![]() For 43-year-old Marvin Sandoval, the journey to earning his high school diploma started in his home country of Guatemala. When he left home to follow in the footsteps of his older brothers and immigrate to the United States, Marvin was just 17—and had not been to school in a number of years. “In Guatemala, education is only free through middle school,” Marvin says. “I am the youngest of nine sons; my family did not have money to pay for my studies.” Soon after arriving in the U.S., Marvin found employment with McDonald’s—a company he’s proud to still work for more than 25 years later. Education that works for the full-time employee During that time, completing his high school education was never far from Marvin’s mind. Yet, many of the avenues he explored felt more like dead ends. “I pursued various adult education opportunities, including the GED, but I struggled to complete them while working.” Through a McDonald’s restaurant employee benefit, Marvin enrolled in Career Online High School (COHS). “COHS was the perfect solution,” he says. “The program allowed me to juggle work and family—and complete assignments at my own pace.” Finding success through academic support Flexibility is just one of the aspects of COHS that helped Marvin achieve his academic goals. He also credits both his manager at McDonald’s and his COHS Academic Coach with helping him stay motivated throughout his program. “My COHS coach was so supportive, always sending me messages of encouragement,” he says. “She would tell me: ‘Even though it feels like no one is watching, I am here.’ Those messages kept the fire in me.” Completing his degree wasn’t without its challenges. Marvin often felt like he was starting his education from scratch, having no school records or transfer credits to build upon. He recalls the many nights he’d fall asleep with his computer on his chest, exhausted from working but eager to stay on the path to graduation. He persevered—and his hard work paid off. He completed all 18 credits, four months ahead of schedule. “Looking back, I know my coach’s support made all the difference.” A stepping stone to what comes next Today, not only is Marvin a valued area supervisor for five McDonald’s restaurants, he’s a proud graduate of the COHS program. “Earning my high school diploma has given me a sense of purpose and accomplishment. Next, I plan to continue my education with a focus on criminal justice.” And as for Marvin’s family? “My 83-year-old mother is my inspiration—she learned to read at the age of 63,” he shares. “She’s so proud to hang my graduation photo on her wall for everyone to see.” Smart Horizons Career Online High School (SHCOHS)Smart Horizons Career Online High School (SHCOHS) is part of the world’s first accredited private, national online school district. SHCOHS offers affordable, career-based online high schools that serve adults and young adults who need high school diplomas in order to access better career and educational opportunities. The SHCOHS is a NexPort Solutions Partner and their program is managed and delivered using the NexPort Learning Management Platform. NexPort Solutions can HelpOur team has decades of experience assisting organization in delivering their training online. Our Learning Management Platform, NexPort, is trusted by Fortune 500 Companies and educational institutions, managing millions of enrollments. NexPort is a high availability, cloud based service that allows our partners to host one or many campuses. NexPort Analytics allows in-depth analysis of student behavior and progress while NexPort Campus allows partners to manage students, instructors, and curriculum for online delivery. To learn more about what we can do for your organization contact us today.
1. Keep Learners EngagedMany online learning courses cover complex and technical topics. Learners are often compelled to undergo training for their jobs. They may, for example, be required to attend compliance training or learn to operate certain programs. In order to be effective, training needs to hold people's attention. It isn't enough to bombard learners with data. Bored users are seldom successful. Here are some ways to make even the driest topics more interesting.
2. Address the Needs of Different Types of LearnersNot everyone learns the same way. There are visual, aural, and kinesthetic learners. Of course, many people are a mixture but most have a dominant learning style. Accommodating different learning styles is a challenge for classroom instructors as well as creators of e-learning programs. With online learning, however, there's the danger of creating an oversimplified course that only addresses one learning style. For example, if your course is mainly composed of graphs, charts, and other images you're focusing on visual learning. It's important to create a diversity of tools for all types of learners. One of the benefits of e-learning is that learners can access material at their own pace. Thus, a visual learner might re-watch videos while an aural learner can re-play audio files. Kinesthetic learners might prefer hands-on material such as games. 3. Make the Platform Accessible and User-FriendlyIn many industries, employees come from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. Not everyone is tech-savvy. If learning applications are too difficult to use, it defeats the purpose. You want learners focusing on absorbing the material, not having to spend hours learning how to use the platform. Another issue is that people use a variety of devices and operating systems.
4. Learning Must be PracticalIf the course material is too theoretical and abstract, learners may not come away with the real-world skills they require to apply what they've learned. Some e-learning content is heavy with data and theory but doesn't really illustrate how the information can be utilized. You can bridge the gap between theory and practice by introducing role-play and interactive videos. Dramatizations can work for certain topics such as compliance training for harassment. With interactive videos, learners can provide feedback and test their knowledge. Simulations and gamification can also bring issues to life in a realistic way. 5. Evaluate ResultsWith any type of training, it's important to evaluate the results. You want to know what is and isn't working so you can make improvements. On the one hand, e-learning is the perfect environment for tracking certain types of data. If users are taking tests or assessments, for example, it's simple to score the results. In other ways, however, it may be more difficult to evaluate the training's effectiveness. For example, if a course is covering many topics, you may not be clear about what people are absorbing. Additionally, assessments taken right after training don't reveal how long users retain the information.
6. Update and Improve Course MaterialIndustries are transforming faster than ever. Training material, to be effective, must contain the very latest information. In some cases, such as compliance training, it's essential to include the most recent compliance rules. In all cases, you want to make sure learners are getting the most relevant and timely training. You may also want to make changes to improve the overall effectiveness of the course. You might want to include new features and remove ones that proved ineffective.
E-Learning Should be Flexible and Always EvolvingAll types of learning and training come with certain challenges. In many ways, e-learning is more efficient than traditional learning. For example, it's generally faster to update material with online platforms than to publish hard copies of books and other printed materials. However, if you want to get the most out of your e-learning courses, it's necessary to carefully assess learners' needs and strive to consistently improve the platform. NexPort Solutions can HelpOur team has decades of experience assisting organization in delivering their training online. Our Learning Management Platform, NexPort, is trusted by Fortune 500 Companies and educational institutions, managing millions of enrollments. NexPort is a high availability, cloud based service that allows our partners to host one or many campuses. NexPort Analytics allows in-depth analysis of student behavior and progress while NexPort Campus allows partners to manage students, instructors, and curriculum for online delivery. To learn more about what we can do for your organization contact us today. References
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About NexPort SolutionsNexPort Solutions Group is a division of Darwin Global, LLC, a systems and software engineering company that provides innovative, cost-effective training solutions and support for federal, state and local government, as well as the private sector. Archives
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