Who can benefit from offline learning?

Offline e-learning, a method of learning often overlooked in this digital age, deserves more attention than it typically receives. Offline e-learning refers to the practice of providing educational and training materials that do not require users to be constantly connected to the internet. This can be useful in numerous situations and for a variety of target audiences, and can provide an effective, efficient, and accessible learning experience. There are plenty of examples of organizations that need to apply offline learning.

 

1. Humanitarian organizations: Organizations such as the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders can use offline e-learning to train their field personnel. These individuals often work in remote areas with little to no internet access.

2. Defense and military training: Military organizations can utilize offline e-learning for training in remote and secured locations where internet access is not always reliable or safe.

3. Rural and remote educational institutions: In parts of the world where internet access is limited or unreliable, offline e-learning can be essential for educational institutions. This can provide students with the opportunity to continue learning despite the limited connectivity.

4. Companies with extensive traveling staff: For employees who are frequently on the go, such as consultants or sales representatives, offline e-learning can be beneficial for continuous learning while traveling, even without consistent internet access.

5. Medical sector: In hospitals and clinics, offline e-learning can be used to train staff in the use of specific equipment or procedures, especially when online connectivity is limited or unsafe.

6. Offshore industry: In the offshore, oil, and gas industry, offline e-learning can be particularly useful. Many of these workers operate in locations far from the mainland and may have limited or unreliable internet access. Offline e-learning can provide consistent, reliable training and continuous professional development in these challenging circumstances.

7. Cruise industry: In the cruise sector, where ships often sail in international waters with limited internet connectivity, offline e-learning can be an effective solution. It can be used to train staff in everything from safety procedures to customer service, ensuring that training continues even when the ship is not connected to the internet.

8. Disaster response: For responders working in disaster relief and emergency management, offline e-learning can be a vital tool. These professionals often need to quickly adapt to changing circumstances and may not have the time or opportunity to rely on online training materials. Offline e-learning can provide rapid, effective training regardless of where or when the disaster occurs.

Benefits of offline e-learning

Offline e-learning offers various benefits. Firstly, it can help secure sensitive information, as data is stored locally and does not need to be transmitted over the internet. Secondly, it can lead to significant cost savings by reducing the need for continuous internet access. Additionally, offline e-learning can be accessible in areas with unreliable internet connections, making it an essential tool for remote and rural areas. It also provides more control over the content and its usage, enabling application-oriented learning through personalized learning processes.

 

Challenges of offline e-learning

Despite the benefits, there are also challenges with offline e-learning. One significant obstacle is synchronizing learning progress between offline and online platforms. Technical issues can also arise, such as device or software compatibility problems. Furthermore, the limited interaction and feedback between learners and instructors can hinder the learning process. There are simple solutions for offline learning, such as traditional books or printed PDFs. However, the disadvantages of printed materials are easily identifiable. Updates, security, distribution, and damage to the material are perhaps the most significant arguments against “paper.”

 

Learn more about offline learning in our news article: How does offline learning work?

Do you use an app or prefer a mobile classroom?

Using a mobile app for offline learning can indeed be convenient, but setting up a mobile classroom with a secure network can offer several benefits that go beyond what an app can provide.

1. Enhanced learning experience: A mobile classroom provides a learning environment that resembles a traditional classroom, where students can collaborate and learn from each other. This promotes the social aspect of learning, which is often lacking when using individual mobile apps.

2. Increased security and privacy: In a secure network, data is stored and transmitted locally, reducing the risk of data breaches. This is especially important if the learning content involves sensitive information. Additionally, the learning progress can be encrypted and securely transported to the Learning Record Store (LRS) or Learning Management System (LMS) at the headquarters, ensuring the security and privacy of the data.

3. Greater control and flexibility: A mobile classroom with a secure network offers more control over the learning content and tools used. This allows for customization of the learning experience to meet the specific needs of the learners. Moreover, learning content and tools can be easily updated or modified, which may not be as straightforward when using mobile apps.

4. Scalability: Mobile classrooms are scalable and can easily adapt to the number of learners. In contrast, mobile apps may have limitations in terms of the number of users they can support simultaneously.

While setting up a mobile classroom with a secure network may initially require a larger investment, the long-term benefits can be significant, both in terms of the quality of education and the security and privacy of the data.

 

Solutions for synchronizing learning progress

There are several solutions for synchronizing learning progress. One solution is to locally store data, which can be uploaded later when internet access is available. Another method is to use a local server that tracks learners’ progress and later synchronizes it with the main server. Offline synchronization tools exist that automate this process, as well as xAPI data packages that collect data about learners’ experiences regardless of where the learning takes place.

 

Practical examples of offline e-learning

There are numerous practical examples of organizations implementing offline e-learning. Companies with employees in remote locations use this method to ensure consistent training. Government agencies in areas with limited internet access have implemented offline e-learning to educate their personnel. Schools and universities with limited resources can also employ this method to make learning more accessible. Future Learning offers the capability to provide offline learning through apps for an LMS (such as ILIAS or Moodle) or to set up a mobile classroom with an LMS and potentially an LRS. Learning progress is securely and encryptedly transferred to the main headquarters after the training.

 

Conclusion

While offline e-learning presents certain challenges, it also offers significant benefits, especially for those in remote areas or with limited internet access. Organizations considering offering offline e-learning should carefully consider the methods they will use to ensure the safeguarding of learning progress. While this approach may not be suitable for every organization, it can be a valuable addition to the learning and development programs of many organizations.

 

Read more about offline learning in our news article: Is offline e-learning worthwhile?

 

Hiring a freelancer has advantages for many organizations. It offers a bit of flexibility and it can be financially attractive to opt for a self-employed person. But it is essential that the person you hire already has the desired level of knowledge. Or maybe someone still needs to be trained and tested in certain areas. But you also don’t want to overload someone with knowledge they already have. How do you ensure the knowledge level of the freelancer you hire is at the right level? In this article we take a closer look at this and explain how we can help organizations with this.

 

Personal learning paths

We can easily provide freelancers with a personal learning path. Together with our educationalists, we develop the quality objectives and work out ‘a Vision on Learning’ together with your organization. By properly checking detailed competencies in advance, the filled learning system will serve as a quality system, with a personal learning path, for the freelancer. In this way you do not only make your freelancers wiser within the organization, but an appropriately attractive offer is made available and the knowledge level remains up to date. Of course, this also applies to our own employees.

 

 

Learn without learning too much

As mentioned, it is important that we do not overload someone with knowledge that he or she already has. We overcome this problem with a personal learning path. They only learn what they specifically need to perform their job properly. If parts are already known, they do not have to be repeated or trained.

Many organizations have started profiling themselves as a “learning organization” by making an overdose of generic modules available. Many freelancers and employees are not waiting for that. They want to learn the exact knowledge and provide the specific qualities, about the work to be done.

 

A learning system as a quality system

This approach also allows your learning system to function as a quality system. This can demonstrably show how you work on quality and safety. Not to forget that quality is a continuous process. If you measure this once, you will not gain insight into the progress, but an adapted customer-specific own learning system does offer this!

Curious how this would work for your organization and how we can put together such a personal learning path for you? Request a free expert session.

“I am Robert Kuunders and I work as a Senior ILIAS consultant and system administrator for Future Learning. I will briefly tell you about a working day at this beautiful company.”

Maintaining the servers

“A large number of servers are maintained for our customers on which the differently configured versions of ILIAS run. Both the servers running the Ubuntu system and the ILIAS instances with the plugins need maintenance. Part of that maintenance is automatic, such as monitoring and making database backups. Another part is done manually. The manual maintenance has to be prepared, performed and checked, which can be scheduled as work. However, if there is an alarm during the monitoring, then that work comes in between, sometimes in the middle of the night or at the weekend.”

But also a lot of research!

“The other part of my job is mainly research. Find out exactly how a certain functionality in a customer environment, our website or other system works, or should work, and can be explained. If there’s something wrong, I’ll see if there’s another way to achieve the same thing. If there is a new technique that Future Learning will use, I am also the person who researches this to adopt in our portfolio. We record as much knowledge as possible in our helpdesk system Zendesk and in our internal knowledge base, in ILIAS of course!”

Five tips for an unforgettable onboarding

Innumerable different companies, but also innumerable different learning solutions …

We would like to discover together with you which didactic concept and which learning solution fits best within your company.

Because we have experience in developing processes for a wide range of customers, we realize that every customer has his own needs.

Here we already give you five tips, so you can see if Future Learning can mean something for you!

Don’t forget the preboarding….

Introducing: Hester

“I am Hester, Senior (ILIAS) Consultant and Content Developer at Future Learning. I have been working at Future Learning for over 11 years now in this fun and dynamic job. My work cannot be captured in strictly defined working hours, so I cannot really describe a typical working day. I like the fact that I can generally just work from home.”

 

Solution-oriented

“As a Senior (ILIAS) Consultant I listen carefully to the wishes, questions, and problems of the customer regarding the learning management system (LMS) or the learning resources that they work with or would like to work with. With this information, our Future Learning team will look for the right solution.

We always keep in mind that our products are not the objective, but only the means to achieve the ultimate goal of the customer. Our finished products can range from an advisory plan, a very concrete scenario or implementation plan, separate learning modules up to a fully equipped learning platform.”

24/7 helpdesk customer support

“I am also part of our Helpdesk team. Customers who purchase an ILIAS package via Future Learning can count on technical support 24/7. In addition, we also offer functional support to customers as a package to be purchased separately. Even if the customer has their ILIAS or another LMS or authoring tool under their own management.

My work is mainly limited to the functional questions we receive via a ‘ticket system’. We strive to provide initial feedback on these questions within 24 hours. Given the diversity of (also international) customers and what they want and do with the various systems and tools, this can sometimes be quite a challenge. It is therefore always very satisfying if you can close a ticket to the satisfaction of the customer.”

From individual learning modules to onboarding processes

“As a content developer I am also involved in a number of Future Learning projects. I sometimes work all by myself with the client and sometimes in a team with our educationalists, animators, graphic designers, etc.. The assignments we receive vary from separate learning modules, complete courses up to fully developed onboarding learning trajectories.

To develop the content, we use the authoring tool that best suits the wishes of the customer. Examples of this are the authoring tool within ILIAS, H5P (which can also be used directly in ILIAS), Articulate Rise or Storyline and Adobe Captivate.

Sometimes a client already uses their own authoring tool and just needs ‘hands on’ help. In that case, I or one of my colleagues quickly master the tool and we offer the necessary help.
It is fun and creative work. Working with tight deadlines and sometimes little to no source material always remains a challenge for all of us. It is up to us to solve the puzzle in such a way that we have a happy customer with the result. Wonderful!”

But how do you do that? How do you ensure that an employee feels valued within your company?

Appreciation is not directly related to a higher salary, a reward or a bonus. It has nothing to do with money in the first place. In this blog we give you tips that can help you!

Positive atmosphere

A positive atmosphere in the workplace is important to be able to go to work every day with a smile, that’s obvious. Pay attention to the people around you and have a little humor at work! By making people laugh, you make sure that negativity is felt less heavily.

Let people develop

People want to develop continuously, it gives them satisfaction and keeps them accurate. It not only ensures more job satisfaction, but also more skilled employees. As an employer, you will also benefit from this.

To value means to appreciate and that includes developing talent. Employees feel valued when their talent can be further developed within the organization and when there is room for education, training or courses.

It is easy that this can also be done online. Then the results are immediately visible after the training. In this way, your quality or HR employee can immediately see who has completed what with what result and can further anticipate this.

Give compliments

When you have achieved a goal, or completed an assignment, you feel happy. We would like to feel happy again and so someone will want to repeat this behavior.

Complimenting this behavior is extra motivating. The compliment can also be accompanied by a reward. An immediate reward works better than a reward in the future. Therefore, annual rewards work much less well than an immediate (smaller) reward.

It is also important to publicly express your appreciation. This creates confidence in the employee. This is why ‘Employee of the Month’ works so well. A manager who addresses the team and makes compliments, that’s important. This ensures that someone wants to work within this team.

And did you know that giving someone a compliment is also good for yourself? People even like giving a gift to someone more than receiving one. This only works if you do it with personal attention. So giving something by email, a compliment or a gift, that doesn’t work.

 

Which tip will you use right away?

So, who are you going to compliment today? Or do you want to get started with the development of your employees?

Future Learning likes to map out in which area you can let your employees learn within your organization. Feel free to contact us!