Advantages of online courses
1-Better knowledge retention
The goal of each course is for the information provided to be retained. According to a review article by Arkorfull Holmes and Gardner (2006) , online courses are a great way to achieve this. Research indicates that online learning improves the effectiveness of knowledge by facilitating access to a large amount of information.
Read more about the effectiveness of online learning in our article Is online learning as good as face-to-face learning?
2-Online courses are tailor-made
Online courses make it easier for your employees to retain knowledge because you can tailor the courses to take into account the individual differences of the students.
Some employees, for example, may prefer to concentrate on certain parts of the course, while others prefer to review everything. But how do you record individual needs? By asking, of course.
You can also organize a basic course to keep track of the results and identify knowledge gaps.
Based on this information, you can take multiple individual tailor-made courses, which results in better educated people who can excel in their jobs.
3-Higher income per employee
Research shows that a complete training program leads to a 218% higher income per employee. To keep up with the best practices and developments in their industry, the average employee needs to spend about 1% of their time per week on training.
That translates into 4.8 minutes of training per day. That’s not too much, is it? Fitting regular face-to-face training into that time is practically impossible. Online training is a solid alternative. It allows for a style called micro-learning. Then, an employee can begin and complete a course in a quick time frame of five to ten minutes.
4-The flexibility to choose where and when
Your employees can proceed through a course at their own pace and in their own time. Don’t force your employees to stick to a difficult schedule. They have the power to adjust their study schedule to their situation.
For example, early risers can start their courses at dawn, while late nighters can take advantage of their last hour of work when starting a course. A positive side effect: you will be less distracted by other people taking the same course (but maybe more by your family or friends , see disadvantages).
If you have an international organization, the argument for flexibility is a big plus. It reduces travel time (and costs) for your employees.
5-Online courses lower additional costs
Reduced costs
Imagine that you have to administer GDPR training to an organization of 100 employees. By offering an online course instead of personal training, you avoid the following costs
Hiring an external trainer for several days. You cannot train all employees at once.
Travel expenses of the external trainer.
Travel expenses of your employees (if they are located in different places).
Hours not worked by your employees. According to Chapman Alliance [3], half a day of classic training is the equivalent of one hour of an e-learning course.
Printed material and a physical place to host it.
We don’t have to do the math to show that price is a big advantage of online courses.
6-Easily update content
The world around us is changing very quickly. Laws are being adjusted, legislation is constantly changing and research is being challenged.
That’s why books and articles are rapidly becoming outdated. Replacing printed materials and manuals from time to time is very expensive. Updating online courses is not. Of course, this takes time. But the changes you make to any of your content are immediately available to your learning audience worldwide.
7-More Performance Awareness
You can set up an online course in a learning management system. These systems offer the option of testing your employees throughout and after an online course.
These tests allow you to evaluate whether their level of knowledge has risen or not. At the same time, the failure and success rates give you information about which aspects need more attention.
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