When building a training program for your extended enterprise, focusing on factors that will drive engagement of the material is imperative to its adoption and implementation. Creating the material and the structure for your training program is hard work. You will want to make sure that it pays off with your network to get you the end results and goals you have set.
Engaging training materials play a crucial role in maintaining the attention of your learners. When you have training content that captures the attention of your trainees, you can promote participation in the training program and enhance the overall learning experience. Learning is always more effective when the learner is engaged in the material, and that is compounded when working in learning groups. Engagement is contagious.
When your end users are engaged in the content, they will have increased motivation about their job duties and responsibilities. This gives them the power to own their role and step into a space of understanding and dedication to the learning process. Your learners are more likely to retain the information that they are learning in environments such as these.
Engaging training materials allow learners to apply their knowledge in practical situations. Relevance is key in training, and learners will always be wondering how the training they are experiencing is going to impact their day-to-day responsibilities in their role. By incorporating real-world examples, case studies, and interactive simulations, learners can see the direct relevance and application of what they are learning. This promotes a deeper understanding of concepts and prepares learners to apply their skills effectively in their work or real-life scenarios.
How do we Create Engaging Materials for Extended Enterprises?
With the appropriate amount of planning and forethought, it isn’t difficult to create engaging training materials. Utilizing a learning management system (LMS) is one of the most efficient ways to organize, deliver, and manage training content. There are several steps that should be followed to roadmap the process of engaging with your training audience through the use of an LMS.
Identify Learning Objectives
By defining the objectives and outcomes of each position in your enterprise, you can develop content that caters to the specific needs of that position. Skill analysis assessments are helpful in this process because you will be able to identify any gaps in the knowledge of your end users. Once these gaps are identified, you can cater the material to fill these gaps. When your learners are better able to understand and follow the training content, it will become more engaging to them.
Incorporate Real-World Examples and Case Studies
As mentioned earlier, relevance is key to promoting engagement with training materials. Giving real-life examples during hands-off training classes or modules can help drive the point home and solidify the understanding of the topic discussed.
Use Multimedia Elements
Everyone loves a video or a demonstration that pertains to a topic they are learning about. Visual learners thrive off of this style of learning, and other learning types find these resources very useful to affirm their understanding of a process. During classroom training, demonstrations are very valuable, so be sure to incorporate multiple cameras and angles when providing demonstrations online in remote settings. Recording the sessions can be useful and used as supplementary materials for future classes as well.
Provide Interactive Elements
Assessments, quizzes, and scenario-based simulations are helpful tools to gauge the understanding of your learners. These tools, while they can be used as a measuring stick for learning, also help with the retention of what was learned.
Use Widgets to Track Progress
Achieving goals always gives a nice boost of confidence, no matter how small. By providing metrics and widgets that track progress towards milestones, you can encourage your audience to engage with your training materials more readily to get them one step closer to achieving a milestone.
All content that is generated for use with an LMS or an extended enterprise learning platform should aim to be learner-centric, relevant, and interactive and work towards continuous improvement based upon feedback, assessments, and the evolving needs of the industry.
Leveraging an LMS for learning engagement in Extended Enterprises
Creating engaging content with an enterprise learning platform involves leveraging the platform’s features and functionalities to deliver interactive and dynamic learning experiences. As our industry continues to evolve from a world of post-pandemic remote learning and meld back with in-person workshops and training, we must be ready to provide both options in an engaging and interactive way to encourage the growth and development of our learners.
Personalized Content
Learning platforms have dynamic functionality that can be adapted and personalized to each individual user. By providing this customization, you allow the learner to make the training and progress “their own” based on their preferences, progress, and skill level. Some platforms come equipped with a learning algorithm that can suggest content at different levels of difficulty based on the outcomes from the training that the learner has completed. This type of personalization provides an optimal training experience.
Digestible and Supplemented Learning Content
Breaking down your content into smaller modules will make it easier for the learner to digest and understand. If you can avoid invoking the feeling of overwhelm that some trainers experience with lengthy and heavy training content, you are more likely to hold their engagement. Be sure that you have a rich bank of supporting content within the learning platform, easily accessible by the learner.
These resources can range from case studies, infographics, and previous presentations or training videos. Offering diverse content will cater to different learning styles and supplement the learning your modules are providing.
Social and Informal Learning Opportunities
Extended enterprises should leverage the social features of their learning platform to encourage collaboration and interaction among other learners. Enable discussion forums to stay up to date on what is going on within an organization or to allow the spread of knowledge among locations across the nation. Provide supplementary informal learning that isn’t tracked or monitored but is available for those learners who may be curious about other components of the industry and where their role fits.
This can extend into peer-to-peer learning opportunities in coordinated group activities whenever possible. Your audience will learn best and retain the information they learn if they do so while connected with others within the organization.
Data Analytics and Metrics
You can leverage the analytics and reporting features of the learning platform to gain insights into learner engagement, progress, and performance. Analyzing data to identify areas where learners may be struggling or losing interest can help you make data-driven improvements to the content and learning experience.
These metrics can also provide you with a glimpse into the impact of your training program on your organization. By integrating KPIs into training metrics, you can measure the performance of your members after the training has been implemented to see where the training has provided improvement across your network.
BizLibrary Offers Resources for Content
If you’re struggling to create the engaging content that you know would be beneficial for your organization – you’re not alone, and there are resources that can help!
LatitudeLearning has recently teamed up with BizLibrary. BizLibrary has a multitude of functions that can help put you on the right track to creating content and developing the training program that you know your organization needs.
With an extensive content library, BizLibrary offers a wide variety of high-quality and engaging content that spans multiple topics and industries. The modes of learning include video-based courses, microlearning modules, and interactive assessments. With so many options available to you, there is sure to be engaging content that aligns with your specific training needs.
BizLibrary also offers customizable content that can be tailored to meet the unique needs of extended enterprises. There are tools to add branding, specific policies and procedures, and adapt your content to the target industry or audience. Customization allows for the content to remain relevant and engaging.
Learn more about the ready-to-go content LatitudeLearning gives you access to!
