Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes. - Peter Drucker It is well-known that imparting effective training to sales people goes a long way in enhancing revenues. Well-designed sales training programs help sales personnel face customers confidently and overcome the challenges posed by a dynamic, fiercely competitive business world. But, how can you build a good sales training program? Well, you need to consider the following two major learning needs of sales personnel. Most sales personnel travel extensively. So, it is important to enable them to access to the latest industry updates and news about competitors anytime, anywhere. Sales people find it very useful to have information about products at their fingertips as it helps them explain their benefits in a convincing manner. Check out this interesting video to know more about creating a highly effective sales program. Get to know how to provide a comprehensive training solution to next-gen sales people, in this video. To watch more interesting videos, click here. Related PostsChallenges in Product Sales Training - Too Much KnowledgeRole of Education and Training in Increasing SalesImportance of Sales Training Programs for an Organization

E-learning professionals usually write/modify the content in online courses during the development process. While typing, there is a chance of typo errors. Articulate Storyline has a built-in dictionary and highlights the wrongly spelled word by a red underline, and we can correct the word by right clicking it and selecting the appropriate word from the list of words suggested by Storyline. What if we have to use words not available in the default dictionary i.e. words of other languages or technical words? Well, we have a useful default feature in Storyline which enables us to create a new dictionary,so that we can add our own words. Do you know how to add a dictionary to Storyline? Here are the steps. Step 1: Create your list of words in a Notepad and save the file with .dic extension. Step 2: Click the File menu and selectStoryline Options. Step 3: Select Spelling Options under Spelling section. Step 4: Select the Custom Dictionaries option. This opens the Custom Dictionaries window. Step 5: Click the Add button to add a new dictionary to the existing list. Step 6: From the window opened, browse your .dic file, select it, and then, click the Open button. Now, you can see that the new dictionary is added to the list. These are the steps to add a custom dictionary to Articulate Storyline. Hope this blog is useful. Do share your views. Related PostsHow to Combine Your Adobe Captivate Projects Into Single Course?Rapid E-learning through Storyline Tool: 5 Infographics Sharing Key Features4 Types of Triggers in Articulate Storyline to Develop Interactive E-learning Courses

Have you just launched newly developed weighing practice software for your global vendors and distributors? Are you thinking of cost effective methods to make everyone in the organization use it?  E-learning could be a viable option for you. Now that your company has launched a new software, as a training manager of the company, you need to train employees about the new system in the company. Just launching the software is not enough to get the desired results. Like, after sales services of products, you need to train your learners on the usage of the software post the launch in order to achieve your desired goal. Software applications are complex and it’s not easy to follow. Employees are generally comfortable with the old methods. They don’t want to change the old process and want to continue with the same. One of the reasons for not wanting to change is that, the employees feel uncomfortable with the new process and feel, what if this new process gets more complex in future Anengaging training about the uses of the new software and its benefits can help overcome such a mindset. E-learning can help you with regards to this. Let’s see how e-learning can help you in launching the new software globally: Learn on the same platform to ensure uniformity: You want your global employees to know and learn the software on the same platform to ensure uniformity, improve quality, productivity, and speed up the process. Providing excellent training about the usage of software is very important for the success of the software. A gap in the training may waste all your energy and cause a loss that is hard to overcome after launch. Methods: The "Watch Try Do" is one of the best methods we use to develop software e-learning courses. Depending on the complexity of the application you can restrict the training to only "Watch" or "Watch and Try" or "Watch Try Do". Providing an access to the software helps to capture the screens. If the application is confidential and you don’t want to give access, you can share through video conferencing and we can capture the screens and convert it into interactive learning by presenting a step by step process. A video of the software can also be done to train the employees.  A Power Point presentation with animations that you use in classroom training can also be presented in a form of interactive e-learning to make it more engaging. Using different e-learning tools and software like Storyline, Captivate, Adobe Flash etc you can make an engaging training for your global employees. Related PostsWhy SAP Implementation in Organizations is Such a Big Change Management Issue? Challenges in Designing Technical Training Programs7 Reasons Why Online Training Solutions are best for Software Applications

Are you a training manager who constantly struggles to change the mind-set of your employees when it comes to your e-learning courses? Do you find that the assigned training programs yield a little or no result because they are seen as a break or a free hour by your employees? How do you shift such extrinsic attitudes to seek a more intrinsic form of learning? As hard as these questions may sound, it is actually quite simple to convert your distracted learner into an attracted one. Your employees will be motivated only when they find value in your online course. There are several ways in which your course content can be taught more enthusiastically with various instructional methodologies that involve active learner participation. The following three strategies will turn your employees from unwilling to willing learners. Inform Your Learner  This can be done even before your employees take the course; small tidbits such as emails and posters publicizing your course can go a long way in generating learner interest. Another way to empower your learner is to let them know how the course will benefit them. Reasons such as developing a new skill that could lead to a promotion are powerful weapons to make your learner interested in taking the course. You can also "redirect" your learner in several ways. For instance, you can provide "how-to" PDFs and redirect your learner to the actual e-learning course where they can watch the entire process. Here is an example of how a course on performance management was publicized using desktop backgrounds. Offer Real-World Experiences  Real life experiences that your employees relate to add a level of familiarity that instantly makes your learners feel right at home. Providing applications such as case studies, product simulations, and scenarios are a few such instances of creating real-world experiences in your e-learning course. Take a look at a few scenarios, avatars, and case studies we have used in some of our courses. Assessment Based Scenario Situational Scenario  Avatar/Guided Simulation Make Them Play  You must have heard the saying "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." This applies to your e-learning courses too. Making use of gamification in your course adds a lot of value to your learning. But, keep in mind that you don’t just add a game for the sake of gamification. For example, if you use a game of archery in the assessment of your course, while the course is about performance management, your learner will not relate to the game, and your course loses its authenticity. On the other hand, if your course is on food safety and you have a game of search and find (search and find food hazards), you will have a higher learner recall as the game adds more significance to your course content. Take a look at our game-based course on food safety. Try these three instructional techniques to convert an unwilling learner into an engaged learner and your online training programs will churn out the desired results. Hope you find this post useful. Do share your views. Related Posts4 Effective Ways of Presenting Scenarios in E-learning Courses3 Tips to Use Audio Efficiently in E-learning - An Infographic8 Instructional Design Tips to Create a Winning E-learning Course

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn - Benjamin Franklin It is well-known that effective learner interaction plays a key role in the success of an online course. In classroom training sessions, the trainer interacts actively with learners to capture their attention and ensure they remain focused. But, how can this be accomplished with online courses which are self-paced? Well, you can ensure that your online learners "stay on track" using interactivities. In e-learning courses, interactivities are used to teach as well as assess the learner. Here is an info-graphic that lists 10 interactivities which are widely used to explain the subject-matter in an engaging manner. Hope you find this post interesting. How do you use interactivities in your e-learning courses? We’d love to know. Related Posts4 Effective Ways of Presenting Scenarios in E-learning CoursesInstructional Design Techniques to Make Your E-learning Better [Infographic]5 Tips to Engage Your Online Learners - An Infographic

Today, India celebrates its Independence Day. 68 years ago, while the world was asleep, a land of 330 million awoke to freedom, breaking the yoke of colonialism. The saga of Indian independence is one of courage and sacrifice to break the shackles of oppression and tyranny. On this occasion, I am reminded of a verse from Gitanjali, the magnum opus of eminent poet and the first Indian Nobel Laureate Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore who earnestly believed that true independence comes with learning - learning that nourishes the soul. Wishing you all a very happy Independence Day. Related PostsINDEPENDENCE AND LEARNINGWishing Everybody A Happy Independence Day4 Effective Ways of Presenting Scenarios in E-learning Courses

You have completed analyzing the training needs of your company and your boss agrees that e-learning is the ideal solution. Are you ready to commence the development of your online training program? Not really. Before you begin creating the training program, you need to understand your learners. It is very important to know who your learners are and what they have to learn. This information will help you tailor the presentation of the learning content to meet their specific needs and preferences. Here is an info-graphic which lists a few things you need to do while performing a learner analysis. Hope you find this post interesting. Do share your views. Related Posts10 Questions to Ask Your Stakeholders About the Target Audience: A Picto-Blog5 Tips for Quality Control of E-learning Courses6 Aspects to Consider Before Starting an E-learning Project

Recently, we were asked by a client to develop questions of the fill in the blank type for assessments of his online course. Each question consisted of 3 blanks, and an equal number of options were provided to the learner. The learner was required to drag each option and drop it in the right blank. Options, if dropped correctly, were to be displayed indicated in green and "wrong drops" were to be shown in red. We met this complex requirement using Articulate Storyline. Here are the steps we followed. Step 1: Create the drag and drop slide. Step 2: Add two states (Correct and Incorrect) to each drag item in the slide. Here, I have named text box 4, text box5 and text box 6 as Eyes, Nose and Ears respectively. Step 3: Create a Boolean variable Drop 1 with initial value as false. Step 4: Adjust variable Drop1 to true when text box 4 is dropped in the correct drop target (Here Drop 11 is correct drop target for text box 4). Step 5: Adjust variable Drop1 as false when text box 5 or 6 is dropped in Drop11. Step 6: Add two triggers, as given below, to the Submit Button. Trigger 1: Change state of text box 4 to correct if Drop1 is true when the user clicks the Submit Button. Trigger 2: Change state of text box 4 to incorrect if Drop1 is false when the user clicks the Submit Button. Repeat the steps 3 to 6 for text boxes 5 and 6. Publish or preview the course and see the output. This way, we can differentiate the correct and incorrect options in a drag and drop interactivity using Storyline’s triggers. Hope you find this blog informative. Please share your thoughts. Related PostsHow to Combine Your Adobe Captivate Projects Into Single Course?How to Improve Multiple Response Quiz Questions in Articulate StorylineHow to Enable Retake Quiz Option in Articulate Storyline?

Recently my friends visited my place and we make an impromptu plan to watch a movie. Due to the unplanned decision and weekend rush, we didn’t get bookings for an English movie. Instead we ended up watching a movie in a regional language that some of my friends were not familiar with. The duration of the movie was for 2 hours and I spent the time translating the dialogue of movie into English for them. My weekend escapade became an spontaneous translation session, instead of being a relaxed cinematic experience. My experience of the day made me realize the importance of translations and I realized it is required in many situations just as in any e-learning course. There are many reasons why your e-learning should be translated into regional language. In an instructor led training, the instructor is an expert in his subject but not in a language. Whereas if learners come from different regions, they may be unable to understand the instructors language. So, it is a good idea to follow up an instructor led training with an e-learning course that is translated into the native language of learners. The same thing applies to an e-learning course that is rolled out in English. It is always to give options to leaners to choose the language of instruction. Translations play a vital role in putting across the information in a format that learners can understand effectively. In a survey conducted by our company in 2013, we found the following results: 59% of responding organizations indicated that translating e-learning programs was important. 85% of the survey respondents have translated their e-learning courses into nearly 10 different languages. Out of them English, Spanish, and French were popular languages Around 34% of respondents indicated that their primary e-learning language was something other than English. For English-speaking learners, your e-Learning courses may be highly effective and engaging, but for learners whose native language is not English, the training may not be effective. How can this be done? This can be done by localizing the training in the native language and making it culturally appropriate. There are a few things that are needed to be taken care of, when you decide to translate your online course into various languages. Following are the points to focus on: Simple Content: Content used in the course must be simple enough, since complex language can create problems while translating courses. Special Characters: In English courses, the font of the text is not a problem. But for other languages, even a space can change the intended meaning. These factors should be kept in mind. Images with Text: Images which have text in it can create a problem while translating. Text should be placed outside the image so that it can be easily editable. . Expansion of Text: Different languages have different sizes and volumes. Always keep in mind the problem of expansion of text in other native languages. Remember that there is possibility of expansion or contraction when translating English courses into other languages. Translating your e-learning courses into the languages spoken by your global learners goes a long way in imparting high-quality training and ensures better performance. However, best practices in translation ensure that you get a better return on your investment. Hope this blog was helpful to understand key information about translating online courses. Please share if you can add up. Related Posts4 Steps That Simplifies E-learning Translation and Localization Process - An Infographic8 Tips to Improve the Quality of E-learning Translations [Infographic]3 Things to Consider while Translating Your E-learning Course - An Infographic

Today, e-learning courses are used by firms in all sectors, and the demand for online learning solutions is growing. Organizations in manufacturing, healthcare, financial services and other sectors are using online training methodologies. Today, I would to share how e-learning can be used to train professional in the financial services sector. Organizations in this industry need to train their employees on financial instruments, soft skills and their new processes. It is vital that financial professionals receive top-quality training to ensure compliance to regulatory norms. Let us now look at the problems faced by financial institutions and the solutions that e-learning can offer. Problem 1: Financial companies are recruiting large numbers of personnel to meet their growing needs. These new staff members have to be trained on various regulatory norms. However, it is not possible to train all these employees together due to logistical constraints. As a result, there is considerable delay in training new hires on compliance matters. Solution: E-learning can address these challenges effectively. With e-learning, it is possible to deliver the training to employees, anytime, anywhere. E-learning is also useful to facilitate effective induction of new employees. Online courses can be delivered to new employees whenever staff members join the company and make them familiar with the work environment. Problem 2: If an online course is delivered to employees and they are asked to complete it without any support, learning may not take place effectively. If the content and terminology are not explained properly, the employees may lose interest in the course. So, how do you ensure that your training is effective and your learners are fully involved in it? Solution: It is essential that e-learning professionals comprehend the content first, and then, develop the course. The course may be divided into several modules that explain different topics. An effective GUI (Graphical User Interface) can be used to customize the courses to fit the company’s culture. Complex content can be explained through effective scenarios and by providing real-life examples. Learners can also be engaged in the course using rich visuals and appropriate images. Problem 3: How do you ensure that your learners have understood what you taught them? Solution: Assessments are the solution to this problem. Assessments are important to evaluate how much your learner has understood. If your learners answer the questions correctly, you may infer that they have comprehended the information effectively. A learning management system (LMS) can be used to monitor learning activities and keep track of the learning outcomes. E-learning is the ideal solution to address the training needs of financial professionals. Financial organizations can use eLearning to impart highly effective training to their employees. Hope you find this blog useful. Do share your views. Related PostsE-learning in the Healthcare Sector: Delivering Top-notch TrainingHow Does eLearning Address the Training Needs of Banking and Financial Professionals?Games in eLearning: Impact on Financial Sector