Microlearning: Transforming E-Learning into Knowledge

The evolution of internet and mobile learning have impacted learners’ expectations of accessing relevant information. With the increasing pace of businesses and introduction of new content, more demand is placed on employees to perform better at workplace. Classroom training approach from the bygone days is no more sufficient to cater customized learning needs and improve employee retention level. It is crucial for organizations to develop effective e-learning courses and benefit learners with access to the right content at the right time. There comes the need to adopt microlearning, with an ability to provide just-in-time support to organizations.

Driving Force Behind Microlearning

New-age learners have a hectic schedule and they prefer hassle-free training as well asknowledge rich content. Professional instructors also look for strategies to engage maximum learners, and ensure high retention rate and workplace productivity. In today’s time, everyone is busy and business leaders are attracted towards bite-sized learning because:

• Modern learners are more distracted and they lean for impactful learning opportunities that improve their career growth, without wasting their valuable time. 
• Learning preferences are evolving with time. If learners are given with the choice to opt between a 60-minute training module or ten 5-minute modules, then they would prefer the latter. So, it is important to listen to your target audiences for successful content delivery.
• Chunked information is easy to remember and reinforce learning experience. 

Microlearning is about creating micro content and getting macro results. 

When thinking about the role of microlearning in e-learning courses, there is lot of flexibility. Nuggets of information can be used anywhere, as a standalone piece or as a large piece of training program. When learners progress through the learning lifecycle from readiness to reinforcement, microlearning plays a big role in all these stages.

Readiness: 
It is a phase where organizations try engaging more learners before actual training starts. It’s not about telling learners what they will learn, but also inspiring them to take up courses.


Discovery:

In this phase, microlearning provides bites of content that targets on one objective. As a result, this creates a behavioral change whenever required. E-courses help to empower learners impart their ideas and facilitate future organizational goals.

Reinforcement:

Instructors use micro content to tailor content and review learning, providing reference tools and assessing performance matrix. Without reinforcement, content can be forgotten, but as learners do not want to repeat a lengthy course, so here comes the need of microlearning.

Microlearning is cost-effective because it is reusable. Increasing demand for informal training has a huge impact on how e-courses are delivered. Organizations are looking for ways how training can occur quicker and cheaper, focusing on developing content that can be re-used. Incorporating microlearning as a crucial learning strategy helps employees sustain for long and apply knowledge continually at their workplace.

Transforming Your Training Experience With Mobile Learning

Today, the world is going mobile at an astounding pace and majority of internet access takes place via mobile devices. Smartphones, tablets, iPads and other handheld devices play an increasingly large role in personal and professional communication of learners. Mobile learning solutions are not merely learning via portable devices, but learning across contexts. With technology becoming smaller, powerful, more personalized and pervasive, it supports a more mobile environment.

If you are using a desktop machine, organizations support workflow learning or e-learning. But, people who are not able to meet all their learning needs tend to go mobile, as it provides a channel to bridge the gap between training content and learners’ tailored needs. 

There are several myths associated with the use of mobile devices for content delivery. Some of these are discussed as follows:

• Employees don’t have mobile devices

The world is shifting from analog to digital and modernization has a huge impact on all areas of work and businesses. It is quite common that people have their personalized mobile devices, making it easier to access e-courses anytime and anywhere.

• Small screens are limiting

Although the screen size is small, but plethora of things can be done with small amount of text, image, audio or a video.

• Always connected

Before using mobile data, devices were synched with computer systems. But, today, a lot can be done using mobile data, without any need to sync both when they are not in proximity. So, there are several things that can be preloaded, regardless of being universally connected.

• It’s about content

Content delivery on mobile devices is about content, but neither always nor completely. Sometimes, it is about collaboration and interactivity between learners as well as between learners and instructors.

• Learning through Mobile Devices

To ensure whether mobile learning helps deliver effective training solutions, you need to address the nature of learning problem. For this, Mosher and Gottfredson proposed a model to identify the five phases during which most learners require support to perform successfully:

Phases 1 and 2

The first two phases need to adopt a more structured learning approach and higher degree of teaching content. This involves in-depth information that requires greater demands on the learners’ attention span. So, if you are thinking of using a mobile device such as a tablet for learning, it is better to include it as a part of blended learning, where training is imparted via conventional classroom training, rather than a standalone module. For instance, smartphones are used to access training material, provide takeaways from the learning environment or offer information via information nuggets. If you are considering tablets for training delivery, you can customize your content delivery like the case of traditional web-based training.

Phases 3, 4 and 5

The next three phases include reinforcement of basic knowledge and skills that learners possess. Primary focus is on the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge, access just-in-time learning and get information updates. Transformation from teaching to reinforcement prepare learners for successful content delivery over a portable device.

An incredible growth of the mobile market throughout the past few years presents a new set of challenges and opportunities for learners as well as educators. Most of the organizations have started showing interest in using mobile devices for effective training content delivery.

Managing E-Learning Projects Using Employee Training Software

Organizations have started looking for ways to build strong capabilities in e-learning. They found that most enterprises have implemented the use of Learning Management Software to move their focus to online learning in the context of knowledge management. Organizations use this software to create a web-based environment for supporting effective learning and teaching activities.

From a trainer’s perspective, an LMS helps manage and support a wide group of learners. Instructors use it to design quality-driven training materials. The course is designed per the training requirements of different learners and can be delivered via traditional lectures or online learning programs. From the perspective of a learner, access to courses via online portals is more engaging and helps boost workplace productivity.

Apart from the training material, the LMS consists of a suite of collaboration tools, including synchronous messaging, forums, and interactive whiteboards. The support of powerful training software is essential to facilitate the learning process. It can also be used to embed games in learning courses and deliver quizzes, surveys, and assessments. While most of the learning platforms support these capabilities, the features in the LMSs enable learners to learn at their own pace. E-learning helps increase the chances of interaction between learners and educators.

The management of all the activities associated with your e-learning projects can be daunting. Consequently, it is essential to use an learning management software to manage and deliver content efficiently. If your company chooses a system that is not tailored to your needs, you end up wasting your organization’s money and resources. It is significant to choose LMSs after considering flexibility, scalability, and their fit in the organizational structure. The powerful learning platform works as a main repository to address personalized learning needs. The major areas addressed by efficient training software to handle e-learning projects are discussed below:

◉ Curriculum Planning:

Generally, trainers are involved in curriculum planning, which is done before starting the course work. Course planning involves the detailed structuring of courses, stating the chapter description, lecture schedules, and courses covered during a specific program.

◉ Quick Evaluation:

With the help of LMS, the performanceof learners is evaluated through tests and quizzes. When participants click the Submit button, their answers are calculated instantly, with their grades displayed on the screen. This helps learners to identify their weak areas, get time to improve, and increase efficiency at the workplace.

◉Course Management:

The management of training content is crucial for both learners and educators. At times, trainers need to teach the same course to different people. An e-learning platform is used in this case, where the course can be managed online and content can be saved for the future. Similarly, learners can access e-courseware anytime and anywhere, per their convenience.

◉Learner Engagement:

Unlike the boring, traditional, classroom-based approach, e-learning is more engaging. With the support of tools such as chat, messages, forum discussions, wikis, and group assignments, learners feel like part of a community and engage more with the course.

E-learning platforms provide easy and flexible ways for online content delivery along with the ability to monitor learners’ participation and assess their performance.

Increasing Need Of E-learning Courses In The Oil And Gas Industry

Training at workplace has become the most significant factor for thriving any business. Online learning reaches every industry and market as well as crosses every geography. With digitization, a plethora of industries such as oil & gas, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and retail have adopted different types of e-learning methods to train employees effectively. 

Today, oil and gas companies are facing challenges in the education, development and training of employees. So, these companies have started creating and delivering quality-driven e-learning courses to train employees on worker safety and training, business approvals and regulatory needs.

Challenges Faced by Oil and Gas Industry

It is important to understand the risks involved with working in the oil and gas industry. For example: Chemicals used in this industry may result in serious chemical burns. The drilling process exposes workers to dust and toxic substances which may cause health issues. In addition, the risk of explosion, fire and workplace accidents are often there. Because of these safety risks, it becomes imperative for organizations to train their staff and prepare them for the rigors. The oil and gas industry has embraced customized online learning courses to deliver knowledge to the employees on how to sustain good health.

Introduction to new technological developments and environmental regulations are the two major changes that have reinvented this industry domain. Because of this, it is important for organizations to adapt these changes and stay ahead of the competition. It is done by providing e-learning training to the workforce.

In the renewable energy sector, it has become important to deliver excellent training solutions. The easy-to-access e-learning courses address major industrial challenges and train staff working on rotation or offshore. Oil fields are at remote areas, so travel is common, therefore e-learning helps to deliver training content on any mobile device with web access, saving huge expenses. So, e-learning offers tailored and mobile-friendly training methods to people who work onshore and offshore.

How E-Learning Helps this Industry

Most of the organizations are leading to adapt more flexible and convenient e-learning environment. From the rig workers to the administrators, every employee in the industry can seek benefits of online learning courses. These benefits are summarized as follows:

• E-learning saves both time as content is available online and can be accessed from any mobile platform.
• Offers a competitive edge to the companies by focusing on knowledge and skills of the staff.
• Unlike classroom-based training, e-learning offers more consistency as the same training content can be used several times.
• An ability to apply new knowledge at workplace after gathering it from the training program.
• It helps to reduce costs associated with paper, travel and maintenance, decreasing the overall environmental impact on organizations.

With e-learning, oil and gasindustry has developed its bespoke training methods to engage workers and move the industry forward. Workers are timely informed about the technological advancements which help them to add more value to their career.

Implement Mobile Learning For An Effective E-Learning Experience

Mobile learning is a rapidly growing area for all types of organizations. It is the most preferred way for training modern employees and ensures that companies achieve their business objectives in a cost-effective way. The learners can access training content on their mobile device, regardless of time and location factors.

                  

Mobile learning enables the organizations to deliver e-courseware via a mobile website or a native mobile application. As a result, mLearning is increasing in popularity by the day, enabling learners to learn at their own pace.

Smartphones, iPads, and tablets have made mobile learning courses easily accessible and memorable. Mobile learning offers a plethora of advantages to allorganizations, whether small or big. Mobile learning also has the power to offer quality- proven, and technology-aided training programs, which equates to varied benefits for the learners.

Are you planning to choose a mobile-friendly learning training program? Then, you are at the right place.

Why mLearning Is Important

Mobile learning takes the learners’ knowledge to the next level. An mLearning-based training is not only about adapting technology-based content to deliver content on mobile devices, but it is also about handling ever-changing learning contexts. It is an effective approach followed by the education realm as well as training organizations worldwide.

Here are some of the benefits of mobile learning in varied industrial domains:

v Custom learning experience:

Access to e-learning courseware on varied types of mobile platforms (laptops, tablets, and so on) offers a phenomenal learning experience. Mobile learning is tuned to the needs of learners, to ensure the delivery of custom learning content.

v Ease of access:

In today’s time, accessing training content is not limited to the use of laptops and desktops. With the increasing use of mobile devices, it is possible for learners to access the content anytime and anywhere.

v Optimum use of learning apps:

With the help of advanced mobile apps, learners can access training content per their choices. Many organizations take the benefit of mobile learning to drive learning on a larger scale.

v Access to training content when offline:

After the training content is downloaded on a mobile device, learners can continue training offline. They are not bounded to access the Internet all the time.

v Facilitating Just-In-Time (JIT) support:

Mobile learning focuses on enhancing the overall learning experience of learners and delivers JIT support for optimum quality. For example: A salesperson can access information about the company’s products, services, and other updates instantly, on his tablet or iPad.

v Time-saving:

As mobile devices are always close at hand, it is easy to access the training information at any time and without any hassle. Instead of attending the entire training program, learners can extract the required nugget of content. This minimizes the time required to deliver the learning program, saving productivity costs for the company.

The basic goals of mobile Learning are to motivate learners and enhance their knowledge level. Based on every business need, mobile learning helps boost productivity, provide flexibility to access content from anywhere, save time, and control budgets.

SCORM Principals And Authoring Tools

SCORM standard is a set of identical specifications explaining to developers how Learning Management Systems must read and present eLearning courses and how they should interact.

                        

Let us look at the 5 key principals of SCORM standard which makes it the most preferred standard to create an eLearning content.

1)      Reusable- SCORM online training courses are easily reusable in any of the conditions like Apps, programs, texts etc.

2)      Durable- SCORM also safeguards the accessibility and simplification to suit all technologies without extra and just expensive updates and follow-on revision.

3)      Efficient- Software engineers are able to get the technical specifications of how to create an eLearning course.  SCORM also helps in saving time and expenses that are required for technical instruction delivery and altering eLearning content for different systems / platforms.

4)      Adaptability- eLearning software can be customized according to business with the help of SCORM standard. So, courses which are SCORM compliant can be adapted as per specific needs of the business.

5)      Interoperability- SCORM ensures the capability to use content irrespective of platform it was made for. This means shifting SCORM compliance course to another LMS or software ispossible and can easily be done at any moment. So, SCORM also ensures humble and convenient course migration.

Authoring Tools that can be implemented in SCORM Online courses:

• Adding useful features- SCORM permits addition of valuable features as directing learners to click on various elements, translating dynamic text, implementing modules such as exams, videos, and assessments. The course becomes all the more engaging, collaborating, appealing and engaging.

• Enhanced Logic- It is easy to outline the time required for completing the course, as well as specify the order of the modules. It will be insensible to place a final exam in the middle or at first. So, with SCORM authoring tools it is very easy to keep the right sequence of the course. Additionally it is possible to create a single test for each module to track results in a better way.

• Analyzing Statistics- Companies can easily track the time learners spend on each module, video, page etc. SCORM allows analyses of general statistics, failures and successes of learners. These features are particularly useful for organizations that want to integrate eLearning / HRMplatforms to educate and onboard employees.
• Data Visualization- Data visualization makes reporting process easy convenient and less time consuming. Report scheduling can also be implemented to automate the process of reporting.

SORM is an appropriate tool to make tailored made eLearning solutions for your organizational training needs and make it more efficient and effective by adding features in it.

Managed Learning Services Ensure Better Quality in Training Solutions

Learning administration services are in growing popularity for the past few years due to constricted budgets and less available resources. Businesses today identifies the importance of Learning and Development in both maximizing the potential of employees and maintaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Large number of organizations are choosing to subcontract their Learning and Development needs to professional organizations which offer Managed Learning Services. This ensures better quality in training solutions.
                         

Many organizations outsource their generic training programs while retaining their own internal training capabilities. One of the major advantage of managed learning is the cost saving that brings through procuring training more proficiently and by implementing a robust negotiation approach with managed learning service providers. It ensures high quality and effective training delivery allowing L&D teams to increase external learning expertise and focus on other areas for better evaluation of the training activities.

Some of the key benefits of Managed Learning Services are:

• Improved Organizational Productivity- An organization can focus on its core competencies if it outsources trainings to an appropriate managed service provider as it aligns their training activities with their business objectives and goals. Companies can easily monitor post training activities and measure ROI and overall impact of training on company’s culture, operations etc. with the help of learning administrator service provider.
• Reduced Training Cost- In an internal training process lot of hidden cost is involved such as content development, logistics, pre and post training activities etc. However with managed learning services, companies are able to get insights about these hidden costs and ways to reduce these costs. This gives maximum value for the training process and enables an organization to allocate training budgets for maximum number of different types of trainings.
• Good Content- Not all the organizations have subject matter experts to create eLearning content internally. Managed learning service providers have expertise in doing content makeover so that information can be converted into relevant and efficient training material. These service providers can also guide companies in creating student manuals, training manuals, assessments etc.
• Good Learning Experience- Managed Learning Service providers can support in developing new training procedures and strategies for an organization and then aligning them to the business objectives. Contracting a Managed learning Service provider for training activities also leads to an improved level of learning experience across the whole organization.

Managed Learning Services gets integrated to a higher level within an organization by conducting an in-depth analysis of the company, its operations, culture, needs etc. and suggests required training solutions to improve business performance. It also helps reviewing individual training needs and align them to the company objectives, thus formulate the whole learning strategy.