Are you truly maximizing the potential of your online training programs?

As training leaders, you know it's tough to show how effective your learning initiatives are. Often, it's hard to see the real impact these programs have.

A study by Brandon Hall Group, a top research firm, shows some concerning numbers:

• Only 25% of companies have strong systems to check how well their training works.

• A whopping 59% of companies find it hard to see the real effects of their training, which really holds back strategic growth.

• Just 8% of managers can say their training programs bring clear benefits.

• Only 4% of managers notice any real return on investment.

In a world where competition keeps growing, proving the value of your training investments with clear, measurable results is more important than ever. Online training is undoubtedly a vital tool, but its true potential is often underutilized.

This article invites you to look beyond traditional metrics, offering fresh perspectives on how we can better understand and enhance the impact of online training.

It's time to explore innovative approaches that resonate with your strategic goals and address your specific challenges, ensuring that your training efforts are not just an expense and marking a check box doing it for the sake of doing it, but a pivotal investment in your organization's future.

Challenge: Going Beyond Basic Metrics in Online Training

Different studies shed light on several reasons why companies struggle to deeply measure learning, primarily boiling down tothese factors:

• Lack of Preparation: Most companies face challenges such as not having the right metrics, insufficient tools, lack of time, or limited knowledge.

• Lack of Impact Data: Learning providers often don't have data proving their impact within the organization. Effective training requires not just learning but also applying that knowledge in ways that positively impact the business.

• Unused Learning Content: Much of the learning and development content goes unused, leading to a gap between what is learned and its application in the workplace. This is often due to insufficient management support, which is less of a hurdle in in-person settings.

•  Perception as a Cost: Many executives view learning as a cost rather than an investment. This perspective can lead to reduced or controlled learning budgets, especially during economic downturns. Demonstrating learning's positive ROI through rigorous measurement can help reframe learning as a valuable investment.

• Misalignment with Executive Goals: Organizations rarely measure the learning outcomes that executives prioritize. Executives need to see a clear business connection to learning efforts, regardless of delivery method. Without practical application, training programs fail to deliver business value.

Training and development professionals have always aimed to clearly understand whether their programs help companies achieve their goals. However, traditional metrics often provide very limited information. To gather and analyze data more effectively, new tools, strategies, and methods might be needed.

We need to adopt deeper, more meaningful evaluation techniques that involve correlating data to show not just completion, but real effectiveness and impact on performance.

In most Learning Management Systems (LMS), experts are limited by standard reports that don't adequately capture the impact of the programs. While they often have the necessary expertise, the lack of proper resources—both human and technical—makes it challenging to collect and analyze comprehensive data. For this reason, measuring the impact of learning programs is rarely attempted, and when done, it is time-consuming.

Fortunately, more and more companies are recognizing the importance of this measurement and are adjusting their methods and tools as technology advances.

Evaluating training effectiveness requires more than just tracking completion rates or gauging participant satisfaction. While these metrics are helpful starting points, they fall short of providing a complete picture of how training drives organizational performance.

Best Practices for Properly Measuring the Impact of Online Learning

1) Design a Learning Measurement Strategy Before Starting a Program

Begin by clearly defining the outcomes you want to achieve and measure, so you can design a learning program that helps create those results.

It's common to hear "increase sales" as a general training goal.

However, it’s incredibly valuable to delve deeper into these desired outcomes before any training content is created.

What quantitative measures can you use that will have a greater impact on your business? How will you specifically measure success?

Your data should answer questions like:

• Did the training help increase revenue or achieve the proposed sales target?

• Did it help reduce costs?

• Which parts of the online training program are most effective, and where does it fall short?

• If existing training isn't yielding good results, what changes are necessary to improve it?

• How do you know if specific course modules are effective?

To address these questions, it’s important to identify relevant metrics that will help solve these puzzles. But the journey doesn’t end there. The success of this endeavor lies in combining training metrics with business performance metrics to determine the real impact of your training programs on the company.

2) Enhance Your Insight with Advanced Metrics

Moving beyond the basic metric of completion rate, it's essential to delve into a broader array of variables to thoroughly assess the effectiveness of a course and the depth of learning achieved.

The following metrics are recommended for a proper analysis:

• Employee Activity: This parameter provides detailed and valuable information about their engagement levels and their reactions to different parts of the training content.

• Most Viewed Course Materials: Do certain sections engage learners better than others? This metric helps identify which parts of the content are popular with students and what's working effectively.

• Observed Patterns in Learner Behavior: This metric helps discover new ways to improve learning experiences for different groups and learning types, such as:

  • Which parts of the course are sticking points for people?

  • Which sections engage students the most?

  • Which course sections provoke the most questions?

  • Are students generally struggling with assessments (quizzes, exams, activities)?

• Number of Sessions: Do users return to the same content more than once? This is a key factor for measuring if there are support resources available to enhance job performance.

• Exit Points: Where do users leave the learning program and why? This metric is very useful for investigating drops in training participation. It could reveal irrelevant content or an unappealing or uncomfortable UX design. Surveys or direct inquiries can provide a lot of information on this issue.

Leveraging these diverse metrics provides a comprehensive view of both the immediate and long-term impacts of your training initiatives, enabling more strategic enhancements and targeted improvements.

Also read: Why and How to Measure Engagement in Your eLearning Programs

3) Use Suitable Technology for Data Collection and Analysis

Consolidating data from various sources into a single system is essential for a thorough and detailed analysis. This integration allows for an effective and comprehensive review using the right tools and methodologies, ensuring you can make informed decisions based on robust data insights.

A Learning Record Store (LRS) is a highly recommended tool for managing this task efficiently.

An LRS not only simplifies the process of data aggregation but also significantly improves your analysis capabilities. This advanced system allows for deeper data mining and more precise, actionable interpretations of how training impacts business outcomes.

Mini Tip: Regularly audit and update your LRS settings to ensure it captures all relevant data points and interfaces seamlessly with new training tools or content management systems.

Furthermore, leverage the LRS to:

• Generate detailed reports that highlight trends and patterns in learning behaviors.

• Identify skills gaps and training opportunities by comparing performance across departments or individual roles.

• Enhance strategic planning by linking training data directly with key performance indicators (KPIs) for the business.

Incorporating these practices will not only streamline your data management but also enable a more strategic approach to measuring and enhancing the impact of your training programs.

Recommended readings:

• 4 Signs Your Company Needs to Implement an LRS
• 5 Reasons Why Your Company Should Consider Adopting an LRS

4) Take Action: Measure to Make Decisions 

The fundamental purpose of measuring learning is to enable informed decision-making based on valuable and actionable data. This process is crucial not just for quantifying the immediate impacts of training but for steering the strategic direction of development programs over the long term.

Here are some tips for making optimal use of the data:

• Use diverse data sources to obtain a holistic view of training effectiveness, including both quantitative outcomes like test scores and qualitative feedback from participants. With comprehensive insights, training and development teams can tailor their initiatives to better meet the organization's needs and the learners' preferences. This targeted approach enhances the relevance and effectiveness of training programs, which is essential for demonstrating their impact on business objectives.

• Develop a dashboard that provides real-time insights into key performance indicators (KPIs) related to training outcomes, making it easier to share results with stakeholders and make swift adjustments. Systematic utilization of gathered data also supports a culture of continuous improvement within the organization. By regularly reviewing training effectiveness, organizations can remain agile, adapting to changes in industry standards, technological advancements, and workforce dynamics.

• Schedule regular review sessions to analyze training data, involving a cross-functional team that can provide diverse perspectives on the data's implications.

  Furthermore, detailed learning measurements can help:

  • Validate the return on investment (ROI) in training by linking learning outcomes directly to business performance improvements.

  • Identify skill gaps and competency needs more accurately, allowing for more focused and strategic workforce planning.

  • Enhance learner engagement through personalized training paths based on individual performance and learning preferences.

   

• Incorporate feedback mechanisms within your training programs to capture learners' immediate reactions and deeper insights after completing the courses.

By grounding training and development strategies in robust data analysis, organizations can not only demonstrate the tangible benefits of their learning programs but also drive meaningful, sustainable business growth.

Without a doubt, integrating sophisticated learning metrics into training programs presents challenges for any organization. However, the significant benefits and promising future potential make this approach a valuable long-term investment. By focusing on the impact of learning today, we are essentially investing in enhanced job performance and business growth for tomorrow.

This forward-thinking strategy not only prepares employees for immediate success but also sets the stage for sustained organizational advancement.