How To Ensure The Quality Of Online Learning Amid The COVID-19 Crisis
Online learning platforms tend to be carefully curated and well-researched experiences, designed to keep the user as engaged as possible to ensure the highest retention of course materials. Unfortunately, in the midst of a sudden crisis, many organizations often replace knowledgeable learning experts and instructional designers with niche experts on specific topics.
Many instructors lack the time and resources to rapidly craft an entire online course from scratch. Even when they are, there is often significant concern about their overall quality. One of the biggest mistakes these instructors can make is assuming experts are able to build quality courses that focus on the learners; One that is inclusive of engagement, interactivity, and the utilization of proper adult learning theories. This is where companies often go wrong, and the training they build becomes ineffective.
Foundation for Effective Online Learning
We've compiled some key points to keep in mind when building your online learning materials. They will provide your organization with a great foundation to build from, giving the best opportunity for the learner to better engage with and retain their training.
Understand Your Focus
Directors need to focus their content writers on making their courses accessible and engaging to as broad an audience as possible. By assuming the skill and expertise of your audience, you may unwittingly promote a lack of engagement and, as a result, poor retention. Inadequate training models will ultimately lead to course goals not being met, only increasing stress on your organization. Comprehensive and captivating content is your best bet for success in the utilization of online education.
Create Course Platforms
When initially designing your courses, start with a broader foundation that allows you to narrow your focus to relevant learner types based on your organizational needs. For example, when creating learning materials for a range of healthcare workers, you can build a base medical course and adjust it as necessary per position. This saves you the trouble of creating classes from scratch for each position and allows you to readily reuse the content to cater to each type of learner.
Utilize Available Resources
Take advantage of online training events and seminars that benefit you and your organization during this evolving situation. In addition, take advantage of readily available, off-the-shelf training courses, and materials that you can then modify to your organization's specific needs. This is great for soft skills training in particular, although you can alter as needed for more in-depth learning. Ensure that the material can be modified as necessary to engage your audience better and help them retain the information presented.
Structure Your Materials
Needing to design, develop, and push content out rapidly may ultimately impact the overall quality of your learning materials and make your training ineffective. While it is important to have a subject matter expert as well as a project manager, having more than that isn't necessary when your goal is rapid release. A clear structure and focus on your materials, written in a way that captivates and engages the learner, is your organization's best bet at rapidly pushing out quality content.
Conclusions
We're all doing our best to adapt to this rapidly changing world, thankfully these changes present new opportunities for growth and taking your organization to the next level. By leveraging our tips above, you'll be able to craft repeatable, engaging training material that will help your team grow and stay competitive in this evolving market. Ensuring the overall quality of your training materials will better position your organization for success over the long-term, even in times like these.
