Why Formal Online Learning Still Matters
When you take an online course or attend a virtual training session, do you feel inspired and ready to apply what you learned, or do you get bored? For most people, it’s the latter. While formal online learning, like courses, certifications, and training programs, is valuable, it’s often not enough for engagement and knowledge retention. This is why the 70-20-10 model of L&D suggests that formal learning should only take up 10% of the learning journey. Instead of it being the primary focus, it should only act as a foundation. Think of it as the theory that’s absolutely necessary to know before you hop into the practice.
The challenge, though, is to make formal online learning meaningful, effective, engaging, and applicable. This is especially tricky in remote environments where distractions are everywhere and people may struggle to be motivated. For formal training to truly be effective, it must be connected to real work experiences. This means that employees should be able to apply their knowledge immediately, whether through hands-on projects or solving real problems. When companies stop offering passive training and make it more interactive and practical, the process will transform into a useful tool for professional growth. In this article, we’ll explore how you can make formal online learning more meaningful and make it work better in remote settings.
How To Make Formal Online Learning Meaningful
Add Interactive Elements
Most online courses out there are uninspiring and follow the format of traditional learning, thus leaving little room for learners to interact with the content. Why is this a problem? Because the key to making formal online learning actually work is engagement. If people aren’t actively involved, they’re not really learning. So, just keep on adding interactive elements to your courses. The first thing you want to try is gamification. When lessons feel more like a game, people are more likely to participate. You can add progress bars, achievement badges, and even leaderboards. Also, think about adding quizzes. They are a quick way for learners to interact with their knowledge, which helps them retain information.
Encourage Participation
Speaking of participation, learning in remote environments tends to lack this. Learners usually grow bored easily, multitask, or even forget what they just learned. So, how do you make online courses, certifications, and training sessions truly engaging? Encourage them to participate. For a start, leverage breakout rooms in your web conferencing software. For example, split participants into smaller groups so they can discuss, collaborate, and problem-solve. From analyzing case studies to brainstorming, breakout rooms make learning feel more personal. If you want to make things more interesting, instead of just talking, start practicing. Your employees can role-play customer complaints or negotiate deals, allowing them to test their skills in a realistic environment before they handle the real thing. This is perfect for sales training or any skill that requires communication and decision making.
Make Lessons Short
Long training sessions can be a struggle, especially in remote settings. Staring at a screen for hours, trying to understand and remember things, is rather tiring and not as effective. Short lessons, on the other hand, are preferable. Microlearning, specifically, offers five- or ten-minute videos or quizzes that provide just the knowledge needed. Modular learning has the same philosophy behind it, where courses are divided into small and independent sections, allowing learners to do things at their own pace. They can complete one module at a time, revisit lessons when they want, and even skip those they’re already familiar with. This makes learning more flexible and personalized, making them come back for more.
Keep Content Relevant
Formal online learning often seems boring because employees feel that what they learn is irrelevant. But when done right, online courses and training can be useful. How will you make them relevant? Well, most people learn best when they do something, not just when they hear or read about it. So, going for case studies or hands-on projects can make training much more effective. Case studies allow learners to analyze real or imaginary situations, making the information more relatable. Hands-on projects take this a step further and let you work on things, such as new software, instead of watching tutorials about it. This way, learners immediately apply what they’ve learned.
Track Progress
One of the biggest challenges with formal online learning is that it’s easy to start but hard to finish. This usually happens because people don’t track their progress and lack clear goals. Before starting a course or certification, set clear expectations. What do you want your team to achieve? The more specific you make them, the easier it will be to measure them. In addition, encourage your team to set goals about the hours they intend to spend training. For example, if they complete 20 hours of lessons, reward them to motivate them to keep going and reach even more milestones. Finally, regular check-ins will keep everyone on track and encourage them to work on their goals.
Choose The Right Platform
How will you find the right online learning platform when there are so many options available? At the end of the day, you’ll listen to your team’s needs and try to meet their learning preferences. The first thing you should look for is user-friendliness. A clean interface makes learning more enjoyable because it saves people time from trying to figure out how to navigate it and instead keeps them focused on what really matters. Next, you want a platform that can be accessed from mobile devices so that employees can complete courses from anywhere and anytime, even if they have a busy schedule. And let’s not forget about integration. The best platforms integrate with other tools, making it easy for staffers to communicate, share documents, and have meetings seamlessly.
Conclusion
Formal training still matters, but it shouldn’t be the main focus. Learning is more effective when employees put what they hear and read into action. That’s why companies need to change the way they approach formal online learning and make it more engaging, interactive, and, most importantly, relevant. When training is meaningful and can actually be applied, no matter its format, it can be truly effective. Even though it takes up such a small percentage of the 70-20-10 model of L&D, formal learning can be as interactive and practical as the other two types. Therefore, if you’re actually determined to make it work, let this article be your guide.
