Elearning in the Eyes of a Learner

I was in my early college days when I had my first encounter with elearning. Technology in the field of education has long been commonplace by then, since I was fully aware that mailing lists, chat groups, and even class websites were being used by students to update each other on lessons and activities. But I never expected that a fully functional classroom setting is possible to set up online.

The class was part of the last leg of an IT-related subject. We were given accounts that gave us access to our enrolled courses, remaining units for the school year, and schedule for available online classes. There was also an online classroom with chat feature for teacher-student interaction. I was impressed and amazed, but got disappointed when it ended abruptly.

I later learned that we were the first batch to test the school’s venture into elearning. The school was planning to make online classes regular, as part of their efforts to produce graduates that are as technologically literate as possible. This was a bold move, as the world now heavily relies on technology for a lot of things, including office tasks.

Technologically-enhanced learning has been widespread and undoubtedly rapidly improving. While my first encounter few years ago may be considered outdated in today’s standards, I believe it was able to give me some basic ideas about what makes it an attractive learning method:

1. It is a fresh, high-tech, and advanced learning approach. Let’s face it; younger learners get more interested and motivated when presented with something new and high-tech. Electronically-enhanced education taps on this fact to catch the interest of learners and allow them to absorb lessons at their own pace.

2. It is interactive. I’m pretty sure that there are learners like myself who find interactive learning more appealing than the usual autocratic or one-sided teacher-student experience. Modules can be designed to require learners to participate in activities and discussions. Not only is interactivity present in modules with chat feature during classes; it may also come in the form of “after-class” learning or feedback groups in forums or discussion boards.

3. It strives to create a rich learning environment. Elearning modules utilize multimedia and carefully thought-out instructional design to create an online environment that is as conducive to learning as possible. Educators and trainers can easily incorporate in their modules whatever audio-visual learning aids they think is necessary for best information retention.

Understanding LMS (Learning Management Software) Hosting

Technology changes and growth rates are increasing exponentially, demanding higher expectations that your company is fully adept and qualified with the most current expertise.

Workforce skills and training from five years ago, though still of value, leaves an open door for your competition to take your accounts. Economic times means the battle for clients is getting even fiercer each day. How prepared are your staff members?

THE TRAINING INVESTMENT
Ensuring your work team is operating at top effectiveness is no longer a desired goal; it’s a necessity for survival. If your staff falls short in meeting your customers’ needs, there are plenty of other companies ready to walk in the door to lure your clients away using expert staff who can deliver what they need.

You could send your key personnel away for updated training and skills upgrading, but can you really afford to have them away from your daily business? Apart from the enormous expenses to cover their training and accommodations while out of office, your support staffs are still left with quickly aging skills and talents – and expenditure to keep everyone fully trained is usually financially prohibitive.

Business continues, whether your employees are in the office or out getting more recent training. You need to find a viable solution that is both time effective and economically manageable.

E-LEARNING TO UPGRADE SKILLS
E-learning and CBT (Computer Based Training) is how your competition has been gaining the edge to match, and surpass your own services. Not only is it exceptionally cost effective, it also helps ensure all your department personnel are all operating from the same operations page. You can now build a unified workforce to deliver peak performance service to your customers.

COST EFFECTIVENESS
Online Training systems do provide an efficient and affordable solution by allowing you to easily structure and manage the time required by each individual to progress according to their needs and ability. Your employees can access their training sessions from their own computer, and progress through the sessions according to their own schedule and learning curve. CBT also allows the user to refresh or review specific processes and methods they’ve learned.

The courses allow each individual to progress at their own speed, and as your services require. However, CBT is of best value only when the online fields covered are diversified enough to cover the wide range of skills building your company may need for your daily operation. There are many general online training courses throughout the web, but you need certification or professional level instruction for business, not beginners or high school instruction.

You need:
• A diverse selection of highly specialized fields of study.
• Accurate, and up to date, tutorials covering specific software, programming, and IT branches.
• The ability to select and allocate the specific training each department must follow.
• Control and minimize unnecessary training costs by limiting which courses are actually pertinent to individual employees.
• Measure the progress and success of each individuals understanding by means of self-assessments, quizzes, and hands-on practice lab simulations.
• Build a tailored system set to meet your specific company needs and priority.

YOUR HOSTED LMS
Building your own learning management infrastructure would require a prohibitive upfront investment in hardware, software, implementation, manpower, time constraints, security installations, and IT maintenance.

Using a Learning Management Software Hosting plan, you eliminate all those extraneous costs. You can now have a readymade tailored system to get your employees started immediately. For additional focus, you can request a custom hosting plan with branded logos and custom courseware to further enhance your online eLearning solution.

If required, your hosting plan may include the development and creation of custom designed video training for your company operations. It is one of the most powerful and economical tools for training new staff members, and can enormously cut down their crucial orientation time to begin productivity.

ADDITIONAL STAFF ENDUCEMENTS
Solid LMS isn’t restricted to career specific tasks only: it should include Soft Skills training programs, designed to help your executives and your management team gain the skills they need to compete, and thrive, in even stressful situations.

Soft Skills training includes valuable awareness and direction for management skills such as conflict resolution, marketing, motivation, risk and sales management, and a wide range of development tools to help build a professional staffing team.

One of the most popular business incentives is to provide access to additional training areas as a reward for great performances by your staff members. LMS Hosting provides you with that motivational edge to build the most dependable work team needed to handle all your clients’ needs.

In today’s competitive market, you simply can’t afford not to have your best people at their optimum proficiency. LMS can help you achieve your goals.