The goal of Staff Management | SMX’s Virtual University is to help our employees learn, achieve, succeed.
A simple but important goal. Employees who are better prepared for their job responsibilities through effective training are able to achieve company and client expectations and ultimately succeed at their careers.
In order to ensure that our employees are learning as a result of our training curriculum, a current training department initiative is to improve and update our eLearning courses through increased interaction and engagement.
Where to begin? eLearning courses are a great way to deliver standard training to a large audience across many offices and shifts, but it takes creative thinking to make them engaging.
Fortunately, I have discovered there are many cost-effective tools that make it easy to get employees excited about eLearning. Two that I find particularly useful are Microsoft Office 2007+ and Articulate Studio ’09. Why?
Microsoft Office 2007 and Higher: Microsoft has developed several easy tools that improve both the look and appeal of files. Course developers should experiment with the SmartArt, Table and Graphing tools improved by Microsoft. A once boring PowerPoint slide with simple bullets can be instantly converted to an eye appealing 3D process graph in your company colors! (www.microsoft.com )
Articulate Studio ’09: Articulate is a rapid eLearning software tool with a suite of products. The Presenter tool converts presentations to flash based eLearning courses. Flash-based courses allow you to make your presentations more compelling with the use of graphics and more. We expanded the use of the tool by adding Quizmaker and Engage. These tools create “knowledge checks” and creative interactions on key topics throughout an eLearning course. The learners are now forced to interact with the course in order to get credit! (www.articulate.com )
For example, in order to familiarize the employees with the sections of our expense report, this Articulate Engage “Hot Spots” interaction encourages them to click on the sections to learn more.
I assure you I am not paid to endorse these tools, rather I am enthusiastic about the importance of engaging learners and was pleased to find it can easily be accomplished.
What have I “learned”? A small investment in software to develop engaging eLearning results in a large return for developing employees. After all, don’t we all want employees to Learn. Achieve. Succeed?
What tips or tricks do you have to engage learners during eLearning courses?