Totara Learn forums add an important social element to the online learning experience. Communication between teams or individuals based in different locations can be achieved through a range of forum types. Read –only forums can be created by managers to communicate important information but also to encourage topic discussion threads. Totara Learn’s Q&A style forums are useful for creating scenario-type discussions, for which users can only view responses from other individuals once they submitted their own. Subscriptions emails allow learners to keep track of conversations in the forums and instantly jump back in to make further contributions or begin new discussions.
Collaborate, Create and Inspire
Online learning doesn’t have to be a solo experience. With Totara Learn, there are a number of activities you can utilise to form invaluable communication pathways, not just between learners, but also between learners and those within the company of who possess vital expertise. Glossary and database activities allow both course managers and learners to build searchable knowledge stores and automatic linking of defined terms enables users to navigate through company and sector specific terms. The wiki tool provides learners with a tool to create useful training journals but it can also be used for users to create collaborative content such as best practice guides and new starter information sheets.
Continued Communication
For more focused or time sensitive discussions, course managers can create an unlimited number of chat room environments or schedule live discussions. All chat room discussions can be recorded and saved for learners to access at a later date or for managers to review and assess when required. Totara Learn also offers a site-wide instant messaging tool so that direct messages can be sent between individuals. For safety and privacy purposes, the customisable messaging tool enables users to choose how they receive messages and who from.
A Shared Experience
It is well known across the industry that learners obtain 20% of their knowledge from social interaction so enabling communication between peers is an integral element in the learning and development process. With Totara Learn, your employees can partake in forum discussions and scheduled live chats, create blogs and journals to keep track of their learning journey, collaborate on development activities and access custom-built databases of company information. Course managers can encourage communication between teams and individual learners and record time sensitive discussions. All users across the system can send and receive direct messages and control who they receive them from. All these are valuable tools which directly support the social element of the 70:20:10 model by allowing users to form an online community in which to share, assist, assess and inspire.
