PRESENTED BY:

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

eLearning is boring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

You need a specialist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

It's expensive & time consuming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Learning is a one-time event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

eLearning solves all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Overcoming the 5 eLearning Myths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Don't let myths prevent progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Make elearning your reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

About OpenSesame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Contents

eLearning Myths | 2

You've heard about elearning.

Introduction

eLearning Myths | 3

These elearning myths are holding your company, and consequently your employees, back from valuable training opportunities. Significant advances in elearning technology over the past few years not only have made building courses simple and cost-effective, but also resulted in an increase of quality off-the-shelf online training courses available for purchase.

“It won't fit with our current

training program”

“It’s too expensive”

“Who wants to watch boring

powerpoints?”Understand the reality of elearning as we cover the five most common elearning myths and how to avoid them.

Yet each time you bring up elearning to a colleague or your boss, they respond with:

Perhaps you've even considered pursuing online training as an option for your business.

eLearning can be engaging and even addictive.

Interactivity in training leads to increased retention, as well as better prepares your learners for what they will experience in the field. Additionally, interactive courses engage learners in the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy—evaluating and creating—which ensures they'll be able to adapt and adjust their lessons based on the situation. Design your courses around the learner's experience. In each phase of your course development, ask yourself if there is an opportunity to engage learners in analyzing content, comparing options, drawing pictures, working through scenarios, playing games or making choices.

But beware of overdoing it. If the visual or game doesn't aid in content delivery, best to leave it out.

Did you know…Online education is proven to increase knowledge retention by 25-60%

eLearning is boring.

Bloom's Taxonomy

Level 1 — RememberingLevel 2 — UnderstandingLevel 3 — ApplyingLevel 4 — AnalyzingLevel 5 — EvaluatingLevel 6 — Creating

eLearning Myths | 4

Myth 1

Reality:

Never again subject your staff to "death by PowerPoint".

Instead of boring blocks of text...

● Tell a story with relatable characters.● Illustrate information with relevant visuals.● Include a game instead of a multiple choice quiz.● Inject humor but keep it professional.● Provide scenarios where learners determine the

outcome.

Check out...

Kevin Thorn's Mission: Turfgrass

Anything on Tom Kuhlmann's Rapid eLearning Blog.

Convergence Training's Hand Safety or Compressed Air Fundamentals. Safety training with some personality!

eLearning Myths | 5

eLearning is boring.Myth 1

Action:

Subject matter expertise is valuable, but not a barrier to entry.Tools like Articulate, Camtasia or even your iPhone make it easy for anyone with some domain expertise to create an elearning course. Organizations with the best training programs understand this, and encourage employees to openly share their personal expertise.

The first step in creating an elearning course is identifying the learning objectives and creating a clear approach to meeting those objectives through your course design. Each component of your course, from the narration to the quizzes, should be connected to the learning objectives and produce results for learners.

For example…Learning Objective: "Learner will be able to analyze & evaluate planning techniques."

Check out...

Our list of 10 Tips for Instructional Designers

Articulate's 3 Ways To Identify the Objectives For Your Online Training Program

eLearning Myths | 6

You need a specialist.Myth 2

Reality:

Think like a pro.The 11 Minute Rule. In 2004, a scientist named Gloria Mark found that each worker went an average of 11 minutes on any given task before being interrupted. Keep your courses short and sweet to compete with these interruptions.

Space your learning. Encourage the learner to examine another topic and then revisit information previously discussed. “Spaced learning” – forcing learners to reprocess information – increases retention and helps reinforce the new skills you’re trying to share.

Use a storyboard. Many successful instructional designers use an old-fashioned storyboard sketch to focus on how a learner experiences a course before beginning design.

Experiment with video. If you're teaching an interpersonal skill, video can help your learner connect.

Think lean. Explore the idea of lean learning, where any course or content is consistently improved, built onto, and edited to reflect changing times and evolving feedback from customers.

eLearning Myths | 7

You need a specialist.Myth 2

Action:

Online training is often faster, cheaper and more flexible.In-person training may seem less expensive, until you consider traveling costs, scalability and consistency. eLearning courses provide the exact same information to each learners, avoiding differing presentations by regional trainers. Plus, all a learner needs is an internet connection and computer to be able to access the training.

The tremendous growth of the elearning sector means free or low-cost tools, as well as advice on how to proceed, are readily available. Smart phones, flip cams, laptops and elearning-specific software make it easy to start building courses from your business or home.

Still not convinced? Try off-the-shelf elearning courses. You can pick and choose online training courses to meet your needs—course duration, inline assessments, scenarios, language, mobile-friendly, etc. Plus, with OpenSesame, you will only pay for what you use.

Did you know...

Corporations save 50-70% when they replace instructor- based training with eLearning.

eLearning Myths | 8

It's expensive and time consuming.

Myth 3

Reality:

Here’s how to create inexpensive elearning resources:

Open educational resources (OERs) like the Khan Academy and the MIT OpenCourseWare project put high quality resources at your fingertips.

Smart phone videos can be an inexpensive way to incorporate video in courses as either an interview, product demo or scenario. You can also effectively use video by curating and sharing video resources that exist throughout the web.

Need elearning templates?If you use Articulate, try the E-Learning Heroes Forum for tons of great course templates. Tony Karrer has an excellent blog post directory of elearning course templates.

Check out...

Our list of free & commercial tools for designing elearning courses

"9 Free Tools That Help Me Build Better eLearning" from the Rapid E-Learning Blog

eLearning Myths | 9

It's expensive and time consuming.

Myth 3

Action:

You have to walk before you can run. The majority of employees will not be able to effectively implement knowledge from a single, annual training course. Learning builds on itself, which means you should offer several courses throughout the year on related topics to keep employee knowledge fresh and encourage skill-building.

Additionally, studies have shown spaced repetition improves retention. By switching a learner's brain from "on" to "off", they have time to internalize the information. Then, when a learner moves onto the next course, the repetition stimulates long-term memory.

Did you know...

Less than 10% of learners will retain information after 60-days without follow-up lessons.

eLearning Myths | 10

Myth 4

Reality:

Learning is a one-time event.

Backwards planning is a great tool when designing an elearning training program. Instead of making a list of content you want to cover, start with what you want your employees to be able to do once they've completed the training. This gives you a destination when designing your elearning roadmap, as opposed to making it up as you go along.

Create training tracks to connect related skills or divide a complex topic into manageable pieces. Staff can then enter training at whatever level matches their current professional experience — new employees at the beginning and senior staff during the more advanced courses later in the track.

For example...

Here's an Emotional Intelligence training track:

1. Introduction

2. Emotional IQ & DISC

3. Developing emotional self-awareness

4. Developing emotional self-management

5. Developing emotional social-awareness

6. Building strong relationships

7. Inspiring emotions in others

eLearning Myths | 11

Myth 4 Learning is a one-time event.

Action:

Unlike a discount t-shirt, when it comes to employee training, one size does not fit all.

eLearning Myths | 12

Myth 5

Reality:

eLearning solves all.

Approach elearning as you would adding a new product line to your company. How does it fit into your current mission and goals? What need does this particularly solution fit? Blended learning programs are most successful because they engage employees on multiple levels and reinforce learning in different ways.

eLearning should not replace your current program, but instead be integrated as part of your overall training plan.

Learning content should always be available to your employees, and technology can make sure the learning function is “always on” - with social networks, curated resources and online courses instantly available to support employees within their workflow.

An integral part of a complete training program

Pro tips...Identify problems and validate them through discussion with colleagues and managers.

Create the learning objectives focused on what kind of change you are trying to effect.

eLearning Myths | 13

Analyze how elearning can integrate into your training program.

Assess the existing circumstances in your learning environment to understand where elearning will have the most significant impact on business outcomes. Spend real time on this! Get to know the learners you are targeting, ask meaningful questions and do some “ride-alongs” to learn more about the various job functions within the organization.

Once you've determined the needs elearning fits:

● Establish what metrics will be used to measure success.● Create a learning roadmap displaying how elearning integrates into your current

program.

Myth 5 eLearning solves all.

Action:

Overcoming the 5 eLearning Myths

Myth Reality ActioneLearning is boring. eLearning can be engaging &

addictive.Design an experience that encourages analysis and problem-solving.

You need a specialist. Subject matter expertise is valuable, but not a barrier to entry.

Your employees are your best resource for domain expertise.

It's expensive & time-consuming.

Online training is often faster, cheaper and more flexible.

Take advantage of inexpensive elearning resources.

Learning is a one-time event.

You have to walk before you can run.

Backwards planning is a great tool when designing an elearning training program.

eLearing solves all. One size does not fit all. Analyze how elearning can integrate into your training program.

eLearning Myths | 14

Don't let myths

eLearning Myths | 15

As technology advances, elearning as a training medium will only improve. The realities of the past--limited interactivity, expensive hardware and software--are now myths of the present. eLearning can be not only engaging, but affordable and complementary to your current training efforts.

prevent progress.Myths are often the result of bad experiences and fear. Forget what you've heard about eLearning. Creating a quality online training program does not need to be a tedious or costly. Just remember, whether you are building or buying courses, it's important to focus on the learner's experience. Let your employees be your guide! Listen to their needs and take advantage of their tremendous domain expertise. Transfer their years of experience into an elearning format that can be used to onboard future hires, saving your business time and money.

OpenSesame provides a number of courses to help you create well-designed and quality training for your business.

Create an account & start browsingVisit www.OpenSesame.com and sign-up for free. Browse by category or use our search bar for specific areas or terms. We have more than 22,000 courses to choose from!

Connect with our Account Managers

Looking for a bunch of courses? Our account managers can work one-on-one with your business to create a curriculum for any number of topics and employees. We build custom solutions based on desired competency models or specific job tracks with your industry.

Make elearning your reality, today.

Get involvedShare your own myth and how you busted it

Join our eLearning for Business LinkedIn group to share online training myths you've experienced, and how you've managed to overcome them in your organization.

eLearning Myths | 16

OpenSesame is the world's largest source of elearning courses focused on employee training. Buyers can browse from more than 20,000 courses in a wide variety of subjects, from workplace safety to business skills, all compatible with

any learning management system.

For more information, visit www.OpenSesame.com.