Effectiveness of Simulations for Optimum Patient Care & Healthcare Workforce Training

In today’s modern world, learning in the healthcare sector has come a long way from a traditional instructor-led approach towards e-learning. There has been a vast scope of simulations for healthcare workforce training with introduction to better medicines and changing medical procedures. It is essential to provide training which is engaging enough for the doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. An innovation of simulation-based learning has enhanced the adoption of clinical skills through effective practice instead of apprentice style of training at the workplace.

Using Simulations to Meet Diverse Healthcare Training Requirements

The role of simulations in the industry has increased to a certain level with improved patient safety and technological innovations. Different healthcare companies leverage the benefits of personalized learning to offer ample opportunities for their workforce to learn and perform better. Various challenges faced by this industry while training the surgeons and other professionals include:

• A traditional classroom approach is not interactive enough to align with individual training needs, involving huge investments in training time and infrastructural costs.

• Skeletal of human anatomy is used in the classrooms to train the surgeons, thereby leading to lack the use of visual aids and practical know-how.

• There is less accuracy in technical details as critical medical surgeries follow life-saving procedures.

So, the healthcare sector uses simulations to train the surgeons and clinicians effectively, thereby mitigating the overall risk to the patients’ lives. Therefore, highly effective mobile-enabled training content is delivered to enhance the overall learning uptake.  Simulations help to replace the actual scenario and replicate the significant aspects of the real world into an immersive environment. Few innovative e-learning solutions that help to meet diverse healthcare training needs are outlined here:

• Healthcare professionals do not have enough time to attend a live classroom session. Therefore, learners undergo training across their personalized mobile devices to seek information at their fingertips. As a result, this helps to boost their engagement level, knowledge retention and overall learning efficiency.

• Interactive videos are embedded with e-courses to provide better understanding of critical medical procedures within a simulated environment. Delivery of short content bytes allows the learners to retain for long and perform better.

In addition to this, for patients and caregivers, who are at the other end of the spectrum in the healthcare industry, e-learning has a lot to offer. With increasing concerns on patient care and effective workforce training, simulations have proved an essential tool to reinforce learning at the workplace.

Utilizing Mobile Learning Apps in Retail Sector: Is Your Workforce Trained & Efficient?

Today, mobile applications are everywhere and in every sector. Also, millennials are using more smartphones and tablets which have become a significant part of their lives. If you want to stay connected and updated in this tech-savvy world, it is crucial to adopt the latest mobile trends. The retail industry is one of the prominent sectors which involves complex processes to manage products and services. With increasing mobile learning app development, retail industry is changing the whole scenario of training its sales personnel. It has become possible to effectively manage and communicate with customers spread across diverse demographics, thereby affecting the bottom line.

Retail industry has emerged as one of the dynamically improving sectors in the global marketplace. According to Forbes, 2018 has proved to be the year of innovation and integration, providing a better customer service experience. [Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2017/12/29/retail-trends-for-2018/#6864da374eca]. When it comes to training at the workplace, retail organizations face different challenges such as huge employee turnover, seasonal employees, globally dispersed audiences, changing customer expectation and much more. Some of the incredible benefits of mobile learning apps for retail workforce training are discussed as follows:

Better marketing strategy

Undoubtedly, product marketing has become an easier task for the retail employees with the deployment of personalized mobile learning apps. The seamless integration of different mobile apps with social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. provide flexible ways of marketing new products and improving the brand presence on a global scale.

Optimal customer engagement 

The major issue with the retail sector is to build customer engagement and loyalty. Therefore, companies design game-based mobile apps to cater to the customized learning needs of sales employees. Rewards and badges included in the training program, motivates the workforce to access more courses, retain knowledge for long and perform better.

Effective onboarding program

An engaging employee onboarding program helps to boost the overall workplace productivity. Several retail companies are leveraging mobile apps to train new hires about the company’s policies, industry-specific compliances and more. Mobile-based induction programs can be created to boost the overall accessibility of training courses for the employees – who can utilize their time learning even on the go.

A robust mobile learning app helps the retail industry train their modern workforce in a well-structured way. The ever-changing training needs in this sector are associated with compliance training, sales training, managing custom training programs, onboarding and others. So, no matter which domain it is- general merchandise, food, apparels, convenience and more, every retail company focuses on meeting customer demands by adopting an effective mobile-driven learning approach.

Emerging Need to Deploy an LMS within Classroom Setting to Deliver Compliance Training in the Airline Industry

In today’s competitive environment, with increasing number of travelers and regulatory pressures, the airline industry seeks for robust e-learning solutions to train their workforce. A shift from the traditional classroom setting to modern e-learning experience helps improving the overall excellence from flight operations to passenger experience. 

The demand for robust Learning Management Systems (LMSs) to cater to the bespoke workplace training needs is dynamically increasing. Different kinds of training on airport facilities, employee hygiene, compliance, soft skills, global safety measures and others are imparted to achieve varied organizational goals.

Training Challenges & Solutions for the Airline Industry

The two major factors responsible for the transformation of the entire training landscape in this sector includes- the need to meet the regulatory compliances, to update the workforce with updated policies and boost the overall learning experience for the employees in different job roles. While delivering classroom-based training sessions, organizations face a plethora of challenges as discussed below:

• Even today, there are many organizations which prefer delivering content through classroom mode. But, to improve the accessibility of training courses and enable self-paced learning, there is a need to adopt alternate training methods.

• With regulatory changes in the compliances, there is a need to adopt an effective training strategy to update the workforce at regular intervals.

• Another challenge includes the non-existence of a centralized learning platform which helps to upskill the workforce and meet the pertinent needs of all.
• Training the staff in and around the airport authority, on which security measures to be adopted and tracking whosoever attend the training is also a significant challenge.

In response to the above discussed challenges, organizations prefer delivering effective e-learning solutions within the classroom training environment. A plethora of approaches followed by the airline industry includes the following:

• Deployment of modern LMSs for a large number of workforce, within the airport authority helps to ease the access to online courses, anytime and anywhere. The online learning platforms can be seamlessly integrated with existing Human Resource Systems, thereby ensuring an effective training delivery and Single Sign-on Access.

• Training material is created and delivered in the form of engaging scenarios to showcase real-time workplace situations, thereby improving the overall level of understanding for the personnel. In addition, Flash Card interactivity is also used to boost their overall learner engagement and knowledge retention levels.

• Apart from these, certifications based on course completion are also provided, which helps the aviation staff to learn better, access more courses, become more competent and improve the overall ROIs.

Today, airline companies prefer delivering blended learning solutions which optimizes the overall employee efficiency and workplace productivity. For learning to be more effective and engaging, companies in the aviation sector are radically thinking about new ways of training their new-age workforce. Consequently, the scope of using LMSs to deliver online courses within a classroom has also improved, thereby improving the overall employee efficiency and organizational growth. 

Adopting AR & VR in E-Learning to Develop a More Capable, Engaged & Smarter Workforce of Tomorrow

With technological innovation, the scope of AR and VR have enabled new ways of innovation and communication. Modern learners can indulge in an environment which does not exist in the real world but replicates real-life scenarios. In addition, information and engagement are added to the actual environment, making it richer by doing so.

Today, modern Learning Management Systems (LMSs) provide a plethora of opportunities for enterprises to foster the talent on which they have invested time and money. In the realm of using latest technologies, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have completely revolutionized the corporate training environment. As per the Dell Future Workforce Global Study, approximately 66% of the global workforce is willing to adopt AR/VR technology and tools as a training tool.

Paving Towards a More Competent and Engaging Workforce

Today, workforce collaboration and engagement is crucial to attain organizational success. As per the study by Gallup, 87% of the globally dispersed employees are disengaged from their training programs. In addition, employee engagement also encourages effective communication across the enterprise- collecting their feedback and exploring individual talent. VR/AR based e-learning solution perfectly fits into these efforts. For instance, VR/AR headsets provide a variety of tools such as videos, visual data and more to perform different activities. AR is widely used by manufacturing companies to train their staff on critical processes, complicated machinery installed at the factory floor and more by providing animated instructions on the physical gear. Given below is the graph that depicts the market size of AR and VR in the future. As per the statistics, the AR and VR market is expected to reach 20.9.2 million US dollars by the year 2022.

Figure 1: Forecast AR and VR Market Size

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/591181/global-augmented-virtual-reality-market-size/

From the above data, the picture is quite clear that AR/VR market potential is wide across different industry domains. Taking great initiatives to leverage both these technologies through LMSs, organizations can ensure seeking lucrative business opportunities in the e-learning industry.

Unlike virtual reality, where the learner is transformed into another environment, AR uses interactive digital elements to enhance real-world conditions. Advanced technology uses a camera and display, such as smartphones and tablets or wearable technology like Google Glass to display graphical information in real time. Augmented reality embraces shorter learning curves, efficient workforce and flexible workplace environment, thereby delivering a uniform experience. Thus, the future of VR and AR is very bright and their emerging use for corporate training point, to a workforce that is smarter, mobile and more productive than ever before. 

Reference blog: https://elearning-tips.blogspot.com/2018/11/adopting-ar-vr-in-e-learning-to-develop.html 

Seeking Optimal Training Value Using an Efficient Extended LMS for Partners, Suppliers, Customers and More

Today, modern organizations strive to utilize innovative technologies to impart training that educates and inspires its people. But, training initiatives have to often go beyond the confines of the organization to deliver a uniform training experience. Training the extended enterprise is targeted at dealers, consumers, partners, suppliers and franchises. E-learning outside the organization acts as a significant tool to help organizations boost their business growth and workforce competency. 

Organizations investing in an extended LMS leverage the best use of the latest technologies as an asset which can be shared with the globally spread audiences. Discussed below are a few ways to ensure that an e-learning platform for the extended workforce is highly effective:

• With digitization, maximum people are familiar with using smartphones and tablets to access customized e-courses. With multi-device content delivery, training is imparted across multiple devices, even on the go. In addition, as the new-age learners are adept to their personalized mobile devices, training is aligned as per their learning styles and preferences.

• When extended personnel do not have enough time to undergo a training session, the extended LMS helps to send automated messages to the learners’ mobile phones, once the user registers on the system. A text message is sent every time training is assigned so that learners can access the relevant e-courses as per their own convenience of time and place.

• Extended learning portals are also integrated with Dealer Management Systems (DMS) which helps to deliver training without any implementation issues. Also, extended LMS uses data from the DMS where statistics based on sales triggers the LMS to notify the learners on which e-courses to access, on what topics and  how to improve knowledge to perform better.

• Different types of training courses are uploaded on an LMS for extended enterprise in accordance to different job roles. Consequently, it helps to ensure the delivery of uniform learning experience, making an optimal use of knowledge and applying it to real-life situations.
  
• Extended enterprise learning boosts the overall participation and satisfaction level of the contingent workforce who collaborate better and engage more. They are able to apprise themselves on latest product range as well as schemes for their respective clients, thereby improving the workspace productivity and sales proficiency.ex

One of the most important benefits of using an LMS for the extended workforce is that organizations are able to manage an external workforce in a better and effective way. They are able to ascertain the number of trained manpower at all times – helping them achieve the set targets. It becomes easier to align the training efforts as per personalized needs of the external workforce, thereby rewarding good performers with good incentives and creating re-enforcements for those who could not perform well.

The Role of Challenges, Rewards & Feedbacks in Improving Overall Workplace Efficiency Through a Gamified E-Learning Program

In today’s digital era, e-learning developers are seeking for ways to engage and retain the workforce in a training activity. There are several ways of engaging learners within a classroom setting. But, with the widespread adoption of technology-oriented learning, there is an evident need to find ways of effective e-learning. Game-based learning is one such approach in which varied gaming elements are incorporated with training courses to boost learner participation and retention. Game mechanics can be applied in the form of badges, points and rewards, the opportunity of self-expression or even competition among the peers. Consequently, it helps learners attain organizational goals through continuous learning, goal orientation, improving persistence and workforce collaboration.

Successful Implementation of Gamification in E-Learning

It is a good idea to use existing games that have been developed to teach the content. There are numerous off-the-shelf games available, both commercial and educational. Games are created, keeping in mind the learning needs of a modern workforce- who mostly leverage newer technologies and is open to exploring more. These can be created from serious learning as well. For example, quizzes on different topics can be built- where the learner can be challenged to engage more.

The prime factor that makes game-based learning fun is learner motivation. Outlined below are few elements that make game-based learning, more engaging and effective:

• Engagement- A game involves ample ways to attain each goal that makes the game interesting. Games impart optimal interactivity that involves learners in the subject matter through puzzles and assessments, thereby boosting their participation and retention levels.

• Rewards- Another important feature is giving instant rewards as a certification of achievement. For instance, participants can earn points, scores and badges on successful completion of a quiz or reaching the next level. Consequently, learners are encouraged to undergo training and improve their learning uptake.

• Challenges & goals- Games bring challenging situations for the learners, participating as individuals or teams. The challenge is built by setting specific training objectives that align with the skill level of the learner. Games engage players to overcome varied challenges by means of their own intrinsic motivation. Learners have no other requirement to address these challenges beyond their motivation to analyze their skills.

• Feedback- During the game-based learning approach, players receive instant feedback on their overall progress. It allows the learners to work on their improvement areas, analyze the results of their action and assess a different approach to improve the training outcomes.

It is not the habit, but the correct behavior of the learner that boosts overall workplace efficiency. Rewards, points and badges earned through games make learning more fun, entertaining and compelling. The feeling of winning or losing during a gamified e-learning program, develops a desire amongst the learners to engage, retain and perform better at the workplace.

Gaining a Competitive Edge by Using Enterprise LMS for Extended Workforce Training

Several organizations consider their internal employees as the biggest asset, but now the external workforce is also providing effective marketplace opportunities. The business world has never been competitive and modern organizations are in constant struggle to stay ahead of the curve. Over the last few years, organizations have transformed the way they use Learning Management Systems (LMSs) to train their extended workforce. Earlier, they were meant to fulfill an instant need, but then training external employees, partners, suppliers and customers became an essential component of corporate strategy. This shift has provided businesses to achieve agility in the learning environment and access talented pool of professionals.

Features of an Extended Enterprise LMS

In today’s digital era, organizations deploy an extended LMS by using an efficient Sales Performance Enablement system for suppliers, franchisees, customers, employees and partners. Conceptualized with the focus to cater to specific learning needs, the Sales Performance Support & Enablement tool aids to empower the external network to perform better. Some of the incredible features of the extended learning platform are outlined here:

• Delivery of varied LMS solutions after integrating with Dealer Management Software (DMS) to improve the overall knowledge retention and workforce productivity. Consequently, it helps to boost the overall learning uptake of the extended personnel, without any additional implementation glitches.

• Sales employees use data from the DMS to automate the entire learning process. That data triggers the extended LMS to provide relevant data to the learner. As a result, it helps the external employees to learn more, retain for long and perform better.

• Video player feature is also supported by extended LMSs which allows the delivery of content as short nuggets, which are easier to access and quick to digest. For learners who are mostly on the go, it is convenient for them to access short bursts of information at their fingertips.

• LMS solutions for contingent workforce are also available as mobile apps for both Android and iOS. With thousands of downloads, content delivery across personalized mobile devices support easy navigation, responsive design, offline assessments, scrollable feature and more.

Depending upon the needs and functionality of the LMS, customizations are performed to ensure that the system performs as per the needs of learners as well as organizations. Investment in e-learning technology helps the organizations to take training to new learners, thereby generating improved ROIs and increasing the brand presence beyond the reach. Learning for extended enterprise signifies that an organization is ready to provide training courses beyond internal training and member, via extended distribution channels. Training the extended employee network is a daunting task, but using the right LMS, it is possible to increase profits, mitigate costs and improve the overall business growth.