Tips to Transform your Certificate Training Programs into eLearning Courses

In this blog, let us first look at the benefits of transforming instructor led, certificate training programs into eLearning courses.

Certificate training programs have been quite popular, time and again. There was a time when instructor-led, classroom certificate training programs were much popular at graduation level as well as in numerous professions. Certificate training programs offer updated information to keep individual aspirants in tune with the changes happening in their respective fields.

Students used to undergo such a training program as part of gearing up to their respective careers. Similarly, employees would prefer such a training program to hone their professional skills while working in an organization. Some organizations would even make it mandatory for the employees to undergo these training programs as part of their job. The concept of certificate training programs has sustained its significance for all these years. Most of the organizations are now looking up to transform their certificate training programs into eLearning courses.

First and foremost, you will increase the scope of audience

An instructor led, classroom training program has a limited scope of reach as only a few people might be able to travel the distance. Most of the people who are interested in the certification program may not take time off work or may not have the travel budget to make it.

On the other hand, an online training program can be accessible by anyone, across the world, which increases the scope of its reach to a paramount level.

You will get out of all the hassles involved in instructor led training

The prominent problem that all training aspirants would face in instructor led training program is about the training schedule. The timings of the instructor led training program wouldn’t be matching with the aspirants’ long working hours and as a result, they would skip joining a program.

Whereas, in eLearning mode, the learners can schedule their preferred training course, at his/her convenient time, just by sitting at home. As the eLearning courses are available 24X7 across the globe, one can schedule their training slots according to their convenience.

The learning pace is another hassle most aspirants face with the instructor led classroom training program. Not all aspirants would be comfortable with the pace of the instructor as majority of learners prefer to stick to their individual learning pace. An online course is again a great solution for this problem. Learners can visit the training course multiple times at their convenient time and can spend more time on topics which they find difficult to absorb.

Get engaging, interactive and interesting teaching

Classroom training sessions can be limited in terms of presenting complex concepts in an efficient way. But, an online training program is rich with graphical effects, multimedia aspects, animations, scenarios and many interactive elements which can make learners engaged, so that effective learning happens through the eLearning course.

Now, let us see how we can plan converting certificate training program into an eLearning course.

Analyze the training program to know how much of it is relevant

Because we feel that certificate training programs are relevant, we would like to convert them into eLearning. However, it is important to check how relevant is the training program now to convert it into an eLearning course. There are so many aspects which need to be updated such as content, technical information and presentation.

Modify the content keeping in mind – the eLearning audience

Once you decide to convert the training program, go through the course and note down your observations, keeping an eLearning course in mind. You may need to remove some content from the certificate training program or fill up the content gaps according to the requirements. At places, you may need to change the presentation, which requires designing of new sides.

The content which was earlier found in static text in the instructor led training program, may now become a scenario or a case study with characters that would be animated. With innovative approach, you can convert so much static text into creative and interactive slides. So, when converting an instructor led classroom training program into an online course, you must think from the perspective of building an eLearning course.

Utilize the expertise of the eLearning team to the best

Just because it is a conversion activity, some content developers might give it less importance and downsize the exercise. But, contrary to the popular opinion, conversion also takes the same amount of resources as it takes in building new eLearning content.

Subject matter experts (SMEs), instructional designers, design team, QA team and project manager are to be assigned to yield better results. The same project strategy, planning and timelines need to be executed which are a regular practice for developing any other eLearning course.

Keep it simple, but make it effective

You need to ensure that the content is simple, easy to understand, and engaging. When text is presented in a static way, we tend to dump much text at the disposal of the reader. But, in case of an eLearning course, where the onscreen text is displayed with the aid of audio, simplicity is much effective for greater retention. Ensure that all complex topics are further simplified using case studies, scenarios and examples.

Assess the learner efficiently

Custom elearning development best suits to assess learning effectively. You can use different assessment patterns and types to test the learner – True or false type, multiple choice questions, fill in the blanks, matching, hot spot are just some to mention. You can innovate new type of questions as well, according to the subject.

The rapid authoring tools in the eLearning mode are a great advantage to create innovative assessment questions so that learning can be effectively tested and retention is strengthened. You can use formative assessment questions at the end of each topic and summative assessment questions at the end of the module.

Conclusion

So, it’s a great idea and a good opportunity to convert the existing instructor led, certificate training programs into eLearning courses. Ensure that you are following the required strategy and process to get the desired output.