Meeting the challenge of
digitizing training
Digitizing training offers undeniable advantages: cost containment, personalized training courses, increased accessibility... It's a winning strategic choice. But you need to know how to digitize your training correctly. This digital transformation involves much more than simply simply transposing content. With a plethora of tools on the market and methodologies that are not always clear-cut, it's easy to get lost.
Where do you go? How do you get there? Which paths to follow and which to avoid?
We're your GPS for successful digital training!
Understanding the reasons behind the digitalization of training
First of all, let's take a look at the reasons for digitizing your training courses. Whether you want to limit and reduce costs, improve the training experience or even broaden the target audience for the training you deliver, let's take a look at the benefits of digitizing your training.
Reduce and limit training costs
Budgets are at the heart of most strategic decisions, and training is no exception. By analyzing your training offer and the needs of your learners, you will certainly come to the following conclusion: not all training needs to be face-to-face.
And face-to-face sessions involve both direct costs (travel, accommodation, meal trays, etc.) and indirect costs (putting a complete service on hold, closed production lines, energy consumption, etc.). Digitizing certain sessions has the direct effect of reducing or even eliminating these costs.
Investment in a Learning Management System (LMS) or other digitalization tool quickly pays for itself
thanks to the significant reduction in training costs generated by digitalization.
Improving the training experience
We'll develop this idea further in the article, but you should always bear in mind that the digitization of training is part of thelearner experience. It enriches it. Your compass remains and will remain the learners.
That said, digital is a real lever for improving the user experience: flexibility, rich content, improved knowledge retention, gamification... The benefits are numerous. With a view to increasing learner satisfaction, you can take a closer look at the functionalities of the tools available on the market and integrate new practices such as Social Learning.
Expanding the target audience
Digital means (in most cases) accessible to everyone, all the time. In fact, it may even mean accessible to everyone, all the time, for the same cost. Whether you're training one employee or a hundred, it's going to cost you the same: so why deprive yourself?
Note Please note: Some training modules may be subject to a fee or cost per learner. However, this cost will be significantly lower for digital than for face-to-face training.
This economy of scale isn't the only factor in broadening your target audience. Breaking down the barriers of constraints imposed by face-to-face training (such as the need for all learners to be available at the same time and in the same place) also enables you to widen your target: it's less restrictive to attend these classes. We train more, for less and more easily.
You'll almost certainly have to keep some face-to-face training or opt for blended learning. This will once again put up a barrier of constraints linked to face-to-face training. But don't panic: with the right tools, you can easily overcome this barrier. The Adesoft solutions solutions will not only propose schedules that respect all your constraints, but also optimize the use of your resources to limit your costs. Because it's also possible to train more, for less and more easily in the classroom!
Stages in the digitization of training
Digitizing training is good. Just any old way is not so good...
So far so logical? The problem is that digitizing training is a big, long project, and it's not easy to know where to start, what stages to follow and what indicators to track. The key lies in three words: methodology, communication and rigor, which, incidentally, are often the three principles of any project. So let's roll up our sleeves and tackle, step by step, the digitization of your training - always heading for success.
Understanding learners' expectations
We can't stress this enough: learners are your compass. And your north, their satisfaction. But to reach north, you really need to understand your learners, their expectations, their challenges and what motivates them. Basically, you'll need to make an identity card of each learner persona.
Don't just assume or put yourself in your learners' shoes. While this empathy is necessary for your project, it's not sufficient. Engage in direct conversations through surveys and interviews.
The reality of your learners goes beyond their work habits. You need to think about their learning preferences and expectations, as well as the potential obstacles and obstacles that could disrupt your training courses. Don't forget to think about thelearner experience throughout the entire training course!
Thinking about the digitalization of training
Digitization is not simply a replication of the face-to-face world. We need to understand the changes, opportunities and challenges it brings. While some challenges are common to all companies, others will be specific to yours and its needs.
These elements, added to the personas you've established, will enable you to define relevant learning objectives. There are several methods for setting these objectives, but if you want to make sure they're relevant, you can follow the SMART method. A good objective should be: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
The goals are set, but the work has just begun. You've identified different destinations with your compass. Now you need to know how to get there.
Here again, we need to think about the learner experience. The overall learner experience, to be more precise. Balance between face-to-face and distance learning, sessions to be digitized, impact on training content depending on the format: the training path needs to be optimized, fluid and coherent.
Simply thinking in terms of content without understanding the challenges of digitalization is a recipe for failure!
Defining the teaching scenario
You know where to go, the pitfalls to avoid and the factors to take into account when choosing your destination. All you need is a map. This map is the sequencing plan, the skeleton of your training courses. More or less detailed depending on your choices, it organizes your content in a logical and coherent way.
Make sure your teaching scenario includes :
- Number of teaching sequences, modules and courses
- Duration of each sequence and sequence-related sub-activities
- Objectives, sub-objectives and key messages for each sub-activity
- Teaching method and sequence of activities
- Broadcast media and format
Do you need help designing your training scenario and your training plan?
We detail the steps in our guide " 6 steps to a successful training plan "
Choosing and integrating your tool
This is a decisive step, and one you may even have expected to take long before. However, it must seem logical to you now that this choice should only come about after long reflection and the definition of a relevant sequencing plan. The tool you choose must correspond to the needs, objectives and challenges you've identified. What features do you need? How much can you afford? Your compass must remain your reality!
💡Psst The choice of a digitization solution can sometimes be complicated by the sheer number of existing solutions on the market. Learning Management Systems are invaluable tools, but here again the wealth of offerings can make the choice complex. We have deciphered for you the features to look for, market players and advantages of these tools in our our special LMS article !
Create and distribute content as needed
The creation of training content can be done at the same time as the choice of tool, or before, depending on your strategy. However, we recommend that you have a clear idea of your content strategy: you can develop your own training courses from scratch, or integrate existing courses into the chosen solution (or even mix original and existing content).
Here again (as at every stage), you need to put the learner at the heart of your creative processes. You'll need to adapt your training courses to the reality of e-Learning; normally this has already been thought through when defining the pedagogical scenarios. For example, you may have sequenced your content into small modules or very short video topics to maximize engagement. We can't stress this enough: face-to-face reality differs from distance learning! Mini articles, short videos, training courses on a particular theme... You start by creating your content according to your sequencing plan. Then you can distribute them on your platform!
⚠️ Make sure you communicate well when releasing new training courses. Communication is the key to ensuring the success of your training digitization (and not only!).
Test, learn, repeat
The digitalization of training does not stop with the distribution of digital content. You'll need to track your learners' progress and challenge the training provided. For example, a module might concentrate more failures in quizzes. You can also accumulate indicators and data from your tool, and use feedback to identify areas for improvement or, on the contrary, reinforce your best practices.
Yes, even in the final phase, your compass remains your learners!
The last word
Here you are, with a compass pointing north, key milestones and a detailed map. You're ready for the journey of digital training!
