Design Learner Success Into Your Curriculum

Do you remember the first time you baked a cake, or drove a car, or built a deck, or installed a piece of software? Were you on your own or was there someone there to show you, assist you, help and support you, encourage you?

Think of a time when you were doing something for the first time and you weren't sure what to do. Do you recall your feelings of frustration, and then finally relief when you had someone to turn to for help?

As facilitators of e-learning in corporate environments, it is our responsibility to do what we can to ensure that both the organization and the individual learners gain the maximum benefit from all learning or training initiatives. We have a responsibility to ensure that as many success factors as possible are in play.

Discussions about e-learning in corporate training environments attract the attention of executives interested in addressing escalating training costs and in using technology to train employees. The implied e-learning promise is that efficiencies realized through training will go straight to the bottom line while revenue growth resulting from training will go straight to the top line.

While true that training efficiencies can be realized from the use of e-learning in corporate environments, it is also true that there can be significant up-front investments. The price of failure can be high, resulting in future training initiatives being given a rough ride. If e-learning is not perceived as a positive experience by the learners, they could disengage from the process entirely. And if the bottom line investment in e-learning initiatives at the corporate level is significant, the cost of learner disengagement has the potential to be significantly higher.

Using Your Trainers
For new e-learners, the logistics can be daunting. If you have taken the time to understand who your e-learners are, and if you have identified those individuals who may be at risk as a result of their lack of experience with computers and online environments, having a go-to person available for them to turn to can make the difference between a frustrating experience that will discourage them from trying again, and a good experience that will have them excited about exploring future learning opportunities. Even the best designed e-learning programs cannot compensate for a helping hand that is responsive and capable of assisting new learners when needed—a process to support new e-learners.

One of the key challenges to overcome when implementing an e-learning curriculum is what is known as the "if you build it, they will come" philosophy (à la 1989's Field of Dreams). Just because your organization has invested in an e-learning option, doesn't mean that it will succeed. A few posters promoting it here and there, or perhaps an online tutorial, will not automatically make it a resounding success. Our role as facilitators of learning, whether in-school or in-corporation, is about helping learners make necessary connections.

Recently, an impartial study conducted at a Fortune 500 multi-national organization revealed that employees enrolled in e-learning felt they had little support from management to learn during working hours. The employees felt they were receiving mixed messages. Although the company was providing resources for the employees to develop their professional skills, and hence be better at what they do on the job, it also sent the message the e-learning should be completed on the employees' own time, at home or during a lunch hour. The employees were discouraged before they even began the learning process.

Trust mechanisms have to be built into the online learning experience. A learner should have the confidence that the organization supports and encourages e-learning efforts.

In-Class Orientation
Having an in-class orientation, when possible, is one method of building that trust mechanism into the online learning experience and in preparing new e-learners for success.

While it may seem counterintuitive to launch a new e-learning initiative by first having an traditional face-to-face workshop, such an undertaking will allow for learners of similar backgrounds (i.e., familiarity and comfort with computers and the online world) to work with the organization's e-learning champion to approach the program positively and with a plan for success.

Armed with information about the learners, including each person's level of computer literacy (there are many people who know how to use the software required for their job, and no more), you can bring together people who have similar levels of experience for the in-class orientation.

One of the objectives of the in-class orientation is to support the learners as they become comfortable using the portal. Walk the learners through the whys of the e-learning program first, and then help them log-in and complete a short, single-module e-learning offering. Be patient, answer questions, and be supportive.

Work with learners to set e-learning goals and objectives that are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timed. If fashioned properly, the learning goals set will allow e-learners to focus and generate a feeling of success. Success will breed more success and excitement, resulting in a win for both the learner and the organization. Discouragement will breed failure and discontent, resulting in resources being wasted needlessly.

Let My People Learn!
Managers, with the support of the organization, must be willing to let their people learn. Better still, both employees and employer must be willing to contribute to the learning process for it to be successful.

Time should be built into the workday to accommodate regularly-scheduled e-learning periods, for example, every Tuesday from 11a.m. to noon. Employees must commit to investing their time, too, such as being willing to extend the 11-to-noon schedule through their lunch hour to 1p.m. A simple activity plan with built-in check points will ensure that a schedule like this works and is followed.

The objective is for both managers and employees to see and experience the benefit of providing paid time to develop skills that will assist moving the team and organization forward.

E-learning initiatives won't be successful on their own, in the same way that a face-to-face instructor-led workshop can't function without an instructor. Learning is about making connections, and our role as facilitators is to help learners to make those connections. Be careful not to let the e-learning mode of delivery lull you into a sense of set-it-and-forget-it complacency. Continue to reach out and connect with learners to help them succeed, regardless of the mode of learning being used.