The advent of technology has marked significant changes in different organizational activities, be it operations or the training procedure. Every organization spends a significant amount of money in training its employees. The employees need periodic training in order to be at par with the current changes in the market. With the evolution of internet, every organization process transformed and so did the training process. Digitization of the training module made the learning process simpler and enjoyable. The reach of the e-learning is beyond geographical barriers therefore, an in-house employee and an employee located in some remote location can be trained simultaneously.
Earlier, the training process was dull, non-interactive and tiresome, but with the evolution of e-learning, the process became highly interactive and enjoyable. The organizations engaged in providing e-learning services ensure that the content is developed as per the requirements of the industry. Each of the industry has different functionality; therefore, their training needs also vary. The e-learning service providers first visit the client’s organization and understand their needs, which helps them in developing the right content. The Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), instructional designers and content writers develop the appropriate content for different organizations.
E-learning also promotes collaborative learning where trainees interact with each other and freely exchange their ideas. The learning process is induced via different tools like blogs, polls, surveys, wikis and discussion boards. The views and ideas of all the employees are taken into consideration, thereby, making the learning process more collaborative. This type of learning also helps in understanding the subject matter in a better way. There are various means of providing e-learning; two of the most popular mode of these means is social media and mobile learning.
Social learning is a popular medium of e-learning and many of the organizations are opting of it due to high user engagement. In social learning, individuals can access the training material from their favorite social networking site. There are various catalogs available in these networking sites and individuals can choose the one, which they presume is best suited for them. The users can also rate and recommend the training module to their friends and colleagues, if they find it interesting. The tracking feature of the learning modules is an added advantage, which keeps a check on the modules of the course, which have been completed. Social media is a powerful media and its reach is wide, therefore many of the organizations prefer this media to train their employees.
Gireesh Sharma is an author writing on Human Resource Management. His expertise includes social learning, collaborative learning and other Learning & Development matters.