E-Learning For Employees
eLearning has been proven as the most efficient learning methodology there is today, reflected in increased demand in both academic and corporate circles. However, there are organizations that still struggle to gain results despite using eLearning in their learning and development programs for years. So, what seems to be the problem?
A number of organizations have expressed the same problem, and it is that the employees just don’t seem to be motivated to take the eLearning courses. A number of employees don’t complete the eLearning courses at all, others don’t do it on time, and those who do, don’t retain as much information as they should. These employees treat eLearning as an irrelevant task they’ve been burdened with, which adds no value to their personal or professional lives. In order to make sure that your employees do complete their courses, develop themselves and benefit the organization, you need to motivate them to complete their eLearning courses. How do you do that? Well, that’s what this article is all about isn’t it? Let’s have a look at 10 tips to get your employees pumped up for eLearning.
How to Motivate your Staff at Work with e-learning for employees
1. Understand What Your Employees Want
Learning is getting exceedingly learner-centric, as it should. Before you create a program for your employees, isn’t it a good idea to ask them what they want to learn? Makes sense, right? Talking to your employees before creating eLearning for them will give you usable data like what they know, what they don’t know and what is it they would like to know. This is what you should spin your eLearning content around. When the content is built around what employees want to learn, they’ll automatically be interested in it and be motivated to complete the course.
2. Let Them Know How It Helps Them
Why would your employees do something if they don’t understand how it helps them in the first place? Make sure your eLearning course has a “What’s in it for me?” section so employees can understand the benefits of learning the particular skill the course is based on. It is also a good idea to verbally tell them before they begin the course how it is supposed to help them professionally and personally. This will help them take an interest in the course. After all, everyone wants to grow.
3. Make It Relatable
People pay attention to things they can relate to. No one wants to read content that goes on and on about something they can’t relate to, however important it might seem. The problem with some eLearning courses is that the content can sometimes be bland, particularly if it is a detailed concept. Real-life stories and examples that the employees can relate to, scattered frequently in the eLearning content will ensure that the employees pay attention.
4. Make Courses Interactive and Engaging
This is perhaps the most important of all steps you can take. Most employees are not interested and do not feel motivated to complete eLearning courses because they find them dull and boring. When you’re designing eLearning courses, remember that you’re designing them for modern learners, who are familiar with interactivities and visuals, not walls and walls of text and images. There is absolutely nothing anyone can do to help you if you don’t design engaging and interactive courses. But once you do, you’ll see that employees are more interested in your courses than ever.
5. Deliver Courses Directly to Their Devices
Employees want flexibility, particularly millennials. The best way to give flexibility to your employees is to make your eLearning responsive, so that it can be accessed by the employees on their own devices such as smartphones, laptops or tablets. This gives them the freedom to complete courses anytime, anywhere as it suits them. This also saves the time that would have been spent on completing courses at the workplace, and can now be put to more important tasks. Most importantly, employees can now complete courses whenever and wherever they’re comfortable, so they feel more confident doing them without the burden of daily tasks weighing on them.
6. Add A Dash of Humor in The Content
Engagement is one of the strongest factors in an eLearning course, and the difference between a course that learners enjoy completing, and a course that learners don’t want to complete. There are various ways to create engaging content, and a popular one is adding a bit of humor. You can add funny animations, rib-tickling one-liners or even an explainer video with a humorous twist to it.
7. Provide Choices in The Course
Employees like it when they are given control. Give employees choices in the course, like selecting which topic to complete first, how to consume content, multiple questions to choose from in an assessment, the list goes on. When you give employees a choice, however big or small, you give them a sense of control, and control is a great motivator.
8. Add A Challenge at The End
People like challenges. In addition to regular assessments in between courses, you also need to add a challenge at the end. One which asks them to research the topic thoroughly to complete. This will drive self-directed learning and increase healthy competition. The person to complete the challenge first earns bragging rights! A great motivational technique for employees to complete courses.
9. Reward Successes
Nothing motivates people like a reward. In addition to certificates signifying the completion of course and learning of the skill, reward people who complete courses on time. You could use intangible rewards like badges, which give an incentive to employees to complete courses. The person collecting the most number of badges should be rewarded with something tangible, like a voucher in addition to a small trophy.
10. Create Social Learning Activities
Employees would be better motivated to complete their eLearning courses if collaborative activities were included in each course. This could be a task that requires to work as a team to complete. Social learning activities motivate and excite employees while building teamwork.
The final goal of an employee development method is to maximize employee’s performance and benefit the organization. Without motivation, none of that is possible. Use these tips to motivate your employees, and achieve maximum benefit for your organization.
If you would like to learn more about how to build the most effective employee training strategy!
If you’d like to know more about how EdApp’s mobile learning platform can help your internal training practices, get in touch at enquiries@edapp.com. You can also try EdApp’s Mobile LMS and authoring tool for free by signing up here.
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Author
Guest Author Daniel Brown
Daniel Brown is a senior technical editor and writer that has worked in the education and technology sectors for two decades. Their background experience includes curriculum development and course book creation.