Is Your Learning Management System Leaving Your Users Dazed and Confused?
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ON24 WHITE PAPER Is Your Learning Management System Leaving Your Users Dazed and Confused?
ON24 WHITE PAPER
HOW A VIRTUAL CORPORATE UNIVERSITY CAN
MAKE YOUR EXISTING LMS MORE ENGAGING,
ACCESSIBLE, AND USER-FRIENDLY
ABSTRACT
Today’s learning management
systems (LMS) lack the flexibility
necessary to meet the growing
knowledge demands of users.
They are also difficult to use and
expensive to implement.
Improving learners’ performance
requires that they have the
ability to easily locate the
training materials they need and
complete the coursework in a
timely manner. For these reasons,
training executives are looking for
ways to link their existing learning
ON24 Virtual Corporate University for New Hire Onboarding
management systems with new,
complementary technologies that
LMS CHALLENGES FOR training professionals are not
can deliver easier, more engaging
TRAINING MANAGERS satisfied with their existing learning
learning experiences.
management systems. Nearly half
This white paper describes the Learning management systems
rate their systems as “average,” “poor,”
current state of LMS and the have been around for many years,
or “very poor” for the following four
challenges facing corporate developed to help companies train
reasons1:
training managers. It also their employees more efficiently and
discusses how companies are at lower cost. The term “learning 1] Difficult to use
using virtual corporate universities management system” is actually a Learning management systems have
in conjunction with their existing misnomer; most existing LMS systems typically failed to adapt to users’
LMS implementations to improve
are actually training management learning needs, with 25 percent of
learning outcomes. Finally, it
systems. training professionals reporting that
describes the ON24 Virtual
Corporate University and how “Training” is something that is pushed learners have challenges with LMS
companies are using the ON24 to users in a uniform fashion, with usability. Learning management
platform to make their training the content determined by managers systems began as relatively
more engaging, accessible, and and delivered to all users in the same complex tools to be used by trained
user-friendly. formal way. “Learning,” on the other administrators, and so it is not
hand, is user-specific, personal, surprising that learners find them
and informal, consisting of finding difficult to use. LMS providers have
and using content that meets the only recently begun to make their
unique needs of individuals. Learning, systems more user-friendly.
therefore, is much more difficult to
manage and measure.
Recent studies show that many
Is Your Learning Management System Leaving Your Users Dazed and Confused? 2
ON24 WHITE PAPER
Beyond poor usability of learning management systems, learning solutions that accelerate employee and
training professionals have also reported challenges business performance. Social learning uses social
searching for specific training programs and information media to leverage shifts in corporate culture that
within the systems, as well as IT issues such as bandwidth encourage ongoing knowledge transfer. More than 12
concerns and password management problems. percent of companies plan to launch social learning /
social media technologies within the next year2.
2] Lack of “holistic” training programs
One of the greatest shortcomings of existing learning • Mobile learning
management systems is their inability to easily incorporate Mobile learning is making significant advances, with
and measure coursework that resides in external content companies across industries planning to implement
repositories. Today’s LMS platforms need to link to other systems that support learning on a variety of mobile
enterprise content management systems to deliver more platforms. Companies have recognized the need to
robust learning experiences, including federated searches provide learning resources to their users at any point
(comprehensive information searches both inside and in their daily activities, and that means comprehensive
outside of the LMS), dashboards, and personalized training mobile access. Other critical success factors
paths. for mobile learning include providing engaging,
3] Need for personalized learning interactive content and ensuring that learning can be
tracked and managed by the company’s LMS.
Forty-four percent of companies have identified
personalized learning plans as one of the top-three most SOLUTION / OPPORTUNITY – VIRTUAL
essential functions of future LMS designs1. Personalized CORPORATE UNIVERSITY
learning is extremely important; content must be provided The rise of the “virtual corporate university” reflects the
in ways that accommodate various learners across a broad need for companies to deliver training materials that
spectrum of demographic, generational, and geographic are easier-to-use, more interactive and engaging, and
categories. And with so many workers using a rapidly accessible anytime, anywhere, on any device. Companies
increasing variety of mobile devices, personalized training must also provide varied levels and types of learning
must also be integrated with—and easily delivered via— programs and content (e.g., centralized, functional, and
mobile and handheld devices of all types. geography-specific). And given shrinking budgets, the
4] Limited measurement and reporting new training programs must be more cost-effective than
traditional learning methods.
Many training managers believe that their LMS reporting
tools are insufficient. Limited reporting poses major The virtual corporate university satisfies these
challenges. Learning professionals need the ability to requirements. By combining virtual online classrooms, live
quickly add training content to meet evolving learner webcasts, social networking tools, and other Web-based
needs and then track the new coursework’s use and collaboration tools, the virtual corporate university creates
effectiveness. a highly adaptable and engaging learning experience
for wide-ranging employee needs. Moreover, it does
so while allowing employees, partners, and clients to
KEY CORPORATE LEARNING TRENDS access training courses anytime and from any location.
Changes continue in the corporate learning industry. This is an enormous advantage, given the need to train
In recent years, industry interest has moved from basic busy employees who are often spread out across global
technologies such as systems that provide tracking and locations.
management of learning activities to advanced learning
systems that integrate with social media and can be
accessed anytime, anywhere, from a variety of devices.
• Social learning / social media
Users expect learning management systems to
integrate with social media and social learning tools.
Combining social and informal learning with formal,
LMS-based learning creates comprehensive, blended
Is Your Learning Management System Leaving Your Users Dazed and Confused? 3
ON24 WHITE PAPER
Businesses are using virtual universities for a variety of Other benefits to clients are communication tools for
training and communication needs: discussing common issues and sharing best practices.
• New hire on-boarding – Companies are using virtual • Sales training – Increasingly, companies are using
corporate universities to conduct new-employee virtual corporate universities to train their sales teams
orientation and training, providing an engaging, on new products, services, and promotions, in
effective, and consistent on-boarding experience for addition to basic and advanced selling skills. Virtual
new hires no matter where they are. universities also enable direct access to subject matter
experts for technical Q&A and discussion of specific
• Leadership / management development – Virtual
topics.
corporate universities have become increasingly
popular for leadership training and management • Partner training – Firms use virtual corporate
development courses. Flexible online training is easier universities to educate their partners on new
for busy managers to fit into their schedules, resulting technologies and partner programs. The virtual
in higher participation rates compared to traditional university’s social networking tools allow partners and
classroom training. companies to discuss challenges and obtain timely
feedback.
• Continuing professional education – Professional
training on new techniques and procedures is much
more effective when employees can access it on
their own schedules and without the need to travel to
distant training seminars.
• Client training – Virtual corporate universities are ideal
for training clients on new products and applications.
The convenience and flexibility offered by virtual
universities increases participation dramatically.
Is Your Learning Management System Leaving Your Users Dazed and Confused? 4
ON24 WHITE PAPER
BENEFITS OF A VIRTUAL CORPORATE feedback, and completion rates. These metrics allow
UNIVERSITY training managers to identify training issues and
develop more effective content.
Virtual corporate universities allow companies to create
“virtual dashboards” that can make tremendous amounts • Social learning / social media – Virtual corporate
of information easy to find and access. These virtual universities help facilitate the development of
environments can also make the LMS more flexible and engaging, interactive social learning programs. They
agile by allowing the capture of news feeds, blogs, social also enable collaborative learning by combining online
media content, and Web-based information, as well as instructor-led training with social networking, expert-
training materials that reside in content management led discussions, scheduled chats, blogs, and more.
systems outside the LMS.
Other benefits include:
• Ease of use – Typically an immersive 3-D experience,
the virtual corporate university can be designed to
mimic any desired learning workflow, leading users
on a simple intuitive path through the required
coursework. More importantly, a virtual university can
be a single point of access for all training materials.
Users are no longer required to locate and log into
multiple systems to complete their training.
• Knowledge transfer – Using virtual corporate
universities, companies can leverage their managers’
valuable knowledge and experience by making
ON24: A GLOBAL LEADER IN ONLINE
it easy for them to interact with and mentor new
LEARNING
hires and other employees. Subject matter experts
from anywhere in the world can participate as ON24 is a leader in virtual learning technologies. The
online facilitators, further enhancing the real-world ON24 Virtual Corporate University is being used by leading
applicability of lessons and quality of learning global companies to provide engaging training programs
experiences. Virtual corporate universities also provide using virtual classrooms, live webcasts, collaboration tools,
a quick and easy way to communicate with direct and social networking tools. Key features of the ON24
supervisors and other company departments. Virtual Corporate University include:
• Personalized experience – Virtual corporate • Industry-leading webcasting and virtual environment
universities allow training professionals to personalize platform that fosters attendee participation,
access to content according to learner groups, collaboration, and social networking. Combining
departments, locations, or other criteria. Job social and informal learning with virtual instructor-led
competencies and career paths can be personalized training creates a blended learning solution that can
for learners so they can be more effective in their help accelerate employee performance.
current jobs and progress more quickly to higher
• Flexible social media features, including social
levels within the organization.
networking, group discussions, scheduled chats,
• Mobile learning – Virtual corporate universities peer-to-peer collaboration, blogs and RSS feeds. The
allow training managers to deliver content wherever ON24 Virtual Corporate University helps facilitate the
learners are in their daily activities. Virtual universities development of engaging, interactive social learning
not only provide engaging, interactive mobile content, programs.
they also enable tracking of content use in companies’
• Ability to integrate training content from existing LMS
learning management systems.
platforms and other enterprise content management
• Learning measurement – Virtual corporate universities systems. If desired, ON24’s virtual university can act as
track all training metrics, including attendee activities, a single point of access for all training materials.
enabling assessment of learner participation,
Is Your Learning Management System Leaving Your Users Dazed and Confused? 5
ON24 WHITE PAPER
REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE, REAL BENEFITS
The ON24 Virtual Corporate University has enabled leading
firms to provide engaging and interactive online training
to their global audiences of employees, customers, and
partners. The following case studies highlight some of
the ways companies are leveraging the ON24 Virtual
Corporate University to create tangible benefits by:
• Providing a global learning experience while reducing
overall training costs
• Increasing employee training participation and
completion rates
• Extremely secure, reliable, and scalable enterprise- • Boosting social learning via expert-led discussions and
class platform, including role-based access, single Q&A sessions
sign on, SAML authentication, and content restrictions • Accelerating the transfer of institutional knowledge
using IP filters and passwords. among employees
• Training-specific functionality including support for
GLOBAL LEARNING PRODUCTS
continuing education, automated registration, testing,
and certificate issuance. It also supports a compliance Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) is a global learning
workflow, with the ability to remove content before company. As the world’s largest provider of pre-K-12
the recorded version is posted. solutions, HMH collaborates with school districts,
administrators, teachers, parents, and students to provide
• Geographic flexibility, including support for 15 interactive, results-driven learning.
languages. ON24 global support enables broadcasting
HMH organizes a sales kickoff meeting each year to
of live and pre-recorded content to specific time
introduce new products to its selling force of educational
zones, which is important for firms with worldwide
consultants worldwide. For its most recent sales training,
operations.
HMH created a customized, two-day virtual sales kickoff
• Mobile-deployment ready, including optimized tablet meeting for its 900 consultants. Powered by ON24, the
and mobile phone views. Tablets provide an HTML5- virtual sales meeting included live sessions, exhibits, chat
based immersive 3-D virtual environment, and mobile discussions, and downloadable documents.
phones deliver a content-focused compact view.
The virtual sales meeting resulted in better learning
• Real-time measurement of training participation, outcomes than their prior physical meetings. Eighty-seven
performance, and feedback. The ON24 Virtual percent of attendees said the virtual training was “very
Corporate University allows training professionals to good” or “outstanding.” The event was a big success from
quickly add training content to meet evolving learner a financial point of view, too—it was approximately 90
needs and then track the new coursework’s use and percent less expensive to execute than a physical event,
effectiveness. saving HMH more than $500,000.
Is Your Learning Management System Leaving Your Users Dazed and Confused? 6
ON24 WHITE PAPER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TECHNOLOGY MANUFACTURING A major professional services firm has used the ON24 A leading global technology manufacturer uses the ON24 virtual environment platform to create a private virtual virtual environment platform to train its employees on university for the education and discussion of mobility and a variety of collaboration and productivity tools. The incentive taxes. The community helps members stay up- company offers weekly live “virtual-brown-bag” webcasts to-date and communicate in real time with other tax and within the virtual university. The ON24 solution allows the HR professionals on the latest trends and issues. Members company to deliver professional development training have spent more than 3 ½ hours, on average, listening cost-effectively to its employees worldwide. The company to educational forums and engaging in discussions with also uses the virtual environment to share institutional their peers. The ON24 virtual environment allows the knowledge via expert-led discussions, moderated forums, professional services company to demonstrate its wide- and Q&A sessions. ranging expertise, leading to new business opportunities for its global employer services division. Is Your Learning Management System Leaving Your Users Dazed and Confused? 7
ON24 WHITE PAPER
HOTEL MANAGEMENT SURPASSING CONVENTIONAL LEARNING
A major hotel chain is using the ON24 virtual environment RESULTS
platform to launch a global training initiative designed to Conventional learning management systems lack the
improve key employees’ understanding of management flexibility necessary to meet users’ growing knowledge
fundamentals and leadership principles. Using the virtual demands. Moreover, these systems are difficult to use and
university, instructor-led training—via live webcasts and expensive to implement and fine-tune.
moderated discussions—was delivered to the company’s Learning managers are looking for ways to deliver more
geographically-distributed leadership team. More than engaging learning experiences by enhancing their
3,000 managers and company leaders were trained, at a existing systems with new complementary technologies.
cost that was 69 percent lower than the industry average. Increasingly, employees require adaptable informal and
social learning tools that provide just-in-time knowledge to
fit individual users’ needs.
A growing number of companies are using the ON24
Virtual Corporate University in conjunction with their
existing LMS implementations to enhance their training
results at low cost. The ON24 platform allows training
managers to provide highly relevant learning content
to employees anytime, anywhere, and on any device,
achieving training outcomes that far surpass conventional
learning management systems’ results.
1 Training Industry Quarterly, Spring 2011.
2 Industry Buying Plans & Trends for 2012, January 2012.
Is Your Learning Management System Leaving Your Users Dazed and Confused? 8THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND FAILURE
In the global marketplace, well-educated employees, partners, suppliers, and
customers are a critical success factor. Companies across industries are using
virtual corporate university solutions such as the ON24 virtual environment to
achieve this goal. These organizations are providing highly effective learning
experiences to their global workforces at much lower cost compared to tradi-
tional learning methods.
For more information on the benefits of the ON24 virtual environment, contact us
at 877.202.9599 or visit www.on24.com.
ON24, INC.
201 THIRD STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103
877.202.9599
WWW.ON24.COM
© 2012 ON24, Inc. For more information on the benefits of the ON24 virtual environment, contact us at 877-202-9599 or visit www.on24.com.You can also read
