Blended corporate training: instructional design and LMS platform

The spread of smart working has made it necessary to move from exclusively face-to-face corporate training to blended programs that respect the new life and work habits of employees: in this article we will describe competences and tools – starting from the LMS platform – that companies need to move to eLearning.

CORPORATE ACADEMIES: NEEDS AND BENEFITS

As a first step, a company that wants to set up a training system which includes digital content needs to build an Academy: just like face-to-face training requires specific places and tools, in the same way online training needs an appropriate environment.

There are many reasons why a company should have its own branded Academy and, as we have already highlighted, they regard more than just training. In fact, on one side these digital structures allow to centralize and monitor training in a better way, on the other hand they can be also useful to share the company culture. This aspect seems to be particularly important with smart workers and for employer branding, namely the company image as an attractive workplace.

TRAINING RESOURCES AND STRATEGIES FROM OFFLINE TO ONLINE

Moving to blended training, it is important to understand how you can translate training strategies commonly used in class to the new types of contents available to companies.

Without any doubt, the first step to design a digital training program is to define how to organize your resources, alternating between synchronous training moments and self-paced learning ones.

Talking about the latest, it is essential to choose different types of resources according to the target audience and desired objectives. Videos, presentations and infographics are suitable for quick consultation to deepen or clarify specific concepts. Podcasts can represent a practical and user-friendly choice, since they do not require to look at the screen. SCORM packages are suitable for more complex activities, even real simulations, deploying gamification mechanisms.

On the other hand, it is preferable to use webinars for confrontation and discussion, namely all the social aspects of learning.

USER-FRIENDLY LMS PLATFORM

One of the most critical aspects of corporate training for companies and teachers is the daily management of the Academy and, on a practical level, the lack of experience with LMS platforms.

On one side, it is essential to support training with a specific blended training instructional design. On the other side, all the stakeholders need to be able to deploy all the tool potential and functionalities.

To this end, the choice of the right platform needs to take into account its user-friendliness, other than essential aspects like being low cost and easily scalable.

What makes an LMS platform user-friendly?

FUNCTIONALITIES

The first aspect is related to functionalities, which can be reduced for beginner users: for them, in fact, doing advanced editing takes a second place compared with the ability to master daily processes. Especially at the beginning, more complex aspects can be managed by external providers, to be transferred to the company admins when their skills and abilities improve.

LOOK AND FEEL

As the second aspect, we can mention an intuitive and easy to be branded look and feel, based on what users are already accustomed to use, especially Social Networks. Being able to share their own presentations and customize some graphic elements of the course page, teachers can create a relationship with students, even if they are physically distant. At the same time, an eye-catching look and feel can help to fight students’ resistance, who would get used more easily to something they do not perceive as unknown.

ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES

Last but not least, it is essential to be able to have all the main processes required to manage a training project in one virtual place: content sharing, notifications, tests, webinars, reports, all available without the need of using different tools, with the risk of scattering and disorientation especially for beginners.

All this led us to create Quiddis Join, our easy and complete LMS platform, to allow every organization to build its own Academy and take blended training to a new level of effectiveness.

Would you like to know more about it? Visit the dedicated page or contact us for more information!

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