How to create a quality online training program?

Approximate reading time: 2m 47s

Therefore, to survive in the highly competitive market world, every company (regardless of its size) must be able to adapt to new consumer demands and needs. This is, of course, an all-encompassing process in which all employees must be involved. To this end, they must receive the necessary training: they must become familiar with the company's policies, objectives and values in detail, as well as with what their role will be and, if necessary, acquire the knowledge needed to carry it out properly.

Online courses have proven to be an effective and convenient way to conduct in-house training. We won't dwell on their benefits today - they are clear enough. What we are going to do is address the topic of creating quality online training programs. They are a mandatory element of the process and guarantee its good final results.

Information gathering

Before proceeding to the creation of your online training program, you need to take the time to gather initial information and analyze it further. For this purpose, you need to interview your employees - ask the right questions and you will be able to find out which are the "weak points" that need to be "strengthened".

Once you have identified what the topic of your online training will be, make sure that it gives examples from the real working environment. Otherwise, what's the point of it? "General talk" will impress no one and your venture will fail. It's a good idea to divide the course into separate, smaller modules that help teach specific job skills.

We recommend that you be careful with the length of these modules. They should not require more than 60 minutes of your time. That way, your employees will easily fit the course into their schedule, and they won't be overloaded with too much information.

Of course, the information in the prepared training materials must be presented in the right way. Imagine you are a new employee and ask yourself how logical are the instructions given? An effective course should teach all the necessary skills, but they should be presented in a logical sequence. If it is lacking, the chance of keeping the learners attention is minimal.

Creating a presentation

Presentations can be prepared using a variety of tools. If you already have presentations made with PowerPoint, you can apply them to your online training. For this purpose, however, you need to align them in the correct form. You can use any of the tools that allow you to create online training content quickly and easily. These tools are designed to help the general audience and do not require you to have specific programming skills. If you are just starting to build your training materials, you will most likely need to use a more multi-functional tool that will allow you to create additional elements, such as quizzes and tests, for example.

Don't forget to add interactive and video content - in the right places and in the right amount, of course. There is no exact formula to calculate the text:multimedia percentage - do it by feel and logic, remembering that the first type of content should still be the leading one.
You've already created the content of your online training - what's left to do on the topic is to check it for typos. We know how difficult and tedious this is, especially when one has reviewed a text multiple times, but this step should not be skipped. A few swapped or missing letters can easily make a bad impression on learners and weaken your authority.

Testing

To be sure of the quality and effectiveness of your online training program, it should be tested. To do this, choose a few people from your company who you are sure will be honest and give their real opinion.

Implementation of the online training program

In order to implement the online training program you have prepared, you need to follow these guidelines:

1. Choose an appropriate learning management system. It must meet several basic requirements: support different types of file formats, allow interaction with learners, and be compatible with the SCORM standard.

2. Seek the opinion of your employees. An online training program will not be effective if its users do not like it or do not find it useful.

3. Continually monitor and track the performance of the online training program. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, business priorities change very quickly and you must be prepared to meet new conditions, regardless of their nature - market changes, use of new technologies, legislative changes, etc.

Source: http://elearningindustry.com/4-steps-designing-effective-online-training-program.