If your learner’s can’t find it, then you may aswell not have made it! 🤦🏻♂️
Take inspiration from Uber, Deliveroo and the gig economy as to how people use your platform to learn.
When creating a piece of learning, we can focus the vast majority of our efforts on the solution itself. Does it meet the learning need? Does it engage our learner? But how much effort is put into the learner knowing about this resource and being able to find it easily?
Optimising our learning platforms and implementing campaigns are two effective ways to help our learners find what they need when they need it.
The Importance of Visibility and Ease of Access
Creating a robust learning solution is only half the battle. The next challenge is ensuring learners know about the resource and can find it without hassle. In the words of Kevin Costner, often rephrased by Ashley Sinclair of MAAS Marketing, “Just because you build it, they won’t come.” This highlights a fundamental truth in L&D: the mere existence of a resource does not guarantee its utilization. We need to promote and facilitate access to our learning solutions actively.
Optimizing Your Learning Platform
Ease of Navigation: The home page of your learning platform should be intuitive and user-friendly. Learners should be able to find what they need with minimal effort. This involves clear labeling, logical organization, and an uncluttered interface.
Curated Content: Group content into relevant categories that make sense for your learners. Whether it’s by topic, role, or learning path, organized content helps learners quickly locate what they need.
Relevance and Currency: Ensure that only the most relevant and up-to-date content is displayed. Regularly review and update your resources to prevent outdated information from cluttering the platform.
Digital Habitat of Learners: Understand where your learners spend their digital time within the organization. If MS Teams or another communication tool is widely used, consider integrating learning resources into these platforms. Create dedicated channels for frequently required content to meet learners where they are.
Implementing Effective Campaigns
Promoting learning resources requires a strategic approach. Here are some key elements to consider:
Awareness Campaigns: Develop campaigns that inform learners about new and existing resources. Use email newsletters, intranet announcements, and digital signage to keep learning opportunities top of mind.
WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?): Clearly communicate the benefits of the learning resource to the learner. Address how it can help them in their roles, advance their skills, or solve specific problems they face. This makes the resource more appealing and relevant.
Multi-Channel Communication: Leverage various communication channels to reach learners. This includes emails, social media, internal chat systems, and even face-to-face meetings or webinars. A multi-channel approach ensures that you capture the attention of learners who may prefer different modes of communication.
Engagement Metrics: Track the engagement with your campaigns. Use analytics to understand which messages resonate most and adjust your strategies accordingly. Metrics such as click-through rates, resource downloads, and course completions provide valuable insights.
Lowering Barriers to Entry
By reducing the effort required for learners to access and engage with learning content, we significantly increase the likelihood of utilization. Simplified access, clear communication, and strategic promotion are key to lowering these barriers. When learners can easily find and understand the value of the resources available to them, their engagement and satisfaction with the learning experience will naturally rise.
We have to remember that while creating high-quality learning solutions is essential, equal effort must be put into making these solutions visible and easy to access by our learners. By optimizing learning platforms and implementing targeted campaigns, we can ensure that our learning resources are not only available but are actively used and valued by our learners.