The expectations of today’s learner have changed, and corporations must keep pace with those expectations to keep employees happy and attract new talent. But that’s not the only thing driving change in the corporate training landscape. Employers have finally recognized that an organization with a strong learning culture, one that is aligned with business strategies and goals, will outperform its competition. Few would argue that Learning and Development is now more critical than ever to any corporation’s long-term success. This awareness has spurred a number of improvements to the corporate training landscape. Interesting read: 10 Statistics on Corporate Training and What They Mean for Your Company’s Future Several factors have contributed to the evolution of corporate training and the increasingly central role of learning within companies. In this article, we'll go over some trends L&D professionals can’t ignore anymore.

If we want to continuously improve job performance and business results, then we need to do a good job helping our employees gain and retain new knowledge and skills. Companies with effective eLearning programs can do just that. These companies also tend to attract and retain top talent, as well as increase employee engagement and satisfaction. The question then becomes, how do we get our employees EXCITED about taking and completing our eLearning courses? Well, we know for sure that we can’t do it with training that is seen as dull, compliance-oriented, irrelevant, or unsupported. What, then, are the keys to getting your employees (and supervisors) excited about eLearning? Here are six tips to get you started:

There is no question about it: now is the time to embrace mobile. Mobile learning (mLearning), is a rapidly growing area for training and development departments in organizations of all industries. It provides companies the opportunity to reach and engage employees in new and striking ways.

The key to the learning is making the process feel easy. The key to making it feel easy is creating a roadmap that covers points in a straightforward and purposeful matter. Think about it. You are creating this particular eLearning course because there is a need for it (hopefully you did a Needs Analysis first!). Learners are eager to acquire the skills and know-how, to change specific behaviors and advance in their everyday abilities. Having learning objectives is providing direction to your students! Creating an eLearning course without defining these first, is like walking in the woods without a compass. Sooner or later, you'll get lost! The art of writing objectives isn't hard to master. We've put together the following tips to help guide your writing journey and ensure successful eLearning courses.

There are a lot of things to consider when creating an eLearning course. But, what most people want to determine are the numbers. Specifically, how long will it take to create a course and how much will it cost? Although this will vary, whether you are doing your own eLearning course or handing off to someone else, here are some tips that will save you or your team some valuable time.

Starting out on your eLearning journey without defining the information or skills that you want your learners to obtain by the end is like setting out on a road trip without a destination. While this might make for a neat setup for an indie film about four friends trying to find themselves, this really doesn’t work for eLearning. So, what is a learning objective? It is an expected outcome of each lesson/unit and, overall, what you want your learners to be capable of by the end of the it. They also break down the content into more manageable chunks that can be applied to modules within the overall course. Start by picking 3-4 objectives. Now make sure your content doesn’t wander too far away from these objectives. The Art of Writing Good Learning Objectives However, a bunch of phrases that are put together and doesn’t explicitly relate what the learners should be able to achieve at the end of the course is of no use. Objectives need to be written in a way that the learners can relate to their need for taking the training and visualize the result or the learning outcome. Before writing course objectives, you always have to think from the learner’s perspective. You should step into their shoes to understand their needs and aspirations. Also, consider the demands of their jobs, so you know exactly what skills they need to excel in their professional duties. Being an integral part of the eLearning development process, you can't deny the importance of knowing how to write rockin' course objectives.

Now what? So you’ve decided to take your training online. There is an audience eager to access your expertise, you’ve narrowed down your topics, you’ve have identified your target audience, and you’ve even selected an authoring tool. Now what? Despite the common assumption, developing a successful eLearning course is not as simple as transferring your Powerpoints to an online environment. However, it’s not rocket science either. The secrets to eLearning success lie in between purposeful planning and engaging interaction.

Every day more companies are opting to convert their classroom material to digital courses. Fitting for modern learner needs, eLearning allows a continued education option for those who want to train anywhere, anytime or master a subject at their own pace. Also, by going digital, companies cut down training costs as the recurring instructor fee and logistical costs are shelved off. If you are one of these companies eager to convert your classroom training to eLearning, you must first understand what mistakes to avoid early on. Certainly avoiding them alone won’t be enough to guarantee great results from day one. However, they will guide you in establishing a strong foundation.