Online training for enterprise is nothing new. In fact, 80% of companies say they train their employees online. With COVID-19 changing many businesses to a fully remote work model, that number is expected to continue to rise.
While it’s true that online learning has many benefits, it’s important to have the whole picture — downsides and all — when making a decision about what type of learning to implement at your company. This article will walk you through the pros and cons of online learning for enterprise.
Benefits of Online Training for Enterprise
Online learning appears to be the way of the future, and for good reason. It’s flexible, self-paced, consistent, tailorable and cheaper.
Flexible
Online learning is more flexible than classroom learning since it takes place online. Employees can attend their lessons from anywhere in the world as long as they have an Internet connection and a laptop. Plus, if the classes are pre-recorded, workers can do their coursework and watch lectures at whatever time best suits their needs.
Self-Paced
Everyone learns at a different pace. While some may be able to breeze through subjects, others need a little extra time to really absorb the lessons. With online learning, it’s easy to cater to employees all over the chart. Workers can take as much time as they need to finish coursework without worrying about being left behind.
Consistent
When hiring a teacher to come in and train your employees, you never really know what you’re going to get. One teacher may go over content in a completely different way than another, meaning your employees may not learn the same thing. With online learning, you automatically know that the lessons are consistent because lectures and coursework is prerecorded.
Tailorable
Just like snowflakes, every employee is unique. One may be fascinated by artificial intelligence and big data while the next may be fascinated by project management and business intelligence. With online learning, you can cater to both employees by offering lessons that can be tailored to meet their specific needs and interests.
Cheaper
Online training is cheaper than in-person training. You don’t have to hire a teacher to instruct limited class sizes and you don’t have to rent a room for the training day. All you have to pay for is the content. In fact, corporations say that they save between 50-70% by using online learning.
Drawbacks to Online Training for Enterprise
While online training is pretty amazing, there are a few downsides that are worth considering. It can lack opportunities for collaboration and leave behind people who prefer in-person instruction.
Collaboration
One of the best ways to learn is to work with others on a project with a common goal. With in-person training, it’s easy to separate people into groups and have them work on small projects.
With online learning, it can get a little trickier to coordinate over video conferencing. Fortunately, many people who work remotely are already used to working collaboratively over video conference calls and won’t find online learning to be any different.
In-Person Instruction
At the end of the day, it’s important to know that there are just some people that learn better with in-person instruction. The best that you can do for those people is try to offer hybrid training that involves some online training and some in-person.
Bringing Online Training to Your Company
Online learning has a swath of benefits, both for employees and for organizations as a whole. If you’re interested in bringing online training to your company, check out Udacity for Enterprise and transform your workforce today.
