Why a one-off course on its own won’t drive learning
The appeal of creating a course to deliver training is real. There’s an undeniable pull toward creating something that can do the work for you. This is especially true when it comes to creating online courses. But as someone who has created thousands of hours of online training courses, here’s what I can tell you. A one-off course on its own is not going to get the job done. In other words, it might bring in sales, but it won’t help you learner achieve their goals. Not all the way. And it’s got nothing to do with how good or bad the course is. Over the years I’ve come to learn that learner success isn’t just about a well designed learning experience. It’s about how well designed and executed the learning ecosystem that surrounds it is.
The illusion of complete
Many course creators believe that launching a course means the mission has been accomplished. The truth is that creating a course is just the beginning of creating a learning experience. Whether you decide to launch any kind of training, the content needs a foundation on which to shine. And I’m not just talking about learning management systems.
For starters, there’s a common fallacy amongst learning experts: completion equals comprehension. What’s more, many learning experts believe that comprehension equals application. As we know, organizations continue to struggle with one-off training to this day, believing that done is learned. With limited measurement tools, organizations suffer. So do the learners.
It’s not just that learners need reinforcement, validation and context in which to apply their newly acquired skills. But the ecosystems in which they apply those skills needs to be set up for them to succeed. Furthermore, it’s been my experience, and what makes my approach to designing learning solutions so unique, is that the people in charge of delivering the training also need to have an ecosystem set up for their success. In other words, if an administrator is in charge of tracking learner progress after the course is launched, does that administrator have what they need to do that job effectively and efficiently?
This is where the rubber meets the road with learning. The support systems which uphold and move learning throughout an organization are often not set up properly. In some cases, they are not existent at all.
I’ve seen course-only models fail and seen full ecosystems drive measurable impact.
One ecosystem to support them all
Yes, that was a Lord of the Rings reference. Did you get it? No matter. Let’s move on. Deveaux Learning Solutions specializes in designing and building full-scale learning ecosystems to support the training and development efforts you implement. But why do you need a full-scale learning ecosystem? Without it, gaps remain opened and learners fall through them. The support staff feel frustrated that they can’t get the results they need.
The business of creating training is double-sided. First, there’s the learner-focused side of things. In order for a course to be considered successful, learners must complete the training provided. And put it to good use. Second, there’s the administrative side of things. Courses must function as expected and data must be collected, analyzed, and distributed throughout organizations to support future decisions. If a course isn’t designed and executed well, the first part of the equation fails. If the systems behind the scenes aren’t designed well or don’t exist at all, then the data gets lost. When that happens, no improvements can be made.
But there’s even more to consider than courses and administrative tasks to support learning ecosystems. It’s a multidisciplinary approach that will ensure no learner is left out. It ensures no piece of data gets missed. That’s The DLS Method™.
The DLS Method™ improves every aspect of learning
After 25 years of designing, developing and delivering learning solutions in all shapes and sizes, The DLS Method™ was created. It’s designed to help organizations and other learning professionals ensure that learning efforts aren’t wasted. The DLS Method™ is a multidisciplinary approach to learning development that considers people, processes, programs and platforms. But more than that, it takes into account all of the moving pieces of a learning initiative to ensuring long-term sustainability. Without considering all of the aspects of a successful learning solutions, efforts fall flat.
I’ve seen this time and time again with my clients. An organization reaches out and wants to create a course, but we discover early on that their learning management system doesn’t have the capabilities the organization requires for immediate use and future-planned growth. Or an organization wants to create an onboarding training program but realizes they don’t have anyone who can manage the systems so they need a light-touch solution to ensure easy maintenance. Creating training is about creating great courses, yes, but without the infrastructure to support the design, development, delivery and distribution of the training, learning will continue to suffer, organizations will continue to be frustrated and opportunities will continue to be lost.
A one-off course is just the beginning
Sure, an organization could make the argument that they just need a single, one-off course to meet the needs of some funding program or opportunity they agreed to that meets specific outcomes. But the disservice the organization is doing to its learners and itself as a training provider is palpable. While I would always argue that a course shouldn’t stand on its own, there are ways to improve the learning experience as well as ensure the ecosystem is designed to support that improvement.
By considering the people that need to be in place to deliver the training and manage it on the backend, an organization can make sure that all bases are covered. By taking a look at the processes that allow leaners to access and engage with the learning content, as well as how they can interact with support staff or how staff can pull reports efficiently, learning is not delayed because of administrative issues. When considering programs, a single course is a great start, but a comprehensive learning experience is bookended with before, during and after implementation and follow-up. And when deciding on platforms, it’s not just about choosing the right learning management systems or containers for the courses your organization wants to run, but choosing the right workflows and systems to support automation, data analysis and reporting.
There’s more to creating a one-off course than you think
Deveaux Learning Solutions focuses on helping organizations see the big picture by filtering all of the learning through our multidisciplinary approach to building learning ecosystems. Without considering all aspects of a learning project, it won’t take long for an organization to feel the effects of not knowing what they don’t know. It could be as simple as not understanding how to set up a checkout cart for courses you want to sell. Or it could be as complicated as setting up automated responses for unfinished lessons in your learning management system. But the truth is, when you have a system to ensure your decisions are aligned with creating full-scale learning ecosystems, your one-off course can shine bright. It won’t just stand on its own two legs, it will have an entire ecosystem to support it.
