Don’t be the only one sleeping on the commuter train or bus; be a productive commuter by taking online training courses on your smart phone, MP3 player or tablet computer.

Gone are the days when your commute was the perfect time to catch an extra 40 winks. Now, you can get the training you need to get ahead in your job by downloading online training courses onto your device of choice. You can even use your snazzy e-reader to learn the latest about your industry – if you can bear to part with that mass market “paperback”. You don’t have to think of that time spent getting from home to work and back again as time wasted. Get in your training while you ride; you’ll arrive at work more knowledgeable, and you’ll come home relaxed and ready to enjoy a little “me” time.

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No one enjoys those 7 am Workplace Safety seminars. Who is awake enough to sit through “Forklift Safety” or “Excavation & Trenching” before the sun is up? You’re not even up that early. Beside which, the facilitator is almost always a person with about as much charisma as a vending machine. Online training is the way to go; you do it on your time, when you have time.

With online training, the employee gets to pick and choose how he or she learns about workplace safety. There are many relevant topics to choose from, in many forms that make it fun, rather than boring.  The choices include Webinars and interactive video presentations that decrease the boredom factor, and increase absorption of valuable information.

Online training allows employees to feel empowered, as well as comfortable, especially when dealing with sensitive topics like sexual harassment and workplace violence. Get them motivated to comply and save money on expensive in-person conferences and travel.

See Related Post:  Cover All the Bases with Online Training as a Resource for Company Safety Compliance.

When designing an LMS online training course, try to recall the last time you learned a new skill. I remember putting my mother through months of panicking at intersections and cutting off other drivers.

The very first time I got behind a wheel, my father took me to an abandoned lot and we drove in circle after circle. I remember thinking as I tried to maneuver around cones while practicing parallel parking: I am never going to be able to do this. And indeed, it took me quite a while to learn to drive.

 Like driving or any other skill, everyone learns at their own pace. But none of us is born with the ability to drive or play the guitar, and that’s where pedagogical strategies enter into play—and your own knowledge and expertise as an LMS course creator.

Repetition and practice may be the only ways for knowledge to be truly digested in online training. The challenge lies in working repetition in an effective and engaging fashion.

See Related Post: Lessons in Driving and LMS Pedagogy