When we think about online learning, the first thing that comes to mind are courses aimed towards career seekers or learners of a specific industry or skill. This is because technology has enabled the delivery of expertise easier than ever and many universities are offering courses exclusively online for those lifelong learners looking to take an extra course to build upon their career or satiate their curiosity about a topic. However, online learning can also be used as a content strategy to help grow your business through education. There are large organizations leveraging the power of online learning. As we have mentioned before in a previous blog post, people don’t want products, they want experiences, they want to be informed and they would rather consume content that adds value to their lives. An effective way to draw attention to your organization is educating viewers with valuable informative services.

In this blog post we are going to explore a few examples of how your organization can benefit from digital learning with a well executed learning design strategy.

Designing learning experiences for your audience

Though you might still think online learning and MOOCs are for the university audience, you may be surprised by how widely they are used. Have you ever thought of how blending education and entertainment can work? You might consider it after looking at the results of this MOOC based on the popular TV Series “The Walking Dead”. “Lessons from AMC’s The Walking Dead” is a joint production between AMC and The University of California that attracted more than 65,000 users around the world over its eight-week run.

This is a great example of how teaching is about connecting and delivering useful content to your audience in many different ways. A survey found that 80% of the students in this course were new learners who had never taken a MOOC before. It also showed that both these new learners and those who had taken MOOCs before were even more engaged with the TV series after taking the course.

Customer Education

Online learning can take many forms and can happen in many contexts. It can be found in museums, technology companies, and many more unexpected places.

SAP is one of many companies that have used online learning since the early days of digital learning tools. Providing free training to support the audience in acquiring knowledge on key topics for success in the SAP ecosystem.

The Centre Pompidou in France, recently launched a free MOOC to general public to encourage the learning and development of essential skills to understand the art of our time. An accessible and lively approach to the contemporary arts in a five module course delivered with curators, specialists, artists and surprise guests to decipher key concepts, share works and ideas. This MOOC also offers interactive activities with experts and participants.

Hyperledger, an open source platform created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies, is leveraging the use of online learning to educate on the power of blockchain for business. Blockchain for Business is a eight-week free course for technical and non-technical audiences to learn about blockchain and distributed ledger technologies - which incidentally increases awareness of Hyperledger and the user base of the software Take a look at their course here.

Explore issues important for understanding past and current relationships in society

Indigenous Canada is a free online course produced by Onlea in partnership with the University of Alberta. This course explores key issues facing Indigenous peoples today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations in Canada. While this course was designed in partnership with a university, it was produced to reach the widest audience possible in accordance with the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report.

Make it Social

One of the benefits of developing a branded learning experience is that you can take advantage of the different channels your audience uses to generate conversations. This encourages participants to actively learn by contributing back to the learning experience and through the analysis of these conversations you can discover more about the their behaviour and intentions.

Online learning solutions can drive business growth and turn the expertise your organization has into revenue-generating opportunities. If you have never run a online course, please get in touch with us, from strategy to delivery we can help you create one that fits your needs and your audience.