I ran across this article that I thought would be helpful for both current users of Comevo’s @work Online Training program and companies considering putting their employee training online. “10 Tips for Online Orientation” by Helen Geiger of Prometheus Training Corporate offers advice to those providing convenient online training programs. You can read the whole article here http://www.ptrain.com/articles/10tipsorient.htm Or, I’ve summarized her tips below:
1. “Think of an [online orientation] as a process, not an event.” Getting an employee acclimated and inspired is a process, not a one time deal. By providing consistent training programs at different stages in the employees career encourages employee development (and retention, as noted in our last blog post!).
2. “Break it up. “ Heather notes to make content easier for employees to access, consider breaking up content into different modules. Think about how much easier it is to navigate through an outline of a complicated paper, rather than the paper itself. Be sure to include goals and objectives before providing information and testing points after providing the information.
3. “Jump-start with a public URL”. Heather notes that a good way to get employees inspired and excited about their new job is to put parts of the basic training modules on your web site (general information about the organization works best here).
4. “Follow up with secure modules on the Intranet”. Providing password protected areas of the training module allows you to provide employees with information more specific to their job.
5. “Blend in some face-to-face”. Doing so lets you get the best of both worlds. You can take care of administrative tasks and basic training online, and “humanize” the experience in person. Taking advantage of online training helps make the face-to-face time more valuable and efficient.
6. “Keep it updated”. Seems like a no brainer, but sometimes simple things like updating slip our minds. Programs like Comevo’s @work Online Training allow you to easily update the information yourself anytime you want.
7. “Use media wisely”. Heather’s main concern here was the cost of adding media. However, with Comevo’s @work Online Training program, adding media (sound, pictures, videos) is free! Just make sure there’s not an overwhelming amount of information coming from too many different media source at once.
8. “Keep managers in the loop”.
9. “Get the right players involved in building the program”. Do a little research around the office. Find out what recent new hires and exiting employees would have liked to be included in your training program and what they would like removed from it. Ask managers and supervisors about anything they want covered.
10. “Measure for measure”. Some online training programs, like Comevo’s @work Online Training provide means for you to track results. Be sure to keep track of employees progress throughout the program by consistent quizzing. Also, get their feedback after the program about what they liked, what they didn’t etc.
Hope you found this information helpful! Designing an effective online training program is easy to do provides an efficient way to acclimate employees to a new environment.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Online Training Helps with Employee Recruitment and Retention
I just stumbled across this interesting article from go2hr.ca titled “Employee Training is Worth the Investment”. The article (read it at http://www.hcareers.com/us/resourcecenter/tabid/306/articleid/324/default.aspx) discusses some of the benefits associated with employee training and its importance in the workplace. The most interesting thing I noted from this article is that 40% of employees who receive poor training leave their job within the first year. Wow! That strikes me as pretty significant percent. Depending on the position of said employee, the costs for losing these employees can be hefty. I hate to image that an organization can lose 40% of its employees simply because they are not well trained!
Constant employee training and updating empowers employees and helps them feel like they are an integral and important part of the organization. Providing ongoing training throughout an employee’s lifespan at an organization encourages employee growth, in turn benefitting the company in the long run.
After noting training as a retention tool, the article goes on to discuss the importance of employee training in other arenas too. Another interesting aspect of the article describes training as a recruiting tool. Potential young employees are looking for jobs where they will experience growth and develop their skills. Offering ongoing training throughout employment is a definite selling point and will help secure motivated employees.
So what’s the downside of increased employee training? As with most things, time and money defers many organizations from upping their employee’s access to training benefits. An easy solution to this may be to provide online training or e-learning programs. Comevo offers online training software that can be constantly updated and monitored by the organization. This option does not require a large amount of time and information can be updated whenever necessary and without charge, so costs remain low. Imagine, with online training software, you will be able to provide your employees with numerous, accessible training programs. Sounds like a great alternative to resource intense traditional training practices.
Check out our website at www.comevo.com to sign up for a free demo and learn how we can help maximize employee potential.
Constant employee training and updating empowers employees and helps them feel like they are an integral and important part of the organization. Providing ongoing training throughout an employee’s lifespan at an organization encourages employee growth, in turn benefitting the company in the long run.
After noting training as a retention tool, the article goes on to discuss the importance of employee training in other arenas too. Another interesting aspect of the article describes training as a recruiting tool. Potential young employees are looking for jobs where they will experience growth and develop their skills. Offering ongoing training throughout employment is a definite selling point and will help secure motivated employees.
So what’s the downside of increased employee training? As with most things, time and money defers many organizations from upping their employee’s access to training benefits. An easy solution to this may be to provide online training or e-learning programs. Comevo offers online training software that can be constantly updated and monitored by the organization. This option does not require a large amount of time and information can be updated whenever necessary and without charge, so costs remain low. Imagine, with online training software, you will be able to provide your employees with numerous, accessible training programs. Sounds like a great alternative to resource intense traditional training practices.
Check out our website at www.comevo.com to sign up for a free demo and learn how we can help maximize employee potential.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Online Orientations for International Students
Hi Readers!
I’m the new intern here at Comevo and will be taking over the blog. Though I’ve only been at Comevo for about a week and a half, I feel like I have gained an in depth understanding of the product benefits that online orientation software can provide and the growing presence of it in both the educational and corporate worlds.
One use for Comevo’s @school Online Orientation software that particularly struck me is the products ability to be used as an online orientation tool for incoming international students. I just returned from studying at Chiang Mai University in Thailand earlier this month. I have experienced firsthand the ambiguity of being in a foreign country and trying to get acclimated to a new school. This process was definitely stressful and can be very difficult for some students. It may even be enough to send them packing.
Providing students with an orientation to the school they will be attending would be a great way to make them feel engaged and familiar with the community before arrival. Comevo’s online orientation program helps set up students with the information necessary to provide a smooth transition into an unfamiliar place. Comevo’s program allows the user to upload a significant amount of content as well as pictures, video and sound clips. Having access to this information prior to departure would help take some of the pressure of the receiving staff and reduce the amount of time needed for administrative work once the student arrives to the school. Looking back to my studying abroad experience, I would have definitely appreciated having an online orientation to prepare me before arrival.
Thanks for reading! Have a great July 4th weekend!
Lindsey Bly
www.comevo.com
I’m the new intern here at Comevo and will be taking over the blog. Though I’ve only been at Comevo for about a week and a half, I feel like I have gained an in depth understanding of the product benefits that online orientation software can provide and the growing presence of it in both the educational and corporate worlds.
One use for Comevo’s @school Online Orientation software that particularly struck me is the products ability to be used as an online orientation tool for incoming international students. I just returned from studying at Chiang Mai University in Thailand earlier this month. I have experienced firsthand the ambiguity of being in a foreign country and trying to get acclimated to a new school. This process was definitely stressful and can be very difficult for some students. It may even be enough to send them packing.
Providing students with an orientation to the school they will be attending would be a great way to make them feel engaged and familiar with the community before arrival. Comevo’s online orientation program helps set up students with the information necessary to provide a smooth transition into an unfamiliar place. Comevo’s program allows the user to upload a significant amount of content as well as pictures, video and sound clips. Having access to this information prior to departure would help take some of the pressure of the receiving staff and reduce the amount of time needed for administrative work once the student arrives to the school. Looking back to my studying abroad experience, I would have definitely appreciated having an online orientation to prepare me before arrival.
Thanks for reading! Have a great July 4th weekend!
Lindsey Bly
www.comevo.com
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
What I've Learned
It has been six months since I began working with Comevo LLC an online training and orientation provider. I have to admit I knew absolutely nothing about the industry prior to working here and was nervous about performing my duties as the marketing intern. I have come a long way since then and have learned more about the eLearning industry then I thought I would ever know.
Learning the benefits came easier to me than I thought. I was able to list them for my first task and easily came up with a list familiar to our readers (Save money, save time, etc.). This was the first hurdle to clear in order to begin promoting and marketing a product. I was surprised to do some research and find many articles with very similar lists. However my knowledge of the benefits has not been stagnant. I have been able to pick up on some lesser known attributes of online training, most notably the study done to prove that doing work online is beneficial to the brain activity of older employees; breaking down the myth that online training was for a younger generation.
It was vital to not just understand the corporate side of Comevo’s services; I had to understand the new student online orientation for new students at colleges. I attend Cal Poly SLO where the orientation lasts an entire week and had events all over San Luis Obispo. I did not realize how extremely difficult it was to put on such an orientation and came in without realizing why schools may need to take an online approach. It took a few discussions with different directors of student activities to realize that online orientations are a great way to reach new students and ensure they are prepared to succeed as they make such a big transition to college life. Without online orientation, most students would have no way to understand the basic need to know information to prepare themselves for college.
Probably the biggest learning experience was the sheer size of the eLearning market. This is not a trend that people are using just to save money in the short term. There are numerous benefits to online training that most do not comprehend until they actually experience online training themselves. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, my favorite saying that I have come up with during my time at Comevo is; “Price may be what gets people to look into online training, but it is the numerous other benefits that make them see it as an effective and efficient long term option for training new employees.”
I came to Comevo with no knowledge of the market I was entering, now six months later, I do not understand how people could not take advantage of online training, it seems like a no brainer to me.
Happy Holidays,
A.J. Popoff
-We will be taking a short break from our blog for the holiday season, but look out for more blog posts in 2010, Happy Holidays everybody and a blessed new year!
Learning the benefits came easier to me than I thought. I was able to list them for my first task and easily came up with a list familiar to our readers (Save money, save time, etc.). This was the first hurdle to clear in order to begin promoting and marketing a product. I was surprised to do some research and find many articles with very similar lists. However my knowledge of the benefits has not been stagnant. I have been able to pick up on some lesser known attributes of online training, most notably the study done to prove that doing work online is beneficial to the brain activity of older employees; breaking down the myth that online training was for a younger generation.
It was vital to not just understand the corporate side of Comevo’s services; I had to understand the new student online orientation for new students at colleges. I attend Cal Poly SLO where the orientation lasts an entire week and had events all over San Luis Obispo. I did not realize how extremely difficult it was to put on such an orientation and came in without realizing why schools may need to take an online approach. It took a few discussions with different directors of student activities to realize that online orientations are a great way to reach new students and ensure they are prepared to succeed as they make such a big transition to college life. Without online orientation, most students would have no way to understand the basic need to know information to prepare themselves for college.
Probably the biggest learning experience was the sheer size of the eLearning market. This is not a trend that people are using just to save money in the short term. There are numerous benefits to online training that most do not comprehend until they actually experience online training themselves. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, my favorite saying that I have come up with during my time at Comevo is; “Price may be what gets people to look into online training, but it is the numerous other benefits that make them see it as an effective and efficient long term option for training new employees.”
I came to Comevo with no knowledge of the market I was entering, now six months later, I do not understand how people could not take advantage of online training, it seems like a no brainer to me.
Happy Holidays,
A.J. Popoff
-We will be taking a short break from our blog for the holiday season, but look out for more blog posts in 2010, Happy Holidays everybody and a blessed new year!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Online Training: Be Flexible AND Sustainable
Well it is finally winter time even here in California, temperatures are dropping and everyone is gearing up for the holiday season. We have already discussed what we are thankful for (our readers and customers of course!) and we look forward to continue spreading knowledge on online training and orientations. We know that this increased interest in online training is here to stay. While most research indicates the ability to save money as one of the most attractive aspects, we were very happy to find an article that explores two other options; flexibility and sustainability.
“Reap the Benefits of Online Training” from the Press and Journal seemed at first to be another emphasis on saving money through online training. While this is a great reason to begin to train new employees online, I was very excited upon reading the second half of the article when the author began to describe the flexibility online training provides. The article writes about the experience at one company, the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC), and how the employees enjoyed the ability to log onto the training at their convenience, they were able to go through a serious of training sessions (rather than sitting through one long one), and the information was permanently available allowing them to review the material when needed.
The author went on to discuss how online training is the perfect fit for an environmentally conscious company. I have mentioned how online training is a sustainable option in the past, but appreciate the description laid out in this article. Companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint are able to eliminate all the traveling (and burning fuel) in order to attend courses in other locations. They also are able to consume less paper as all work and record keeping is done online.
We have not found many services that can both save a company money, and offer a way for them to reduce their carbon footprint. Adding the flexibility that online training provides to their employees and online training proves to be a great long term option for both on boarding and continued education of employees.
We realize saving money is a big driver in the business world (it’s always been my top impacts before making a purchase) and we love the fact that it is becoming more widely known that online training gives you that option. However, this blog would not be successful in my eyes without helping you realize that there are numerous other benefits that people are discovering everyday upon making the switch to online training. Price may be what gets people to look into online training, but it is features such as flexibility and sustainability that help people see it as a long term effective and efficient method for training new employees.
Happy Holidays,
A.J. Popoff
“Reap the Benefits of Online Training” from the Press and Journal seemed at first to be another emphasis on saving money through online training. While this is a great reason to begin to train new employees online, I was very excited upon reading the second half of the article when the author began to describe the flexibility online training provides. The article writes about the experience at one company, the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC), and how the employees enjoyed the ability to log onto the training at their convenience, they were able to go through a serious of training sessions (rather than sitting through one long one), and the information was permanently available allowing them to review the material when needed.
The author went on to discuss how online training is the perfect fit for an environmentally conscious company. I have mentioned how online training is a sustainable option in the past, but appreciate the description laid out in this article. Companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint are able to eliminate all the traveling (and burning fuel) in order to attend courses in other locations. They also are able to consume less paper as all work and record keeping is done online.
We have not found many services that can both save a company money, and offer a way for them to reduce their carbon footprint. Adding the flexibility that online training provides to their employees and online training proves to be a great long term option for both on boarding and continued education of employees.
We realize saving money is a big driver in the business world (it’s always been my top impacts before making a purchase) and we love the fact that it is becoming more widely known that online training gives you that option. However, this blog would not be successful in my eyes without helping you realize that there are numerous other benefits that people are discovering everyday upon making the switch to online training. Price may be what gets people to look into online training, but it is features such as flexibility and sustainability that help people see it as a long term effective and efficient method for training new employees.
Happy Holidays,
A.J. Popoff
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Decision Path
Hello readers! We hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving last week; we know we enjoyed our time off, but we are excited to get back to the grind and continue helping our followers. We thought it would be interesting to write about some interesting uses of online training and this week we are going to look specifically at a great tool online training can provide for our education based readers, specifically for college orientations.
We realize the goal for college administrators is to ensure the success of their students and that is why so much time and effort is spent to make sure they provide an excellent orientation for their incoming students. Studies have shown (remember our past blog discussing the study at Gloucester County College) that online training can improve the chances for students to achieve success, but those studies were done with only communication students. In a college orientation, there will be several different majors and numerous students attending school for different reasons (for example, community colleges will have many students looking to transfer to a four year university and many others looking to obtain their Associate of Arts degree), it seems unlikely that online training can fulfill all of their individual needs.
However, we here at Comevo have many schools who provide a decision path option for their online orientation. They provide a way for students to select what area they will be concentrating in, and then they are taking to the sections of the online orientation that are most applicable to them. This enables students to be delivered the information they need to receive about the college they are attending in general, as well as the specific requirements for them to reach their goals. Everyone receives the orientation they need to ensure success.
Though we have only seen this done with college orientations, the decision path could also be successful in the corporate world. A decision path in a new employee training can allow new hires to go through basic training on the business they will be working for and allow them to select the specific department they will work in and obtain information more focused on the job they will be performing.
The decision path tool is a great way to ensure both new students and employees learn the valuable tools to help them succeed in their new venture. All that is needed is a customizable online training that can be altered to the specific needs of any person regardless of their needs.
We realize the goal for college administrators is to ensure the success of their students and that is why so much time and effort is spent to make sure they provide an excellent orientation for their incoming students. Studies have shown (remember our past blog discussing the study at Gloucester County College) that online training can improve the chances for students to achieve success, but those studies were done with only communication students. In a college orientation, there will be several different majors and numerous students attending school for different reasons (for example, community colleges will have many students looking to transfer to a four year university and many others looking to obtain their Associate of Arts degree), it seems unlikely that online training can fulfill all of their individual needs.
However, we here at Comevo have many schools who provide a decision path option for their online orientation. They provide a way for students to select what area they will be concentrating in, and then they are taking to the sections of the online orientation that are most applicable to them. This enables students to be delivered the information they need to receive about the college they are attending in general, as well as the specific requirements for them to reach their goals. Everyone receives the orientation they need to ensure success.
Though we have only seen this done with college orientations, the decision path could also be successful in the corporate world. A decision path in a new employee training can allow new hires to go through basic training on the business they will be working for and allow them to select the specific department they will work in and obtain information more focused on the job they will be performing.
The decision path tool is a great way to ensure both new students and employees learn the valuable tools to help them succeed in their new venture. All that is needed is a customizable online training that can be altered to the specific needs of any person regardless of their needs.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Our Thoughts...
Hello readers, if any of you are following us on Twitter (if not then check us out at http://www.twitter.com/comevo) you have noticed an increase in the number of articles we are directing you to. We feel that these online resources we have been taking advantage of lately should be just another method for us to serve you and we just want to share our research in the eLearning market. However, with a limit of 140 characters, Twitter is not always teh best way to give analysis on those article. Now we will enver post something to our Twitter unless we feel it provides valuable information, but we understand that it's always nice to hear what we have to say about those articles. This is where our blog comes into play! Every so often we will take the time to write about some of these links we post to Twitter, starting today.
The first article "Why do Students Like Online Learning? (found at http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/benefits-of-online-learning.htm) discusses the benefits of online classes for college students. We posted this article for two reason:
1) There was plenty of crossover with their list and ours about the benefit of online learning (notably students enjoy the ability to to access the online content anytime from anywhere).
2) The title of the article alone gives insight into the desires of students, they want to be able to access content they need for school online.
There is even some conent they provided we had not previously mentioned we felt was valuable information. The one that stuck out the most was teh fact that online learning is less intimidating than in person learning for many students. New college attendees already have pleny of apprehension as they enter college, online orientations can help prepare them for that switch without adding any pressure. The more prepared they feel before entering college, the less anxiety they will face.
The next three articles were posted to provide more information from outside sources on the benefits we have discovered come about from using online training. For saving money (article found at http://operationstech.about.com/od/costsavingstrategies/a/CostSavTraining.htm) this article by James Bucki lists online training and computer based training first in discussing ways to save money and still properly traing your employees (which comes as no surprise to our readers!). The benefits of consistency can be found in the article "Get Online Training to Work for YOU" (found at http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/get-online-training-to-work-for-you-1422780.html ). One line that stuck out was where the author mentioned that we live in a day where almost anything you can teach ina classroom, people can learn online. So we already know online training can save you money but we are coming to a point in time where online training offers just as much quality as an in class session. The final article (found at http://www.cbtplanet.com/articles-tutorials/benefits-online-training.htm) is a good summary of all we listed. The author mentions the benefits of consistency and gives insight into other benefits about training new employees. One thing we took away from this article was the ability to traing employees from multiple departments at the same time during the same training session. Just another way online training can help save time for H/R directors and give them the ability to focuse their attention on more urgent matters.
Thanks for reading! We would like to wish all our readers a happy and healthy Thanksgiving from all fo us here at Comevo LLC.
The first article "Why do Students Like Online Learning? (found at http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/benefits-of-online-learning.htm) discusses the benefits of online classes for college students. We posted this article for two reason:
1) There was plenty of crossover with their list and ours about the benefit of online learning (notably students enjoy the ability to to access the online content anytime from anywhere).
2) The title of the article alone gives insight into the desires of students, they want to be able to access content they need for school online.
There is even some conent they provided we had not previously mentioned we felt was valuable information. The one that stuck out the most was teh fact that online learning is less intimidating than in person learning for many students. New college attendees already have pleny of apprehension as they enter college, online orientations can help prepare them for that switch without adding any pressure. The more prepared they feel before entering college, the less anxiety they will face.
The next three articles were posted to provide more information from outside sources on the benefits we have discovered come about from using online training. For saving money (article found at http://operationstech.about.com/od/costsavingstrategies/a/CostSavTraining.htm) this article by James Bucki lists online training and computer based training first in discussing ways to save money and still properly traing your employees (which comes as no surprise to our readers!). The benefits of consistency can be found in the article "Get Online Training to Work for YOU" (found at http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/get-online-training-to-work-for-you-1422780.html ). One line that stuck out was where the author mentioned that we live in a day where almost anything you can teach ina classroom, people can learn online. So we already know online training can save you money but we are coming to a point in time where online training offers just as much quality as an in class session. The final article (found at http://www.cbtplanet.com/articles-tutorials/benefits-online-training.htm) is a good summary of all we listed. The author mentions the benefits of consistency and gives insight into other benefits about training new employees. One thing we took away from this article was the ability to traing employees from multiple departments at the same time during the same training session. Just another way online training can help save time for H/R directors and give them the ability to focuse their attention on more urgent matters.
Thanks for reading! We would like to wish all our readers a happy and healthy Thanksgiving from all fo us here at Comevo LLC.
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