When asked the question: “Why eLearning?”, we in the eLearning industry would rather ask: “Why not eLearning?” In our opinion, most people are resistant to change. At some point in our lives we have heard or have even said: ”If something isn’t broken then don’t try to fix it!” However, change is not fixing, it is merely adjusting and tweaking the way in which things are done. The way in which people learn in today’s technological age is changing, if you want to upskill and train your organisation effectively then change is on the horizon.
Access to all employees
As eLearning is technology based, the classroom is available everywhere. There is no need for multiple venues, each having its own facilitator. All your employees can have access to the same content and facilitator via the online platform, all at once or as needed. The challenge of getting everyone to their nearest venue for training is no longer a concern. Most eLearning platforms are available on multiple devices, desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile smartphone.
Continued access to content
If someone was unable to attend a classroom session, it can be a real problem to find the next available time for them to catch up. In some cases, they may miss the training all together. With eLearning the content is always available. Even if you take the approach of making the eLearning time based and scheduled, the content can still be made available to all users for recap and review. There is no need to provide printed training manuals and make sure everyone has received one. If the content changes or is updated, it can simply be uploaded for all to have access.
Quality of content
Delivery of the same related content can vary depending on the different face-to-face training providers. This could lead to confusion or concerns related to the quality and consistency of presented content. When designing your eLearning content, this is an opportunity to ensure that the quality of the content is in line with the course’s specific learning outcomes and even your companies’ corporate identity. Presenting the same content to your entire organisation in an engaging, structured and consistent way is now possible.
Managing and reporting results
For anyone who has ever been involved in facilitation, the task of writing out reports for each user and then collating it so that it is available to the necessary stakeholders can be challenging. With the correct eLearning platform reporting can be done much faster. Information such as grades and completion of activities are already built into the system. All you need to do is to define the reporting parameters that you require upfront and the rest is just a few clicks.
Cost savings
Let us face facts. In most organisations everything comes down to BUDGET. What are we spending? Where can we save money? There are times when the budget does not allow for everyone to be upskilled. Not upskilling your employees to save money due to the cost of training can turn out costing the organisation its reputation and more.
eLearning does have an initial investment cost to set up the platform and to get the content developed for an online audience. There are also ongoing costs for the curation of the platform and development of new courses. You may need a facilitator, subject matter expert or support staff to maintain the integrity of the system and the content. This depends on your learning strategy and whether your training is self-paced, or instructor led. These costs are far less than the continual costs of venues, facilitators, travel, refreshments and accommodation associated with classroom training.
Conclusion
We here at Quay Group can guide you through every step, from scoping your eLearning needs to creating a platform, content development and technical and user support.
Before you decide not to make a change to your learning and development, contact us. We offer many different options, including subscriptions. We will work with you and your budget to make your eLearning journey an exciting one.
