Using electronic media or information and communication technologies for educational purposes is becoming an increasingly popular trend. When it was first developed and introduced, eLearning came in for some criticism, as many people believed that computers would replace teachers and lines of communication or human support would be lost. However, technology has now progressed to a point where smartphones and tablets can be fully integrated into a learning environment, which is beneficial for both educators and students.

Although eLearning can be hugely advantageous in schools or for people taking distant learning courses, it also has several plus points from a corporate perspective. Training and tuition is an ongoing challenge for several businesses, as employees are often uninterested or demotivated by boring and out-dated teaching techniques. What’s more, for certain courses or programmes, members of staff are taken away from where they are needed most, which impacts on operational efficiency and increases expenditure.

For these reasons, eLearning has turned out to be an attraction option for businesses looking to increase employee proficiency while maintaining productivity and cutting down the cost of training. However, that doesn’t mean to say corporate eLearning can be introduced and integrated anytime, anywhere. There are certain times, instances and situations when it will be more influential, significant and effective.

Less is more

Thanks to the growth of the Internet, mobile devices and on-demand streaming services, we now receive five times as much information as we did in 1986. Scores of emails, social network updates and text messages also contribute to the average person’s growing production and consumption of data. This is a trend that shows no signs of slowing down and will probably increase in the years to come.

This doesn’t exactly bode well for employers attempting to train and teach their staff new skills, expertise or information. On a daily basis, individuals are bombarded with a profusion of facts and figures, which are only sometimes retained and applied in real-world scenarios. Therefore, it is crucial to keep this in mind when corporate eLearning courses or teaching programmes are developed and introduced.

When it comes to teaching employees with short attention spans on small smartphone or tablet screens, learning materials and key concepts need to be easily digestible. By breaking down complex subjects into bite-sized chunks, members of staff are more likely to remember important pieces of information. Manageable modules and easy to consume theories can also be made part of the working day, as opposed taking employees away from their post for lengthy subject teaching in a classroom.

Relevant and engaging learning

In addition to easier integration in a working environment, smartphones and tablets are also capable of delivering entertaining and engaging teaching. Rich content in the form of informative images, entertaining videos or interactive games give employers various options for each individual learner. As a result, teaching can be visual, auditory or tactile depending on what works best.

Here at Wranx, we have developed a training solution that capitalises on the capabilities and capacity of smartphones and tablets. Our gamification model uses sophisticated, science driven techniques to provide learners with interesting, engaging and appealing content. With over 300 different achievements to win, employees are incentivised to do their best and beat fellow workers on competitive leaderboards. What’s more, our training solution is hosted in the cloud, meaning it can be accessed everywhere. Your members of staff will have independence over their learning experience and can complete tasks when it’s convenient for them. On top of that, you can update content remotely every time you want to teach the workforce something new.

In the past, mobile devices were seen as a workplace distraction. But now that they have become essential items in society, it makes sense to take advantage of their multi-tasking and adaptable nature for training purposes.

Monitoring employees

Another distinct advantage of eLearning is that employee performance and progression can easily be monitored, tracked and analysed. By collecting and collating user data, you can compare it to business objectives like sales performance and new employee onboarding to see whether training has had the desired effect. eLearning also allows you to introduce checks, tests and assessments throughout the teaching experience, which will improve competency and retention.

At Wranx, our training solution has a couple of features that can help you to discover how each and every learner is getting on. With Wranx Drills, individuals are asked a series of questions everyday, which also displays the answer. That way, we can rate how well the respondent understands a topic or theme and schedule future learning accordingly. This exploits a scientific ‘brain hack’ and is a proven technique to improve long-term memory retention. To find out whether training is actually working, you can also visit our deep-dive reporting facility. Displaying enrolment and activity metrics, cohort knowledge retention rates, employee progress and predicted course completion dates, this analytics feature is a powerful resource that provides truly invaluable facts and figures about your workforce.

There is little to no point in implementing a training programme if you don’t scrutinise and examine its success. But with eLearning, analysis is easy to carry out, and provides hugely detailed data.

The effectiveness of eLearning

So when is corporate eLearning most effective? When it is presented to employees in easy to consume chunks at their actual place of work. If possible, training materials should be personalised to each individual member of staff by taking advantage of the competency and capacity of today’s mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Teaching and tuition as well as assessments and appraisals can be delivered at regular intervals to sustain interest, increase long-term memory retention and improve the chances of applying newly acquired skills in a working situation.

Corporate eLearning can be capitalised on by almost any organisation, as it is a cost-effective way of delivering relevant training in a quick and efficient way. Knowing when and how to introduce and implement eLearning doesn’t have to be a difficult or drawn-out process either.