5 Skilled Ideas For eLearning Manufacturing At Scale
This is how you gain from a high-quality training production
What does it take to scale your eLearning production successfully? Why do some eLearning programs work when introduced to hundreds of learners but fail when you scale to thousands?
We asked leading L&D managers and industry experts what they think are the key ingredients in successful large-scale digital learning programs. These conversations revealed 5 key factors that any eLearning manager can implement to improve their eLearning production.
5 top tips for successful large-scale e-learning production
1. Influence stakeholders and collaborate with leaders
Building a relationship with business leaders will give you the encouragement you need and bring the right people to the party. Without them, it is next to impossible for your learning team to reach their full potential.
There are several advantages to this approach. On the one hand, it helps learning teams to get out of the trap of a transactional relationship with executives. According to a study by Emerald Works, 60% of eLearning managers feel stuck in this transition area. Projects come in, teams desperately try to keep up with demands and get stuck in short-term thinking. In turn, the impact L&D teams can have in such an environment is limited.
Involving management early on in the process also reduces pushback; This can help both executives and the wider organization see the win / win for L&D. As with any relationship, the key is to build trust and understanding.
“L&D teams need to understand the business and their colleagues. You have to be able to walk in your shoes, ”says Dave Barone, advisor at Josh Bersin Academy.
2. Establish a clear vision
Without a guide light, your training efforts appear less like a focused, goal-oriented experience, but more like a meandering walk through the forest. Setting a clear vision for your training shows that the path you want to take with your training is actually achievable.
Be warned, however, setting up a vision is never complete. Your bottom line, your vision, could stay the same, but what probably needs to be changed is your roadmap – the path that will get you there.
If anything has been proven certain from the pandemic, it is that things can change very quickly. Most companies have had to make a drastic shift from face-to-face to online learning, with varying degrees of success. There is a big lesson in this: stay agile and ready to change your roadmap at any time.
3. Lead with need
The needs analysis helps you create effective training for your learners (and helps you define what effective means!). Often times, training is thrown away as a solution before people even know what the problem is.
Conducting a thorough needs assessment will help you understand the changes you need to bring your learners to make a business impact. For this reason, practices such as company and student surveys and project needs analysis should become the norm rather than a matter of course.
For companies that operate on a large scale, this becomes even more important. The last thing you want to do is scale up a digital tutorial that addresses the wrong problem or tries to influence behavior that isn’t even relevant to the company. Working on a standard scale means influencing a larger number of learners. If you don’t lead with a need, you risk wasting time doing something that may not affect the business at all or, worse, even negatively.
4. Implement a clear process
By establishing a clear process, you can move learning forward quickly and on a large scale without wasting the time of the experts in your company. As you sit down and create a roadmap for your workout, you will find out where the obstacles might be. Anticipating the challenges gives you space to think about the best solutions to tackle them in advance.
As mentioned earlier, you still need to be flexible and ready to turn around at all times. Because, as we have just learned in recent years, there are some things that you cannot plan for. Nonetheless, getting headlong into a project without a clear process is a recipe for disaster, especially when it comes to organizations that operate on a large scale and the teams are often dispersed.
There are many approaches to designing eLearning processes, some notable are SAM and Elucidat’s 5Cs framework. Whichever you choose, the point is, make sure you have one!
5. Measure what matters
Measuring learning effectiveness shouldn’t be a task in itself; It’s about measuring with confidence what matters. It doesn’t have to be big, it doesn’t have to be scary, and it is likely at your fingertips.
The beauty, or maybe the pain, of measuring the impact of eLearning is that there are so many different metrics to focus on. With so much to choose from, it can be difficult to find the right amount. By and large, this problem is compounded by metrics appearing on the left, right, and center with differing opinions about what exactly to focus on.
The idea is to take it down to the essentials – the goal of measurement – to prove the value of your learning programs where it matters most.
Here are some ideas about what metrics you might want to track. And remember: don’t limit yourself to measuring at the end of the project. Measuring what matters isn’t just about having the right metrics, it’s also about timing. You can evaluate the value before content development, during development, and after launch.
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Training on a large scale is certainly not an easy task. eLearning programs that were not effectively set up when delivered to a small number of learners only end up exacerbating the same problems on a scale. And you have to scale from the start.
Our extensive research with L&D teams at some of the largest companies in the world shows that success at these 5 key factors helps managers achieve the highest levels of eLearning production success. And if you want to dig deeper into the topic of large-scale eLearning success, head to Elucidat’s Learning at Large Knowledge Hub.
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Elucidat is the fastest way to produce great workout on a large scale. Achieve faster business success with the No. 1 training platform for large employers. Book a custom demo today and start your free trial.
