Saying that knowledge can save lives might sound a tad dramatic, but in this case, it’s absolutely true.

Knowing how to administer CPR, or properly carry out the Heimlich maneuver can be the difference between life and death for someone, and the difference between you being able to make a meaningful difference or being powerless to help.

Online courses for emergency and disaster training in the workplace are ideal ways to learn vital skills so that you or a colleague knows how to act in case of an emergency. eLearning continues to be an effective tool for in work training, and its use for emergency response is no different.

In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of being trained for emergencies so that you’re aware of the huge help that it can be.

The first and most obvious benefit of emergency and disaster training is that it will make your workplace so much safer. Even a relatively easy technique to train, like CPR, can make a huge difference to the safety of the place you work. With over 600,000 people suffering a cardiac arrest each year, the assumption that you’re unlikely to ever use your training isn’t exactly accurate.

In the case of cardiac arrest, every minute counts. As this study states, “Each minute without treatment decreases the likelihood of survival without disability. Without treatment within 10 minutes, the survival rate is almost zero.”

Considering that in a city like New York ambulance response time hovers around the nine minute 20 seconds mark, your training could quite literally decide who lives and who dies.

Response plans to fires, earthquakes and even terrorist attacks are needed to secure the safety of each person working.

Unfortunately, workplaces are often environments that are full of stress, which can potentially increase the chances of an emergency like a cardiac arrest occurring. Make your workplace safer by knowing what to do.

Although eLearning courses for emergency and disaster response will most likely to be given through your employer, the value knowledge that you gain does not stop at the place you work. The understanding of red flags for illnesses or knowing how to deal with a fire are lessons that can be taken anywhere in life.

This extends to your family and friends; all the people you love. Would you know how to treat burns or smoke inhalation if there was a fire at home? Would you know how to compress wounds if a family member injured themselves?

The knowledge you gain from your work life is transferable to your private life and with as serious a subject as the health of those you love at stake, this is a benefit worth its weight in gold.

Online courses in emergency and disaster response training don’t only offer the very direct benefits of knowing how to act in when facing a disaster. The skills that learners acquire along the way – communication, teamwork, and leadership – are all tools that are vital to a successful workplace. Individuals who can demonstrate these skills are always in demand.

In this sense, undertaking an online course in emergency and disaster response training is, as the old saying goes, like killing two birds with one stone. Not only are learners endowed with the know-how to tackle emergency situations head on, but they also dramatically improve the “soft skills” that employers are considering as more important than ever. Not a bad day’s work!

If safety in the workplace isn’t the number one concern of each and every employer then they have a problem. The company culture that doesn’t put the health and wellbeing of employees first and foremost is not one that is likely to succeed. Employees have a right to work in a safe place, and working with individuals who are trained in emergency and disaster response can offer that.

The safety of a workplace isn’t only a legal requirement, but it can also make a huge difference to company culture as a whole. Acknowledging the importance of every individual working at an organization promotes the company understanding of their workers, in turn allowing organizations to become more dynamic and better versed in creating a happy workforce. Happy employees work better and harder, and a happy company is more attractive to potential employees and clients.

Training a workforce in emergency and disaster response is a win-win for everybody.

It is the nature of online learning that makes it such a useful medium to teach emergency and disaster response through.

A problem that organizations often have with this type of training is that it can require entire teams to stop working for days to facilitate learning. Unless your organization has the resources to cope with an entire day’s inaction, you’re unlikely to offer this service. eLearning can step in here and fill that void.

Not only is eLearning extremely effective as a tool of education, it’s also completely mobile and far cheaper than inviting experts to the office. With usernames and passwords, each employee in a company can complete their training – from their home, at their desk, or even on the bus.

Because eLearning is done online it is vastly more affordable to medium and small size businesses that would otherwise be put off by the huge bills that often come with this type of training. eLearning makes this training – that will help to safeguard the health of an entire workforce – a viable option.

When a something as important as the health of employees, colleagues, and friends is on the line, online courses for emergency and disaster response simply make sense.

False

Online learning for emergency and disaster training

Want a sure-fire way to ensure students are fully involved in your course? Make it into a game!

Gamification. That’s the name given to the application of game-design to non-traditional gaming areas. Simply put, it’s the way that educators are reusing techniques that promote continued engagement between player and game, in educational arenas rather than video games.

This sounds complex but it really isn’t. Gamification of your online course can be as uncomplicated as rewarding learners based on how well they accomplish desired tasks, or as far-reaching as actually designing and making a video game yourself.

In this article, we’ll offer some tips and advice on how to use gamification to improve the participation in your eLearning classroom.

One common thread that all good games share is that their rules are straight-forward, logical, and easy to follow. Another common thread of all good games is that the way you play the game is set out from the first roll of the dice, or click of the mouse.

It’s important for your learners to understand how they can earn points and merit through their participation in the course; if they don’t then they’ll be confused and quickly turn away. And this is easy enough to do. Before the start of any course, offer a quick introduction to the points-based process, how they can earn achievements and the awards on offer when each achievement is accomplished.

Games with really complicated rules are never fun to play – make yours simple and accessible.

Remember that though the introduction of gamification into your course is intended to make the learning process more entertaining and immersive, your intention is still to teach that outcome. Among the fun and frolics of gamification, this core need can sometimes be forgotten.

The most effective method to reach this desired learning outcome is to reward good behaviors and punish mistakes.

An example of this is that students could earn points for correctly remembering the last lesson’s takeaway. And points should mean prizes. They could unlock special badges to add to their resume or another small but inviting offer.

Punishments should not be excessive, but students should not be allowed to pass a stage of the course until they have satisfied learning criteria. Perhaps they could be given a certain amount of “lives” and they must return to the start of the stage if they run out.

The point is this: reward the exhibiting of desired learning outcomes. This way, students will both enjoy and learn.

Everyone enjoys heightening the stakes, making things a little more interesting. Use colleague’s natural competitiveness to your advantage – they’ll learn more and have fun doing it.

One way to do this is to create a mini league and award points based on results in the course each student is taking. The leagues can be split between department, course subject, or simply a group of friends who want some friendly competition.

It’s important for participants to know the criteria before they embark, so give them a rundown of how they’ll earn points and what the rewards and consequences will be for those who finish top and bottom.

Always remember to keep students learning objectives in mind so that no one strays off the path, but with a well-constructed league, your students should be chomping at the bit to earn some points and beat their colleagues!

Like video games, your course can offer a variety of skills, badges or honors to constantly promote the search for more knowledge (and points) for the effort of the student’s endeavors.

These badges can be given out at specific intervals, after student’s exhibit and carry out a desired learning outcome. So if, for example, you’ve been teaching a stage on licensing and permit compliance, then the students can sit a quiz or small exam to show their understanding of the knowledge acquired. If they do well then they’re given the “Compliance Rock Star” badge.

There are many ways to implement this for whichever course is being taught, but the important point is that the students who have completed sections of the course well are identified through these badges, skills or honors. This way, students can be proud of what they have done.

And if you wanted to really make it worth their while, students could receive real-life bonuses for every badge they receive. Maybe an extra day of paid vacation, or vouchers for a local restaurant. Make sure their hard work is rewarded.

For any gamer worth their salt, the progress tracker is a vital tool in easily seeing their personal progress in-game. Best sellers like Call of Duty use the progress tracker as a way of encouraging players to continue playing and achieving the goals that they work towards. And so can you. With a visual reminded, learners can see how close they are to unlocking that next badge, or acquiring those precious points!

The progress tracker is easy enough to include in your course and can be used in two ways. Firstly, each stage of the course can have a small progress “live” progress bar so that learners can see their points racking up as they progress. This can be as simple as an empty bar that fills as points are collected. Once the bar is full, bang, you win a badge!

The second use is for a macro impression of the course, used to give students a general impression of where they are in the course and how much is still left to do. Here you can offer the badges that will give real-life awards.

The intention of the tracker is to encourage students to continue learning. Make sure the work is worth their while!

Are you thinking about starting a new business? Getting a new business off the ground is always a very exciting experience, but it can also be quite challenging. Fortunately, these days you don’t need to have a college degree to be a successful business owner. There are plenty of online courses available that can help you get your business up and running.

From registering your business name to basic accounting skills, online courses can help you launch your business and give it the best chance of success. Once you’ve successfully launched, you’ll also need to make sure you stay in business – eLearning courses will provide you with the knowledge and skills to do that too!

Here are 5 of the best online courses for starting a new business. These eLearning courses will provide you with the practical knowledge you need to get your new business started, and help existing businesses grow to new heights.

How to Setup Your New Business From Scratch

The best place to start? From scratch, with this practical step-by-step course that takes you through everything you need to know about setting up a new business. If you’re looking for clear, basic guidelines on how to turn your business idea into an actual company – this is the course for you.

You won’t find information or guidance on things like management styles, or growing your business, but that’s okay – there are plenty of other online courses that are specifically focused on those skills. This is the course you need first, that will show you how to:

Set up your business technology, such as email, phone, files

Plan, organize and keep your business running smoothly

Understand the different types of marketing available

Understand and start building your social media presence

This course is also great for anyone who is looking for guidelines on setting up a new business, but focuses more on the ‘business models’ side of things, rather than those practical first steps. It provides plenty of information on essential topics related to entrepreneurship, while helping you to develop your business idea.

Through descriptive examples and exercises, you’ll gain an introductory understanding of the knowledge and skills required in the entrepreneurial journey. In the last two sessions, you’ll be given the resources you need to design your first plan and important information on business laws and raising capital.

How to Prospect and find New Business & Clients

As we said before, it’s not just about getting your business up and running – you also need the skills and knowledge to stay in business. And to do that, you’ll need to know how to attract and retain clients or customers.

Prospecting, referral and networking skills have more to do with the success of any small business than any other skill. This online course will provide you with a deeper understanding of how different prospecting strategies work to produce results. Through a mix of video, audio and practical exercises, you’ll learn how to increase your client or customer base – and ultimately increase profits.

Throughout the eLearning course, you’ll be given a toolkit of ideas, scripts and practical tips that will help put you in front of the right potential clients. Learn how to develop a constant prospecting awareness, with the skills to deliver a great elevator speech, work a room, network successfully, and get appointments through phone calls.

To be successful in running your new business, you’re going to need to get your head around the numbers. This can be very daunting for many small business owners, but it’s vital that you take the time to understand the financials of your business if you want to avoid failure.

As this course acknowledges, in the first year of business, it’s quite difficult to plan. Financials can be all over the place, including some months where there is no income at all. In these early days, how do you budget for expenses, salary, and projected growth?

That's exactly what this course helps you to do. You’ll gain an understanding of the ebbs and flows of your company finances and learn how to stabilize first year income, take an appropriate salary, and create realistic financial income projections.

The Cost of Capital: The Key To Attract Venture Capitalists

This last course takes things one step further, helping you to find and attract venture capitalists to invest in your business. The eLearning course is for small business owners who want to understand the meaning of the cost of capital and its applications in corporate finance.

Through this eLearning course, you’ll learn to speak the same language of advisors and venture capitalists. You’ll be able to recognize if a new project will create value for shareholders and if it has chances to be financed by venture capitalists. You’ll also gain the skills and knowledge to:

Use the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) to work out the cost of equity

Calculate the yield-to-maturity for corporate bonds

Use the y-t-m to calculate the pre-tax cost of debt

Calculate the weighted average cost of debt for projects

Hopefully these online courses will help you to overcome some of the challenges in starting your own business. By taking the time to develop your basic business skills, you'll have far greater chance of being a successful business owner.

5 online courses to help you start your new business

HR managers understand that people are vital to the success of an organisation. In today’s competitive workforce, attracting and retaining the right talent—with the right skill set—is crucial for long-term industry growth. 

This is why it’s so essential to invest in suitable technology for your human resources department. With the appropriate technological tools, your HR team will ultimately be able to improve the way they hire, onboard, train and manage your employees.

In addition, a commitment to technology shows a commitment to professional development. When your organisation demonstrates a willingness to invest in tech, your company proves it’s devoted to the overall development of your staff. Having relevant, up-to-date technology solutions that are easily accessible is critical for onsite workers. It’s also an essential part of attracting dependable candidates (i.e., competent employees who are willing to remain loyal to your organisation) and in encouraging a high level of performance.

Keeping this in mind, it may be time to rethink your chosen business techniques. What services are you and your HR managers using to hire, onboard and develop your staff members? How well are these tools working for you? Do you have a healthy employee retention rate? Do your employees feel they are given enough resources to function at full capacity? Do your staff members feel you maintain an active interest in their ongoing careers?

Let’s take a look at how proper technology can benefit your individual personnel as well as how it can positively affect your organisation as a whole.

When onboarding new hires, first impressions are key. After all, the way you introduce team members to their new business community says a lot about the culture of your organisation and will also be a determining factor in whether or not your new hires decide to stay.

The right onboarding technology can help with this transitional period. Carefully constructed, appealingly interactive systems with friendly user interfaces can likewise smooth and streamline the onboarding process for your valuable team members. Given these tremendous advantages, why not consider incorporating a learning management system (LMS) into your onboarding technique?

These days, the best HR teams are embracing technology to automate their recruitment. With an effective onboarding program, you can reduce staff turnover (read more here how this is possible with a good onboarding program) rates, increase employee engagement and allow new hires to reach full productivity at greater speeds. And, with 30% of companies reporting they need a year or more for new employees to reach peak production levels, an investment in an appropriate onboarding LMS program may be your best option for combatting waste (that is, wasted time, wasted money, etc.).

If you’re interested in an LMS, online courses such as those provided by Go1 are readily available. In addition, a reputable education company like Go1 can often customise these courses for you. Comprehensive catalogues should ideally include classes in:

• Workplace safety
• Codes of conduct
• Resilience
• Harassment training
• General compliance
• …And much more

As we’ve indicated above, many employees are looking for more from their jobs than just a good salary. Case in point: Team members are likely to be motivated by other additional factors such as company culture and the opportunity for professional development. Staff members need to know their employer is interested in their future growth, and an excellent way for employers to express such interest is through effective training methods and processes. A proper digital onboarding program can not only keep new hires feeling thoroughly prepared and appropriately well informed, it can also help employers to monitor employee progress with an eye towards harnessing talents to foster individual long-term success.

Bernard Marr, author of Big Data in Practice: How 45 Successful Companies Used Big Data Analytics to Deliver Extraordinary Results, provides organisations with expert advice on data, analytics, metrics and the improvement of business performance. “HR departments are generating more data than ever before but at the same time they often struggle to turn their data into valuable insights,” Mr. Marr wrote in Forbes® Magazine, adding, “The tricky part is establishing a system to track capacity without creating huge administrative burdens and without alienating employees with a ‘big-brother’ approach.”

The answer? A good LMS. A learning management system will help you gather valuable feedback and information from staff training, which can in turn be used to bolster levels of employee involvement and increase general performance. Your HR team will have the opportunity to identify the type of training necessary for individual staff members, and will then be able to work with employees to hone their personal skills and expand their list of qualifications. In this way, a LMS can play a critical role in enabling team members to reach company objectives that will lead to positive impacts for your organisation—all while facilitating personal growth and laying the foundation for each employee to enjoy upward mobility in the future.

Social media can also be a vital piece of your recruitment process. Your website, branding and social media channels are often the front line of your global communications outreach, capable of enticing (or repelling) talent with a single click. It’s quite normal these days for potential candidates to check out an organisation’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and/or LinkedIn accounts, and these platforms can signal whether or not your company is the best fit for a would-be employee (or vice versa). Glassdoor can also be a deal breaker for many potential employees.

Are you using social media tools in the most effective way possible? You should always make sure your social media channels aren’t outdated or poorly managed. And if you’re worried your social media skills aren’t up to par, you may wish to enroll in an online course to help get them there. Some quick tips include:

• Try to integrate current affairs into your Twitter and Facebook posts so visitors know your business is active and up to date
• Search for news items and articles that pertain directly to your industry and share them often; encourage a dialogue where appropriate
• Check your LinkedIn messaging and notifications frequently
• When possible, use pictures of onsite activities that have a personal touch for your Instagram account (stock images often read as though your business is too formal or detached)

As you can see, contemporary tech solutions are an important part of efficient HR management functions. If you’re a human resource professional, you should be constantly thinking about what avenues you could explore to improve the way you hire, onboard, train and manage staff. Hopefully this article has helped to point you in the right direction.

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

What tools are you using for hiring and development? - Go1

HR managers: what tools are you using to hire, onboard and develop your employees?

Video is the primary tool of learning and communication when it comes to eLearning these days. Of course, most courses do offer supplementary study books, audio, and reference sheets, but frequently the main driving force of an online course is video!

That’s why the ability to properly structure your videos is such an important concern. Your videos will be where students can see, as well as hear, what it is that they are trying to understand. Visual clues are vital for all types of learners.

In this article, we’ll offer some tips on structuring the video content of your course to make sure it is as engaging and effective as possible. If you’d like more tips about using technology for learning, then you can check them out here.

It’s important that your video lessons demonstrate the learning objectives that you are making. Rather than simply telling students, you need to show them too.

Demonstration through visual means is an important part of the learning process.

There are many ways to do this. Demonstrate what you’re trying to communicate through real-life examples that students can relate to well. Characters, stories, and life lessons are also entertaining ways to illustrate a learning objective, while analogies are vital and offer another perspective for understanding.

While simply telling some students a topic will be enough for them to grasp the point, this won’t be true for all. Ensure that as many students as possible can comprehend your lesson by demonstrating your learning objectives through a variety of means.

One of the best ways to demonstrate a learning objective is through the use of fictional stories. Characters that are relatable, stories that reference real-life and clear resolutions are all attractive to learners.

The classic story arc is perfectly set up to explain a learning objective. Its conflict – climax – resolution template offers the eLearning teacher a great way to represent what it is you’re trying to address. The conflict sets out the dilemma facing learners at work, the climax explains the realistic problem that the student may face, and the resolution shows the positive changes that result from the implementation of the course objectives.

Personification through stories is an extremely effective way to teach a lesson. There are reasons that stories – from Greek tragedy to morality play – have been a successful tool for teaching for thousands of years.

Thanks to shortening attention spans and easy access to the constant sources of stimulation available on the internet, being both concise and engaging in the structure of your videos make the difference between students watching it or not. Put simply, if a student gets bored they’ll go elsewhere.

Not only will sharp, direct videos decrease the likelihood of students drifting off, but small snippets of information more effectively plants itself in memory. While everyone loves learning, the amount of information that you include in your videos should not be overwhelming. For this reason, you should include key points, and always offer a recap and “takeaway” advice at each video lesson.

As videos are usually the main component of eLearning courses, they need to work to incorporate the other resources within the course package. Rather than a flat, one-dimensional learning experience, offer your students a rich learning environment by referencing other resources in your course pack.

Structuring your videos to refer to and include the course’s other resources will promote interactivity and engagement in the course. For example, the video can pose a question and then request that the student refers to their course study book to complete a task. Or students can be asked to refer to tables or charts that the video touches upon, for a fuller picture.

In promoting the use of your extra resources, the course is far more involving and exciting than when one learning resource is used. If students are more involved then they will learn and thus your course is far more likely to succeed in teaching its learning objectives.

The use of music that tugs at the heartstrings or images that bring a tear to the eye are great ways to really involve students in the videos they are watching.

Emotion heightens attention and through using a little dramatic license, students will be further engaged in what they are watching. An image that quickens the heartbeat or a piece of music that brings a tear to the eye will always catch the attention of students.  

It is important to remember that images and music selected should be suitable to what is being taught. This is a teaching environment, after all.

But if you use all the tools at your disposal, including music and images, capture the attention and focus of your student group, then learning objectives are likely to be achieved. If students are invested in the course then their performance can only get better.
So there we have it. With videos as the focal point most eLearning courses, it is important that they are structured properly. If you can include some of these tips to refine your videos then student engagement will surely rise, and with it, the success of your course as a whole.

Tips on structuring videos for your course

A helping hand from those who have been there and done it is never a bad idea. For entrepreneurs looking to get the next step up, there are many courses available to help in the department.

The internet is a great source of information, but sometimes it’s awash with too many “100% guarantees” and “Make a Million in 30 Days” offers.

To save you the trouble, we’ve searched through only the most reliable sources to give you a quality list of the Top 5 Courses to Help Entrepreneurs. They won’t hold your hand and do the heavy lifting for you, but they can certainly set you off on the right path.

#1: Taking the Next Step in Leadership: An Introduction to Becoming an Organizational Champion

This course helps entrepreneurs understand and implement the organizational strategies of the most effective leaders in industry today. This course is based on Mike Thompson's hit book, the organizational champion, and these modules will help you place your organization on a path to overcoming obstacles and difficulties as you begin to grow.

Understanding how Organizational Champions differ from leaders

Defining the four characteristics within the ECChO Model

Describing the benefits that each Champion characteristic brings to an organization

#2:   Management Lessons From Steve Jobs and Richard Branson

Both of these incredible entrepreneurs have been incredibly successful in no small part due to their unique approaches to management. This course gives you an up close look into these two powerful and fascinating men and gives you insights into the management philosophies that help them build their brands.

If you are an entrepreneur then understanding how your management style affects your company is paramount.

In the very beginning years your company culture is going to be what attracts talent to your new opportunity. If you have a management style that does not engage and motivate your employees in the right way, they simply will not stick around.

This course gives you access to two exclusive interviews, two quizzes and further reading to help you down the road.

#3 How To Build a Business Model For a Startup Company

So you have an idea and you think it may become the next AirBnB or Uber. What do you do from here?

The truth is that failure rate for startups is astronomical and if you want to have any hope of becoming profitable and actually having a successful business on your hands then you need to have a bulletproof business model.

This course will show you how to build the perfect business model for your startup, explain why you need to develop one in the first place, and show you how to build and cultivate your initial customer base.

Inside you get access to exclusive video explaining how to build a great company, step-by-step, a comprehensive article on validating your business model, and a quiz to help you retain the information you learned.

#4: Building a Business - Financial Projections For Startups

Your startup needs to have real metrics that backup the rest of your projections. Without a bulletproof financial section of your business plan then you have very little hope of actually gaining financing for your company.

Even if you decide you don't need to take on a bank loan or find angel investors, you should absolutely take the time to go through your financials so that you can make better decisions in the critical months and years ahead as you're starting out.

This course gives you everything you need to know to create  the financial portion of your business plan, and lets you know what obstacles to look out for as you move ahead.

#5: Startup Business: How To Raise Seed Capital

Most companies will need some form of “war chest” when they are created. This startup capital is the bare minimum you require to like the spark that will ignite your entrepreneurial engine and take you where you want to go. This program shares key insights into how you can raise up to $50,000 for your startup.

You'll get access to a cash flow template, information about key funding sources, a partnership checklist and much, much more.

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

Raise the seed capital you need to get started with your business…

Know where to find the money you need for your business…

Understand the critical psychology behind gaining startup funding…

You can get access to all of these courses and hundreds of thousands more when you browse our marketplace at go1.com.  We've created a one-stop portal where you can find the most effective e-learning courses and materials for your organization, whether you're a startup or part of a multibillion-dollar corporation.

Online learning has proven to be one of the most effective ways to train your staff and become more competitive in today's business climate.

Click here to explore our marketplace and find the right training courses for your organization today!

It’s always hard to admit you’ve got a problem - especially when it’s something you don’t know about! Unconscious bias is, as the name might have suggested, a condition that we are not aware of. But everybody suffers from unconscious bias, no matter how enlightened they consider themselves to be.

To speak simply, unconscious bias is the term given to the way our brains make decisions automatically, without thought. We have no control over unconscious bias when we are not aware of it.

In the workplace, unconscious bias has a negative effect because it leads us to make decisions without the use of logic. We may prefer a manager because they are tall or they are male, for example, rather than the most important reason - that they are the best candidate. This is an example of unconscious bias and for a company, this can be an HR nightmare.

After admitting a problem, the next step is getting help. This course will address the topic of unconscious bias in the workplace and help you to become conscious of why you make certain decisions.

Overcoming unconscious bias can offer many benefits to the workplace, but here is a couple to start with:

Improved Working Environment – Knowledge of unconscious bias will help eliminate underlying causes of friction between teams, creating a more harmonious working environment.

Improve Diversity – Ridding a team of unconscious bias allows a team to diversify, becoming more attractive to future employees and improving efficiency.

The course stitches together all the issues related to unconscious bias, to give students a full picture of the problem.

The course opens with an introduction to the topic, explaining the reasons that unconscious bias matters and how it affects our life, from minuscule everyday instantaneous decisions to decisions that have much larger consequences.

After the introduction comes the Navigation section, where details of the course are offered to explain how you will learn. This section explains details of expected learning objectives and how this course is different to others on unconscious bias.

The Unconscious Bias Exercise section uses the insight of Oxford and Stanford University professor, Roger Shepard, to pose the question. Shepard’s visual illusion is interesting to see as it is both accessible and can be used to quickly demonstrate the baseless biases almost all of us have.

The Are You Biased? part of the course details our very common biases further, through the retelling and questioning of a classic riddle. It is very easy to follow our own biases, but we must remember that they are important to keep track of.

In the Organizational Bias section of the course, studies carried out by Chicago and MIT universities are used to illustrate that as simple a factor as a name can have a huge impact on the possibility of receiving an interview for a job. In the United States, white-sounding names are more likely to be successful at job applications than African-American sounding names. Startling but true.

With the Big Deal section, students are faced with the cold, hard facts of unconscious bias, in how it affects people’s lives. Considering 80% of employers admit that regional accents have a bearing on their consideration of a job candidate, bias is can be powerful.

The Benefits of Diversity segment shows how and why unconscious bias is important to understand in the workplace.

How to Beat It is “the tricky part”, asking “how can you change an unconscious behaviour when, by nature, it is concealed?” This is difficult to answer, but there the video suggests that there are three major tools to help:

Awareness – Recognize we cannot be aware of our own reasons for having certain beliefs all of the time. But if we can question ourselves, we are more likely to become aware of what is driving a potentially biased belief.

Accountability – Awareness is a prerequisite to accountability, but once responsibility is accepted, change can occur.

Success Through Systems – Slowing down your thought process is a great way to fight against bias. In this section, the course explains how and what to do.

The Final Summary section ties everything together, quickly recapping on all the lessons of the course and setting a challenge.

This course is intended to explain how an individual in a corporate environment can become aware of and be accountable for their own unconscious biases. To do this, many recourses are packed into the course’s content.

The videos are the main vehicle of the course, acting as both ship and captain to steer you through often complex, involving subject of unconscious bias. These videos are fun, informative, and ask questions of the learner.

The Course Description offers a succinct breakdown of the course that the student can refer back to as and when they need to. It’s the signpost for the course, explaining what will be looked into.

While we can’t do anything about the unconscious bias that almost all of us carry, we can do something about its outcome. Is it really fair to make as big a decision as hiring or firing someone without addressing our potential biases that are playing a part in the way we’re thinking?

In a corporate setting unconscious bias can have serious consequences. Minimize these and help your teammates by applying what you learn. 

Addressing the topic of unconscious bias in the workplace

As we edge towards the halfway point of the years we are putting the focus onto improving the way in which you manage both your learners and your learning content in our June update. We know that being able to easily track and manage your users is critical to meeting your learning goals, and we are constantly working to make that as easy as possible.

In this months update you will find updates to saving and managing your custom reports, forcing users to watch full videos before marking as complete, as well as a heap of other improvements to the system.

Being able to create custom reports in GO1 has never been easier, and now we have added a new features that allows you to save your reports in your portal - saving you time and giving you quick access to the information that you need.

Force user to watch entire video learning item before completing

Sign up for a free trial today and try it out for yourself!

Many companies, from global organizations to small business, have chosen to move away from traditional learning methods in favor of eLearning. Online courses have proved incredibly effective for employee training, in areas of compliance, professional development and acquiring new skills.

For staff, eLearning delivers a training solution that is flexible, efficient and convenient, with employees able to learn at their own pace and in the comfort of their own workspace. However, while we talk a lot about the benefits of eLearning, online courses can also have their drawbacks – just like all training methods.

If you’ve just enrolled in an online course for the first time, or are thinking about using eLearning materials at work, it’s important to be aware of the problems you may come up against when learning online. This way, you can be prepared, and ready to overcome any challenges in your learning journey!

The most obvious difference between eLearning and traditional classroom teaching is that you won’t have the usual face-to-face interactions with your teacher and other learners. For some people, especially extroverts, who bounce off the energy of others, this can be a problem. However, for introverted employees, having the choice to complete training in your own comfort zone, without any distraction or interruptions, can definitely be a positive!

If it’s important to you to have a strong sense of connection with your trainer and other learners, think about ways in which you can recreate that connection online. Thanks to technology, it’s really not that hard to do. These days, many remote workers and telecommuters are able to remain just as closely networked with workmates and leaders working out of the office. And collaboration technology continues to make remote teams just as efficient and productive as traditional workplace environments.

Before taking your online course, think about how you can connect with others through Skype, video chats, conference calls, social media groups and discussion boards.

Online courses offer students and employees a very flexible, convenient way of acquiring new skills and knowledge. But participating in eLearning can actually require extra levels of self-motivation, discipline and time management.

Just like in traditional teacher-led learning environments, problems will soon arise if you don’t put in the proper time and effort. Some people find themselves a bit lost in online learning environments, without having a teacher or instructor in the same room to constantly look over their shoulder or urge them on. If this happens, it’s important to overcome this challenge, as you don’t want to slip further and further behind.

Read through our previous article on knowing how to study effectively for your online course. This will really help you maximize your eLearning experience and results, with helpful advice on:

As with any kind of learning materials, staff or students will fail to engage with an online course if its content doesn’t apply to the real world. In classrooms, universities and employee training rooms alike, it’s natural to want to know that you can apply your new skills and knowledge to real life situations and work environments.

If you enrol in an eLearning course, but are unable to see any value or benefit, that is definitely going to be a problem – especially if the course is compulsory for your job. To combat this, look for courses that use scenario-based training and offer real-world benefits.

These eLearning course are designed to place learners in the real world, rather than relying on predominantly text-based learning. Using eLearning scenarios makes training far more interactive, engaging and effective for learners. If you aren’t able to choose the training courses you participate in, do some research into scenario-based courses online, then have a chat with your manager or employer about the benefits these courses could bring to you as an employee.

Thinking your tech skills aren’t good enough

The next problem you might run up against in eLearning is thinking that your tech skills aren’t good enough. Unfortunately, many people, particularly older generations, miss out on the world of online learning because they’re intimidated by technology.

If this is you, or someone close to you, you can overcome this challenge. eLearning professionals and online course creators must design materials in a way that’s accessible to all people – not just the ones who are tech savvy!

A well-designed eLearning course will be easy to navigate, able to be used on a wide range of devices (including mobile) and will feel intuitive to the learner. Don’t let fear of technology stop you from taking advantage of all the knowledge out there – online courses can really help advance your career. What’s more, as you change your mindset towards technology and overcome challenges, you’ll become a more resilient and effective learner.

Not having support from trainers or teachers

On that note, it can also be a problem when learners aren’t aware of the support available to them – for tech support and learning assistance in general. Unfortunately, it’s a common misconception that online courses offer no support to employees or students.

Because in fact, one of the best things about eLearning is that you can work at your own pace, from anywhere in the world, while still being able to tap into the experience and skills of your trainer and fellow learners. In the same way that we suggested making sure you have the right tools to collaborate and connect online, make sure you’re aware of the support channels available to you.

Most eLearning courses will have a comprehensive FAQs section, an instant messaging tool, discussion boards and support staff you can email or chat with online. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your trainers and instructors – that’s what they’re there for!

Hopefully this has put your mind at ease, when it comes to common eLearning problems. Remember, all training and teaching methods will have their pros and cons. What’s important is that you’re able to identify the challenges and are willing to overcome them.

Common eLearning problems and how to overcome them