The training programs of yesteryear were pretty simple: host a class, make people attend, and expect them to do their jobs well afterwards. eLearning came along and the model stayed pretty much the same—except now we expected people to learn from sitting at a computer instead.
Corporate learning is not about hosting training or delivering eLearning just because. It’s about changing behaviors and improving performance. To do that, you need to have a plan. You need strategies for what happens before, during, and after the training.
That’s why we created a simple training template to kickstart your design. Use it to plan your next training program. It’s available as a free download below.
Choose a Learning Solution to Match the Cognitive Activity
You probably already know the importance of learning objectives, and that you need to identify your primary objective(s) before creating a learning solution. Beyond just identifying the objective itself, we also recommend you decide what type of objective you are building towards. Do you want people to gain a general awareness of a new procedure or process? Acquire specific knowledge about the features and benefits of a new product? Build their interpersonal communication skills?
Awareness, knowledge, and skill-building are all different… and they require different types of activities and interactions to make learning happen. Our template includes a list of suggestions for each of the three types of training to help you gather ideas.
What happens after the training?
Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve shows us that up to 90% of what we learn is forgotten in 3-6 days without proper reinforcement. It’s a shame that so much training is thought of as a one-off event. People come to your class, or take your course… and then it’s over.
That’s why we encourage our clients to think through how they will reinforce the learning and support learners long after the training has been completed. You will find suggestions for reinforcement methods in the template.
Encourage Continuous Learning
The last piece of the learning and development puzzle is actually already going on in some way, shape, or form whether you like it or not. Informal, social learning is the predominant way we gain organizational knowledge and learn how to do our jobs, whether you create an eLearning course or not.
If it’s possible, you should also consider how the learning solution you are creating fits into a larger framework that helps people learn and collaborate informally. Informal learning will happen no matter what you do, but can you enhance it? Can you create a culture that encourages informal learning? Our template will help you generate ideas.
Download the Training Template
The process of creating a learning objective, deciding what type of objective it is and choosing the appropriate solution to meet it can be rather difficult. Planning out reinforcement activities and creating a community that enables social learning only adds to the complexity. Use our template to start organizing your ideas, and contact us if you need help.
