Investing in Online Learning

Improving your skills probably features on your to do list each year, but it’s something you might not get around to. But improving your education can not only give you a boost personally, it will give you the tools to complete your work more efficiently, and improve your marketability. After all, who are you more likely to hire, a small business that looks to continuously improve their knowledge and skills, or one that does not?

So, what’s the solution? Online education is a cheap and flexible alternative to traditional institutional based learning. With webinars available at a click of a button, and workbooks easily accessible and linked to the courses, they offer a great solution to small businesses looking to invest in education.
It’s a model that the Human Resources Management Association (HRMA) has recently embraced, offering their members professional development online (PD On-Demand) and gain credits to maintain the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation.

According to the HRMA’s CEO, Anthony Ariganello, “HRMA realized that it is often difficult for busy employers, and especially small business owners, to attend traditional classes and courses to upgrade their skills. We developed our PD On-Demand learning platform with that challenge in mind. Through PD On-Demand, HRMA is able to deliver top quality professional development and human resources education that is accessible to anyone and on their schedule. It simplifies investing in continued personal professional growth. Both the individual and the business community benefits as a result.”

6 Benefits of Online Learning

  1. Reduced Costs. Training can be expensive and the costs don’t end with the course. There can be expenses for travel, meals, even hotel rooms, which will all significantly increase the total cost of the education. Online courses let you focus on the value of the education instead. And just think, the money that you saved could be used to train your employees too.
  2. Convenience. The ultimate reason that online education is so well suited to small businesses: Time. The ability to slot in an hour of learning at lunch, on a train to a meeting, or to spend a whole weekend taking courses; online courses give you the flexibility to learn when you have the time to fully engage and retain the information.
  3. Learn at Your Own Speed. Each person has their own way of learning.Online courses allow you to learn at our own speed. You may progress through a course quickly that is tailored to your method of learning, or slowly through a course that you find more challenging. Either way you can go at your own pace, repeating lessons as needed until you are sure you have mastered the subject. A recent study found that online e learning can  lead to a 60% faster learning curve, compared to instructor-led training, because they had more control over their learning process caand could better understand the material..
  4. Interactive and Engaging. Online courses often provide interactive, reality-based scenarios, games and assessments, which help you digest the information more easily. By applying what you are learning, immediately to your work environment, will understand the practical implication and retain the knowledge for future use.
  5. Constantly Updated. One of the big bonuses of online courses is that they can be quickly and easily updated. Gone are the days of 5-year-old textbooks with out-of-date case studies and statistics – welcome to the new world of current and relevant content, deployed at a click of a button.
  6. Course Selection. Online learning can offer you more flexibility in the selection of courses you wish to take. Traditional classrooms are often limited to tutor scheduling meaning that the courses you wish to take conflict, or might not even be available from one institution. Online education portals offer you the opportunity to choose the courses that best suit your business at the times that suit you.

Do you remember being in school and getting that euphoric feeling of achievement after learning a new concept? Investing in education will help these feelings return, boosting your productivity. You will be better trained, more efficient and improve your brand with the extra skills you have added to your resume.

To find out more about the online courses offered by HRMA visit http://courses.hrma.ca/collections/courses  

To find out about the online courses offered by Small Business BC visit https://smallbusinessbc.ca/seminars