Online learning is education that takes place over the Internet, it is also commonly referred to as “e- learning” among other terms. Previously any additional or tertiary study completed by employees has taken place in a traditional classroom with a teacher or lecturer. Online learning has been gaining popularity in recent years, and it isn’t hard to see why.
With the sudden move to people working from home, organisations have also been required to adapt to continue to educate and upskill their employees. Moving forward, online learning or e-learning can be instrumental in this process.
Why is Online Learning Important?
In a world where our time is being stretched thinner and thinner, it is important to make sure any investment of time is worthwhile. Many students and businesses have reservations about enrolling themselves or their employees into face to face classes due to the time constraints; this can include travel to and from classes, time waiting for tutors, and in class questions from other students. The ability to cancel out all these potential time wasters makes online learning the perfect choice.
Online learning enables a student to structure their learning around their current life and work commitments without having to sacrifice the quality of the experience.
IBM have found that participants in online learning using multimedia content through were able to learn five times more material in the same time frames as their traditional face-to-face counterparts.
Students enrolled in online learning have more control over their own learning and can work at their own speed, this enables them to move faster through the areas they are comfortable with, and the additional time to focus more on the challenging areas.
For organisations, online learning can have even more benefits. Depending on the kind of training required for your organisation, online learning can be completely tailored to your business and your employees to support their work.
Having customised and structured online learning modules can assist businesses to streamline their employee onboarding process. When new staff are brought into a business, instead of being paired with another employee to learn the ropes, new staff can instead be assigned online learning modules. This can decrease the impact on the business by allowing the existing employee to continue their workday uninterrupted. The online learning modules will also enable management to control the content being shared and ensure that the correct process and procedure is being followed.
As these modules are all online this will further reduce the cost to the business if an employee should require a refresher course.
Top Tips for Online Learning
Prepare. Test your tech and make sure you have a good internet connection. Have a note pad, pen and bottle of water with you before you start.
Have a dedicated space. Ensure you put yourself in a space where you are unlikely to be distracted by your phone, tv, or other people.
Identify your goals and expectations. Read through the course outline and establish what you want to achieve by the end.
Ask for help. If you get stuck or if something doesn’t make sense, ask for help. Don’t waste too much time trying to solve something when you could have asked for help.
Looking to upskill?
Online learning is a great, time efficient way of achieving some great results, allowing more control over the content and timeframes.
At FYB we have a great range of online learning courses and can create tailor made material for your business needs, read more about our Online Learning here or contact us today.
