Designing Digitally
03/03/2020
Increasing learner engagement will benefit the company as a whole. When learners are engaged with employee training programs, they become better satisfied with their job, faster problem-solvers, more helpful to their co-workers, and help your organization flourish. This trickles down to your Return on Investment (ROI), in both training and business as a whole.
Working on an engagement strategy includes predicting issues learners might have with the course, learning styles and technical know-how they have, as well as remaining flexible toward change. Below are a few methods proven to increase engagement.
If your course fails to consider the target audience, the course may fail entirely. Ensure that you maintain an open dialogue between you, your instructional designer or course developer, and your staff. Find out what their learning goals, technical skills, and desired outcomes are. You can learn a lot about your employees’ strengths and weaknesses with surveys, dedicated staff meetings, and other pre-development assessments.
If you have a good understanding of your staff’s needs, you'll have all the necessary information for establishing personalized learning paths once you are ready to start the development process. This means that the course can be molded to each learner's specific needs and goals.
Many organizations recognize the importance of employing proactive professionals. These are the people who will put 100% effort into their jobs, are lifelong learners, and will get involved in all work-related endeavors. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to hire a full staff who is qualified for their job roles and also checks the box of “proactive professional.”
Thus, it is important to encourage all employees to become proactive learners. A proactive mindset will increase learning engagement and inspire others to rise to the learning challenge.
Clearly state the course learning objectives. Establishing these at the beginning of a course or module will ensure learners know what is expected of them and should prevent any surprises along the way.
Read also: The Importance of Learner Engagement in Online Training and How It Benefits Your Company
Technology allows access to a course via a variety of means. Making your course accessible from multiple platforms will allow learners to engage with the content in their own time and at their own pace, regardless of location.
Content is king! Construct your content so that it considers predicted learner needs, relates to the job requirements, and offers right-on-time instruction. Employee learners are more likely to stay engaged if the training helps them in their daily task completion.
Facilitate various ways for employees to talk about the course content and encourage them to do collaborative work. This will engage them further because it enables peer-to-peer (P2P) learning and builds an education-centered culture in the workplace.
Building a fun training program is not a requirement, but it is definitely beneficial. It may even help appeal to learners with the lowest apparent engagement.
Read also: How to Overcome the Challenges of Disengaged Online Learners
Engaging learners by using the above tips will set the base for a workplace learning culture. You want curious employees who ask questions and challenge the status quo.
It is important to give learners immediate and end-of-course feedback about their progress. Similarly, allowing feedback to travel from them to you will help improve the training experience and increases the chances for successful completion.
Learners react positively to real-world rewards which incentivize engagement. Rewards such as badges and leaderboards can make learning feel like playing. You can also offer tangible rewards, such as days off, day trips, and free lunches. Receiving a certification upon completion may also boost student self-confidence and engagement with the course.
Employees already experience some degree of stress in their job. Training should not add to that stress. Therefore, presenting a self-paced learning experience can limit stress related to temporal pressure, which can impact performance in the course.
If your managers are excited about the training program, they will inspire their team. Include department leaders in the process by relaying the course objectives to them and enlisting them in meetings and discussion boards where experiences can be exchanged.
If you want managers to be in constant communication, you will want to facilitate a similar social learning environment for your employees. Cultivate social interaction through webinars, social media channels, and discussion forums.
Make sure to plan for data collection and analysis during the initial course design process. You need to be able to see how learners progress through the course, which modules are successful, and which need improvement. Doing this will help the course stay flexible and it will be easy to implement required changes. Employees will appreciate your efforts to customize the content to their needs and you will see increased learner engagement.
To learn more about learner engagement and to determine what works best for your employees, download the full eBook today!
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