An important part of upskilling your employees is creating and deploying relevant training courses. Understandably, this process can be challenging—from designing the course content, to deploying it and tracking learner progress. To make things easier and more efficient, you need to invest in the right online training software. So how do you make the right choice?
In this article, we will discuss software for online training in detail, highlighting types, features and examples so you know what to look out for. Here’s what our piece covers:
- What is online employee training software?
- What are the types of software for online training?
- How to choose the best software for online training
What is online training software?
Online training software is an application that helps you deliver seamless learning experiences for employees in your organisation. It includes tools for course creation, course delivery, and to easily track employee training progress for both learners and workplace training facilitators.
What are the types of software for online training?
Creating and delivering online training in the workplace is a team sport. You’d need ideas and suggestions from several people on your team and different tools to help you bring these ideas to life successfully. Typically, most organisations rely on one or more software types for workplace and corporate training.
1. Learning management system (LMS)
After creating your training course content with authoring software, the next step is planning to deliver the content to trainees—and you need a learning management system for this purpose. A learning management system is software used for managing the overall training and learning experience—whether in school, at the workplace, or during one-off training sessions. In addition, it serves as a place to easily house, deliver, and track your training courses.
H4> Examples of learning management system (LMS)
- Cloud Assess. If you’re looking for an LMS that allows you to fully customise the learner experience, then Cloud Assess’s software should be top of your radar. Cloud Assess is a cloud-based continuous learning platform that enables you to deliver online employee training quickly and efficiently using automation, online forms, and assessments.
- TalentLMS: TalentLMS is a cloud-based learning management training system ideal for creating online courses and delivering online and offline training content.
- Canvas LMS: Canvas LMS is a complete learning solution for creating and delivering e-learning content in the classroom. It is an open and reliable web-based software that allows institutions to manage digital learning and for educators to develop and present online training courses.
Other types of software for online training include graphics design software like Canva, video software like Zoom and Google Meet, and screen recording tools like Loom. In some instances, one software might have multiple features. For example, you can use Zoom and Google Meet to deliver live video lectures and audio training. These tools also have useful screen-recording features, so if a user cannot attend a training session, they can watch the recording back and catch up in their own time.
2. Authoring software
Authoring software is an e-learning tool that enables you to create training modules from scratch and in multiple formats—from video-based lessons to text modules, slides, and presentations.
The type of authoring software you opt for depends on the specific training needs of your organisation. For example, if multiple people would be working on the content simultaneously, then you’d want to invest in an authoring tool that allows for seamless collaboration. Also, if you’re keen on organisational branding, you’d like to invest in authoring software that allows for flexible customisation and third-party integrations.
But, away from your specific preferences, every authoring software needs to check compulsory boxes when it comes to the software’s features. These boxes include:
- Ability to create training content in multiple formats; that is, content authoring
- Support for continuous content scrolling
- Multiple language support
- Cloud storage and cloud-based authoring
- On-hand customer support
Examples of authoring software
- Elucidat: Elucidat is a fully cloud-based and powerful authoring platform designed to allow any user to produce high-quality online learning globally and on any device. It has a custom theme builder and easily-customisable templates that you can use for creating training content seamlessly.
- Camtasia: Camtasia software suite was created by TechSmith and is used to create and record video tutorials and presentations, either through screencasting or by using a Microsoft PowerPoint plug-in.
- Knowbly: Knowbly is a cloud-based authoring software with simple and easy to use tools for creating interactive workplace training content.
How to choose the best software for online training
Here are a few tips and key features to help you choose the best employee training software for your company.
Be clear on what you want to use the employee training software for
You need to be clear on what you want to use the software for so you can purchase one that’s well-suited to your use case. Online training software has several features, and you want to make sure you’re investing money in one that meets your needs effectively.
A few things to look out for here include:
- Your audience—who will you be training, and how many people would you be training?
- What’s the technical know-how of your staff? If your employees have basic technical knowledge, you’d want a simple online software they can quickly catch up with.
- What type of training are learners used to already? For learners transitioning from off-site to online education, you need software that makes the transition seamless or supports offline learning.
It would help if you also considered the training materials available. Ideally, you’d want an online training software that can easily house your online courses with minimal modifications so you can save training costs.
Consider the user experience
User experience is crucial because it affects the overall learning experience. For example, if learners find the application too complicated to use, they might drop out of the training programs. Simultaneously, if instructors require advanced technical knowledge to navigate the application, they’d spend lots of time trying to figure things out instead of focusing on more productive activities.
Your software for online training should be accessible and easy to navigate with a visually-appealing interface. And this doesn’t online mean for desktop versions. A lot of workers are more familiar with and prefer using a mobile learning app. Make sure that this is also a viable option.
Consider ease of creating custom training programs
It would be best if you had an online training software that’s easily customisable so you can create unique learning experiences for your employees and improve employee engagement. For example, you should be able to add your organisation’s logo to the training materials and also customise them to match your organisation’s logo. Maintaining your company’s visual identity is yet another way to reinforce your platform’s credibility and strength and the importance of employee learning.
Wrapping up
Choosing the right online training software for your organization goes a long way in determining whether or not you achieve your training outcomes—and this means you must make the right decision. Whether you are training managers or regular employees, it’s a must have for the modern business.
More than anything else, you need powerful and flexible software that is adaptable, 100% secure and makes it easy for you to track learner progress. Cloud Assess can help you achieve this. Try it for free today.
