Meeting Online Learners Where They Are: e-Learning during a time of pandemic

Abstract

While adult and workplace training were quick to adopt the use of online learning, many of these efforts have not advanced far beyond taking presentation slides or video recordings from formerly in-person training and making them available on learning-management systems. Compared to formal education, adult and workplace training has been much slower to iterate and improve upon early digital and virtual educational methods, leaving online learning that is viewed as neither engaging for the end-user nor effective at achieving intended outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown added urgency to this problem, with many organizations being forced to either improve upon existing virtual training methods or finally completely replace in-person training with online options. The Ohio State University?s Center on Education and Training for Employment used evidence-based practices to develop a training collection specifically aimed at trainers, learning designers, and learning and development professionals. Translating the latest e-learning research into practical solutions, making use of proven instructional strategies, center learning designers created online training materials that are well-positioned to be effective at engaging adult learners, simultaneously instructing learners and demonstrating the learning content being delivered.