The complete A – Z guide on training modules for employees

If you are passionate about the elearning market, you may want to know how to create training modules for employees. Online courses are made up of several training modules. And the success of each course depends on how effective your modules are. While you may have several effective modules, it is important to note that one bad module can spoil an entire course. However, you can easily create quality online modules if you:

• Know the audience that will use the training modules
• Understand the learning objectives of the modules
• Select the proper elearning tools and formats

What is a training module?

A training module is part of an online course that deals with a particular learning objective or topic. A module is just like a book chapter. Each module of a course focuses on a specific topic or subject matter. This is why different modules have different assessments, activities, and lessons.

Training modules for employees

Training modules for employees are not different from that for students, professionals, and business owners. The difference is that in this case, your audience is workers in an organization or a business. Training modules for employees are usually tailored towards helping them achieve the general objective of the programs. These units can be used to develop special learning paths. Modules can be used to standardize your training and ensure that you get consistent results.

The importance of training modules for employees

It is important to know how to create an engaging online training module for employees. By learning with modules, employees can easily achieve learning objectives by improving retention, engagement, and accessibility. When it comes to the importance of training modules, these are important for several reasons. This includes:

• Modules are used to break down a given course into smaller units to enhance comprehension among employees.
• Employees can easily access their training modules from any location and at any time.
• You can modify each module according to the specific needs of an employee.
• With modules, employees learn gradually thereby eliminating the need for excess neural load caused by stress and anxiety.
• Employees get to learn according to which modules seem easy and how they are structured.
• With modules, instructors can leverage different learning models to provide employees with enriching experiences.

Types of training modules

Different forms of training modules are available for use in employee training. This includes:

1. E-courses: E-courses are the same as online courses where employees learn using digital devices. In this case, the training module is presented over the internet by using a cloud-hosted learning management system (LMS). E-courses can also be administered using social media or a website. This is why they are easily accessible to anyone, anywhere, and at any time. One of the most common types of training resources for employees, e-courses are a standard way employees can be trained. This type of training module can be used to train employees when it comes to procedures, policies, leadership & management, products & services, safety & compliance, and skills.
2. Video lessons: The use of video lessons are a type of training module whereby people learn using videos. Video lessons are a very popular way of impacting knowledge in this current digital era. Video lessons are presented by tutors or course experts. Video lessons are usually pre-recorded and made accessible through the course hosting platform. Video lessons are similar to real-life classrooms but lack the real-time question-and-answer sessions that classroom teachers provide.
3. Micro-lessons: With micro-lessons, you divide a full lesson into bite-sized information pieces. This means that employees can easily and quickly consume the information. Such lessons can usually last for a few minutes or seconds. Micro-lessons are used to improve employee engagement and retention since they enhance focus using small-scale modules. In addition, learning this way means that people can easily fix learning times in between their busy daily schedules. Micro-lessons\ are available in various formats such as videos, audio, images, and text.
4. FAQs: FAQs are a great way to impact knowledge to employees. They are usually featured as part of blogs and websites. They are great resources for employees to know more about their company’s products and services. FAQs are offered on pages that are used to answer general questions, provide practical tips, and clarify doubts. Using FAQs make for excellent modules used for training employees.
5. Aids: Aids are a type of professional training module. Learners usually use aids to enhance the impact of learning lessons. These aids can be in a digital or physical format. Example of elearning aids includes printed aids (manuals and handouts), visual aids (diagrams and charts), audio aids (audiobooks and recorded lectures), and interactive aids (simulations).
6. Role-plays: With role-plays, learners engage in a type of experiential learning whereby they focus on activities. The learners are featured in scenarios where they assume specific roles. Acting out these scenarios enables the employees (learners) to develop particular skills.
7. Quizzes: Online quizzes help create engagement and interest among employees during training. With quizzes, you have one of the most popular tools for imparting knowledge. Quizzes can easily be embedded into any elearning module. They can easily be used to enhance interactivity and engagement during learning. With these types of training modules, you can ensure employee retention, participation, and completion of each elearning module.

How to create training modules for employees: The 7-step guide

It is important to know how to create training modules for employees as this is one of the best ways to transfer knowledge. If you know how to create online training modules, this can be achieved in just about 7 steps. Following these 7 steps strictly will help the course designer create highly impact modules for the employees.

1. Know your audience: The course designer needs to know who they are creating the modules for.
2. Understand the objective of the lessons: The course designer needs to know the learning objectives of the modules. This way, they can easily choose the best type of training module.
3. Use the right course creation tools: The best course authoring tool will produce a quality and premium training module.
4. Create the modules: This step involves creating the modules according to specific pre-agreed formats and templates.
5. Conduct a pilot test: You may want to test out the modules before they are fully launched.
6. Publish the modules: As soon as you have tested the modules, you may want to launch them to become accessible to users.
7. Get feedback: When the modules finally go live, users should use them and provide their feedback.