Mentoring & E-Learning - Dear Learning Providers, We Need to Talk...

The completion rate in many online courses is sometimes as low as 5 percent.* Yet there are clear measures that training providers can take to increase the completion rate of their participants to more than 80 percent. The wheat and the chaff of the e-learning market are separated by one decisive factor in particular: Personal Mentoring.

E-learning offers many advantages. It combines knowledge transfer with the concept of self-directed learning that is independent of time and place as well as scalable. At least since the Corona pandemic, online self-study has entered most businesses and homes. Despite, or perhaps because of, this proliferation, the Quality differences of online courses in the large crowd of providers is becoming more and more obvious. In this post, we discuss how mentoring programs can ensure your learning success.

What constitutes sustainable e-learning?

The last decade was under the great motto On-Demand. Whether cars, cleaners or streaming services, new services developed for many areas of life, enabling us to use services and products while remaining largely unattached.

In addition to Netflix and the like, numerous online learning platforms also sprang up, revolutionizing the previously very traditional education sector with its face-to-face seminars through maximum flexibility, independence and a rapidly growing selection of learning content from every conceivable specialist and life area. The rapid market growth was soon followed by oversaturation and a confusing range of courses and providers.

But what causes only 5 % of all learners to actually complete an online course? The biggest factor for Ineffective e-learning is a static learning environment. Nowadays, pure frontal teaching without interaction no longer sufficiently supports sustainable learning success and thus poses new challenges for many providers and customers. E-learning providers are seeing higher and higher bounce rates in the battle for the undivided attention of their participants, and customers are looking for the next promising learning experience. Our tip: This is where mentoring becomes a win-win for both sides. Gamechanger and a way to keep learners engaged.

Better e-learning through mentoring

E-learning has reformed the way we learn today and the accessibility of knowledge. There is a good reason why entire corporations rely on the following in their personnel development and learning and development activities external solution providers for e-learning, which has its own Learning Management System (LMS) and Learning materials from subject matter experts offer. Whether the participants are then left alone with these materials and the information, or through contact with experienced mentor:s are absorbed, is a "Make or break" criterion. A mentor can address specific, individual needs, clarify ambiguities, and motivate completion of the course as a supplement to generalized learning instructions.

In addition, it is important that learners who are virtual learning environment They are supported in their use of the program, and they are supported if they remain inactive for a longer period of time without completing the program. This is where mentors can step in and offer help and supplemental information where learners are faced with what for them are insurmountable challenges and Comprehension problems stand.

The added value of human interaction and dialog in knowledge transfer should not be underestimated. Even when learning materials are prepared and always available, learners often need assistance during a course to Concepts and their practical application fully to internalize. A missing or immature mentoring concept can not only have a negative impact on learning management and the Effectiveness of the course, but on the success of the continuing education program as a whole. Mentoring remains a personalized service that focuses on participants' needs and challenges to ensure learning success.

E-learning in the company - mentoring as a personnel development tool

Many companies are spoilt for choice when it comes to Outsourcing of their training programs and at the same time have to work within tight Specifications act, such as compliance with Training budgets, the Quality of the training environment, the Competence of the provider or also language requirements. The way employees want to train and learn has changed fundamentally in recent years, and it has had to. In a world where technologies and business models are constantly evolving, so must employees in order to stay current and expand the skills their jobs require. Continuous training has become a must-have for companies and employees.

Especially L&D and HR departments, which Employee competencies in the digital transformation should seek out e-learning partners who can mentor their learning content through qualified experts with industry experience complement. Then e-learning will actually become a major advance in the L&D Innovation.

Mentoring at StackFuel

Data Science and Mentoring. Does that fit together? We believe yes, and have put comprehensive mentoring at the core of every training and services at StackFuel. StackFuels Graduation rates lie permanently at over 90 percentand that through a targeted focus on personal mentoring, gaining experience in practical projects and motivating learning management.

StackFuels mentoring helps get you ready for the demands of a real data job, prepare you for real business scenarios prepare and thus a promising career enable you to learn. Our mentors are all data science experts with years of experience in the industry who will interactively guide you throughout your learning cycle and answer your questions.

This includes mentoring our online courses:

• You will receive a detailed Onboardingso that you can start your Data Online course well prepared.
• At Kick-off Webinar you start your further education with a clear curriculum and will be fully introduced to the Data Lab - your learning environment.
• The weekly activation new learning content serves the Structuring your learning time within the training and ensures that you do not overextend yourself.
• You will receive at any time within 30 to 60 min Support from our mentoring team on content-related, organizational and technical issues.
• And can always access the Support via forum, e-mail and phone access.
• Personal feedback sessions help you understand and manage your expectations for your personal progress.
• Our Offers of help support you depending on your training condition.
• You will receive an invitation in the StackFuel community, to exchange ideas with other participants and graduates.
• If necessary, we will grant you a Training extensionif you take longer than our curriculum allows.

In our Data Science and Data Analyst Training you also get:

• Optional Telephone interviews to clarify open questions
• A Live Kick-Off Webinar to start the training with your training group of 10 to 15 learners
• Weekly Live webinars with the training group
• Personal Final meetings to the final project
• A complete cost coverage of further training by means of Bildungsgutschein from the employment agency or the job center

Conclusion

Your learning success is teamwork at StackFuel. There are many ways to Completion rates in e-learning improve. Especially for practice-intensive Topics like the Further training to become a Data Scientist is Mentoring by experienced experts indispensable. Whether a course is successfully completed by its participants has a lot to do with how the course is presented and how the learning process is supported. To maximize the likelihood of your learning success, you should check not only the course content, but also what other measures an e-learning provider offers.

Want to know why StackFuels participants have such high completion rates? We tell you on our page Why StackFuel.

Sources:

• ResearchGate (2018): "Attributes of Good E-learning Mentors According to Learners." [23.08.2021]
• ResearchGate (2017): "How important is mentoring in education?" [23.08.2021]
• eLearning Industry (2021): "7 Ways To Increase Online Course Completion Rates." [24.08.2021]
• Human Resources Manager (2021): "Germany lags behind in digital continuing education" [23.08.2021]
• Inside Highered (2019): "Why MOOCs Didn't Work, in 3 Data Points" [08/27/2021].