Library vs Customized Training
Investing in library content can be a great way to go for courses that are delivered with high-quality content, developed and tested beforehand.
Learning management systems (LMS) are a great way to achieve corporate training goals by making onboarding a smooth and uniform process, keeping your employees up-to-date on any new trends in your field, updating amended policy information, or completing necessary compliance training. Online learning can provide a wide array of extra learning opportunities in addition to the mandatory information that employees must learn to carry out the functions of their jobs. It’s up to you to decide how best to provide engaging content and get the most out of your investment.
Before you move forward in your quest to load your LMS with content, it’s important to take a long, hard look at your past and current training programs. Identify any skill gaps and areas that you want to see growth and development. It’s possible that your current information might be falling flat, leaving your employees to engage with uninspiring content and causing a barrier to efficient learning.
With these new goals outlined, there are several methods of content collection and creation to consider when you are getting ready to launch your new training program. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at library or “off-the-shelf” content, and customized content creation for training, when they are best utilized, and how to keep your employees learning long after the mandatory onboarding process is complete.
Off-the-Shelf/Library Content
Investing in library content can be a great way to go for courses that are delivered with high-quality content, developed and tested beforehand. Often, they are successful in providing engaging information that is conducive to high-quality learning.
Library content can be almost immediately implemented. While you’ll want to make sure that each course achieves the objectives you are after, after that you can typically just download from the vendor and upload directly to your LMS. Test. Launch. Voila!
Depending on which courses you invest in, library content can be quite expensive to get your hands on. This option works great for larger corporations who can capitalize on buying in bulk and really getting the most from your investment. Outside sources of content may come optimized with elements to keep learners engaged which can be a huge plus and takes a load off your shoulders.
Customized Learning
Creating online content internally is another way to fill in training courses and get your staff up to snuff. While in the case of library content you are paying to have instant access to pre-packaged material, creating it yourself still requires that you open your pockets, as it can be time-consuming.
The good news is that your company resources will likely be spent catering content to closely defined objectives, ensuring that you get the results you hope for, you just need to be smart about planning your coursework so your shining employees can gain essential knowledge. Rarely do company goals render themselves to prepackaged content. There are typically some specific objectives that team leaders and department heads want to gain from their training initiatives.
Employing an instructional designer is your best bet at creating targeting material that keeps your audience engaged and provokes the results you are looking for—especially if you’ve struggled with training in the past. Someone with software skills is another plus to do the hands-on developing of each course. This might seem like an overkill, but too many companies have fallen short, developing content much like the way they would put together a power point presentation. Specialists can really be key to keeping students coming back, course after course, and really making a difference in your company or field of expertise.
As you prepare to implement your LMS, plan carefully the type of content you want to offer. You may want to consider both library content, as well as taking the time and resources to create specialized content internally. It really comes back to your initial training plan and how best to hit the mark to achieve impactful results.
Forge LMS offers customized training with effortless results. Access our extensive library with offerings in compliance, safety, communication, and other customizable training solutions.
For more information about how you can simplify training for effective results, contact Forge LMS by Digital Forge at (877) 369-1831 or email [email protected].
