Are you planning your online training strategies? A lot of businesses are going through the same as you. Over the years, more companies have invested in online learning. Not only that, they have pledged to increase their budgets – which means freedom to get more sophisticated programs that can be used to create online courses.
Of course, being trusted with so much to train employees comes with a lot of responsibilities. You want to make sure that the online courses that you will use will really benefit the company and the business processes that are making everyone profitable. For this to happen, you need to plan your strategies carefully.
Brainstorming is an important part of the planning session. To cover all the bases, you also need to make sure that you ask the right questions that will lead you to answers that will give your direction. When creating a training course, there are three important things that you have to clarify. The first is the outcome that you want to get out of the course. The second one involves the audience. The third is the content.
To get clear answers for all three, here are the questions that you need to answer as you make plans for your online training strategies.
How does the business define success?
First and foremost, you need to determine what is successful in the eyes of the business. They are the ones investing in the course. It also has to meet the needs of the company. To make the question more precise, you probably need to ask yourself: what need has to be addressed to make the company more successful? This question will help you identify what problem has to be solved. It will help filter and give the rest of the training program more direction. Not only that, it will help you identify what strategies you can use to meet the need.
Who will use the course?
This answers the question about the audience. Try not to generalize all the employees working in the company. They have different jobs and responsibilities. You can also expect that their needs are different – that means you might have to train them differently. This is why it is important to define who will use the course. This will lead to a lot of questions that will help you later on as you continue planning. Among the questions that you need to keep on asking yourself includes what they need, their foundation of knowledge, personal learning preferences, etc. Once you have answered all of these, it should be easier for you to progress to the next question.
What content will you use?
There is a vast amount of information to be shared online. How will you know what to prioritize? You cannot just take a content and use it. You need to keep it all precise and short to avoid cognitive overload. Fortunately, this question is easily answered if you answer the first two questions thoroughly. The previous answers will give you the right strategy and frame to work with as you choose and shape the content that you will use for the online course.
Once you have answered all of these questions, you should be able to create an effective and successful online training course.