As we set sail on a brand new, shiny year we are filled with thoughts of growth and development. Top of the list for many organisations is continued or increased online learner engagement. We have previously discussed the importance of employee engagement in many articles across SAFEWARE, however growth in this area has never been more paramount. It is proving more and more of a challenge to keep employees engrossed with online content and the way of digital transformation. However, in this article we are going to bring your through 5 easy and effective means in which to help you encourage your employees to stay engaged in their online training, content or forums. When implemented and sustained, an organisation will see clear benefits. After all an engaged employee is a productive employee!
Feedback
Employees love the opportunity to have autonomy in what they learn and the way in which they learn. Giving learners this element of control allows them to feel heard and in turn builds a relationship of trust and understanding. A simple solution for this is to offer learner feedback forms on your learning management system – which are tailored and developed for this exact reason. As well as having this feedback form, the crucial element is to take onboard their feedback and show implementation of the expression of their opinions. This helps to create a structures and an ideal learning environment. Feedback forms can allow opinions from the aspects of delivery, content, assessments, registration and much more. It is a simple yet effect tool to keep learners happy and engaged with their learning.
Group/Collective Learning
Through various studies, statistics have shown that group tasks and activities assist to promote learning. Organisations see an increase in completion rates, innovation, overall productivity, participation rates and creativity. But how does an organisation leverage group or collective learning to benefit employee engagement in an online environment? Learning management systems now come equipped with intuitive tools to assist the organisation to adapt to this. Tools such as breakout rooms, forums, class group chat instant messaging, just to name a few. These tools allow all learners to engage with each other on the same level, becoming more involved in all elements of their learning and therefore boosting engagement.
Communication
Support for employees learning online must be easily accessible and consistent. Therefore, concise communication is imperative for all learners and must be readily available in various methods. For example, learning management systems can boast online forums, private direct messaging between instructor and learner, comments sections, supplementary files and documentation in repositories that is permanently accessible. As well as this, online learners need to have the traditional means of contacting their instructors, such as via email. These options need to be available for a well-rounded communication experience. Employees that have that added support tend to be more engaged in their training, as well as having greater retention.
Delivery
More often than not, lack of diversity in online training strategies results in learners lack of engagement. There are several learning styles that employees have - visual, auditory or kinesthetic. Visual learners retain the information by sight, auditory by sound and kinesthetic by movement. Therefore, it is important that a cross section of each is readily available across your learning management system’s delivery methods. Some delivery formats you can use are video, text, audio, or presentations.
Motivation
Motivation plays a key role in engaging your employees. Incentives to work harder, more productively and effectively is what an organisation must strive to achieve. This kind of motivation can come in a variety of ways. Focusing on the value of the learning and development and how engaged learning can help them to expand and grow their knowledge for future opportunities. However, sometimes an incentive like a certificate of completion or gamification can help in motivating learners. Offering both simultaneously can give well-rounded motivation and increase engagement.
Organisations must rise to the challenge of keeping their learners engaged in their online training. In doing so, said organisations will notice a sizable and positive difference in the success of your training program and the subsequent value and productivity. Make sure to add the latest resources to your material so that your learners knowledge is always up to speed with the specific topic and compliance.
If you are having trouble with choosing a learning management system, need further help with hybrid/remote workers training online or just wish to get more information, the SAFEWARE team would be delighted to assist for a chat and offer a free demo of our platform.
