A true leader acknowledges faults in order to solve them. It’s normal to have deficiencies (nothing’s perfect), but the difference lies in doing something about it.
ELearning in organizations
The new paradigm in training methods is eLearning, a teaching technique that employs electronic mediums and the web to optimize learning. In organizations, eLearning is carried out through Learning Management Systems (LMS), platforms on the cloud that allow us to manage our own online schools, where we’re able to deliver long distance training programs.
Online professional training is increasingly popular. In fact, 74% of companies included in a study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), reported to have used certain level of eLearning.
All that is new causes some suspicion; after all, we all can’t be early adopters, those consumers, who guided by their intuition, take risks and try new disruptive products and ideas.
If you’ve heard or read about online professional training, but aren’t too convinced about it, perhaps it’s because you believe in some of the elearning myths that won’t let you discover its advantages.
We’re going to prove all eLearning myths wrong, so you’re able to learn how innovative professional training methods are adapting to organizations’ needs today.
Elearning myths
“The confidential information of my organization is not safe in my online school”
A totally valid concern: uploading and storing internal content of your organization in a platform on the cloud, can raise some eyebrows. Fortunately, the technology has been updated to cover this need. In the case of Teachlr Organizations, we have built the platform with a ciphered code. We also count with an A+ encryption level, which effectively protects all your data.
“Finding and offering training material is way too complicated”
The online training material is usually composed of short videos, presentations, audios and documents. If you need content, we have found the solution: after years of developing our open knowledge marketplace, Teachlr, we have gathered high quality educational content brought by experts in several fields. In this way, we can offer you great online courses contained in our courses catalog.
“I can’t control whether students are taking the courses or not”
This is one of the eLearning myths that until not long ago, was still a problem. ELearning, unlike instructor-based training, is not delivered in a classroom with the direct participation of said instructor. Given that students can access the platform from every device with an Internet connection, they are free to take courses at their own pace, whenever and wherever they choose to. This also implies that every student is responsible for completing successfully the courses that have been assigned to them.
These conditions obstruct the direct supervision of instructors, causing doubts in organizations managers, who are in charge of calculating the return on investment of the online training.
The good news is technology has adapted to face these challenges. In the case of Teachlr Organizations, we have metrics, statistics and reports that allow you to monitor the behaviour and performance of every student. These tools indicate whether students have begun taking courses, the amount of visits they have made, the length of every visit and the progress percentage in every course. Likewise, you can also conduct assessments that measure the results of students, in order to analyze their progress and evaluate the efficiency of the training.
“Having my online school must be very expensive”
Not at all. On the contrary, it’s cheaper than delivering on site and instructor-based training programs. Companies actually save between 40% and 60% of training costs when they recur to online training.
Your online school saves you from having to invest in space, food and transportation that otherwise are required to carry out traditional training methods.
Another saving source is the installation of the platform: the investment is zero! For example, in Teachlr Organizations, the installation is immediate and you don’t need any local infrastructure. In addition, you don’t require any specific software, as the platform runs automatically once you open your Internet browser. Updates are also automatic and run without any additional cost.
The fact that you can use the content you have stored in the platform indefinitely, is another important saving source. The training material you have uploaded in your online school can be delivered to hundreds or thousands of users located in different regions, countries or continents without having to make additional investments. This is especially attractive to transnational companies, as online training allows their employees to access the courses anywhere and anytime. Besides allowing these companies to save, online training also qualifies as an expeditious culture transmitter, which is a fundamental element in maintaining the cohesiveness and unity of large organizations.
“Yes, but an online school must be very difficult to use”.
Nope. An interesting insight we have been able to obtain from our clients is the simplicity of Teachlr Organizations. We have designed such a friendly and intuitive platform, that even the less technological person can use it easily. And what’s more, we also include instructional videos with complementary material that teach users how to conduct themselves through the platform.
“But how can I tell if the training has been effective? Does eLearning work?”
One of the most pervasive eLearning myths. Yes, there is evidence that eLearning increases knowledge retention up to 60%.
When we use all our senses we improve the retention on the long term. Online courses are carried out through videos, presentations, documents and audios, employing resources that combine visual and auditive learning. This puts more regions of our brains to work and guarantees a better and longer retention of new knowledge.
Students are also free to access the training material 24/7 and take the courses at their own pace. This allows them to customize and control their training according to their learning style and needs. For example, they can forward the lessons that are easier to them, while taking longer and repeating those with difficult content.
Short lessons that are typical of online courses also facilitate knowledge retention. The immediate and wide access to information, plus our hectic lifestyles, have caused our attention span to fall to eight seconds. Likewise, scientist Benedict Carey insists that the brain processes learning better when study sessions are short. It’s preferable to rest every once in a while, as it allows our brains to reset and recharge.
There is no such thing as perfection
Of course, everything has advantages and disadvantages, even eLearning.
The main deficiency of online education is that learning is lonely and isolated. The collective experience of the classroom, where debates and discussions happen, is lost. There is no direct human contact, which can have negative effects in those students who better learn in groups.
True leaders act and solve
Faults are natural: while normal people accept them, exceptional leaders recognize that they must act in order to solve or alleviate them. In Teachlr Organizations we have created a number of interactive tools that shorten the virtual distance among participants.
- We facilitate the communication between users through direct messages.
- Every user is free to make and answer questions within lessons of courses. This is an innovative way to relocate debates and discussions in the virtual world.
- Instructors are able to publish announcements, allowing them to share important information with their students at once.
- We have created notifications sent via email, which work as automatic reminders that inform users of the actions they must undertake on the platform.
- Every user can share files within the online school, which allows the knowledge exchange and collaboration among users.
Innovation: the major advantage
ELearning comprises innovative methods that are changing the implementation and the results of professional training. But besides being innovative, eLearning also includes leadership traits.
We have argued that true leaders identify, recognize and solve existent faults. The major advantage of eLearning is that it’s a dynamic adaptable field in constant growth.
In Teachlr Organizations we are always developing new technology with features capable of solving our clients’ needs and requests. Features which make learning increasingly more effective.
Discover the online training experience, see how your own online school could look and get a glimpse of how it could expand the reach of your organizations. Contact us at leads@teachlr.com
We hope to have dissipated the eLearning myths that unable you to discover its great advantages.
