How to facilitate learning, the Learnsoft way

Learner engagement was identified as the top area of improvement for virtual training (Ken Blanchard Trends Report, 2021). L&D professionals work and rework ways to keep engagement high and empower learners. Each learner is unique, how do you ensure your LMS platform meets each individual the way they want to learn?  

‍Watch the webinar to learn:

• All the types of learning that the platform supports to meet your unique learner needs, (and with little-to-no special training required!) 
• Meeting where learners want to learn: what does mobility support really mean and how we deliver options for all workers
• Reporting at the learner level: helping them feel empowered by understanding their progress and status

Or read the transcript:

‍0:00:00.3 Kishor Amberkar: My name is Kishor Amberkar. I'm the President and the CTO of the LearnSoft. We are going to talk about today the different ways of learning, and we call that as a LearnSoft way. And we're going to talk a little bit about, in general, the learning management system. We're going to talk something about the content too and how this entire packaging comes in together. Okay, so let's... And I'm going to show some demos about the end user experience also. So let's continue.

0:00:32.9 KA: Okay. Again, my name is Kishor Amberkar. I'm the co-founder of LearnSoft. I'm in the technology field for almost 27 years in various aspects. But for the last 17 years, I'm mainly in the HR space and the learning and the talent space. So what we are going to learn today? We are going to learn about the learning management system, the various aspects of the learning management system, the various packaging of the content around the learning management system, all targeting towards the end user. Because at the end of the day, 98% of your end users, they don't need the sophistication of a learning management system. What they need is one or two clicks so that they can complete their learning and they can become compliant. Certain reporting around the end users, whether they are transcript report, whether they are scheduled reports, or whether they are certification related reports, all those things are how easy I can access. So we are going to talk a little bit more and we're going to learn a little bit more about that.

0:01:36.9 KA: As you know, there is almost 50% divorce rate between a LMS vendor, and the client. A lot of the OD, which is organization development and the learning development professional, always thinks that there's an impact of almost 99% where it's a gap. Because the position says something and the learning is done in another way. How can we bring those together? Because at the end of the day, if I learn something related to my position, I can apply that. And that's how I can become more compliant. And the learning doesn't come in one form. There are various ways I can learn. And how can I get engaged more? Obviously content is one of the piece, but the engine also helps me to learn more and how fast I can learn and how I can retain my talent. And everything is driven towards the compliance and my career growth as an employee.

0:02:44.4 KA: So how does typically a learner learn? I can learn on the job. Obviously, I learned a lot when I was in the college. There are various modes of learning which I can do. I can learn by just the webinars. I can learn by launching the e-learning course or maybe just reading a word document. But in case of an employment base that is all attached to my job position, based upon my job position, how are the various modes of the learning I can do? And how much the learning management system can help you to accommodate those different types, whether it is an instructor led training or whether it's a webinar or it is just a pure e-learning. Or maybe it's a combination of all those ones and it becomes a blended learning. So there are various ways of learning. And can my learning management system accommodate all that? That's the beauty about what we are going to talk today with LearnSoft.

0:03:47.6 KA: Now the delivery of the learning can come in multiple ways. I can go in front of my computer and I can complete my sexual harassment course. Or maybe I'm sitting in a subway and I want to take an evaluation. Or maybe an assessment. Can I do that on my mobile device? I'm not bound to always work on a desktop based application. Can my LMS allows me to go in multiple ways so that I can complete my mandatory requirements, or even my career based requirements of learning? And that is the most important point. As I said before, there is a 50% divorce rate. Most of the organization choose, which is 88% of them, because the learning management system doesn't allow different modes of training. So what we here at LearnSoft allows is various ways the end user can access the learning so that they can become compliant faster and they can start working on their job.

0:04:52.6 KA: Reporting is the most important aspect in any application. It doesn't matter whether it's a learning management system or a talent management system or any HRIS system. But how can I get my reporting faster? Do I have to learn how to run the reports? Probably the report should be delivered to me so that I don't have to go through the step of, going to the report, putting the parameters, and then viewing the report. Let the report comes to me. Maybe it is scheduled to me. Or maybe once I log in into the system, right on the full screen, it tells me to print my transcript. Or maybe I'm a clinical staff and I need my American Heart Association certificate. Rather than training me how to get that, give it to me right on the first page so that I can see that, I can click on one button and I can get my reporting. Now that is the end user reporting, or the manager reporting, or the admin reporting. There is a lot more you can do. And the reporting doesn't come in just one format. There is analytics type of reporting where I can see the graph, summary reports. Or maybe there is just a data dump which comes to me and I can make it beautiful in my Excel document. Can my learning management system allow me to do those things? It's not just one type of report. But I'm going to show you how the end users are going to run certain reports. Or how the report is going to be delivered to you. Now I'm going to go inside the application, which is our learning management system.

0:06:26.5 KA: Now again, learning management system is just the name. There's a lot more a learning management system can do. Today we are only going to talk about the end user access. How simple it is. How much training is needed. How many different ways I can access my learning management system. So let's go into the application now. And I'm going to show you one of the pages. Now this is one of the pages of the login page which I can come in as an end user. This is the second way of doing. So as an end user, typically there are three ways to access the application. The first way is to access the application is, I go into my employee portal page. And somewhere there is a link which says, Go to My Learning. When I click on that link, it will take me to a learning portal page of an organization. Just for the demo purpose, let's say this is the page. It also becomes a single sign on. That means I don't have to use my username and password. The box which you see on the top will disappear because the system knows who you are. The system also knows what job position you belong to.

0:07:43.7 KA: Let's say that I'm an RN and I'm sitting in oncology course center. It knows who I am. And because it knows who I am, it can now give me future articles. It can now give me future courses. It can suggest certain courses to me. Why it will do that? So that I can become compliant. Or I can improve on my job position profile. So the system knows what learning should be targeted to you. Me as an end user, I don't have to go and find out. Let the system be smart. So that is the second way you can access the system. But there is a third way you can access the system. And that is just via email. Let's say that I'm an end user. I just joined the organization. I don't even know how your learning management system is. Nobody even trained me. I have not gone through the new hire orientation. But I did receive the email on the first day that I need to complete this course. I don't know your LMS. But I do know how to click on this link. As soon as I click on this link, it will open the browser. It knows who I am. And it will launch the course for me.

0:08:55.1 KA: Now, this is the course which one of the clients uses to teach them how to use the N95 mask. But for me, as an end user, just one click, and I can complete this mandatory compliance course. A lot of our clients call this as a Casper the ghost. It is sitting in the background. But once it comes in front, it's very, very friendly. So that's one of the ways. That's the third way. And the most simple way you can access the system. Now, once I log in into the system, the entire design of the LearnSoft LMS and the TMS is a task-centric design. That means, tell me what is needed from me right now. So in the single glance, it tells me with a stop sign that some items needs my attention. What are those items? Oh, there are three past due courses. Once I click on that number three, it will give me those three courses which are past due. One of them is project management course. I can click on the Launch button, and I can launch and complete this course.

0:10:07.8 KA: It also tells me that there are seven courses which are in progress. When I click on that number seven, it will show me the courses which I started, but I never completed. Maybe one of them, again, is that N95 mask doing. I can click on the Launch button, and I can launch the course. In a single glance, it tells me that how much training I have, how many total credits I currently have. If there are external courses or certifications like this one, which is American Heart Association, I can go and print that. I don't have to go in the complicated menus of reports to actually find that report to me. Right on the first page. Just clicking one button, I can print my transcript. It will give me all the details about me, my facility, my department, my cost centers, maybe my batch ID, my completions, the courses, the CMEs and the CEUs. If I want, I can export this in various formats for my documentation purposes. I can get it out from the system in a single click. It also gives me a lot more information. Give me all the classroom related courses, online related courses, or maybe a blended related courses, because we can target any type of learning.

0:11:29.6 KA: This is a single LMS, a single LMS portal where all the trainings are being tracked for yourself and also for your organization. The calendar you see here, it will give me all the upcoming courses which I have. Now, I don't even have to enroll in any courses because the system knows what type of courses are needed and it will automatically assign and send me an email, exact the same email which I clicked on that launch button. But let's say that I do want to find courses. Maybe I want to learn a little more. How does the LMS can help me to do that? Once I click on the search button, it will give me all the different types of courses, certifications, licenses, which I can enroll myself in, but those are only related to the job positions which I belong to. If I'm with the clinical staff, it will show me the CPRs and clinical related courses. I do not see any accounting courses here because I'm not in the accounting department. The system knows that, but it's a single system for the entire organization. Now, I can also click on the search and now it becomes a Google type predictive search.

0:12:44.4 KA: Maybe system is knowing that maybe I'm looking for a security related courses. It is smart enough to do that. Or maybe I can use various advanced searches like instructors, date ranges, rooms. I'm traveling to another facility next month for a meeting. Let me see if there are any courses in that facility so that once I'm there, I might take some certain courses. It will help you to do that. It also search by topics. It also search by continuing education, CMEs, the CUs, the creditations, and even my job position. You know, I can belong to multiple job position. Obviously, my PRN is my or RN is my primary position, but I also work in the children's ICU. That's my secondary position. It's a one system to take care of every position you belong to. So I can actually go in and search courses for myself.

0:13:42.5 KA: There's one more thing which I wanted to show you here, which is the analytics side of it. Now, this is all real time. The data can be spit out to either the end user or to the managers or to any groups. Now, this user have a little bit more courses, so I can show you some analytics side of it. Once I click on the analytics icon, the system will tell you in a graphical format certain aspects of your learning. And there are various analytics dashboards to choose from. Every organization can customize this depending upon their audience and depending upon their training deployments. For example, I can see here the learning object status. When I go to the next one, this will give me my mandatory education status, how I'm doing on the mandatory education. The next one, it will give me my certificate expirations. I'm actually expired in ACLS and the BLS. The system can tell me right now. Now, this data can also go back to your HR system so that the organization will have that. This is an end user view. So maybe to train me as an end user, or maybe a one minute PowerPoint presentation or one minute of video can teach you how to utilize the system. The most important factor here is 98% of your users are end users. And we do not have time to train all 98,000. There are organizations which are 75,000, 100,000 employees. We can't dedicate. Let the system automatically be self-trained. And that's the target of our task-centric design.

0:15:34.4 KA: So that's the part about the demo. So let's go into a little bit more part about what we covered here. Various types of learning. Doesn't matter whether it's an instructor-led. Doesn't matter if it's a e-learning or a simulation based. Or it doesn't matter if it's a gamification-related based. Or maybe it's a blended learning because it becomes a curriculum. Or it becomes a certification program. Two of them are online and five of them are personal I&T based, which is instructor based. The mobility side of it, the application which I showed you, it's on the desktop. But once you launch that on a mobile device, it's mobile-friendly. We also have an app coming out, which will be a native app for the iOS and Android devices. Same experience. I can sit in the subway and I can complete a course. The same one which was that N95, mass toning. Reporting. Reporting should be not tedious task. I don't have to train users how to run report. Everything in LearnSoft system is schedule based. That means the administrator of the system can schedule reports to every end user. As an end user, I can probably receive a transcript every month end.

0:16:54.4 KA: I don't even have to log in into the system. It will automatically come in my email in the first of the month. That's on the end user side. There's a lot more on the managers, the supervisors, the instructors, the perceptors, and the admin side of it. And we will do that in our next session. If you want a detailed demo and user-related or entire organization-related, please reach out to us at info@learnsoft.com. I'm going to open for questions. What do you guys think? Jaisalyn, do we have the attendees? The voice is open or it is still mute?

0:18:04.4 Jaisalyn Santiago: They are muted on the bottom. You should have access to see the questions that they have asked. But I can read them to you if that's easier.

0:18:10.8 KA: Okay. No, I can see it. How does your end user get enrolled in the real-life application? How long is the onboarding? When you go into that search option, which I said, you can click on the detail of the course or the detail of the certification. It will give you all the information about the course or the certification. And there's a button on the top which is enrolled. Once you click on the enroll, it will do all the validations. It will say whether it's an authorized course, non-authorized course, a payment course, non-payment-based course, whether the class is full or not full. And once all the validations are successful, you will be enrolled in the course and you will be notified via email. If it's an instructor-led course with a date and time, you will receive an email with iCal. Similar to the one when somebody requests you for a meeting. If you accept it will go and store it in your outlook calender and it will keep on reminding you.

0:19:12.4 KA: How long is the onboarding? Now, there are two ways of onboarding. There is an organizational onboarding. Typically, we are very fast implementer. We implement the system in 60 to 90 days. Now, that is an organizational onboarding for an LMS. The onboarding for an end user is very seamless because the data of the end user or the employee automatically comes from the HR system. And you don't have to do anything. The system will automatically recognize that you are a new user. And you become the part and they create a profile. And now you're a part of an LMS. That becomes automatic.

0:19:48.6 KA: There's one more question here. Is there any way I can view the transcript? Just by clicking that Print Transcript button. Receive the transcript? Yes, that can be scheduled. So that every month or every quarter, depending upon what the administrator has decided, you can receive those in an automated way. There's one more question. Authoring tool. Is this also an authoring tool for creating educational content so the learner can log in and complete the training material we create within LearnSoft? Absolutely. One of our modules is Easy Studio, which is an authoring tool where you, as an author of a content, can create the content. You can create the content in SCOM, AICC, TinCan, or LTI. And then it can be published inside LearnSoft and even deploy that training to various groups. This is a complete LMS, including authoring tool.

0:20:45.7 KA: How do you know there is a new user in the system? We integrate with the HRIS system, whether it's a Workdays of the Worlds, the Oracles of the World, the Lawson or Infos of the World, or Infiniums of the World, the Paycores of the World, we integrate with all of them which are out there. As soon as they enter a new employee in those HRIS systems, we are automatically notified in two ways. The first way is the web API. That means as soon as they enter it, we receive that and we create a new profile. The second way is the Nightly Batch where we receive the Nightly Feed from the HRIS system. And once we find out that you're a new user, because this is a new employee ID, we create a new profile. And we not just create a new profile. We know that you are in certain job class, job code, job position. And if there are assignments for those positions and those locations, the system will automatically assign because now you are a new hire.

0:21:47.6 KA: And it is not only for new hire, it is also for terminations. It is also for change in job positions. Or maybe you just became a manager and you managed two cost centers. The system knows that. It is a deeper integration between the HRIS system and LearnSoft LMS. That's how we integrate with the user feed. Those are the questions in the Q&A board. Anything else which you have any questions which I can answer today?

0:22:34.4 KA: Wonderful. Again, we are always available here at LearnSoft. You can reach out to info@learnsoft.com. And we can deeper dive into your specific needs, whether it's a learning related needs or whether it's a talent management related needs. We can be happy to answer them going to more detail demo.