Competence model articlesDesigning Educational ProgrammesIs open to resistance to e-learning and makes efforts to overcome this resistanceOpenness to the challenges related to ICT and e-learning tools and techniquesWhere Relevant, Integrating Ict2, E-learning and Other Tools and Methods into the Educational Activity
E-learning challenges and strategies
E-learning could be a very useful tool and could empower learning opportunities.
Introduction:
Few things are more frustrating than spending a lot of time and resources coming up with fantastic eLearning courses and modules only to find that people simply are utilizing them.
How do you break through the resistance and motivate people to engage in the eLearning you know will help them reach higher levels of performance?
Content:
Here are some concrete tips and strategies to keep in mind when you recognize that there is resistance in an e-learning proposal or you would like to prevent it:
- Emphasize the Benefits. Make sure people understand exactly what they’re going to get from your eLearning course or module, not only in terms of the learning objectives but in terms of the expected impact.
- Provide Progress Indicators. Nothing is more demotivating in the eLearning environment from the learner’s perspective than having no idea where they stand in terms of the progress made. This means including plenty of different ways to assess their learning along the way in the form of quizzes, tests, exams, and whatever other creative ways you can come up with for them to see what progress they’ve made.
- Establish a Learning Culture. Volumes could be written on this point alone, but suffice it to say that if the cultural norm in your organization is that people are always learning and benefiting from that learning, participation in your eLearning efforts will be that much easier. This can involve a significant cultural change on the part of your organization, but the payoff is huge.
- Incentivize Participation. You don’t want to take this one too far in terms of expending additional resources, but sometimes offering a simple incentive for participation can accomplish a lot. This can be accomplished through gamification where people achieve different levels of mastery and can see how they’re doing relative to other learners, introducing a competitive element into the learning process.
- Go Social. The more opportunities you make available for learners to interact with each other, collaborate in groups and engage in virtual teamwork, the more likely they’ll stay engaged in the process.
- Variety in Content Delivery. With eLearning, you have a unique opportunity to make use of a full range of innovative delivery methods for content
Exercises:
How to apply it in everyday work?
Thinking to your experience in providing e-learning training and imagine that you are going to run another one quite soon, try to fill in the form belove:
| Factors | What did you do about these factors in your previous activity? | What you would like to do or to improve in your future one? |
| Emphasize the Benefits | ||
| Provide Progress Indicators | ||
| Establish a Learning Culture. | ||
| Incentivize Participation. | ||
| Go Social. | ||
| Variety in Content Delivery |
Reflection Questions
- How do you cope with the resistance from the participants in your activities?
- Do you develop specific strategies for a reply to the participants’ resistance to your training proposals?
- Are you able to propose immediately proposals?
- Can you avoid facing the use of ICT and e-learning tools?
