Costly Mistakes To Avoid When Implementing Your Rapid eLearning Design
Everybody’s allowed to make mistakes from time to time. You know what they say, “to err is human, to forgive divine.” But let’s face it, some errors are harder to forgive than others, especially when you’re implementing rapid eLearning design and things go south. These mistakes put you over budget and push back your launch, not to mention they cause undue stress for everyone else involved. Fortunately, knowledge is power. So, you can avoid all these costly pitfalls by learning from someone else’s slip-ups. Steer clear of these 7 common rapid eLearning development mistakes at all costs.
eBook Release
Always Relevant, Never Outdated: Your Rapid eLearning Guide
Should your L&D department implement a rapid eLearning strategy? This rapid eLearning guide will help you answer that question based on your objectives and use case.
1. Trying To Cram In Too Much Information
Cognitive overload is a real and present danger for your staffers. Rapid eLearning doesn’t mean that you should pack an entire course into a microlearning tutorial. You can’t cram too much information into a single activity. In fact, it’s best to break lengthy topics into bite-sized resources. There’s a catch to that, however, which I’ll cover in the next item on our list. The goal is to include complete learning units so that employees can get the information they need and move on. For example, they want to brush up on their product knowledge before a big client meeting. So, they watch the demo video or listen to the quick perks podcast while they’re in the waiting room.
2. Confusing Learners With Fragmented Online Training Experiences
As promised, this is the other end of the “condensed content” spectrum. Feel free to reuse existing content and divide it into bite-sized chunks but avoid oversimplification or fragmented ideas. For instance, you only include a small snippet of the task for the sake of time. You think it will help employees zero in on that aspect of the process, which is usually where they make most mistakes. However, this only leads to confusion because that step is out of context. They need to be able to see what comes before and after to frame it in their minds and apply it on the job.
3. Rushing Through The Rapid eLearning Design Process
It seems like the whole team is constantly glancing at their watches. You’re racing through the rapid eLearning design process because the deadline is quickly approaching, but this typically leads to costly mistakes and missed online training opportunities. It’s true, rapid eLearning gets its name for a reason. It’s faster to develop and deploy as well as consume. On the other hand, you must still have a strategy and be methodical about content creation and curation. Don’t skip steps because you’re pressed for time, because it shows in the final product.
4. Converting Content Instead Of Giving It A Modern Makeover
Some organizations make the mistake of straightforward conversions. They simply convert Flash to HTML5 and call it a day. But that doesn’t mean your “fresh” content is ideal for modern employees. You should still add new elements to make it more relevant for your team and achieve current online training objectives. For example, add audio narrations, interactions, resource links, and updated images to your new HTML presentation.
5. Overlooking Crucial L&D Assets
There’s nothing worse than letting perfectly good assets go to waste, particularly when you’re trying to cut costs and stretch available resources. This is why it’s so crucial to look in every nook and cranny of your online training repository. You never know what will be hiding on the virtual shelves just waiting to bring benefits to your remote workforce. Of course, you still need to dust them off and think of creative ways to add them to your rapid eLearning design. You may want to ask your L&D team for a detailed inventory of your archive or to make recommendations about materials you can reuse for your current project.
6. Missing Out On Employee Feedback
It’s a good idea to go straight to the source. Employees must use rapid eLearning resources to bridge gaps and improve performance behaviors. As such, you should get their input every step of the way. What do they expect from online training? Is there anything they’re missing from the JIT support library? Are your current courses too long? Above all, does your L&D program align with their job roles and career trajectories? Surveys, focus groups, and assessments are valuable tools to gather staff feedback.
7. Not Creating Rapid eLearning Design Assessment Criteria
Rapid eLearning doesn’t give organizations an excuse to skip all the post-course pleasantries. You still have to follow up and assess overall success at the individual level and company-wide. This starts with clear criteria and measurable goals. How are you going to bring employees from point A to B as quickly as possible, without sacrificing long-term retention? How will you monitor their progress and disclose emerging gaps? It’s not enough to simply evaluate performance at the end of each activity either. You have to continually assess their growth and the efficacy of your rapid eLearning plan over time. Does it still align with your objectives and their personal goals?
Conclusion
Fortunately, all these rapid eLearning design mistakes are relatively easy to remedy. So, if you’re guilty of these faux pas, there’s still time to correct them. If you’re flying solo, consider collaborations with in-house experts. Otherwise, you may want to hire an eLearning content provider to fill in the gaps and bring their rapid eLearning development niche know-how. After all, they’ve probably already lived through all these mistakes or, at least, seen the fallout from them. Some even specialize in training needs analysis and rapid eLearning. Thus, they can help you every step of the way and offer an outside perspective.
Are you looking for the best rapid eLearning content provider for your SMB? Our eBook has all the insider info you need to choose the right online training solutions company. Always Relevant, Never Outdated: Your Rapid eLearning Guide also features steps to launch a successful rapid eLearning plan for your organization.
Homebase
Make work easier. Running a small business has never been harder. Homebase helps with free tools to track time and manage your team.
