Webinars have become a popular method of communicating in a virtual world. And live and pre-recorded webinars are great for topical presentations as they are easy to set up. But they do have their limitations. So why not convert your pre-recorded webinars to a self-paced course? It’s the easiest way to create e-learning. And the cheapest way to create an online course as well.
Limitations Of Live + Pre Recorded Webinars
Webinars and pre-recorded webinars in a short time have become a significant way for people to communicate with one another. And they became a primary tool to deliver training remotely. But webinars have their limitations and aren’t the best way to train in specific situations.
Resource Intensive
Webinars can be very resource-intensive if you have to do many of them. Doing many webinars can become overwhelming and an inefficient way to train people. Not only do you need an instructor for live webinars, but you also need to have a producer.
Live + Pre Recorded Webinars Are Unsuitable For Some Types Of Training
While webinars are suitable for certain types of training, they’re a poor choice for others. For example, procedural information or activities that need individual practice. Such as, onboarding, aspects of sales training, management development, and product knowledge.
Lack Of Learner Control And Convenience
One of the significant advantages of self-paced courses is the control and convenience for the learner. Yet, in a webinar, the learner has no control over when it occurs or the pace of learning.
A Scheduling Nightmare
As a live webinar requires scheduling, it’s much harder to get everyone to attend all at one time. Scheduling can be time-consuming and often results in delays in delivering the training.
The Benefits Of Converting To Self-Paced Learning
E-learning and on-demand courses enable people to learn at their own pace, including their chosen time and place. And when a learner needs information, they have immediate access to course content.
As technology continues to evolve, the need for e-learning courses has grown dramatically. And when well designed, it can lead to higher engagement, performance, and productivity than live and pre-recorded webinars. The benefits of e-learning + on-demand courses are well documented but also include:
- Convenience For The Learner
- Global Reach + Fast Delivery Of Training
- Low Delivery Costs
- Delivery Of Consistent Information
- A Personalized Experience + Localized Content
Convenience For The Learner
One of the significant benefits of self-paced courses is greater flexibility. Your learners can take the training at a time that’s convenient to them. Whether that’s during work time, at a coffee shop, or late at night. With live webinars, that’s not the case, as they occur at a specific date and time.
“The biggest benefit of eLearning is the utter lack of pressure. Because you get to set your own schedule and study only when you have time, eLearning makes learning not something you have to get over with, but something you look forward to! From experience, you learn more when you enjoy the process.”
Mark Hayes, Head of Marketing at KINTELL:
Global Reach + Fast Delivery Of Online Training
With online training, you can reach many geographically disbursed learners in a short space of time. And with minimal extra effort. Another of the benefits is the speed of delivery. It is easy to deliver online training to thousands of people. And while live webinars also have a global reach, they are limited by the time zone you are working in. Whereas on-demand e-learning is available at any time reaches more people.
Low Delivery Costs
Making the leap to self-paced e-learning might seem a bit daunting. But we’ve helped dozens of organizations make the switch. And one of the significant benefits is the added efficiencies and reduction in training costs. After an initial up-front investment, your costs of delivery are minimal. You don’t need an instructor or a webinar producer. Spread out over the lifetime of the training, the costs savings are significant.
Delivery Of Consistent Information
All learners get the correct information and the same high-quality experience with self-paced courses. In contrast, live webinars can depend on which instructor delivers them or on the instructor’s mood on the day.
A Personalized Experience + Localized Content
Another benefit of modern e-learning courses is providing a personalized experience. For instance, it can incorporate nuances of specific roles or regions/countries. And it can also respond to an individual’s circumstances and level of expertise. While this can be done with live or pre-recorded webinars, it is much more time-consuming to do.
Easily Create E-Learning From Pre Recorded Webinars
With all the advantages of self-paced courses over webinars, organizations are now using them rather than continuing with webinars. The one disadvantage for some organizations is that it initially takes more resources and time to create a self-paced course. But there’s a solution that is the cheapest way to create an online course. That’s to convert your webinars to on-demand courses? It is a great way to easily create e-learning. Often organizations use webinar conversions as the first phase in creating a suite of online lessons. It allows you to meet the immediate demand and develop products to meet future demand. You can easily create e-learning in less time and at a lower cost using your existing assets.
The steps involved are
- Transcribe a pre-recorded webinar that you have
- Separate out the audio tracks
- Re-build new, self-paced versions using an authoring tool such as Articulate Storyline or Rise
For instance, below is an example of transcribed text from a pre-recorded webinar. It was then converted into a self-paced exploration of a scenario in an on-demand course. And an elevated instructional product. But it also allows you to gain all the benefits of e-learning courses over live and pre-recorded webinars. All for a modest expense to easily create e-learning since you are utilizing your existing assets.
With an authoring tool such as Articulate, you can add a lot of interactivity and instructional activities. Ones you couldn’t include in a webinar. Now your learners not only have an enhanced experience, but it’s also more convenient for them as it’s self-paced. And you relieve yourself of the administrative burden of putting on more and more webinars. Now anyone, anywhere, at any time can take your on-demand courses.
Types Of Self-Paced Learning You Can Easily Create From Pre Recorded Webinars
You don’t have to only create on-demand courses. You could also convert your pre-recorded webinars to produce other instructional products, including
- Email/drip courses
- Pre-work for live discussions
- Videos
- Interactive videos
- Podcasts
- Infographics
- Case studies and examples
At Spark + Co., we are experts at creating on-demand courses. Whether that’s designing them from scratch or converting pre-recorded webinars. And we work with small and medium-sized businesses, trade associations, government agencies, and non-profits. So, if you’re new to creating online learning or need extra expertise, we’re here to help.
“This looks great Holly! WOW – You did a great job.” Adoptive Families of BC
