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Employee training and development is a program or a suite of programs designed to increase the knowledge and skills of employees. Deployed periodically and at regular intervals, this type of employee training method helps in the professional and personal learning and development of the employee and the overall growth of the organization.

Corporate training is equally essential for employees – both new and more experienced – to develop, enhance and refine their job-related skills and knowledge.

The following employee training programs are typical of the below:
a) Onboarding

When an employee training plan and instructional design is structured clearly around specific goals, regulated, and assessed, it is a game-changer.

It creates and sustains the common knowledge of a staff where learning becomes a cultural norm. It increases productivity and morale, and it positively impacts staff retention rates.

In most workplaces, employee training is a compliance requirement.

Imagine a workplace without training of any kind. It would be akin to entering a building zone without a high vis jacket: incomplete, unsafe, and careless.

In the broader workspace, an absence of employee training would translate into a lack of staff cohesion, purpose, and a fall in productivity. While the absence from the perceived tedium of some training could appear to be a short-term boon, it can quickly become a breeding ground for staff discontent and subsequent exits.

Employee training is one thing; quality employee training is quite another. And it appears that keeping the human element in employee training is one dimension that can easily be overlooked despite its capacity to deeply connect with others and enrich learning experiences.

An awareness of enduring employee training techniques, an introduction to what is currently rated on the employee training landscape, and the benefits of utilizing the human element in training are imperative for all training courseware designers and employers.

Employee training techniques that have stood the test of time

Interestingly, ‘training’ started with storytelling, a most valuable but somewhat scarce human element in this increasingly technologically driven space. It is the human element in employee training we will return to later.

Here are five points that summarise the evolution of employee training:

Group learning facilitated by storytelling /oral history

Master and servant characterized by top-down instruction

Features of ‘distilled content’ and a ‘bums on seat’ (1) / learning circle approach with an outsourced presenter and an outdated PowerPoint. Training consisted of an employee training video or employee training manuals and that’s about it.

Enter technology and PC’s become commonplace

The rise and rise of eLearning in employee training

The learning strategies (or instructional technology) that technology has brought to employee training are breathtaking: learning designers can create subject-matter lessons while utilizing mobile learning and employee training apps, virtual and augmented reality.

Employers have a host of eLearning employee training programs to choose from that are created by an emerging generation of learning designers who have grown up in a tech-driven world.

Because our focus here is on quality employee training, let’s have a look at how one key microlearning program is currently delivering in the eLearning workplace.

Start Using EdApp Today, the best Employee Training Platform

Once personalized computers became commonly available to employees around the early-mid 90s, the mode of delivery for training programs quickly morphed from the ‘bums on seats/ learning circle’ approach into the diverse customized content we see now.

It is clearly, cleverly, and conveniently ‘AAA training: anytime, anyplace and anywhere’. (2)

This mantra is personified by multi-award-winning EdApp, a key leader in corporate employee training LMS. Utilizing microlearning, gamification, spaced repetition, and other LMS features, EdApp is a mobile-first system that enables employees to perform training not just on computers but also on their own mobile devices.

Using a mobile LMS is more than just moving away from the PC. It’s a dedicated online training system that uses smartphone technology and microlearning to deliver training on the go and on-demand. Learner-driven training is one example of the human element in EdApp’s LMS.

Another key feature of EdApp is its gamification option where potentially mundane tasks are turned into a game.

Gamified learning motivates learners and leads to more personalized engagement with content that subsequently enhances message retention.

It is the vital element of ‘play’ in EdApp’s gamification that remains a proven mechanism for productive learning in employee training.

When combined with microlearning and mobile learning, eLearning gamification is taken to another level: short, topical training lessons feel like smartphone games. Gamified course completion rates are well over 90%, while the mobility of workplace learning on a smartphone puts the learner at the center of the learning experience.

A further key feature of EdApp is its Editable Course Library.

Forget the distilled content of the ‘bums on seats’ employee types of training of the past. EdApp’s editable course library is a thankful move away from the ‘distilled’ training content that may have only been subjected to updates on a yearly or five-yearly basis.

Quality content is key in training or in any learning pursuit whether it’s for job-training or procedural knowledge or it’s for new employees or tenured ones. Providing employee development programs structured around clear learning objectives, quality content drives engagement and delivers results. EdApp’s editable course library means content can be customized and updated to meet the changing objectives of the training quickly and efficiently.

It is clear that the needs of the learner remain central in these features.

Keeping The Human Element in Employee Training Technology

Human resource development training has evolved exponentially over time, and given all the instructional technology we have at our disposal, its evolution seems destined for further stratospheric heights.

Due to its power to enrich and connect, it’s time to return to finding and keeping the human element in skills-training. Marked by their intensively human features, this can be identified as including:

Storytelling (this can be as simple as prefacing the start of a training session with colleagues telling their stories of their work in the industry, for example), combined with mentoring (an extension of the master and servant mentioned earlier and also known today as job shadowing) and play (as in gamified learning) allows employee training to become a multidimensional and dynamic force for change characterized by the power of shared and shareable knowledge.

Human emotion generated by storytelling, mentoring and play incites people to act, connect with others and support productive relationships. These outcomes are beyond measure and make a solid return on investment in employee training. Keeping room for the human element in eLearning is critical. All of this can help with your compliance training, staff training and development, developing training, learning activities, instructional designer training solutions, trainers training opportunities, supervisors learning programs, competencies improvement, and knowledge and skills development.

By the way, EdApp’s learning management system is completely free. And this might be the happiest human element of all.

(1) https://learningplan.com.au/evolution-workplace-learning/
(2) loc.cit

1. https://business.gov.au/people/managing-and-developing-staff/staff- development-and-training#204c7492-e45d-4290-888e-3920d99e6f00
2. https://www.fairwork.gov.au/how-we-will-help/online-training/online-learning- center
3. https://ethinkeducation.com/about-us/
4. https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/why-employees-crave-more-training-and-how-employers-arent-delivering-it/
5. https://business.gov.au/people/managing-and-developing-staff/staff-

Employee training and development is a program or a suite of programs designed to increase the knowledge and skills of employees. Deployed periodically and at regular intervals, this type of employee training method helps in the professional and personal learning and development of the employee and the overall growth of the organization. Corporate training is equally essential for employees – both new and more experienced – to develop, enhance and refine their job-related skills and knowledge. The following employee training programs are typical of the below: a) Onboarding b) Technical skills development c) Soft-skills development d) Products and services training

Employee training is one thing; quality employee training is quite another. Read on to find out how you can improve your employee training.

Employee Training

EdApp Microlearning

Learning is a noble pastime that leads to noble outcomes. The learning process transforms lives, opens doors, and provides a cyclic momentum: the more you learn, the more you learn, the more you learn.

It’s little wonder that the Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates described learning as the ‘kindling of a flame’.

So, what is the magic behind the learning experience? This question begs for a close look at the learning process and how it might apply in today’s workplace.

Let’s take a look at the wonders of the learning process and how it can be fostered in the workplace with EdApp, the popular award-winning, all-in-one mobile training solution.

Learning Process – Step 1: Set your goal

Learning in a formal learning environment such as school or the workplace must be structured and organized around a clearly identified objective or goal. This gives learning two key elements:

1. A purpose: what we are doing and why we are doing it. Purpose provides vital motivation for the learner – or the ‘kindling’ that Socrates describes.

2. A measurable outcome: Was the goal achieved? To what degree?

Goal Setting in the workplace: Goal setting is crucial to learner buy-in and goals must be clearly defined from the start.

Workplace learning is about closing the gap between current and desired knowledge and skill. Therefore, workplace goal-setting must clearly articulate the gap but even more crucially articulate the desired performance.

‘If the learning goals have been clearly articulated and understood from the beginning, then the base of common knowledge expands, the gap closes and a positive relationship with learning becomes a cultural norm’.

Learning Process – Step 2: Play and practice

The learning content in any elearning course must be deployed in a way that enables the learner to engage with it in regular intervals and with elements of frequent repetition.

Not only does regularity and repetition develop memory but enable vital ‘trial and error, the most primitive form of learning’ (2) and the most potent. Alone or combined with play, practice develops a host of developmental by-products such as resourcefulness, problem-solving and curiosity.

EdApp incorporates gamification, which cleverly accommodates the play element in corporate training to achieve increased learning outcomes. Describing it as ‘been most effective when it doesn’t feel like learning’, EdApp’s built-in gamification LMS features transform regular questions and answers into competitive games and informal learning activities. Scores can be given for the best and fastest performance and prizing is available too. Everything is built-in into EdApp’s interactive templates to ensure that fun and engaging lessons can be designed with ease.

Brain Boost is another learning solution by EdApp. This feature is the gold standard in spaced repetition and active learning as part of the learning experience in the workplace. Spaced repetition, also known as distributed practice, is a highly effective method of learning. Lessons are repeated at increasing intervals until knowledge is fully embedded in long-term memory. The more frequently a lesson is repeated, the better the knowledge retention is, and the less frequently the repeated learning needs to occur.

Interestingly, spaced repetition has its origins in ancient Greece. It is one of a number of ‘mnemonic devices’ that assist in a learner’s capacity to memorize. (Mnemonic comes from the Greek word ‘to remember’).

Learning Process – Step 3 Evaluate and reflect: This is what I know

Critically evaluating digital learning is a crucial cog in the learning process. It may look like the learner asking themselves questions about what worked, what didn’t, what would they do differently, and crucially what will be the focus to ensure the goal is achieved in the future.

This is where the learning designer steps in. From the data produced in the evaluations and in the real progress of the learner, ‘gap closure’ can be measured to allow for real and relevant adjustments to the content to be made.

Additionally, learning can be substantially enriched through self-reflection during the learning process. This can be undertaken in writing or verbally, formally, or informally. It can consolidate knowledge and clarify the goal naming as the learner returns to Step 1 of the learning process.

Let’s assume that as a course designer or manager of instructional design, you have digested the data mentioned above and you are ready to make adjustments to your learning design.

In an ideal world, those adjustments should be easy and efficient.

EdApp’s editable course library ensures that you have no more out-of-date micro learning courses and together with EdApp’s template-driven authoring tool, online courses can be created in the morning and distributed in the afternoon. There’s no need to send existing e-learning content away for time-consuming updates or expect your learners to interact with hard-to-relate-to case studies; with EdApp’s authoring tool you can add relevant, topical examples that appeared on last night’s news and other adjustments that reflect the immediate needs of the learners to meet their learning objectives.

The Learning Process in Summary: Kindling for a Slow Burn

EdApp’s multi-award winning mobile learning technology tool is the new standard in corporate eLearning LMS. Utilizing microlearning, gamification, spaced repetition, and many other LMS features to accommodate different learning styles and achieve effective learning experiences. As a mobile-first adaptive learning platform, it enables employees to perform online training on their own mobile devices. It’s the most effective and engaging way to accommodate the learning process in training corporate, retail, and other business environments.

Socrates did not specify if the likeness of learning to kindling fanned a bonfire or ignited a slow burn. It is clear though that learning takes time in preparation, engagement with the material, and evaluation of its effectiveness.

Student learning is a slow burn: embers ignite other embers and the cyclic momentum of learning takes hold. What unfolds is a deep seam of new knowledge, skills, and understanding.

The learning process is equally applicable to life outside the workplace as it is in.

Bibliography:Learner engagement
https://www.acs.edu.au/info/learning/learning/how-to-learn.aspx)
https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2017/2/2-

Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci10 Basic Employee Training Principles
https://www.acs.edu.au/info/learning/learning/how-to-learn.aspx
https://www.wynbayllen.org.au/swl/structured-workplace-learning/

Learning is a noble past time that leads to noble outcomes. It transforms lives, opens doors, and provides a cyclic momentum: the more you learn, the more you learn, the more you learn. It’s little wonder that Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates described learning as the ‘kindling of a flame’. So, what is the magic behind the learning experience? This question begs for a close look at the learning process and how it might apply in today’s workplace. Let’s take a look at the wonders of the learning process and how it can be fostered in the workplace with EdApp, the

Learning is a noble past time that leads to noble outcomes. It transforms lives, opens doors, and provides a cyclic momentum: the more you learn, the more

Learning process

Institutional knowledge is the stored information of employees of a com­pany. It consists of data, projects, regulations, perspectives, policies and procedures. It can be the sum of decades of company history.

More broadly, institutional declarative knowledge may be found in corporations, professional groups, government bodies, religious groups, academic collaborations, and by extension, in entire cultures in the form of oral storytelling.

At times it is referred to as organizational knowledge or institutional memory, somewhat akin to cultural capital, like the ‘collective hard drive’ of a company.

In essence, institutional knowledge is what an organization knows and how it does things.

Only recently has it been recognized that institutional knowledge needs technology to ensure its preservation, assist with its curation and with its ease of access.

What Are the Benefits of Institutional Knowledge?

Institutional knowledge benefits productivity and compliance training. Employees can draw upon great depths of previous experience to save time, preserve resources and avoid common problems.

For example, drawing on institutional knowledge can keep employees from repeatedly encountering the same problems and avoid wasting time having to develop a solution that already exists.

Further, institutional knowledge builds a sense of culture, identity and unity. It becomes highly potent material for workplace training programs such as onboarding.

It is clear that institutional knowledge is a valuable asset in any organization. So it remains that preserving and curating it, updating and managing institutional knowledge should be a priority.

Instead of relying on a ‘transmission of memories’ among employees, it’s time to harness the ease and efficiency of technology to curate, store, share and manage institutional knowledge. This is where the learning management system (LMS) EdApp comes in.

EdApp is a micro learning-based LMS with gamification software that delivers on all devices including mobiles and desktops. It can store and preserve institutional knowledge and convert it efficiently and effectively into workplace and employee training programs.

There are variety of factors that are at play that can cause institutional knowledge to be lost or damaged:

A senior executive or CEO reconstructs a different agenda that is removed from earlier knowledge

Consequently, institutional knowledge can simply become complicated, incomplete and noisy rhetoric.

Further, when institutional knowledge is not embedded into the hard drive collective memory or becomes too dense to access, knowledge fatigue and neglect sets in. Vital data is lost and institutional knowledge becomes the proverbial storeroom that is home to everything and owned by no one.

It is estimated that there is 2.5 quintillion bytes of data stored every day around the world. That’s a lot of storing, so retrieving and curating meaningful institutional declarative knowledge from all of that data is beneficial on a number of levels.

What is Institutional Knowledge Retention?

Institutional knowledge retention refers to cumulative information, processes, tools, and techniques that an organization progressively develops over the course of its existence. This includes all sorts of company documentation, standard operating procedures, policies, manuals, templates, onboarding and corporate training guidelines, and so much more. These are then slowly adapted, fine-tuned, and passed down to newer members of the organization to provide them with solutions to common issues that they might encounter along the way, ultimately saving time and resources. 

Companies that don’t have a proper knowledge retention system risk losing their accumulated institutional knowledge. This is why it’s always important to review current company processes and figure out ways to retain and improve institutional knowledge, which can include:

Adopting and making use of internal wikis and knowledge base technologies to build a company information hub

Utilizing video and screen sharing technologies to communicate and document expertise 

Using learning management systems to create, store, and deploy onboarding and training materials

Conducting assessments to identify and document critical knowledge held by leaders and long-term employees

Creating succession plans in case an employee or manager leaves

Incorporating user-friendly communication and task management channels to improve information sharing among employees

Encouraging managers to mentor their team members for increased motivation and direct knowledge transfer

Promoting job sharing between veteran members and newer employees

There are four easy steps to follow in managing institutional declarative knowledge.

1. The first is to . Consider and allocate its stewardship and prioritise its preservation.
 from the institutional memory that you want all to have access to and understand.

The above are the non-negotiables and the source of your next two steps:

3. Turn this declarative knowledge from implicit assumption into policy, procedure, protocol and training programs.
4. Use technology.

Let’s now have a look at three key features from EdApp’s online training platform that will assist in the preservation, curation and access of institutional declarative knowledge.   

How do you transfer institutional knowledge?

Institutional knowledge can be transferred by deploying training courses for knowledge reinforcement. Microlearning is an onboarding and training reinforcement strategy for delivering training content in the form of bite-sized modules. Instead of discussing overwhelming content all at once, this strategy only focuses on key elements or messages of a subject which prevents cognitive overload among learners. Or, you can also leverage your team’s shared institutional knowledge by encouraging discussions among learners, you can maximize the knowledge, expertise, and experiences of employees within your organization. This improves relatability and knowledge retention not only for the learners but also for the individuals participating in the discussion.

There is a way to create a process by which your team continually captures and curate’s institutional declarative knowledge to make it a living and evolving body of useful information that is accessible to people as they come into the organization.

This is with EdApp’s Editable Content Library.

EdApp’ s Editable Elearning Content Library is a cloud-based comprehensive eLearning and M learning library of fully editable courseware to suit any team or organisation. Free to all EdApp users, the Editable Content Library provides a platform for institutional knowledge to be safely stored, continually captured, curated and accessed by all in a convenient microlearning platform.

For example, the content of an in-house onboarding program can be easily and effectively deployed with the assurance that the material is up to date, correct and complete.

A gold standard of EdApp’s Editable Content Library is the PowerPoint conversion feature. This second feature means that after a dust-off, PowerPoint presentations can be easily uploaded to EdApp and your institutional knowledge capital will go from dormant data into beautifully engaging microlessons within minutes on the learning software. This tool will always be free to use, as many times as required.

The microlearning option is a further key feature of EdApp that can be utilised to ensure not only achieve access but to gain maximum learner engagement with institutional knowledge.

Microlearning is the breaking down of information into topical, bite-sized chunks. By interacting with these highly-targeted learning bursts, lessons become much easier to digest, and learner engagement and knowledge retention are increased.

Like EdApp’s Editable Content Library, microlearning can be parcelled with Brain Boost. This is a daily quiz that greatly assists in knowledge retention and learner engagement. Brain Boost quizzes is a further tool to ensure institutional knowledge does not remain dormant data.

Utilising technology to preserve, curate, and ultimately manage the vast resource of institutional knowledge and training material is a no brainer.

With help from EdApp taking stewardship of institutional knowledge, its preservation will no longer be at risk and the benefits of sharing institutional knowledge will go from strength to strength.

https://hbr.org/2013/03/how-to-preserve-institutional

Institutional knowledge is the stored information of employees of a com­pany. It consists of data, projects, regulations, perspectives, policies and procedures. It can be the sum of decades of company history. More broadly, institutional declarative knowledge may be found in corporations, professional groups, government bodies, religious groups, academic collaborations, and by extension, in entire cultures in the form of oral storytelling. At times it is referred to as organizational knowledge or institutional memory, somewhat akin to cultural capital, like the ‘collective hard drive’ of a company. In essence, institutional knowledge is what an organization knows and how it does things.

Institutional knowledge is the stored information of employees of a com­pany. It consists of data, projects, regulations, perspectives, policies and

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Guest Author Penny McKee

Employee Training

Learning process

Institutional knowledge

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