Understanding your learners: how to provide them with the best learning experiences

Even the best Learning and Development teams can often have trouble delivering content to an entire network of learners and getting them to actually complete the training! Without having an understanding of your unique learners, their needs and what constitutes a good learning experience, engagement and completion rates will never be where you want them to be. So let’s dive into how to provide your team with the best learning experiences every time.

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Deliver consistent content

A common problem L&D teams may come across is conflicting content. That’s because they handle the training side and not every single communication that goes out to employees company-wide. Content across news articles, operations manuals, training materials, etc. aren’t always in-sync and that can cause a lot of confusion for your learners at the best of times, and non-compliance at the worst of times! Ensure that all your content is consistent everywhere it lives. This is made much easier with a single point of truth. With a system that automatically updates across your policies, procedures, news articles and everywhere else your content lives when you make a change, you can be confident that your learners are never getting any inconsistent or conflicting information.

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Offer different activity types

Not everyone learns the same. You probably remember this from back in your school days, when you would really hate taking down notes from what was written on the board, but the person next to you would love that. Provide your learners with different activity types so everyone gets a bit of how they love to learn. But it’s not just about satisfying different learning styles, it’s also about keeping things fresh and engaging for your learners. By creating training programs filled with a wide array of content types (videos, slideshows, workshops, written content, etc.) and different assessment types such as written assessments, quizzes, policy sign-offs, observations, etc. you will be creating well-rounded programs that are going to engage your team more. 

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Non-essential training is a must-have

L&D teams may often look at mandatory training as the only must-haves and all other training as just nice-to-haves. Looking at non mandatory training as nothing more than an afterthought is a huge mistake. That’s because companies that offer non-mandatory training whether that be internally or externally see these benefits:

• Increased job satisfaction
• Higher levels of motivation
• Better engaged staff
• More innovation
• Diversity of skills among your team

Many of your employees want to upskill themselves and learn more about their roles, their industry and anything else that can impact their work. Ensure you are either offering different courses that your team can enrol themselves in, or encouraging them to seek out further development. 

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Invest in a top-notch LMS

A training program is only as good as the Learning Management System it lives in. So if you have an old and ineffective LMS (or even worse, if you don’t have an LMS at all), your learners won’t be getting the best experience. When thinking about moving LMS’s or acquiring one for the first time, make sure to add these things to your essential features list:

• Flexible assessment types: Your LMS should offer multiple different types of assessments, such as: quizzes, workshops, observations, sign offs and more. 
• Detailed and customisable reporting: Your reports shouldn’t just tell you who has or hasn’t completed their learning, it should provide you with real insights that can help you spot the star learners and identify areas in need of overhaul 
• An integratable system: Your LMS needs to talk to your other systems to sync up your messages and maintain consistency. 
• Compatible with SCORM: Any LMS you choose needs to be compatible with the industry standard for eLearning.

Of course, you’ll need to define your own shopping list for the right LMS for you, but those are a few to get you started on the great LMS search.

If you need assistance with providing killer learning experiences for your team, check out Learn Central; Ideagen Op Central’s purpose-built LMS trusted by leading franchise and multisite businesses.