A Beginner's Guide to Designing an Online Course Module for Employee Training

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January 25, 2022 Business

A course module for employee training does more than disseminate your company’s best practices to new hires; it also helps them retain this information to apply it immediately upon returning to work, resulting in better and more efficient work performance overall.

But, of course, creating an online course module isn’t always easy or intuitive, especially if you’re a beginner with no formal experience using online training materials; that’s why we’ve created this beginner’s guide to designing an online course module for employee training.

Creating an online course module as part of employee training can be time-consuming, but you can create both effective and efficient with the proper guidance. Here are some tips to consider when creating an online course module for employee training.

What is an online course module?

It’s a separate portion of a course, or lesson, within an online training program. It teaches a specific skill. For example, suppose you’re creating an online course about email marketing.

In that case, you might want to create one module that covers setting up a new email account and another one that focuses on best practices for writing subject lines. Of course, courses often include more than one module as well.

What Should Your Online Course Module Contain?

A clear explanation of what students will learn (e.g., how to set up a new email account), step-by-step instructions with screenshots (including any forms they have to fill out), and any additional resources they need, like software updates or videos related to the topic area. Remember that time is essential; students don’t have infinite attention spans.

List your course objectives: If you don’t know where you’re going, it can be tough to get there—or even figure out when you’ve arrived! Your course objective gives purpose and focuses on your module.

Creating A Successful Online Course

Before you start designing your course module, it’s important to have a general outline of what you want it to look like. For example, are you going for something flashy and high-tech, or are you aiming for something simpler?

Are there any design elements that will make your course stand out from others in its category? What kind of information do you need to include in your video—and which parts should be left out? How long should each section of your course be?

These questions will help shape how you create your course module, so don’t forget to answer them before moving forward. It’s easy to get excited when building a new course, but remember that planning is everything.

Pick The Perfect Topic

When you’re creating a course module that you want people to listen to and watch attentively, it’s best to pick a topic they’re interested in. If they know some of what they’ll be learning ahead of time, they will feel more relaxed and enjoy your video or training more.

Creating an effective course module is about much more than just finding one that fits within your employees’ skill sets; it’s also about tapping into their interests. So how do you go about doing so? Start by asking them questions!

Ask them which areas of expertise they feel most comfortable with or would like to learn more about. Or ask them if there are any topics related to their field that they think might be helpful (but not necessarily required) for them to know.

Ensure Your Course Idea Has High Market Demand

As with any business, online course creation is a great way to build your wealth—but you’ll want to make sure there’s high demand for your idea before making it a reality. So the first step in creating a successful online course module is researching market demand.

One of the best ways to gauge interest in using Google Trends or searching on forums or Reddit communities. If you see lots of activity and enthusiasm around similar ideas, then chances are people will be interested in learning from you. (If not, at least you can look forward to some new friends!)

Create Magnetic and Compelling Learning Outcomes

Employees want to be in the know, so you must let them know what they can expect when they sit down to take your course. It’s also important that you lay out clear expectations so there’s no confusion about what learners are responsible for learning versus what you should cover as a leader or manager.

Write it all down, and make sure you refer back to these learning outcomes throughout your course (and beyond) with appropriate call-outs or links. You may also find using templates helpful for structuring similar courses and creating a common look and feel across them; just make sure not to cut off too much of what is unique about each course.

Select and Gather your Course Content

The major step in designing an online course module is determining what material you’ll include. Here are some questions you should ask yourself when selecting your material:

Who is my target audience?
What are their needs?
Why should they take my training?
Do they prefer a certain content format over others (i.e., video, audio, webinars)?

And after you select your content, gather it in one place where you can easily access it—either on your computer or cloud storage service. In addition to using your materials, check with colleagues and subject-matter experts within your organization; chances are someone has created content that will help fill any gaps in your course module.

If not, consider outsourcing some of your content development to avoid duplicating efforts. But, again, remember you don’t have to create every part of your course from scratch–there are tons of resources out there to help.

Consider attending local seminars or searching Google to find local and virtual workshops related to your topic. Research guest speakers who could be interviewed via video chat or recorded as podcasts

Determine the Most Engaging and Effective Delivery Methods For Each Lesson

While there’s no set formula, it’s a good idea to determine which training delivery methods are best suited for each lesson so that you can maximize your chances of retaining your audience. For example, this may mean that some lessons are more effective when presented through audio or video files. In

contrast, others might be better delivered via text-based articles or other written materials.

Determine how much content is required for each lesson: Once you know what material will be covered in your course module, it’s important to gauge how much time and effort is needed from yourself and other employees—as well as how much time needs to be allocated towards research and sourcing information.

As you begin creating your course module, be sure to take these considerations into account; it can save you considerable time and resources if you don’t have too much or too little content on hand at any given point.

Conclusion

So now you have a better idea of designing a professional online course module for employee training. Remember: no one is perfect, and we all make mistakes at some point but what matters is our ability to adapt, grow and achieve our goal. We hope the above tips were proven helpful.