Adopting e-Learning to Combat Coronavirus Shutdown

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, housebound and social distancing measures have forced almost every organization around the world to shift their training online. With the increasing spread of coronavirus outbreak, e-Learning and virtual technology have become the need of the hour. The considerable shift to adapt online training solutions is forcing organizations to identify ways to engage the remote workforce, without compromising with their health and wellbeing.
While organizations are considering work from home as the new normal, they are seeking ways to deliver online learning solutions to cater to the pertinent needs of all. Let us see how e-Learning plays a vital role when it comes to managing the employees working remotely:

• Personalized learning

While maintaining social distancing during this global health crisis, keeping your remote employees engaged and connected becomes essential. With the evolution of Learning Experience Platforms, corporate leaders can quickly provide curated learning content from credible sources like OpenSesame, YouTube, etc. Consequently, experience-driven learning aligned and personalized to job roles, KPIs, skills, and learning habits, enable employees to learn more and retain for long.

• Shifting from ILT to VLT

This unplanned downtime has compelled organizations to shift from Instructor-led Training (ILT) to Virtual Instructor-led Training (VILT) approach. Two major challenges that organizations are facing during the novel Coronavirus outbreak is how to keep their employees engaged and connected. So, corporate leaders can virtually communicate and train their team members by adopting the e-Learning approach. They can effectively train remote employees about stress management skills, team building, and other topics. Ultimately, distant employees can feel more connected with their peers as well as the organization.

• Game-based Learning

Organizations are coming up with the idea of incorporating games with training courses, which can be delivered online. The reward mechanism, leaderboards, and levels within an e-Learning game keep up the employee morale, drive peer-to-peer collaboration, and hence overall productivity, engagement, and retention.

• Online assessments & feedback

Corporates are also providing online assessments to identify the skills-gaps of remote employees during the pandemic. Consequently, they can align relevant training to cater to the pertinent training requirements so that employees stay productive and upskilled when they return to the workplace. With immediate feedback received from the managers, employees can work on their weak areas and upgrade their skills, while leveraging a continuous learning culture.

• Content localization

Using robust digital learning tools, organizations are adopting ways to localize online training content for their remote employees. This boosts the overall engagement and retention levels of the workforce with varied cultural backgrounds and experiences. Content localization helps to create and repurpose training content into learners’ native languages, thus mitigating overall cost and effort.
As the Coronavirus news unfold each day, organizations from every vertical are adopting eLearning solutions to ensure their employee wellbeing, while keeping them engaged, motivated, and connected.

Top-notch LMS Features that Organizations Must Incorporate

In today’s technology-aided environment, Learning Management Systems help to centralize manage, track and deliver information on a global scale. However, organizations need to look for the top LMS features that meet their organizational goals and fall within the budget.
 The shifting role of corporate LMSs as performance management systems helps to drive business growth, increase revenues, and boost workforce competency.

There are several features of Learning Management Systems that organizations must consider before choosing the best one. Top LMS features for an effective corporate training program are as follows -

• Personalized Learning

The new-age LMSs serve as Learning Experience Platforms that align learning to personalized skills, KRAs, habits, learning history, and other attributes. Consequently, the platform ensures to deliver an engaging learning experience, driven by the tailored learning behavior, interests, and preferences of every learner. So, this experience-led approach ensures to offer a personalized experience while upskilling the workforce, improving engagement, and improving talent retention.

• Learning Bookmarklet

It is one of the important LMS features that gives access to a vast world of learning aligned to the needs. Learning Bookmarklet enables users to create, track, and share any e-learning content (blogs, podcasts, videos, etc.) on the web. Users can also include content with their learning paths and share their research with anyone within the organization. Employees who utilize this feature gain recognition for adopting this self-sourced approach, thereby motivating others to learn more and improve skills.

• KPI-linked Training

Another feature of modern e-learning platforms is their ability to align learning with performance. Modern LMSs deliver performance-driven solutions by integrating with other enterprise systems (HRMS, ERP, CRM, etc.). They create Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and collate them to identify the skills-gaps of learners and automatically assign relevant training content. For instance, the LMS compares the KPI data of sales employees working in a retail company. Based on that, managers assign training in a way that meets the pertinent goals of salesforce, whether it is product training, sales enablement, soft skills, or more.

• Extended LMS

Organizations deploy robust LMSs that feature the extended enterprise version to train channel partners, customers, sales representatives, resellers, dealers, and others. From onboarding and compliance with sales training and others, the extended workforce can leverage the benefits of this LMS. Consequently, this fosters client relations, product adoption, and continuous growth for organizations.

• Report Builder and Tracking

Modern LMSs analyze different learning activities, such as training progress, assessments, and skill-level attainment, to ensure accurate performance tracking and reporting. These also utilize report builder feature to generate custom reports based on skills, time spent on each course, and training completion.

Also, standard LMS features include user management, video streaming library, multi-lingual support, gamification, microlearning, assessment engine, blended learning, SCORM compliance, and so on. If you want to implement an LMS that supports a gamut of features to meet the ever-evolving learning needs, then GCube LMS can be a perfect solution. From delivering compliance training to the healthcare and extended enterprise training to the automotive and sales enablement solutions to the retail sector, GCube LMS caters to all. To know more about the features and benefits of GCube LMS, you can request a free LMS demo here.

5 Things to Keep in Mind When designing eLearning Games

Gamification is fast becoming one of the more popular tools for training delivery. To increase engagement and make learning fun, organizations employ eLearning games to deliver an exceptional learning experience. Game-based learning plays a vital role in encouraging and engaging the workforce to access relevant courses, increase retention, and improve their skills. eLearning games aid employees to progress through levels, earn badges, compete on the leaderboard, and remain competitive. Additionally, corporates are also adopting theme-based approaches like childhood fantasies, car racing themes, and others to introduce the fun element in a training program.

To make game-based learning successful, factors like storytelling, gaming elements, and game design play a significant role. Among these, game elements are the most important ones. Let us explore some of the competitive elements:

• Goals

When designing a game for eLearning, organizations must first consider the training goals or objectives. An eLearning game can focus on short-term goals and long-term ones. Short-term goals are to complete a task, reach the next level, gain recognition, and more. Long-term goals revolve around training end goals like 'what learners are expected to achieve at the end of a game.' On successful completion of training goals, learners must be rewarded with badges and scores, motivating them to continue learning until they achieve success.

• Challenges

A game hurdle or challenge is a competitive game element that inspires learners to perform. Learners can start with easy problems and progress further to achieve difficult ones.

• Recognition
  

Rewards and badges are included in game-based learning courses to acknowledge achievement and incentivize learning. For instance, games that include points, scores, and badges motivate the learners to complete their tasks. Also, leaderboards aid learners to compare their progress and share accomplishments with their peers.

• Competition

Games drive the feeling of competitive success among learners when they participate as a team. For instance, introducing a leaderboard in an eLearning game for corporate training reflects the scores achieved by individuals at each level. So, employees strive to attain their goals faster and earn badges/points to reach on top of the leaderboard. As a result, employees sense the feeling of achieving a milestone, and the competitive element comes naturally. Moreover, corporates drive more competition by allowing the participants to share their achievements across social media platforms.

• Feedback

When employees engage with games in eLearning, then instant feedback is another significant element that improves their performance. Feedback can be instant notifications when learners complete a specific task or unlock a reward on achieving a level. Immediate feedback mechanism allows players to take corrective action towards attaining success and plan their strategy. It also aids employees in gaining better knowledge, which can be effectively applied in real-life workplace scenarios.

Ultimately, eLearning games will remain the popular buzzword in the future as well. As organizations are demanding for eLearning gamification approach, their focus is shifting towards designing innovative games for the targeted workforce.