Although eLearning has been around for decades, the business environment changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has made eLearning one of the most important technology shifts in 2020. From children shifting schooling to online and hybrid environments to corporations facing travel restrictions, virtual learning environments have become critical for education.
At Excelerate Innovation 2020, iBase-t University was introduced as a new platform to provide distance learning for iBase-t customers – with a focus on how to best take advantage of Solumina iSeries. While COVID may have forced us to be more reliant upon eLearning, numerous benefits are quickly making this a powerful tool. We now expect that even after business returns to “normal,” post-COVID, most of our training will take place in this venue. Those moving over to the iSeries platform can expect to see many benefits from enrolling in iBase-t University.
eLearning Has Come of Age
This term has been applied to numerous forms of technology-assisted educational tools. The earliest forms of eLearning were computer-based training (CBT) programs. The growth of the Internet and reliable connectivity has transformed CBT into what today we call eLearning.
Today, eLearning allows for individualized instruction that adapts to each student’s learning abilities and progress. The wide variety of possibilities have made eLearning a powerful tool today for preparing employees to get the best from your technology investments. Further, its ability to easily scale as businesses grow is yet another strong reason to embrace this type of learning environment.
Read this related article, The New Mantra for 2021: Business Scalability
Multiple Benefits of Distance Learning Platforms
While COVID has accelerated the move to eLearning, the benefits of eLearning are what has made it the most popular and effective form of employee training. Some of the key benefits of a well-designed eLearning program are:
- Convenient and flexible access: It can be taken anytime from anywhere as long as there is internet access.
- Cost-effective: eLearning saves travel dollars, even if on-site live training is utilized. It also allows for training in otherwise free or lower-cost periods such as filling idle times during product changeovers or equipment outages. eLearning is highly scalable as well.
- Accommodates individual learning styles: Self-paced instruction allows for different learning speeds or styles. Instant feedback can be used to provide real-time recognition. Since it can be deployed on a variety of devices, those who are more comfortable with one form of access such as a PC or a tablet can each access the platform with the tool of their choice. And this can all be accomplished while ensuring consistency in educational content and delivery.
- Solid Foundation: eLearning enables the workforce to learn the fundamentals of a software product in a consistent scalable format. Enablement for quick adoption and the ability to apply newfound skills to everyday tasks are immediate.
- Simplifies documentation: Provides for measurable results tracking and recording and documents proof of training.
- Simplifies course refresh: Web-based eLearning can be updated frequently as needs dictate and new content is required.
In the same way that digital transformation has impacted manufacturing processes, so too has it changed learning by providing a more effective way to quickly change how learning processes are done and what technologies are utilized.
iBase-t University Addresses our End-user Partner’s Needs
iBase-t’s research tells us that 73% of our customers want to service their systems. This led us to invest further in our eLearning program, culminating with the introduction of iBase-t University. Our initial offering will be self-paced instruction related to the iSeries distance learning platform. One of the key features of iBase-t University is that the curriculum can be to be role-specific, based on your needs. In the future, we intend to add instructor-led classes to the University as well.
As the coronavirus has forced many to adopt eLearning today, it will be a powerful education strategy for iBase-t on a go-forward basis. As companies adopt Cloud-based platforms, eLearning can greatly decrease the effort required to onboard new users, at all levels. With iBase-t’s approach, new users can be added quickly, learning just what they need to get the most from Solumina. The scalability of iBase-t University and eLearning can provide customers with the best value for their training investment.
Customers can access iBase-t University by either logging into their My iBase-t account or by visiting the iBase-t Learning Center.
