Adapting: Changing Your Mindset About eLearning  

Time. It is the one commodity we can’t pay to get more of, and we can’t save any excess for a rainy day. It’s our own worst enemy during the 30-minute spin class, or our best friend when relaxing with the family on weekends. In any scenario, it is always passing. 

Now that we agree the clock is ticking, we have to agree on how to use that time. For some, the time could be spent binging a Netflix series. For others, it could be doing some house repairs. Whatever your go-to may be, it’s time to make the case to spend at least some of your time on eLearning. According to Small Business Trend, 98% of all businesses plan to use eLearning in their company by the end of 2020. These courses can be related to in-house changes, program updates, or even enhancing business/soft skill levels throughout the workforce. No matter the type of class, eLearning is an important part of the overall continuing education equation. 

Let’s Take it Back to the Beginning 

The term “eLearning” was coined back in the ’90s—a time where the Internet was reachable, but nothing like the Internet we access today. The systems were slow, dial-up was king, and everyone said: “You’ve got Mail” (thanks AOL). To understand the gravity of the situation, you had to have lived through it. Generation Z may never be able to fully understand just how quickly the world changed. Since then, our relationship with the Internet has become simultaneous and fluid as we depend on it for survival. It changed every industry seemingly overnight and made our world a much smaller place. It has drastically affected supply chains as demand that was forecasted for the next year now turns on a dime depending on outside factors that come in notification by notification. 

As the Internet has changed over the last two decades, the same goes for learning. That’s why eLearning, and the platforms the various components are served through, continue to be created and updated. The one thing that does not change is time. Therefore, finding the way to use the new tools at hand to maximize the time of employees is the ultimate goal. The following recommendations can aide in changing your thought process around eLearning and help you to incorporate it into your schedule. 

Dedicate Specific Time for eLearning in Your Schedule

As with most humans, we avoid things we don’t want to do; better known as “procrastination.” Can you relate? Even with the best intentions, not dedicating time to eLearning in your schedule can have a huge impact on the completion of that course you’ve been working on for days (or weeks). The result of pushing off eLearning to the last part of the day or while we are trying to get dinner on the table leads to divided attention that can be detrimental to learning retention and lead to an inevitable feeling of being rushed. Making learning a priority and giving it dedicated space in the daily schedule will allow you, as the student, to absorb the information better and retain it longer. Don’t just make the time; dedicate the time. 

Look at eLearning as an Investment

The first recommendation is to change your mind set about eLearning. When a company provides learning opportunities to its employees, it can suggest the company cares enough about its people (or productivity) to offer a chance to enhance and improve their existing skillsets. Any time spent on continued learning, whether professional or personal, should be considered an investment in yourself, similar to a 401K for your retirement. The skills you learn will most likely transfer to many areas of your life and will add to your overall betterment. Therefore, think of elearning as not just another task to add to the list, but as an investment in your future, that could lead to countless opportunities down the road, most of which you probably cannot even imagine yet. 

Use the Right Technology for You 

What device is most conducive for your specific learning style and needs? It may not be at the top of your list of things to think about, but it is something that you should take into consideration when starting an eLearning course. Sometimes a course may require looking in detail at charts or lines of code, which can be hard on the eyes when working on a small phone screen. A solution could be connecting that phone to a monitor to see the details. Besides, some people enjoy lying on their backs or stomach while learning; therefore, a tablet device could be a better suit. Not every device is created equal, and the same goes for the student. Taking the time to find the right device for your course could help transform that hostile relationship with eLearning to a friendly one. 

Time will always run against us if we let it, so let’s not let that happen. By resetting our thought processes to view eLearning as an investment for our future, dedicating the appropriate time for it in our schedule, and utilizing the correct devices, we can effectively better ourselves and lead to happier, more efficient, and better fulfilled lives.