It is indeed encouraging that more and more organizations are recognizing the importance of learning and development (L&D) to keep employees engaged, to retain top talent and to close the skills gap, in addition to a host of other benefits. Linkedin Learning’s 2019 Learning Workplace Report shows a steady increase in L&D budgets from 27% in 2017 to 43% in 2019, indicating that organizations are increasingly realizing the benefits of investing in L&D initiatives. Furthermore, as per the same report, more talent developers are shifting their budgets towards online learning rather than instructor-led training.
If your organization has implemented an e-learning platform to facilitate interactive, anytime, anywhere learning for your employees, you are already on the right track, so kudos to you! However, it’s important that you don’t get complacent thinking that you have done enough. The next step is to ensure that the content available on your e-learning platform remains relevant and effective, so that it has a positive impact on your employee L&D initiatives, and ultimately on your business.
Here are some questions to ask yourself and your L&D teams.
Is your online learning content meeting the needs of modern learners?
The ways people consume content constantly keep changing. Therefore, it is important that you stay on top of the game and adjust your e-learning content to reflect the needs of modern users. For example, do learners prefer videos broken into five-minute sessions that they can easily access on their phones? Do they expect you to incorporate social media tools into the mix in order to make the experience more familiar and interactive?
Is your content searchable?
People today are used to having all the information they need at their fingertips. If your car starts making weird noises, the first thing you will probably do is Google it to find out what the problem may be. More often than not, we find all the information we need through a simple search on our mobile devices. In the same way, your employees too will search for relevant learning content at the point of need. Therefore, it is imperative that your content is easily searchable within your e-learning platform. One way to do this is by metadata tagging content with relevant keywords.
Is your content functional?
Certain features of your e-learning content may now have been made invalid by outdated programs. For example, if you relied on Flash for certain aspects of your content a few years ago, it may have lost its functionality today, where Flash is no longer a standard feature on most browsers. You also need to ensure that your content is easily accessible via mobile devices, so that learners can access courses at anytime and from anywhere.
Have you evaluated your e-learning tools?
Are your learners happy with the current Learning Management System (LMS)? Does the existing LMS have comprehensive tools and features to create a robust experience for modern learners? Is it dynamic, functional and easily upgradable? If your evaluation leads you to believe that your existing LMS is falling short of modern needs, visit us at www.getlayup.com or email us at contact@getlayup.com and we will be happy to help you modernize your LMS.
