There’s only so much room in your budget for L&D, but you still need to impart the essentials and improve on-the-job performance. In this article, I’ll share 7 tips to develop more custom eLearning content without bending your budget.
How To Develop More Custom eLearning Content Without Bending Your Budget
You may think that custom eLearning content is out of your price range. That there simply isn’t enough time or money to build a program from the ground up. However, that’s just one way to tackle this issue. You can also use an eLearning content catalog, repurpose existing online training resources and get employees involved in the development process. All these techniques help you stretch your budget without breaking it. Which means that you can improve ROI and employee engagement simultaneously. What are some creative ways to create more custom eLearning content and maximize your L&D resources?
- Inventory Your Assets Through A Repurposing Lens
You may already have assets in your online training library that you can repurpose so you can meet your current training objectives, such as outdated webinars, online training tutorials or manuals. Using a rapid eLearning authoring tool and the right LMS you can breathe new life into shelved online training resources. This also guides your content development strategy. Given that you know what you have, what you lack and what the best delivery methods are. For example, LMS reports reveal that one approach may drive employee engagement more than another.
- Develop Personalized Paths Using eLearning Content Catalogs
Custom eLearning content doesn’t necessarily have to be built from scratch. In fact, you can use an eLearning content catalog to compile personalized paths without creating additional resources. For example, launch a business skill path that teaches the basics of work attire and how to handle challenging customers. Which serves as a great starting point for new hires who need to bring themselves up to speed, as well as seasoned employees who just need to brush up on their skills periodically.
- Pair Pre-Built eLearning Courses With Real-World Resources
Pre-built eLearning solutions offer employees know-how. While interactive online training resources help them use what they learned in a real-world context. As an example, the eLearning course teaches them how to deal with customer objectives. Then a simulation or branching scenario takes it further by exposing them to hesitant clients who test their ability to overcome the dreaded ‘no.’ Which also enables your employees to pinpoint areas for improvement and learn from their mistakes. Even watching a video snippet can help them see how it’s done and reflect on their own performance behaviors.
- Pre-Assess To Chart An Individualized Certification Course
Conduct online assessments and surveys beforehand to create a profile for each employee and identify common improvement areas. Then use your findings to chart an individualized certification course using an eLearning course catalog. Everyone has the chance to focus on eLearning courses that align with their goals, job duties and personal gaps. You can also develop specific certification online training programs for every department or job title. Your customer service team gets a customized certification course that covers everything from communication to time management skills. While the sales department has the opportunity to fine-tune their negotiation abilities and build more fruitful relationships with its clients.
- Launch A User-Generated Online Training Library
Invite your employees to make the most of the eLearning course catalog autonomously then use the information to create their own online training resources. This is beneficial on multiple levels. Firstly, they retain more information because they must be able to summarize the key ideas. Thus, they participate in the eLearning courses with a teaching mindset and are more likely to absorb the concepts. Secondly, you stretch your L&D resources because employees contribute to the cause. Lastly, staff members get more involved in the process and facilitate knowledge sharing. All this translates into improved ROI. Another way to build that user-generated online training library rapidly is to welcome personal anecdotes and real-world examples. These help others see the benefit of online training and how the online courses relate to their work duties.
- Prepare Managers With A Leadership Skills Course Guide
Your managers, supervisors and other leaders must be prepared to provide support to subordinates and set the example. But they need your support to become training advocates. Give them access to mentoring, succession planning and other key leadership skills courses from the eLearning content catalog. Create a guide that maps out their path and offers targeted recommendations so that they don’t have to search for relevant online training resources. Incorporate a progress bar or interactive checklist they can use to see how far they’ve come and where they need to go.
- Expand Your Reach By Launching A Custom External Partner Marketing Program
External partners need just as much training as your in-house staff. But their resources must be targeted to remote work duties AND internal know-how, such as company policies, so they can uphold your image and on-the-go customer service resources to hit their sales targets. An integral part of this strategy should be marketing skills courses that expand your reach and improve profits, ranging from brand management to digital marketing talents. They help the health of your bottom line, which allows you to allocate more funds to ongoing L&D. It’s a win-win.
You don’t have to have a big budget to create custom eLearning content for your team. Inventory your existing assets to look for online training content that can be repurposed. Use eLearning content catalogs to fill in the gaps and avoid development costs. Pre-assess to focus your efforts and launch a user-generated online training library to get employees involved and turn them into contributors. Finally, ensure that your external partners have all the resources they need to increase revenue so that you have more to work with.
After you’ve evaluated your in-house assets, scan the eLearning content catalog to see how it can help you enrich the online training experience, as well as stretch your budget and improve employee retention. It features a broad range of topics, from soft skills to compliance issues. You can even create customized certification courses and personalized paths using the pre-built courses.
To know more about the content catalog offered by Adobe Captivate Prime, please write to primecontentadmin@adobe.com.
You know, the problem I often run into is, “I know how to use [Software X], but I need to learn how YOU use it in practice”.
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