Does your company need to implement a virtual training program? If this is the case, you've probably done a lot of research on the subject, including providers, tools, and methods. By now you’ve probably discovered there are so many different forms of virtual training available, from eLearning, mobile learning, to blended learning courses. Each method has its own benefits and its best use cases. If you’re wondering which modality is more effective; there is no easy answer for that. Making a decision comes down to the individual needs of the company, as well as the expected organizational outcomes. So, before resuming your research, ask yourself this question: What are your company’s training needs?

Creating an effective eLearning program is no easy task. It takes hard work, commitment, continuous trial and error, and making LOTS of mistakes along the way before you hit the mark. In this post, we wanted to share some of the lessons we've learned the hard way and give you some valuable pieces of advice, so you don’t make the same mistakes we (or our clients) did. We can only hope that walking you through these lessons-learned can help begin your eLearning design endeavor the right way.

Why limit the benefits of design thinking to product development? This specialized way of thinking creates out-of-the-box solutions to problems when it comes to designing new products and services. It has shaken things up in the business world, and its methodology has proven to be useful and applicable to most industries. Now it’s time to bring this method to the eLearning development realm! With design thinking, you’ll be able to analyze all processes and all users more thoroughly to get a well-rounded, integrated view of your course’s impact and how to optimize it. Here are two of the most important lessons you can take away from design thinking:

Why You Need to Prime Your Learners Before They Start Your Courses You spend a lot of time focusing on engagement within your courses, and this is indeed critical. You need engagement when it comes to employee training, onboard learning, and all other types of courses. But, what you may be overlooking is how to engage learners before they begin these courses. This is why pre-training engagement is so important.

Yes, gamification is BIG right now in the eLearning and training industries. Yes, it’s effective in engaging participants. Yes, everyone is doing it. However, this shouldn’t be the only reason to incorporate gamification into your HR programs. In order to gamify eLearning courses successfully take these points into consideration before slapping on a point system and calling it a day:

A good eLearning course is like a lip-smacking, mouth-watering, finger-licking meat pie. Every cook has a different recipe, but the essential ingredients are the same—a juicy, meaty filling; spicy seasonings; and two flaky crusts. There are no cookie-cutter ways to create memorable and effective eLearning courses; the needs vary across industries. But the essentials are the same. Time to go over these eLearning must haves:

Are workers dropping out your eLearning courses like the proverbial ‘hot potato?’ Are they finding them hard to finish? Giving them bad reviews? Telling everyone they know a crazed monkey designed them? If so, it’s likely your courses have one or more of the following issues that have driven your learners away:

One of the biggest challenges that any operation deals with is new hire training. Your company likely has a specific way it wants things to be done, and there are often a lot of processes in place too. If you’re dealing with people who’ve been in your organization for a long time, it can be easy to forget how many functions of your business you don’t think about on a daily basis. With a new hire in place, however, you’ll likely be facing some questions about what to do and why it’s done that way. One solution that’s growing in popularity is microlearning.