Effectiveness

A recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education titled, “Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning” had a most intriguing conclusion; “Students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”

Quoting a New York Times article about the study, “The real promise of online education, experts say, is providing learning experiences that are more tailored to individual students than is possible in the classroom. That entails more learning by doing, which most students find more engaging and useful.”

The results of the U.S. Department of Education study are echoed in a study conducted by the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences titled, “The Effectiveness of Web-based Training” which concluded; “In terms of instructional effectiveness, it appears that current practices in Web-based instruction lead to an improvement in learning when compared to the classroom.”

One of the key reasons for the instructional effectiveness of e-Training is its ability to deliver a learning experience that meets the needs of each of the three primary learning styles:

Visual Learners

Visual learners comprise 50% of the population. People with this learning style are most successful with content delivered in a visual format using imagery. A good example of this would be a technician learning the sequence of operation in an electrical circuit by viewing an animated schematic that shows the flow of electricity moving through the circuit. A visual learner can more easily store the visual “image” of the animation for later recall.

Auditory Learners

Auditory learners make up 30% of the population. People with this learning style are most successful with content delivered using “words” – either audibly or in written form. A good example of this would be another technician learning the sequence of operation in an electrical circuit through a detailed description of the sequence in written or spoken form. Auditory learner can more easily store the “words” for later recall. This is the traditional classroom method of teaching – a teacher lectures in the classroom and students read the words in a text book. The problem with this methodology is that it only addresses the learning needs of 30% of the population.

Kinesthetic Learning

Kinesthetic learners make up 20% of the population. People with this learning style are most successful with “hands-on” or “tactile” learning experiences. A kinesthetic learner remembers what was “done” but has difficulty recalling what was said or seen. A good example of this would be a child mastering how to navigate through the various levels of a video game, or a golfer learning how to properly hit a golf ball through practice and repetition on the driving range. Kinesthetic learners rely on what they can directly experience or perform.

Consistency

One of the key benefits of e-Training is the ability to provide every student with the exact same course content – in its entirety. This means that no material is overlooked, rushed through, or passed over in the classroom because the instructor ran out of time. More often than not the class is slowed down by one or more students who ask a lot of questions because they are having a hard time keeping up with the material. Regardless of the reason, e-Training provides the ability to make certain the content is taught accurately and entirely, exactly the same to students anywhere in the world.

When liability issues are a concern, e-Training provides an auditable trail of the exact material taught and proof of a student’s comprehension of the material through an end-of-course final exam.

Flexibility

e-Training provides students access to training resources anytime, anywhere it’s most convenient for them to learn – in the shop, in the office, between service calls and sales calls, at the start or end of the business day, at home in the evening or on weekends, and even on the job site!

Imagine a service technician accessing troubleshooting and repair content on the job site, reducing time and costs associated with calls to factory technical support.

Imagine a sales representative accessing a product overview and the technical information needed to properly specify and sell a piece of equipment right before the sales call.

With e-Training there is no longer a need to schedule classroom training events that are inconvenient and expensive for the manufacturer to provide and for students to attend. e-Training provides the flexibility for students to take the training at their own pace, on their own schedule, as often as needed. In addition, updates to training content due to product changes are easily managed by automatic notification to students who have previously taken a course. This helps students keep all of their training certifications current.

Trackability

Trackability is one of the key features of e-Training and specifically, the TrainingU247 learning management platform. Manager’s can view reports that identify how much time each student has spent on a specific training module, review their final exam test results, and assess future training needs that will help the student where they are weakest.

Having an auditable trail of the exact learning content that each student was taught and a final exam test score to verify the student’s competency of the material is valuable information for employee performance reviews, as well as for any liability-related issues.

Global Reach

An e-Training approach provides the ability to instantly train global networks of employees, sales professionals, equipment operators, field service technicians, and extended channel partners with the exact same course content… in virtually any language… virtually anywhere in the world.

Rolling out a new product? No problem. Train sales representatives, equipment operators, and field service technicians instantly, simultaneously, globally, and in their language.

Economic Value

No travel costs for students or instructors. No cost to ship equipment for use in field training schools. Greatly reduce or eliminate losses in productivity, sales, billable hours on service calls, and parts sales to name just a few significant money saving benefits of e-Training.

The total cost of TrainingU247 programs is very competitive when compared to the “total cost” of traditional instructor-led classroom training.

Environmental Impact

Not only do e-Training programs developed by and delivered through TrainingU247 save you plenty of “green” in cost reductions, they also help us save our planet and keep us green!  How? By eliminating the need for students and instructors to travel, and greatly reducing the paper waste associated with printed handouts and product training manuals.