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Maybe you remember it. You regularly spent a whole day at school together with a group of colleagues to get updated. The department was inaccessible to customers because there was company training. And at home, they also had to make do without you, because knowledge had to be gained for the boss. Preferably somewhere on the moor, or in an expensive conference hall.
Of course, there have been several pioneering companies (such as Pluvo, of course) that offered digital knowledge platforms for a while, but that was still seen by many companies and students as unnecessary and perhaps even considered a bit of science fiction. That was terminal.
Then came the Covid pandemic. Suddenly, everything had to be online and remotely. And suddenly (okay, after a bit of getting used to), digital learning didn't turn out to be all that bad. In fact, e-learning actually turned out to have quite a few advantages compared to on-site business training. So many advantages that we now dare to say: e-learning is here to stay. Fortunately, that no longer requires a pandemic.
When we open the dictionary, e-learning means “following education with the help of the computer”. That seems like a broad concept, and it is. In principle, you can classify all forms of digital education under the term e-learning. From a course with lessons that you can click open on your laptop or phone or a video on YouTube about how to tie your shoes to a knowledge platform where all business information is centrally stored: it's e-learning.
If we zoom in on more professional, business education, e-learning must meet some more conditions than simply turning on your computer and clicking on something:
E-learning may seem very new and modern, but remote teaching was first experimented with more than thirty years ago. In the nineties, the first digital learning environments were developed. Initially, people were still talking about “web-based learning” or “telelearning”, until Internet and learning pioneer Jay Cross coined the term “e-learning” in 1999.
But as it often goes: unknown is unloved, so it took a while before this way of gaining knowledge got a place in the spotlight.
The first steps in the field of e-learning were mainly focused on simply letting you follow a course online. However, it proved difficult to keep everyone on track with that universal approach. Some people needed just a little more attention, or were just a few steps ahead of the course material itself. In addition, many students appeared to need personal interaction, to ask questions to each other or to be able to learn from each other.
Today, there are different types of digital education. In synchronised learning, the teacher and students are online at the same time, asynchronous education offers online teaching materials that you can use at any time, whenever and wherever you want.
Blended learning combines the old school classroom lessons with online learning, while self-study knowledge platforms are more focused on students who want (or need to) do it on their own and at their own pace.
E-learning is becoming increasingly popular, both among organisations and their employees. The number of registrations for online training courses has risen sharply in recent years and is still growing. This is not surprising, because digital education:
So are there no disadvantages to e-learning at all? There can certainly be them, we're honest about that. After all, this blog is not intended as a promotion à la “we from WC-duck”. For example, you may run into:
We do not give general advice on which type of e-learning you should opt for. This is because that depends on various factors. For example, it depends on the culture in your organisation, but also on the target group of employees you would like to train and everyone's individual personal preferences and circumstances.
For a successful organisation and sustainably employable employees, it is important to employees learning to get and keep.
That's why we'd like to share a few tips for setting up good online business training and sharing knowledge:
Before developing the content, always keep the goal in mind: what do participants need to learn and what will they use it for? Include as many practical examples as possible that you incorporate into the lessons. Also, talk to employees, take a look around the workplace.
This gives you a lot of useful input, both in terms of content and in terms of the students' level of knowledge and personal motivation.
Include different learning strategies when building your learning modules.
If you want to cover a complex topic, consider the benefits of microlearning: breaking the course material into smaller, manageable “knowledge snacks”.
Harness the power of repetition by incorporating the lesson content into, for example, a summary at the end of each chapter, or, even better, a pub quiz or other form of gamification.
And of course, you ensure an attractive and accessible knowledge platform, where everything can be re-read and registered for even more corporate training courses!
We said it before: every person is different and has their own study preferences. Build space for personalised (or adaptive) learning. Use different media to share knowledge about the same topic.
A podcast, video, infographic and 'regular' theory lessons around one theme will reinforce each other and increase the chance that you will achieve your goal with your company training: sharing knowledge that actually sticks with your employees!
Take into account the difference in the level and prior knowledge of the students. Not everyone has the same starting point, and study options will also vary from person to person.
By keeping a low entry level and gradually taking the employee further into the subject matter, you keep it fun and understandable for everyone.
Do build in some shortcuts so that an employee who needs them can go through the course material more quickly.
By combining e-learning with classroom training or virtual classroom training, you offer your employees the opportunity to put the knowledge they have gained into practice. By discussing with each other, asking questions to the lecturer and learning from each other. This also offers the opportunity to practice in practice, for example by role-playing.
Such a blended approach builds an important bridge between the different learning styles and brings more team spirit to the organisation.
We believe in the power of e-learning for every organisation and have built up a great deal of knowledge about this over the years. We would love to share that knowledge with you. Want to know more about this topic? Please feel free to contact us!
