When it comes to eLearning communities in an organizational setup, the concept of personal eLearning paths is gaining rapid popularity. The idea here is to give more importance to custom eLearning objectives instead of generalized courses and subjects. This allows the learners to achieve their objectives in multiple custom ways instead of focusing on a fixed path for eLearning.
In this post, we’re going to discuss eLearning paths in more detail, along with the benefits it brings to the businesses and expert tips to design great eLearning paths for employees.
What is an eLearning path?
An eLearning path is a curated selection of defined courses bundled together for learners to progress through mastering a particular area/subject/program. An incredibly simple yet very-powerful feature of any LMS, eLearning paths allows you to enroll multiple users in different courses at once, thus saving a significant amount of time and resources.
Custom learning paths follow a learner-centered approach that emphasizes the goals, preferences, and objectives of learners. They can have multiple benefits for businesses too. Some of these include –
- Creating a well-structured training program for employees
- Systematically driving the learner towards their goal
- An opportunity to address an individual’s needs and specific learning styles
- Custom eLearning paths give employees complete control over their own eLearning experience where they can acquire knowledge and retain skills more effectively
Also Watch the Video Below on: Transform your Training Program With Learning Paths
6 tips to create custom learning paths for employees
Instead of relying on a one-size-fits-all approach, custom eLearning paths are completely learner-centric and feature targeted activities and assessments that are fully customized based on employee needs. This allows the training managers to ensure that every learner has the chance to fill his/her unique performance gaps and reach their true potential.
1. Set Clear Learning Goals
While creating custom learning paths for each employee or learner, the goals and objectives of the eLearning course should remain an integral part of the overall training experience.
The first step towards creating a successful personal learning path strategy, therefore, is to develop a plan that effortlessly blends the specific needs of the employees with that of eLearning course essentials. Apart from the individualized goals and objectives set for employees, the learning path should also ensure that the learners walk away from the training experience with robust knowledge of the subject matter.
These goals can either be company-wide such as implementing a culture or strategic change, or department-wide such as targeted safety training for employees working in the warehouse. What is important here is to define a clear goal for a group like the new hires or the employees lacking in specific areas and needing improvement.
In case there is a long-term learning goal involved, it is recommended to break it down into smaller milestones to keep the employees engaged and motivated throughout.
2. Incorporate Various Learning Styles
A successful custom eLearning path for employees must cater to a varied set of learners. It is essential that the learning path you create is easily accessible to employees via different devices such as smartphones, desktops, laptops, or tablets.
Further, it should cater to the learning needs of different learners. For example – by incorporating podcasts for auditory learners that feature task performance tips, drag-and-drop serious games for kinesthetic learners, and engaging videos for visual learners, you can make sure that information disseminates effectively, giving an advantage of higher levels of employee engagement and retention of information.
3. Design a Skills Matrix
A skills matrix is essentially a tool to identify the specific knowledge and skill sets that are required to be successful at a particular job.
Designing a skills matrix at the beginning allows you to understand the specific employee needs from the training and help you find relevant content for your learners.
4. Include Relevant Personal Anecdotes
To make employees feel motivated and enhance their level of engagement in training, make sure to provide a lot of relevant personal anecdotes in the learning paths you create.
It helps them connect with the content much better and allows them to think of ways they can use the information in their own professional lives. Further, making these anecdotes interactive by adding a lot of images, videos, and audio is an excellent way to personalize the overall training process for better learning outcomes.
Also Read: Gamification – The Secret Sauce for Employee Engagement?
5. Take Feedback from the Employees
Personal eLearning paths you create should always incorporate inputs and feedback from the employees or learners. The effectiveness of a training module can only be increased if the employer or a training manager really knows how to align the training content with specific needs and of an employee.
Further, you need to make sure that the employees always feel a significant sense of control over their own learning experience while using these personal learning paths. An excellent way to do this is by including a navigation style that lets learners opt how they wish to move through the course along with the ability to take certain courses out of turn as per their individual requirements.
6. Develop Self-Assessments
Self-reflective assessments are an important aspect of creating great eLearning paths. They allow the employees to reflect on what they did well and what are the areas they need to improve upon.
You can do this by designing engaging quizzes or simulations that enable learners to test their own progress and comprehension. Also, make sure you give learners the chance to correct their own mistakes by including an answer sheet or self-grading rubric.
Also Read: How Can Enterprises Implement Simulation Training for Employees
To Conclude
The concept of personal eLearning path considers employee training as an ongoing process. It is an excellent way to give your staff the power to take charge of their learning and become active participants in the overall training process.
Further, they also help you facilitate a robust corporate learning culture that gives the dual benefit of enhanced employee satisfaction and retention of top talent. In fact, a growing number of companies are realizing the benefits of custom learning paths as the most efficient way to ensure a well-trained, skilled, and highly productive workforce.
With these pro-tips, you can create excellent learning paths for your employees and give them multiple opportunities to expand their knowledge and skillsets, and in the process build a successful eLearning culture.
Suggested Reads:
- 7 Tips to Create Custom E-Learning Content on a Budget
- Custom LMS- An Effective Way to Transform Employee Training
- 10 Reasons to Invest in Corporate Training Solutions
- How to Implement Microlearning in Corporate Training
- How to Leverage your LMS to Create a Blended Learning Environment
- Advantages of Mobile Learning Solutions for L&D Teams
