eLearning encourages self-directed learning

Eleanor MacKenzie explains how eLearning has helped encourage a more self-reliant learning culture at The Church of Scotland

“When we put our annual review form online, onto the learning management system, we also included links to our eLearning programmes. This actively encourages managers and learners to think about what eLearning modules they could take to address their own development needs.” Eleanor MacKenzie, The Church of Scotland

Learners increasingly want and expect personalised learning experiences, tailored to their precise needs. Whether that’s because they want to become more proficient in their current roles, or to help them progress in their careers. Traditional learning approaches don’t easily meet this expectation: they’re too rigid, and tend to tackle subject matter at a ‘macro’, rather than a personal level. 

Offering a wide selection of eLearning gives staff and volunteers the chance to mix and match. They can hone in on just the knowledge they need to acquire, or the microskills they want to master. This helps encourage a self-directed learning culture. 

Line managers can also use eLearning as part of their employee development toolkit. Rather than referring all learning-related requests to their L&D team, they can reflect on what individual employees need, and look for suitable eLearning to recommend. This is a great way to empower line managers to take more of a role in employee development.

Case study: Eleanor MacKenzie, Learning and Engagement Officer, The Church of England

At the Church of Scotland, we’ve made it as easy as possible for our people to create learning experiences that work the best for them. This has gone hand-in-hand with keeping our audience informed about what is available. We look for every available opportunity to include hyperlinks to eLearning in the various communications we send out, personalising the learning offering. 

We still see the remains of a culture where everyone expected their learning to be face-to-face. So now, when someone goes to book themselves onto a course, they’re also presented with a suite of relevant eLearning and asked to complete those first, before attending the classroom. In some cases, completing eLearning has been sufficient to meet their needs. This has huge benefits for everyone involved and has also encouraged them to look for what else is available. 

In a similar vein, when we put our annual performance and development review form online, onto the learning management system, we also included links to our eLearning programmes. This actively encourages managers and learners to think about what eLearning modules they could take to address their own development needs. This is backed-up with a course catalogue – with the all-important module durations – so managers can quickly review what’s on offer when discussing learning with their teams. 

Read more great case studies of eLearning success at clc.link/casestudies 

Eleanor’s eLearning top tip: Make eLearning highly visible in your organisation

Use every tool in your arsenal to remind your learners, and their managers, about what is available. And keep highlighting what is new or topical, so that your messages don’t become stale. 

’10 reasons why charities should use eLearning’

There are hundreds of reasons of why charities should use eLearning but we’ve whittled it down to 10. 

Whether you’re making the case to start your eLearning journey or are looking to enhance the investment you’ve already made, these are the benefits of eLearning that will deliver significant results. 

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