10 Things You Could Create Instead of an E-Learning Course

Hi Ivana. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment on my article. I've broken down my responses to your questions to, hopefully, elaborate a bit more.

First, a short independent-study exercise could take a lot of forms depending on the nature of the material so it's hard for me to be provide a precise illustration of the concept, because it's rather open to interpretation. For instance, one example of this approach might be the use of a hard copy scenario or case study with questions completed by learners. A manager might distribute this activity to their team members to help coach them on more nuanced aspects of their work, or to prompt deeper discussion of complex topics. Later, the manager might get everyone together face-to-face to lead a discussion about their reactions to the situation presented in the scenario.

In terms of a customizable job aid, I'm suggesting that learners be provided with a template for creating their own job aid, rather than a completed job aid. For instance, giving learners a chart for a system they use frequently is common in many environments. But what if learners only frequently use a small portion of the short cut keys on that quick reference chart? In this case, it might make more sense to give folks a head start on creating their own chart—perhaps in a classroom setting—to make this job aid concise and useful to each individual.

And in terms of my reference to a "hybrid tool," sometimes I think it makes more sense to provide folks with simple performance support that's integrated into their everyday lives and work environments. The example I cited in the article is of a mousepad that also contains shortcut keys, or maybe a phone sticker that contains the company greeting. Another idea might be to integrate some custom screen prompts into a user's computer system to help remind them of the information that belongs in certain form fields, for example.

These are just a few quick ideas. I hope they'll help to clarify the concepts for you. I think it's worth noting that we all have different ways of describing different tools and tactics for reaching learners so I wouldn't be surprised if other folks had their own labels and interpretations for these concepts. At the end of the day, the point of my article was to encourage everyone to think critically about all your options for creating solutions that help your learners, rather than defaulting to an e-learning course. Hopefully I've given you and others some food for thought!