What is one tool you’ve used to improve online learning for yourself or employees?
To help improve online learning for yourself or employees, we asked tech experts and business leaders this question for their best advice. From enabling virtual professional development programs to refreshing your training platforms, there are several improvements that you can use for yourself or employees when it comes to online learning.
Here are ten improvements for online learning:
- Give Yourself a Marketing Edge
- Virtual Professional Development
- Better Focus With Transcription
- Online Faxing for Ease
- One-Stop Note taking
- Google Forms for Q & A Sessions
- Refresh Your Training Platform
- LinkedIn for More Than Networking
- Break It Up
- Combine for Maximum Effect
Give Yourself a Marketing Edge
During the months of March and April of 2020, my business completely halted. All my clients started canceling, and there was no interior design work to be done. Instead of using that time to sulk and wallow in the times we were living in, I decided to learn something new. I invested in online workshops and training to better myself as a designer and business owner. One of the best things I invested my time in was the Digital Marketing Bootcamp. It opened my eyes to a world full of marketing possibilities that I didn’t even know existed. I recommend it to any business owner who knows they need to invest in marketing but doesn’t know where to start.
Alisha Taylor, Alisha Taylor Interiors
Virtual Professional Development
Virtual conferences are a great way to improve your and your employees’ knowledge and skills. With so many traditional conferences and meetups transitioning to a virtual setting, this makes the barrier to professional development that much easier! Plus, it is a great way for you to get the word out there about your company and connect with other professionals in your industry. I find the live classes and Q&A sessions to be much more beneficial than taking static courses online as well!
Randall Smalley, Cruise America
Better Focus With Transcription
Providing academic transcripts of online video learning materials gives employees the necessary information to comprehend training objectives in two ways. Without transcriptions, an employee may have to sit through an entire training video frantically taking notes when their knowledge acquisition should be focused on the video—especially at organizations that are CJIS compliant. All video and training materials should be transcribed to meet accessibility standards and to speak to all employee learning styles. What gets shared and what’s kept in-house should also be controlled.
Ben Walker, Transcription Outsourcing, LLC
Online Faxing for Ease
We’ve sent more than 20M faxes for clients, including Harvard University and schools across the country. Educators love how quickly they can scan documents and send them in a secure framework. With today’s remote and digital education system, educators need to have tools that support a paperless reality. Online faxing is just one of those tools that can accelerate learning by freeing educators up from learning the ins and outs of complex systems.
Adam Korbl, iFax
One-Stop Note taking
One tool I’ve utilized for online learning has been Microsoft OneNote. It sounds super bland and straightforward, but taking notes on your computer can be jumbled and an unorganized mess. By using Microsoft OneNote, I am able to color-code notes and organize them into different journals; all the while, I am able to back them up on the cloud and access them from multiple devices. It’s an easy switch from taking notes on paper or other notetaking sources, but definitely one I would recommend to anyone.
Alexis Orth, Markitors
Google Forms for Q&A Sessions
Dialogue is one of the most important training tools. However, the nature of remote work and online learning makes real-time question and answer facilitation a challenge. By using Google Forms, leaders and instructors can consolidate common questions from training and lectures and prepare clearer and more informative sessions. Plus, this tactic does not put staff on the spot and gives teammates the time to formulate, remember, and properly word questions. And since responses are semi-anonymous, teammates do not have to fear appearing uninformed in front of peers and will feel more confident admitting knowledge gaps.
Michael Alexis, TeamBuilding
Refresh Your Training Platform
With so many employees continuing to work remotely, you have to design an eLearning experience that’s actually fun. At our company, we created our own custom content authoring tool so our users can tailor any training to their own needs or their organization. LMS platforms, or online training software, are seen as boring because they have too many technical definitions, don’t provide a good learning experience, and have the same old stock photography. Find fun graphics, create and upload your own videos, and ask your team for feedback because you’re all in this and learning together.
Lauren Patrick, Curricula
LinkedIn for More Than Networking
I have been very impressed with the professional development opportunities offered through LinkedIn Learning. Many of these courses are free and can be easily taken at the learner’s convenience. Many organizations have purchased subscriptions to make more LI Learning opportunities available to their employees. LI Learning will work with organizations to help identify desired topics and can provide participant feedback on the courses that have been taken most frequently. It’s a great and convenient resource, especially with so many people working remotely.
Colleen McManus, Senior HR Executive and Consultant
Break It Up
For whatever training you do, break the learning up into smaller chunks. Just because a class is 67 minutes doesn’t mean you have to do it in 67 minutes. Frequent 5–15 minute breaks actually increase retention. You can even view a 60-minute classes in 20 minute segments on three different days to avoid information overload.
Joni Holderman, Thrive! Resumes
Combine for Maximum Effect
I know the question asks for only one tool, but online learning should be a combination of different tools for the best effectiveness. Coursera is my go-to for the most fundamental core learning topics. Most courses on Coursera are well-structured, slow-paced and clearly explained all the fundamentals. If you are new to a certain topic, then Coursera is a good start. YouTube is my go-to if I already know a bit of the topic and would like to learn quick tips and tricks to further my skills. A podcast is a good platform for making use of your free time driving in the car or while you are cooking or doing chores.
Jill Sandy, Constant Delights
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