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Delivering exceptional support for learners is a mark of a truly successful training organisation.
Training organisations need to consider a large range of equally important factors to manage the experience for each individual learner. How do you prioritise when everything is important? From communication to tracking progression, admins, trainers and learners need tools to help them do it all – and do it well.
It starts with getting ahead of potential issues with tools that provide foresight – a little forward-thinking saves a whole lot of time.
It’s crucial to determine support needs for learners before they enrol and to securely retain all records of these checks taking place. To do this, many training organisations use online enrolment functionality that’s integrated with their Student Management System (SMS).
RTOs can set specific enrolment questions in an online form on their website, and the prospective learner can enter their own details to apply for a course. This allows you to clearly define your learner cohort and identify their needs from the get-go without giving your staff extra manual tasks.
Resource: ASQA’s Pre-Enrolment Checklist is a great tool to inform your enrolment process.
The data inputted into the online enrolment form is safely stored in the RTO’s SMS for enrolment and recruitment staff to access.
Once new learners are successfully enrolled and they start their training, it’s important to monitor their course progression to allow for early intervention.
Clause 1.7 of the Standards focuses on training providers having policies and procedures in place to determine an individual learner’s support needs during their enrolment, as well as providing access to relevant support services.
It can be challenging to keep on top of providing support to each individual learner, without the right tools.
That’s where having a Learning Management System (LMS) that’s connected to your SMS helps – with every piece of learner information in one central place.
Part of placing the learner at the centre of the experience is being able to ensure they are progressing well through the learning content.
ASQA acknowledges one size won’t fit all when it comes to supporting learners. The process of determining the support needs of individual learners starts with having easy oversight of every learner’s progression within your LMS and SMS.
Your training management systems should enable your trainers to track learner progression, monitor performance and identify issues early on. A feature like Learning Plans will help to achieve this.
Being able to easily see progression with clear visual indicators can help you help your learners before they even realise they need help.
Learning Plans also supports learners by ensuring a logical progression of learning and a clear path to competency. Trainers can set modules, scheduling and prerequisites to guide the learner through the learning journey, improving their outcomes and speeding up the feedback loop.
“The Contact Profile in aXcelerate is really helpful, especially now that I’m using Online Assessments and Learning Plans. I can see all the emails I’ve sent to learners. I can see exactly where my learners are up to in their content modules and assessment tasks. It’s all there in one place.” – Sarah Aird, CEO at The Celebrant Institute
Read the case study
Once you’re tracking progression and picking up issues early, you need an efficient way to communicate with your learners who need support.
Maintaining consistent communication with each learner can quickly become a massive drain on time and resources when done manually. Leading training organisations turn their manual tasks into automated actions.
Workflow automation allows you to set up bulk messages via templates and dynamic fields. From reminder emails to invoices, workflow automation enables direct and personalised communication with learners at any stage of the student journey.
On a day-to-day basis, learners progressing through their training naturally need to ask questions. Learners not only expect a strong level of support from their training provider, but also feel more supported to complete their training when they know their provider is there for them.
It’s important to have real-time support mechanisms that are integrated into the daily flow of training management. A centralised help-desk solution like Learner Help Requests allows staff to communicate with learners within their LMS.
For response efficiency and clarity, it’s important that trainers and admins have contextual oversight related to the questions and support requests learners send. In aXcelerate, learners can create Help Requests that are directly linked to particular learning materials, including Lessons and eLearning modules – straight from their Learner Portal and Learner App. For example, when a Help Request is opened by a learner who is undertaking a Lesson, it will be automatically linked to the Lesson they are currently completing.
Empowering your learners to speak up earlier with a user-friendly support feature helps to ensure each interaction contributes positively to the learning experience.
Resource: View ASQA’s tips on how to support online learners
One of the final support mechanisms a training organisation can do to prepare learners for the world of work or a new job is giving them an avenue to share their new skills with their wider network, including recruiters.
LinkedIn certificate sharing directly from the Learner Portal gives learners an avenue to share their accomplishments, while impacting the positive reputation and commercial value of your organisation by linking back to your company’s LinkedIn page.
To find out more about how aXcelerate supports you to support your learners, get in touch with our helpful team here: https://www.axcelerate.com.au/get-started
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ASQA’s second paper on their strategic review into online learning examines the opportunities and challenges of online learning, and how training providers can support students undertaking online learning.
Join Madi and Jasmine from aXcelerate Customer Support as they delve into the pivotal role of compliance in education. Discover the risks of poor compliance processes and how aXcelerate's integrated system simplifies reporting with built-in pre-validation checks and consolidated data.
