Is your training as targeted and effective as it could be? Here's an assessment that might offer you some surprises as well as ideas on how to get better results, especially with online learning. But first, some thoughts on marketing (marketing?) ...
Online learning (elearning) isn't just for training employees anymore. Marketers are beginning to find innovative ways to use this technology to reach customers and prospects as well. Two recent initiatives come to mind: a non-profit builds an interactive 3 minute elearning program to power their annual fundraising appeal; an employment firm leverages their services with a program which helps employers better utilize their capabilities. Oddly enough, this post isn't about new ways to use elearning (although it's a great topic); rather it's about the improvements to online learning overall that will come as non-training business functions (like marketing) bring their ideas and perspective to the table.
I've commented before that there is a "one-size-fits-all" mentality in online learning - take some slides, some audio, some video, some interactions and you magically have a great elearning program. The fact is, however, that different audiences learn differently and the design or "E-Teaching" approach has to adapt to the needs of the learner, not the other way around. Why is marketing's interest in this technology so interesting? - because more than any other business function, marketing thinks in terms of who they want to reach and how that audience wants to listen. For example, marketing knows that executives want a formal presentation, short and sweet; but technical audiences want details. Retail wants dynamic and big benefits, and so forth.
So what does this all mean? Simply that trainers and content developers will learn not only how to create "educationally sound" learning or internal training materials but also how to design programming that can successfully be "marketed" to internal target audiences.
In the same "target audience" vein, I want to share a new online learning assessment (free) that we recently developed that uses a set of 10 questions to develop a learner profile and an optimum training design approach for your audience. It offers you interesting insights (and maybe some surprises) into your learners as well as your training program. Enjoy!
Go To CATALYST ELEARNING LEARNER ASSESSMENT
Tim McMahon is CEO of CATALYST Performance Learning and is a global author, speaker, and trainer. Visit Tim at www.catalyst2performance.com.
