The worldwide online learning market has grown exponentially ever since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020. It reached 315 billion US dollars in 2021 and is projected to continue growing, with a 20% annual growth until 2028 at least. Online learning has many advantages, like flexibility and adaptability, is self-paced, and it makes it easier to provide learning and career growth opportunities. Also, it helps employees work more efficiently. Having said that, what makes for successful online training?
In the past, companies sent employees to weekend-long seminars, or had to block off time for in-company classroom training. Now, with a successful online training program, companies can overcome these limitations. It provides 24/7 access, it is self-paced to suit learners’ needs, it adapts to the organization, and is flexible. Additionally, providing opportunities for growth and learning increases talent retention by 34%, according to this research. So, managers could do worse than to consider providing online training to their employees. (We discuss talent retention in this post).
What a Successful Online Training Program Looks Like
A virtual classroom must have certain attributes to be effective, otherwise, it is a waste of resources for the company and a missed growth opportunity for the employees. A subpar training program can also be a source of frustration for both stakeholders.
Interaction is key. An online course should provide knowledge in the form of lectures, videos, or readings, as well as opportunities for interaction. These can be discussion groups, breakout rooms, messaging, or email communication.
The learning objectives must be clearly defined, whether in a separate section or included in the course syllabus. Learners should know exactly what they are going to learn, how and when.
The course materials should be engaging and challenging and capture the students’ interest and attention. The students should feel motivated to participate and contribute.
In a successful online training program, the instructor involves the students with interesting material and clearly explained directions. After the teaching period, the instructor asks the students to apply what they learned, so that the lesson is not just about watching and listening passively.
A LMS (Learning Management System – we talk about a good LMS here) should be intuitive, engaging, and user-friendly.
The human factor, a.k.a. the instructor, needs to be visible and active. He or she must show care and empathy and the students should feel they can trust him or her.
Testing and feedback are integral parts of an online program. Assessment in the form of quizzes, exams, etc., are vital to measure students’ progress.
Finally, an online course should provide resources that support learning, such as access to libraries, extra tutoring, or a help desk for technical issues.
Why English Services Is the Perfect EdTech Solution for Your Organization
English Services has more than 20 years of experience helping companies and institutions to improve communication in other languages. We can help your team learn another language, as well as other soft skills, with our successful online language training program.
We offer synchronous and asynchronous language classes, webinars, conversation clubs and workshops through our 24/7 learning platform, ES Conecta.
Please get in touch to learn more about our language teaching services.
