Challenge
- Training is needed more than ever to keep skills relevant. Classroom-based training is slow, expensive and inflexible.
Opportunity
- Upskill or retrain your talent online for faster and more affordable results.
Get Started
- Individual courses address specific skill gaps.
- Learning paths will build skill sets.
- Microdegrees can redirect whole careers.
- Train general skills that are now essential to any modern organization:
- Leverage learning trends:
- Microlearning allows shorter attention spans.
- Gamification encourages healthy competition.
- Geofencing offers the right training in the right environment.
- Mobile learning turns your phone into a learning platform.
- Build your own learning environment with LMS (see Tools). Updating is easier. Content is more relevant. Vision and values can only be transferred internally.
Tools
- General course platforms
- Coding and data courses
- Special content
- Build your own
Pros
- Diminishing marginal costs. Online training can scale. Reduce or eliminate fees for live trainers, travel, venues, accommodation and meals.
- Tracking progress and certifications is easier. Transfer certifications to a skills database.
- Online training is easy to personalize: build courses using video, audio or text for different learner types. Add further flexibility with options for individuals/groups and desktop/mobile.
Cons
- Over 7,000+ credentials are available from online providers. Some of them are waste of money. Time and effort is needed to find the best 1%.
- Nurses, actors and helicopter mechanics will still need to learn on-site. Live training is the best option for handling complex topics and for physical skills practice.
- Aaron Barth argues that the bulk of online training is boring. The difference between tedious and transformative online learning is telling powerful stories.
Cases
- Amazong, Google, AT&T and other leading tech companies have started to hire nanodegree graduates.
- Around 7,000 LEGO staff is using LinkedIn Learning at least 2x a month to learn critical thinking, design and soft skills.
- Walmart and Verizon used VR training to shorten training times 97% and 98%, respectively.
Resources
- A Redditor built a free online MBA – The most sought-after MBAs can cost over 200k$. Typical online eMBAs cost 10k$. Are they worth the prestige? You can get the same academics for free online.
- DIY Data Science Master’s – David Venturi built his own data master’s programme with online resources.
- What You Need to Create An Industry Leading Online Training Center – Microlearning, flexibility and a community are keys to success.
- Grow with Google – Free online courses on how to digitize, grow and support your business.
- Academy – A Finnish service that relaunches careers to the IT industry in 12 weeks.
Takeaways
- Almost anythingcan be learnt online today. The challenge is in finding the right courses and building meaningful learning paths.
- Leverage new learning trends: microlearning, gamification, geofencing and mobile learning.
- Fill the skills gap quicker by hiring from nontraditional education providers, such as bootcamps and nanodegree programs.