A large number of educational institutions and students today are moving towards online digital courses in almost every field. The methods used by online learning programs are primarily aimed at delivering the best possible learning outcomes in the digital world, thus contributing to the overall vision of the educational institutions.
In digital learning program development, courses are designed to maximize instructor-student and student-peer relationships through a range of highly effective and collaborative instructional tools and methods. The objective of each course is to create an interactive experience wherein students can actively engage in the learning process.
10 Reasons why Educational Institutions should invest in Online Learning Programs:
With online learning programs, education and digital solution providers can reach out to the masses without having to set up a massive physical infrastructure or incurring various administrative costs. Apart from this, there are several other benefits of investing in digital learning programs.
1. Online Learning Programs provide targeted and timely assistance to students
Investing in digital learning programs provide instructors/teachers with access to course-specific learning analytics data that allows them to offer early and individualized interventions to students. Thus, helping them connect with the additional academic and social support they may need to succeed.
2. Combine various learning methods
Digital learning programs make for a wise investment for educational institutions as it allows them to cater to the different learning styles of the students. While some are visual learners, others prefer to learn through a more realistic and hands-on approach instead. Institutions can, therefore, employ content that appeals to varied learning styles and boost their strategy through a blended learning approach.
3. Saves time and money
A digital learning program not only saves cost, but it also reduces the amount of time taken away from attending the physical classes. Research also shows that a digital learning course can take up to 75% less time as compared to a traditional classroom course.
4. Digitized content
In an online learning program, students get high-quality academic content supported by videos and images, which is easy to read & understand and is delivered through various modes such as smartphones, computers, and other electronic gadgets for ease of learning.
5. Effective assessments
Digital learning is a great way for continuous feedback from content-embedded assessments, simulations, games, and other forms of adaptive learning modules. It allows students to track their own progress and remain motivated to do better.
6. Create a network of learning that supports students systematically
Online learning programs help institutions empower their students to drive their own continuous learning through a robust digital infrastructure that enables everywhere, all-the-time learning.
The model supports the varied learning pathways students pursue. It is flexible enough to accommodate the learner’s needs & interests while being responsive to various constraints around the schedule, financial means, and more.
7. Allow students and institutions to adjust the timing and format of education to fit other priorities
Online learning programs enable universities, colleges, and other education providers to offer learning solutions at various times and through multiple means of delivery, such as online, mobile, blended approach, and through competency-based education models.
8. Collaborative learning
The process of online learning program development powers collaboration among the students and makes it super easy for teams to learn and co-author documents.
9. Relevant and updated content
With eLearning modules, students have access to relevant and regularly updated content. Digital programs with online adaptive skill-building also allow education providers to personalize in fresh and exciting ways.
10. Expanded learning opportunities
Online learning programs help educational institutions extend learning opportunities for their students. With access to a range of online learning programs, students can easily reach out for curriculum and content in different formats/languages for better learning outcomes.
5 Things to Consider before Selecting a Partner for an Online Learning Program
Developing a robust online learning program can be a challenging task. It requires a lot of hard work to come up with an eLearning model that can successfully capture the learners’ attention and interact with them while imparting the necessary knowledge and skills in a fun way. To put it simply, the process of developing a digital learning program is much more sophisticated than just presenting the classroom learning content on a powerpoint slide.
Creating a good elearning course that has all the necessary multimedia elements along with interactive mechanisms, appropriate learning methodology, and the right content requires the expertise of a talented team with qualified instructional designers, subject matter experts, and multimedia experts.
To make it easy for you, here are the top 5 things to consider before selecting a vendor for developing digital learning program-
a) Expertise and experience of the vendor
When choosing the correct elearning vendor for developing your online learning program, make sure to take into account both their expertise and experience in the field.
b) Portfolio and key resources
It is imperative to check the generic portfolio and the key resources that the company has built over a period of time. This gives you a fair idea of how your chosen vendor works as well as their capabilities.
c) Scalable solutions
Another important consideration while choosing a vendor is to check whether they are willing to up their resources to meet your specific requirements as and when you scale your operations over time. This is largely in terms of resources, necessary infrastructure, and robust processes to meet specific demands.
d) Smooth project management processes
When it comes to learning program development, one of the factors that define the smooth execution of projects is how well-defined and seamless the company’s processes are. While picking a vendor, make sure to check their processes, how they handle various stages of a project, their frequency of communication, and what is their strategy to handle exceptions.
e) Customer testimonials
Testimonials from previous clients is another important factor before deciding on a vendor for digital learning program development. The company you have shortlisted might have great processes, samples, and enough experience in the field, but what their existing clients feel about them can be a great differentiator.
To Sum It Up
More and more educational institutions today are realizing the importance of online learning program development as it puts the entire learning power in the hands of students. They can not only control what they wish to learn but also how and when. This leads to much better outcomes and allows educational institutions to strengthen their system and its core objectives.