E-learning and LMS blog articles

You've probably got a decent training programme. You've probably got a crack team of L&D professionals.

You've probably got the expertise, the patience, and the tools at your disposal to deliver your learning to your entire workforce. But here's the real issue:

Learning is a two-way street.

If you want to see real success with your training, you need your learners to be just as involved and motivated as you are.

And that means you need to get inside their minds.

Here are 5 of the quickest and easiest ways to give your training engagement the boost it needs – from the content you create to the rewards and recognition you hand out:

1. Create incentives for your staff

Unfortunately, the promise of wisdom alone isn't always enough. If you want to see your staff jumping into their eLearning courses sooner, you might need to offer things like:

• Flexible work hours (or days off) specifically allocated for completing training – so your workers can learn comfortably at home and spend more time with their families

• Financial rewards for each completed course – like a small bonus on their pay check (or a gift card)

• New job titles for your staff as they hit their training milestones – from 'Technical Consultant' to 'Technical Specialist' to 'Technical Coordinator'.

2. Give them a shout-out

According to Glassdoor's Employee Appreciation Survey, 81% of employees say they're motivated to work harder when their boss shows them appreciation for their work.

But the sad truth is that 58% of workers say they rarely get a thank you.

So while you could spend money on pay check bonuses and gift cards from your partners, there's a much faster, easier, and cheaper way to drive engagement in your learners:

When your staff complete their courses or hit important milestones, single them out. Name them, thank them, and tell them 'Good job!'.

(And for bonus points, make sure you do it publicly – so every other worker sees it!)

3. Keep your learning content simple and short

If there's one thing that can easily turn off your most motivated learners, it's having to slog through a lengthy course with hundreds of individual steps.

Most people these days don't like to learn that way. They prefer short, digestible chunks of learning that can be linked together to form a comprehensive whole.

This bite-sized learning structure is called microlearning – and 58% of employees say they're more likely to use online learning tools if the content is broken up in this way.

4. Create content with a social element

One of the best things about modern Learning Management Systems (LMS) is their ability to connect learners together. As your staff work through their courses, they can discuss and consult with other learners through forums and instant messengers.

But it doesn't just make learning easier. It also adds an element of competition and accountability that simply isn't there when workers learn in isolation.

And this element of competition works perfectly in tandem with gamification.

That might sound like a buzzword. But in practice, gamifying your eLearning content just means bringing together different motivators – such as competition, recognition, progress, and rewards – and applying them to the structure of your learning programmes.

Your learners might take timed quizzes and see their best scores on a leader board against their colleagues. Or they might earn points, badges, and stars to unlock advanced courses or real-world rewards and incentives.

And the result? Your staff become more motivated to complete their courses – and this motivation is independent of the content of the course itself.

In fact, almost 80% of learners say they would be more productive if their organisation was more game-like, and over 60% would be motivated by leader boards and increased competition.

5. Take a cheeky shortcut

Creating new and engaging learning courses isn't easy. It takes time, careful planning, and lots of testing.

But for many businesses, there's an easier way:

You can just use the courses that are already proven to be engaging.

With an online marketplace like GO1, you can choose from thousands of pre-built courses from the top training providers in the world – giving you a fast and easy shortcut to e-learning courses with a track record of high engagement.

"We see so many businesses with the drive and desire to create fantastic eLearning courses," says Ollie Browning, Head of Sales UK forGO1. "But in reality, they don't always have the experience, time or resources to build their ideal programme. Luckily, we also see plenty of businesses jumping straight to success by curating our established learning resources to build out blended programmes or providing employees bite sized content to support them in their role. And with a partner like Hubken Group to guide them through it, we're seeing more successful businesses than ever before."

Ready for some real engagement?

These quick ideas are just the tip of the iceberg.

If you're looking to create the kind of top-notch eLearning that your company deserves (with the kind of learner engagement that can knock your CEO's socks off), give us a call or send us a message – we'll be more than happy to show you what we can do.

About Hubken

The Hubken Solution comprises powerful, flexible and tailored Learning Management System (LMS) services for organisations of all sizes. Leveraging the power of Moodle or Totara platforms we provide you with the tools to achieve outstanding eLearning outcomes, supporting you in areas including LMS hosting, installation, user training, content development, reporting and more.