Tailor Your eLearning for Better Adoption
By Rick Nigol
 Your adoption rate - the percentage
of your targeted learners who actually complete the eLearning that
you have prepared for them - is a key statistic in determining the
overall success of an eLearning intervention. Assuming that there
are measurable benefits to be realized from every person who
completes the eLearning (e.g. they know more, can produce more, sell
more, waste less, serve clients better, etc.), the more people
completing the program, the greater the overall benefits to the
organization. Unfortunately, however, many organizations do not do
enough to manage adoption to ensure maximum benefit.
My colleague Mike Grant led a webinar session on
this topic this week. His main point was that you should manage
adoption right from the outset of an eLearning project - before it
is designed and developed - and not try to do so after the fact. The
focus should be on tailoring eLearning to best meet the needs and
nature of the targeted learning audience.
When we asked the 78 webinar participants what
were the biggest barriers to eLearning adoption that they faced, the
responses were very similar and grouped around the following
themes:
Lack of Motivation: Learners
fail to see value of eLearning intervention / there is no "what's in
it for me" proposition / there is little relevance or direct
applicability to their job
Lack of Resources: Learners do
not have the time (or quietude) to do the eLearning / there are too
many competing priorities for attention
Lack of Support: Lack of
managerial or organizational support to do eLearning (e.g. granting
time or proper location for eLearning) / supervisors not holding
staff to account for completing eLearning / management not providing
learning and technical support to ease transition to eLearning
format
Bad Experiences: Learners have
experienced bad eLearning before and are now "gun shy"
Old Habits Die Hard: Attachment
to the classroom model for training / reluctance to embrace
change
All of these factors noted above, and the fact
that it is so easy to put off doing eLearning (unlike, say, showing
up for a scheduled classroom session), conspire to keep eLearning
adoption rates low. In the webinar, Mike showed how you can improve
adoption rates by getting a number of questions answered before you
begin your eLearning project. These questions are centred around the
4 A's, namely: what Accessibilty do the target learners have to
technology / time / and proper space; what are their Abilities in
using information and communication technologies; what are their
Attitudes to change and innovation; and how Approriate is eLearning
given their learning styles and the nature of the content and
learning objectives that need to be addressed?
If you let the answers to questions about the 4
A's drive your decisions around your learning mix (what should be
done classroom vs. online), and also have it drive your eLearning
design and roll-out strategy, your training generally and your
eLearning specifically will be tailored to the realities of your
target audience and will be a better fit. And being a better fit,
your eLearning adoption rates will go up.
Certificate in eLearning
Management:
In this self-paced online program you will:
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