Online corporate training is becoming popular today. Organizations prefer that their employees are trained online so that the training does not interfere with their routine work.
Corporate organizations want their employees to undergo corporate eLearning courses to improve their skills, learn new skills, and be more focused on their work.
Organizing regular training is expensive and in today’s situation where work from home is common, it is difficult to implement.
Organizations work with leading portals to offer eLearning courses to their employees.
Employees can undergo skill-based training and online academic courses online. This is an area where organizations invest money and employees invest time.
As a result, it is important to ensure the outcome of training is effective.
The training provided needs to be effective and meet the purpose of both the organization and the employees. Training activities can help in achieving this.
The following are 10 such online training activities that can be included in all corporate eLearning courses to ensure effective course delivery.
1) Quick learning or bite-sized learning
Not all training needs to be detailed or requires many days to be conducted. Some training is conducted to work as a refresher to update or reinforce concepts.
Certain topics to be trained are short in nature. Bite-sized or quick learning can help in this.
This kind of learning can be offered as short modules online where the trainee can complete the courses in a short duration.
This is more effective since trainees learn better if the training duration is short.
Training of long duration is not likely to be effective and hence quick learning modules can make training more effective.
2) Case studies
One of the tools or activities for training is a case study. A case study is a narration of how the concept being learned has been practically implemented.
For instance, if the trainee is undergoing a course on workplace safety, then a case study of an organization that has actually implemented this in the organization can be used.
The case study would help trainees attend practical aspects of theoretical concepts.
The case study can cover an organization, a department, or a unit to understand how the concept being discussed was used.
This is a real-world usage of a concept. It would help the trainee understand practical aspects in a more clear way.
3) Online simulation
A simulation is an interactive way of understanding a real-life situation in an artificial setting. For instance, pilots would use a simulator with software to learn how to fly a plane before they actually set foot in one.
This kind of simulation provides real-world experience through artificial settings. It can be very helpful in getting an idea of reality without actually experiencing it.
This is particularly useful for complex situations or those that have risks.
It allows a trainee, for instance, to operate a machine or carry out a complicated operation without experiencing the risks or downsides of it.
This is a great way to learn complex operations.
4) Demonstration
Rather than watch a video where someone talks about something, it is more effective to watch a video where someone actually does it.
For instance, instead of talking about how to operate a machine, a video showing the usage of the machine would be more effective. It helps the trainee understand what should be done.
Show and tell is one of the best ways to learn. Rather than just learn theory, seeing it in action through a demo would be more effective.
5) Role-playing
One of the effective online corporate training activities is role-playing scenarios. This helps to put the trainee in a situation where how the trainee response can be visualized.
A role-playing scenario of a customer service representative talking to a customer can be done during the live training or a recorded video shown.
This helps to understand how real situations happen and how the trainee should behave in such situations. Various role-playing activities can be carried out covering different situations.
This provides the trainee a better perspective of scenarios and appropriate behavior/actions.
6) Group activities
Activities done in a group are always more effective than those done by one person.
Even an eLearning course can make use of group activities, including online brainstorming sessions done through video chat or even text chat.
These group activities would ensure the exchange of ideas and allow employees to learn from each other and appreciate other perspectives.
The biggest benefit of group activities is that they foster teamwork, which is important to achieve organizational goals.
7) Projects
A project is where all that has been learned is practically out into practice.
For instance, if an employee learns a new programming language, then the employee can individually or with others carry out an online project.
This project would represent a problem for which a solution has to be worked out.
Project team members need to create modules, develop them, test, and integrate them to create a workable solution.
A project is a complex set of activities that need to be carried out systematically.
Doing a project is the best way of learning how to carry out all tasks related to a particular mission/objective.
This is the best training activity to ensure practical application of all that has been learned.
8) Games
A game is not merely a fun activity but can be used to reinforce a concept.
Management games are a popular way where concepts can be learned and its application understood by playing games during a training session.
These are serious games that can even be implemented as video games.
For instance, to learn about sales, a game can be created where trainees need to sell products in the game and move ahead until they win.
They can get points for sales done and even advance levels to ace the game.
9) Online training assessment
One of the key elements of the online training course is assessment.
A formal assessment through a quiz, test, or any other such method can be very helpful in knowing how much the trainee has learned.
Assessments need not be done at the end of the training but can happen throughout. It is easy to implement online.
Trainees can undergo assessments where they would be allowed to test their understanding of what they have learned.
It enables the trainer to assess participants and give them feedback on areas they need to improve.
Assessments are an essential training activity that every eLearning course must include.
10) Online tools
Once the training is complete, the employee needs to implement all that has been learned at work. To do this effectively, there can be online tools for guidance and implementation.
The training can focus on how to use such training tools or online resources effectively. Once the trainees understand how to use these tools, they can use them at work.
These tools not only help in implementing all that is learned but is an effective productivity-enhancer.
The above ten activities can be included in all online training conducted in corporate eLearning courses. Including these activities would make training more effective.
It would ensure that the outcome of the eLearning course would be beneficial for the trainees and the organization.
The article has been written by Marilou Alcaide, a marketing writer at Coggno Inc. that offers an online training platform for employees & students. Creating appealing content to engage the readers all around the world is the author’s keen desire.
