is the nature of the problem that has to be addressed?
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What type of skill or knowledge is required to fill this gap?
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How do your employees fare in terms of performance and knowledge for this problem?
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How much do you think your employees should know about this topic or how do you envision them performing?
Answering these questions will assist you properly understand the business problem and proceed ahead by defining objectives.
Step 2: Define a SMART Objective
A corporate training objective or goal reflects the rationality behind the eLearning module. It needs to define the knowledge, skills, and advantages that the employees get after completing the course. To achieve the best results, write a goal that aligns with the following:
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Specific – No one knows better than your employees where they lack and what they need to learn
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Measurable – The employees will utilize this knowledge regularly for each report
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Achievable – The employee can do the tasks from the module
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Relevant – The training has to prioritize skills and knowledge that are essential for the daily job routines
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Timely – The employee must complete the training quickly
With a SMART goal, you can encourage your employees to learn as they get to know how the eLearning module benefits them.
Step 3: Plan and Design the Right Type of Module
After you are done with defining the problem and setting up your goals and objectives, get ready to develop an eLearning module for employees.
One of the best ways to build a high-quality module is to connect the right type of module to a suitable learning task. Here’s what you need to keep in mind:
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If your eLearning module is geared towards onboarding, compliance, and safety or job knowledge, an interactive assessment and e-course works wonders.
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If you are looking to help your employees with procedures or provide them with “how-to” resources, an e-Book or FAQ interaction will be extremely helpful.
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If you want to increase your employee’s knowledge about products, add video lectures in your module.
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If you want to equip your team with IT or software skills, video tutorial and hands-on interaction are quite productive.
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If your aim is to train sales and customer service teams, consider incorporating dialogue simulation in your course.
Now, let’s find how different forms of eLearning modules work and review them in detail. This will help you to pick the right one for your requirements.
Information e-course
An informational course is an eLearning module where you can add slides containing images and text. It enables employees to learn a particular topic. Go for an information e-course in the following cases.
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Deliver standardized knowledge to your employees
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Equip essential skills and knowledge related to jobs.
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Provide an in-depth overview of a policy update or a new product.
Interactive Assessment
Interactive assessment is a sort of online quiz that comprises a wide range of scenarios, custom branching, and question types. It can help you in the following cases.
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Identify the best performers in a department and promote them accordingly.
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Identify employees who lack knowledge in a specific topic, so you can offer more support.
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Create tests having built-in coaching to ensure your employees stay on track.
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Serve as proof of completion.
FAQ Interaction
With an FAQ interaction, your employees gain convenient one-click access, allowing them to reference information. They get to clarify their doubts reading the most commonly asked questions. An FAQ interaction can help with the following:
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Study subject matter information via a Q&A format.
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Create basic knowledge-level facts with definitions and glossaries.
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Produce a standard format for presenting and organizing basic information.
Video Lecture and Screencast
A video lecture consists of instructions to perform a specific task. Since it has been recorded, your employees can view it at time. Such a format is ideal for the following:
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Offer a specific speech or lesson to a large number of employees.
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Standardize the learning experience for a specific event or topic.
A screencast is a type of video recording that captures the actions, which take place on a screen. It is suitable for the following:
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Demonstrate standard business tasks
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Create “how-to” guides
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Show how to navigate through a system
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Show the steps required to perform a task
Dialogue Simulation Activity
With dialogue simulations, your employees can build their communication skills. It allows them to apply their knowledge in real-world conversations with their team members and clients. Consider it for the following use cases:
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HR and training leaders can deliver sensitive information to team members and subordinates.
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Instructors and coaches can communicate information in a systematic way to their target audiences.
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Improve communication skills of employees who directly deal with customers, such as receptionists, telephone agents, customer care representatives, and salespeople.
Step 4: Going Through Feedback and Revising Accordingly
After you have created the first draft of your eLearning module, reach out to your stakeholders and experts, collect their feedback, and ultimately get their approval. If this is your first time, do note that it’s normal to receive a significant amount of feedback in the beginning.
In order to prevent yourself from getting entangled in the feedback process, it’s advised to follow alpha/beta/gold – a three-step design protocol.
In this protocol, the first draft is referred to as the alpha draft. After you have gained considerable experience in creating eLearning modules for employees, your alpha draft should be 80% correct. Most of the feedback from SMEs is collected here.
Next, you have a second revision version, referred to as the beta draft. If your alpha draft was positively received by the SMEs, your beta draft will be at least 95% accurate.
The final draft is referred to as the gold draft. Unless there was some miscommunication with the SMEs in the earlier feedback stages, this draft will be 99-100% correct.
Step 5: Test the Module
It’s extremely important to test your module before officially adding it to your corporate employees training. Pilot testing gives crucial insights and lets you determine whether or not your employees will benefit from the course.
Choose a test audience comprising a small batch of employees from your organization. To get the best outcomes, make sure that this audience doesn’t have a high level of knowledge on the trained subject. Pick workers who lack a higher level of expertise on your subject, so they are able to complete the module without having a pre-existing view of how the topic has to be taught.
Collect your employees’ responses and comments during the course and after it is completed. Figure out what bits of the module they found the best and where do they think the module needed improvement. If the test audience fails to meet the expected performance goals following the module’s completion, analyze the assessment outcomes to identify the existing gaps. Collaborate with your stakeholders and subject matter experts and find solutions that can bridge these gaps, which can help with enhancing corporate elearning solutions to a considerable extent.
Step 6: Design the Final Version and Launch It
After readjusting the course as per the feedback from pilot testing, create your final eLearning module, upload it to your LMS, and launch the training officially, allowing all your employees to register and take the course. Depending on your organization’s structure, you may have to work with project management or change management to formally roll-out the newly-created module.
You may also consider reviewing comprehensive reporting data about the eLearning module’s consumption and outcomes. For this purpose, you can generate reports for 30, 60, and 90 days following the official release of the course.
Final Thoughts
With these easy-to-follow steps, you are ready to develop effective eLearning modules for employees. From now on, it will be easy for you to create similar courses in the future, monitor, and track your modules’ success. Over time, you will know what your workforce needs to learn and how to keep them engaged. Overall, these insights will make sure that you develop a high-quality online training experience for your staff.
In order to ensure your eLearning module creates a positive impact, get in touch with Racoon Gang. We were one of the first platform developers for Open edX in 2013. We specialize in creating tailored eLearning modules for employees. Our team members boast a strong R&D background in Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, and other fields. They also have considerable experience in teaching. All of this ensures that your eLearning modules will produce the desired results.
