How Downloadable Resources Support your Training
Matt Archer
June 24, 2021
What are Downloadable Resources?
Downloadable Resources are supporting materials such as documents, videos, audio files, or other materials that pertain to elements of your training but may not fit inside the training itself. Although the term “Downloadable resources” implies that they are electronic and can be downloaded from somewhere, these materials can also be distributed in the form of physical documents.
Downloadable Resources Can Help Learners
Providing downloadable resources to learners can improve the content of your training and help learners better understand the content. Below are a few areas where downloadable resources can effectively supplement your core training content.
Alleviates Confusion
Oftentimes, training focuses on explaining to learners how to change a behavior or learn a new skill, but it may not go into enough detail to cover every situation a learner may encounter. This can lead to confusion around certain procedures explained in the training and sometimes there isn’t anyone available to get clarification from.
This is where downloadable resources can help. By creating supporting material, such as a document that explains step-by-step procedures for a learner to follow after the training has been completed, you can provide a reference to look back on later so learners don’t feel like they need to memorize the entire training.
Provides Additional Details
Downloadable resources can also be used to explain the more fine grain details that might bog down the primary training.
Perhaps you need to instruct someone about how to build an automobile, and your training provides the necessary steps in order to do so. But maybe there isn’t enough detail about how to handle defective parts that learners may encounter while doing their job.
Creating a downloadable resource such as a process document or checklist could help learners to get more details about these parts, how to identify defective parts and how to handle them. This allows the core training to stay streamlined but provides important supplementary material to learners so they can be prepared for situations that might occur instead of having to improvise in the moment.
Saves Time and Money in the Future
Sometimes you may need to design training to teach a particular scenario, but you also know that the scenario will change in the near future. An example would be training that you need to create about current industry regulations, but you know those regulations change annually. Learners need to know what’s current but also need to be apprised of changes that will be coming in the future. This can cause a great deal of stress as your training may need constant updates to stay current.
However, this can potentially be resolved by creating downloadable resources to explain those future regulation changes, so your core training can stay relevant. This may require more up-front development time but has the potential to save time and money in the future from not having to update your core training as often.
Final Thoughts
Positive Results™ is a training development and cloud services company that analyzes the business process of organizations and develops training and cloud solutions to solve for any gaps that we find.
We believe that downloadable resources are a powerful value-add to your training without investing significant time or money. They have the ability to clarify content to alleviate confusion, fill gaps in your training, and pre-emptively solve for future issues. They are often available at the click of a (download) button, so your team can easily access these supporting materials when they need them.
If you have additional questions or need support, contact us at:
Positive Results™ Custom Business Solutions
440.499.4944
