E-learning has become indispensable in many companies. However, there are still reservations, especially in small and medium-sized companies. Is your organization also struggling with the switch to digital learning? Look no further – these 10 e-learning benefits are bound to convince you and your superiors!
An Overview : 10 Benefits of E-Learning
Digital learning is on the rise, across all industries and company sizes! According to Randstad, beginning in 2020 and throughout the Pandemic, many organizations digitized their employee training and still continue to see e-learning as an increasingly important asset for business success.
Small and medium-sized companies tend to be more skeptical about e-learning. This is partly due to the fact that digital learning first requires the necessary technical infrastructure and technical application know-how to be implemented. It also requires a willingness to change the learning culture in the company.
However, all these are not insurmountable hurdles – they can also be solved together with a competent e-learning provider! 😉
With these 10 benefits, we show why every company should embrace e-learning!
1. Save Costs
Compared to traditional training programs such as seminars or on-site workshops, online courses and training are often much more cost-effective. Your company can save a lot of money because employees can take the training simultaneously and from any location, which in turn reduces travel and accommodation costs for on-site training, among other benefits.
In addition, employees can usually schedule their learning time more flexibly and complete courses at their own pace without affecting their workload. So not only can a learning platform help you train your employees, it can also bring significant savings to your business.
2. Maximize the Return on Learning
A digital learning platform can already lead to measurable cost savings in the short term, for example by minimizing travel costs and expenses for physical training. In this sense, cost savings already have a direct positive impact on the return on investment (ROI) of learning.
Furthermore, the use of a digital platform can increase the return on learning in the long term with regard to the learning effects for employees. They can be continuously trained and further educated, which leads to higher professional competence and productivity in daily work.
The decisive factor here is that up-skilling is scalable through a digital learning solution, which also makes learning success measurable. This means that learning in the company can be made even more efficient through digital solutions and thus have a lasting effect on the development of employees and the organization as a whole.
3. Make Learning Success Measurable
With a digital learning platform, your company can track and measure the progress and learning performance of your employees in real time. You can see exactly which courses and training have been successfully completed and where improvements are still needed.
This helps you and your company develop targeted training programs and ensure that your workforce is continuously improving their knowledge and skills.
Finally, the measurability of learning progress helps you determine the return on learning and demonstrate the effectiveness of your L&D strategy.
4. Retain Employees in the Long Term
Never have there been more job vacancies and longer unfilled position than in the current employee market!
A learning platform can help your company retain employees for the long term. 94% of LinkedIn users say they would have stayed longer with their last employer if the employer had invested in their professional development and training.
The right learning platform can have a positive impact on employee retention and ultimately on the success of your business. After all, it can be expensive to recruit and train new employees - and the trend is rising!
This is because, according to current projections, the working-age population (20 to 65 years old) in Germany will fall by around 4 million people as early as by 2030.
Especially in view of this increasing shortage of skilled workers, it is all the more important to develop employees from within the company!
5. Secure Future Viability
Rapid competition, highly complex markets, digital transformation: The only constant in today's business world is, change. To remain competitive and continue to grow, companies must constantly adapt and transform themselves.
A digital learning platform can help you and your company to identify skill gaps of your employees at an early stage. For example, you can identify which courses or training sessions are most frequently attended and on which topics there is the most lack of clarity.
With a learning engagement platform, you are particularly responsive at this point: You can address these skill gaps with either existing training courses or produce and integrate your own learning content without hassel.
Based on this, you can then take proactive measures to close any gaps and ensure that your employees are always up to date - and your company is prepared for future challenges!
6. Enable Learning According to Needs
With e-learning, companies have the opportunity to train employees according to their needs and to focus on the individual preferences of the learners. With online training, time and location barriers are eliminated first and foremost.
The learner-centered approach affects a total of four dimensions: time, place, learning path, and learning pace:
- Time: Learners decide for themselves when to engage with learning content, depending on the approach.
- Place: Learning methods in e-learning are not limited to a specific location, but can in principle take place regardless of location.
- Path: Depending on the approach chosen, learners can be self-direct themselves to some degree and may go through guided or group learning modules.
- Pace: Depending on the form of learning, e-learning enables a certain amount of autonomous learning with individual learning speed.
7. Increase Learning Success
According to the mmb Learning Delphi 2020/2021 trend study, blended learning will play the most important role in digital learning in the future. Almost 80% of L&D and HR managers see the availability of different forms of learning as essential or very important to support learning initiatives.
And there is good reason for this: Studies such as "The Effectiveness of Blended Learning in Corporate Training Programs" by Clark & Mayer suggest that integrating new learning methods and combining them with offline training leads to better learning outcomes.
So if you only offer offline training, you're not yet tapping into the learning potential of your employees! With e-learning providers, companies can meaningfully expand their training landscape and offer their employees both a more attractive and also more successful learning experiences.
8. Increase Learning Motivation
Pure classroom training is also less motivating for employees than a mix of offline and online training. That's what Will Talheimer found in a study that examined the impact of blended learning on learners.
Digital learning platforms such as Masterplan use gamification for this purpose. Learners receive points for completed lessons and can compete against each other in a ranking list. This is an additional incentive to continue learning!
However, e-learning in combination with face-to-face units can also promote social learning in other ways, for example by first teaching discussion topics in an online course and then holding a group discussion in-person session. In this way, e-learning can bring all participants up to the same level of knowledge and empower them for the activities in a face-to-face appointment.
9. Consolidate Knowledge Sustainably
As early as 1885, the German psychologist Dr. Hermann Ebbinghaus noted that there is a learning curve in the acquisition of new information and skills. Knowledge is lost over time without sufficient support and practice.
Learning is not an event, but a process!
So what can be done? In order to consolidate knowledge in the long term, it must be continuously repeated, relearned, reviewed and applied. This is exactly what can be ensured if your company replaces or supplements singular classroom events with continuous e-learning.
Online lessons for knowledge transfer can be combined with classroom sessions so that what has been learned in theory can then be applied in practice. In this way, new impulses are always set to reactivate the knowledge previously acquired.
Digital learning platforms such as Masterplan apply microlearning. This involves for example, dividing learning content into smaller learning units, such as short videos. Utilizing this format, employees can not only absorb compact "morsels of knowledge" within a few minutes, but also gradually explore specific topics at their own pace.
10. Improve Communication Within the Company
E-learning facilitates communication among learners through the use of technology, even if they do not meet in the same place at the same time.
On the one hand, this applies to synchronous exchange in learning groups and between learners and teachers, for example via video chat. On the other hand, digital learning platforms also offer the possibility for learners and teachers to exchange information asynchronously and thus quickly.
This also applies to blended learning: If, for example, questions about understanding can be shared and clarified via forums or chats before a classroom activity, there is more time for the actual learning content during the activity itself. And if presentations, recordings, or other information are available online afterwards, even those who are absent during the initial lesson, can be brought up to the same level of knowledge.
Furthermore, a learning platform can serve as a collection of resources so that learners can continuously access learning materials, course plans and information on learning progress.
Conclusion: Shaping the Future With Digital Learning
In summary, the many advantages of e-learning for both employees and the company dwarf the possible reservations towards it.
Of course, the learning culture changes with the introduction of digital learning and, of course, the technical infrastructure and equipment may be needed. Nevertheless, learning does not have to be converted from analog formats to digital ones, right away!
There are many ways to gradually expand classroom formats to include digital forms of learning and therefore, gradually establish the topic of e-learning in one's own company. And the right e-learning provider also supports implementation at the technical and strategic level.
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Manfred Rump
