Tuesday Sep 27, 2011
Training 101: Give your learners what they need
As we’ve discussed in our webinars and blog posts, training is a key element in increasing adoption and retention. While it is evident that training is vital to the success of your product and/or service, the learners will only gain from the training if the information is relevant to their needs and roles.
You may have 20,000 end-users in your LMS, but just say you only want 450 of them to take a course titled “Detailed History of the Company, Policies and Procedures.” The information may contain details intended for only a select number due to security, or the content may only be relevant to a certain amount of users or employees because the subject matter is specific to a region or role. For this reason, KeyStone OnDemand has created an easy way to manage where content is distributed so your users have access only to the courses and content you want them to have access to.
KeyStone OnDemand achieves this by using categories and groups. Categories are containers or buckets for content. A category can contain one course as well as unlimited articles and videos. When created, each category is assigned to a single or multiple group(s).
Some categories are licensed from KeyStone. For example, if you licensed Access 2007 content from KeyStone you will see an Access 2007 category. Inside the category is a course by the same name. There are also articles in the Access 2007 category that are not a part of the course. Regardless of whether the content is inside the course, all content is available by searching or by using the browse option.
In addition to licensed categories, custom categories can be created. You could, for example, create a category called New Hires. In the New Hires category you might create an article titled, "Company Security Policies," and a screencast called, "How to connect to the VPN." A category doesn't have to contain a course. Below is an example of how users see categories on the homepage (notice the category on the top has a "Launch Course" link).
In terms of groups, when created, each user is given a specific role and assigned to one or more group(s). Depending on which group that user is assigned to, certain content and courses will be assigned to him or her. Groups are a vital part in training because it allows administrators the ability to easily manage content.
For example, if Gregory is a project manager, you could assign him to the project manager group. Then, when you create a new course in Agile and want to assign it to the project manager group, you know Gregory and all of those in the project manager group will have access to the new course. Only those within the groups you assign the category will have access to the content in the category. Users can be assigned to groups based on location, position or the criteria of your choice.
This is just a short glimpse of how you can make sure your training efforts are effective for your users. Providing content specific to your users will better allow them to focus on learning and searching for the skills they need and solutions relevant to them.
Share This
