A 2014 Brandon Hall Group survey discovered that 47.3 percent of the 457 respondents were considering leaving their current learning management system (LMS) platforms. Employee training programs are vital to the success of many companies, so adopting the latest technology and methods is essential to maximizing productivity and keeping up with the competition. Even if your organization isn’t looking to ditch its LMS, integrating tablets such as iPads into your training strategies can reap immediate rewards.
Simply put, tablets are a 21st-century technology, and more and more workers skilled with the latest devices are entering the workforce. Employee training programs that incorporate and embrace this trend can surge ahead of competitors that are slow to adapt. Here are some strategies on how to integrate tablets into your LMS training program:
Save the Trees!
If you are still using printed and other physical materials (such as DVDs or—feel free to shudder—audio and video tapes), take steps to adapt that content into a digital format. Simply put, using tablets to enhance your LMS makes no sense if you are handing a three-ring binder to an employee to complement his or her training on an iPad. Once digitized, content can be pushed to tablets as needed, where they can reside locally and not even require Internet access to view. And you will save much money, and innocent trees, by ditching all those printed pages.
Adopt a Solution with Automatic Syncing
A tablet-based training solution can be bulky if you have to sync each and every iPad everyday. After all, computers only have so many USB ports, and you have more important things to do than to wait to switch out an updated tablet for another that must also be synced. When choosing a solution to supplement your LMS, look for one that automatically syncs devices with minimal manual effort from you. Any updates made to employee training programs will be automatically pushed to the appropriate tablets, even when the devices are asleep.
Allow Employees to Use Their Own Devices
The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) craze has exploded over the past few years—employees are using their own tablets to access workplace functions, including employee training programs. Embracing the BYOD trend not only will save your company time and money, but also help workers feel more connected to their jobs. Admittedly, BYOD isn’t for the faint of heart (policies must be established to maintain security if an employee-owned tablet is lost or stolen), but a solution that is LMS-friendly can benefit your company and your employees alike.
Develop Training Specifically for Tablets
Tablet-based employee training programs open up a whole range of possibilities. For example, imagine a video that teaches retail employees how to set up a sale display. Without tablets, such a video would need to be watched off the floor, away from the action. But with an iPad, employees can learn how to build the display in the actual location of the display, pausing and rewinding the video as needed. This is a capability—among many capabilities—possibly never imagined when your LMS was designed, but something that will enhance the integration of tablets into your employee training program.
Does your LMS allow the use of tablets?
