Considered as one of the most effective techniques for employee training, training modules are one of the most frequent choices businesses resort to. The primary goal of any training module is to impart specific skills to the audience that work in the real world. If your audience isn’t comfortable coping up with real-life challenges in their jobs despite the training, consider your  efforts to have gone down the drain.  Quite frustrating, isn’t it? Having a roadmap before you proceed with the module creation can prevent such setbacks and ensure your courses deliver exactly what they promise.  If you want to set a benchmark for your online courses, simply ask these questions before you even create your first module. Make sure you nod “Yes” to each of these questions. Take a look.

1. What are the problem areas?

Of course, the first thing you need to do is to clearly define the problem at hand. This will serve as an introduction to your module. It will be the backbone of the entire training process, so be sure to focus on this aspect until you get it right. Is your module trying to help the audience with advanced IT skills? Or, it intends to cover only the basic concepts? Asking such questions can help you uncover the problem areas that your audience might be facing, which can be addressed through training. You need to know where your audience stands at the moment and where they need to transition.  If you are unsure, create online training, conduct a quick meeting or an online poll or survey might help.

2. Who is the Audience?

So, we now know WHAT we are supposed to teach. Now, the question is TO WHOM? Every industry has its own ins and outs. More importantly, every industry has its lingo. For instance, a “purple squirrel” would sound like something from a cartoon to most, whereas, for recruiters, it is a: “product of the vivid imagination of over-ambitious hiring managers”. To start off, three factors might help:

Age
Education
Demographics

If you try to build a “one size fits all” training course, there is a high likelihood of failure. If you fail to understand the right audience, you will end up creating a course that will alienate them. Imagine creating a rocket science course for a 5th grader or a drawing course for a scientist. Although too polar an example, it’s important to target the right audience. Only then you can ensure whatever information you offer is relevant that can further their learning objectives.

3. What is your delivery approach?

By now, people have come up with all sorts of advice on how to effectively create online training modules. Technology has come a long way, and avoiding the perks it provides is definitely the wrong way to go. That’s why, when approaching your training module creation process, you cannot stray away from online training software.

There really is no point in having to use several different pieces of software when everything is neatly organized and provided in one place.

By utilizing a powerful software solution, you will be able to create your modules quickly, efficiently, and you will be able to distribute them easily. One could say that this is like taking a shortcut, but this implies that you are skipping certain steps, taking the easy road. In this case, that’s simply not true, as by utilizing online training software, the end result will be better and the software will help you organize everything neatly.

You will be able to add different types of media, create quizzes, and use other functionalities, which will, again, improve the employees’ retention.

4. What’s the Module Length?

This is a crucial question to ask. You have to hit the sweet spot, which means that you shouldn’t keep it too short – as you won’t be able to convey the message properly – nor should you keep it too long – as this will make the module dull.

But, another problem arises here – some topics are pretty hard to cover within a reasonable time limit. If you are dealing with complex topics, instead of creating one big module where you will explain everything, divide the subject matter into logical sections and create multiple modules, each covering a certain aspect of the problem.

5. What are the success parameters?

This is where online training software can come to the rescue again. Create online training courses of which one segment is for reporting and the other is for analyzing results. The software will help you see how your module is being received, if there are any problems with the content, and if so, you will be able to act accordingly and fix the issues. This will help you reach the ultimate goal – creating a flawless training module – faster than with any other tool. Setting the right parameters for success can help. To assess if you have created a good online training module, ask these questions:

Does the module tells a story?
Does it have gamification elements?
Can a beginner understand the contents?
Does the module have a visual appeal?
Are the voice-overs clear and compelling?

Approach Online Modules, One Step at A Time

Finally, training modules have to be worked on. Time passes, situations change, industries change, and it is vital to stay on top of it all and keep your training modules up-to-date. If you skip this, you will end up with an ineffective module. We will say it again: if the learner is not able to retain the needed knowledge, the module is pointless.

So, make sure to keep everything mentioned above in mind, check other sources for some actionable advice and be as thorough as you can be. Properly trained employees will work hard to boost your revenue, and this is the end goal of any business. Good luck.

Kamy Anderson, Market Researcher at ProProfs, Los Angeles, California