TODAY, YOU HAVE A CHOICE

As a trainer you have many options today — from traditional classroom instruction with hands-on practice to the latest in technology-based learning. But, which method is best for each training initiative you undertake?

For training a large number of students in a relatively short amount of time, the better training method may be one that can be administered to a large group. If cost is no issue, classroom instruction will work — as long as those lectures are supplemented with hands-on practice or lab work and simulation-based CD-ROM instruction.

Throwing just lecture/reading courses at your workforce will not work. Why? Because nearly half of your workforce does not assimilate instruction written above a 4th Grade reading level. Remember that today’s learning culture is rooted in television and computer screens. Moving video, gaming and simulations are the more effective ways to reach your trainees — if you want them to learn and retain the information necessary for increased on-the-job performance.

Thankfully, traditional classroom training is waning as the instructional method of choice for several reasons.

In addition to twenty-first century learning culture considerations, lecture/reading courses are, usually, much more expensive than technology training choices. People costs remain the single highest expense in any training initiative. Pulling people off-line has enormous personnel costs and, in many cases, lost production time costs, as well.

For companies that wisely prefer an alternate approach to classroom instruction, technology training choices offer many benefits. The ROI will be higher when one uses interactive CD-ROM or multi-sensory e-Learning solutions.

In addition, studies show that training time can be cut by as much as 50% with individualized technology training. Your workforce will spend less time away from the job.

Of equal importance, retention levels may approach 90%. When combined with an online Skills Assessment test, training costs can be reduced by almost half — because you can tailor your training to individual knowledge gaps rather than continuing to use an “one size fits all” approach.

Vendor selection will be critical. For example, find a vendor that does not try to sell you their adapted PowerPoint and adapted written procedures as e-Learning. In other words, avoid at all costs any instruction that is reading-based.

You need to look for multi-sensory learning solutions, incorporating video, optional full audio and simulations as the core components of twenty-first century learning. Only then can you reap the economic and learning retention rewards of multi-sensory technology training.

Multi-sensory e-Learning and CD-ROM training will upgrade the skills of your workforce and deliver a greater return to your organization — and, to your employees — paying off in increased retention and better on-the-job performance.