Here are a few steps that can help ensure the success and motivation of your learners.

1. Make sure that you’ve chosen the best delivery medium

It’s crucial that online delivery be chosen for the right reasons: not because everyone’s doing it, but because there are factors that make it the best choice to deliver the content. If topics need a high degree of interaction or support, online is probably not the best solution, says this Answer Geek column, which can help you match delivery to content.

As Ann Yakimovicz writes in another Geek column, “Instructors have a responsibility to develop learning opportunities to succeed, not just look for people who can learn in the model they want to build.”

2. Assess learners

After you’ve determined that online learning is the best delivery mechanism for your content, it’s important to ensure that your learners are ready for it. That includes assessing technical and other competencies.

Assess computer and Internet skills. A needs assessment can help you determine how much assistance your learners will need, says Suzanne Begnoche in this Answer Geek column. Low-tech learners may need help with basic computer skills. Advanced learners will be bored and frustrated by such assistance.

Evaluate other competencies. In "E-Learner Competencies," P. Daniel Birch says three major factors influence an e-learner’s success: self-directive competencies, metacognitive competencies, and collaborative competencies.

We know of no objective assessment for those competencies, but reviewing their detailed descriptions and comparing them to what you know about your learners can help you determine whether they have the necessary skills.

Other assessments of e-learner readiness do exist, including this one from Samantha Chapnick that examines both organizational and learner readiness.

3. Help learners with technical skills

Provide training if necessary. If you’re working with low-tech learners, you may need to schedule a classroom training session for the computer or Internet skills they lack. If your learners are comfortable with using the computer and Internet but seem hesitant about using the online learning platform, Begnoche says, you may want to train them in person rather than through written materials or an online tutorial.

Build confidence. Begnoche suggests you do this by showing learners how online learning is similar to classroom learning—for instance, explaining that both enable interaction with other learners, and then demonstrating the online chat mechanism. After you’ve explained similarities, you can move on to the differences between online and classroom learning.

Offer a resource for solving problems. Worst-case scenarios can create learner nervousness: “What if I can’t get into the online classroom and I have to take a required test?” “What if my computer keeps crashing?” Direct learners to the proper place to get answers: an IT helpdesk or a particular person in your training department.

4. Help learners with the intangibles

If you’ve found other skills gaps in your assessments, you’ll need to do some additional work to get people ready to learn online.

Take responsibility. In his article, Birch includes some steps training managers or courseware designers can take to address learners’ lack of competencies. For example, learners who are having trouble self-directing can be aided by e-learning that’s designed to help them address real-life work problems. The relevance of the material will help them find time to complete the learning.

In "What to Do About E-Dropouts," Allison Rossett and Lisa Schafer write that to ensure successful e-learning, companies need to provide content that’s both meaningful (“ruled by the priorities of learners”) and tailored to learners’ styles and successes. In addition, they say that a course’s design should encourage e-learners to seek, try, decide, compare, and commune.

Online learning that’s engaging, interactive, and collaborative is much more likely to interest learners and give them the drive to succeed than learning that’s “shovelware”—in other words, just text thrown up on the Web. You can find some tips in "Creating Collaboration" and "Terms of Engagement."

Train in online learning soft skills. You may assume that learners will know what they need to do to learn online successfully, but this is brand-new for many of them. They’ve known how to learn in a classroom since they were in kindergarten, but many people have never taken an online class. Distribute the article, "How to Be an E-Learner," and use it as a launch-pad for discussion and additional training if necessary.

Address motivation. In "Building Success for E-Learners," Jennifer Hofmann says the success of learners in any environment is “largely dependent on their personal motivation.” Elaborating in her follow-up "Motivating Online Learners" article, she lists the following tips:

● publish requirements and set expectations ahead of time

● establish relevance

● provide continuous encouragement

● use assessments

● get supervisor and peer support

● market internally, market continuously

● make learning a management mandate

● offer rewards and recognition

● publicize success stories.

Remember it’s a culture change. Jennifer Hofmann says that we often look at e-learning as a technology initiative, not a change initiative, and reminds us, “Organizations use a great deal of resources planning for and investing in technologies, but often forget about the culture change involved with this new learning environment.” In "Overcoming Human Obstacles to E-Learning," Julia Geisman lists some points of resistance implementers may encounter and ways to resolve them.