Have you heard? The demand for online certificate courses is increasing day by day. When this was asked to about 12,000 people entering the job market, they said they had turned their eyes to certification programs to prove they had certain skills.
This means that certifications are fast becoming one of the top considerations for self-employed e-learning consultants.
But wait! What if you are not an official certifying institution, then can you still benefit from this increasing demand for training certificates? Of course you can take advantage of it!
Below are the main reasons why certification (regardless of whether it is officially recognized or not) is important to students.
Certification is motivating
Let’s be honest. “Because I say so!” is rarely a good enough reason for adult learners to participate in education. And a lack of motivation leads to other undesirable consequences, such as high school dropout rates and poor practice of learning in the workplace.
Of course, incentives such as promotions and annual bonuses may excite some students. But for the most part, such long-term rewards are only effective when they are balanced against short-term gains. Short-term gains such as training certificates.
So make eLearning certificates a motivator by rewarding them for completing focused learning pieces, such as a short course or module. For example, salespeople can earn a certificate after completing a 2-week online course on “sales pitches providing high-converting” By incorporating these short-term achievements into your e-Learning course, you will make students feel that their education is important and that their efforts are appreciated. Moreover, the motivational benefits of certification will help students pursue their own progress and development goals.
All these will keep students committed to their education and it will be more likely for the students to stick with your course to the end. In fact, research has found that when certifications are removed from the learning experience, course completion rates drop by almost 50%.
Helps employees get professional
The need for approval is a human need as everything else and offers a number of advantages for creating happy, productive workplaces. Research from the WorkHuman Research Institute on the return on investment of approval found that 82% of employees are more engaged and 79% work harder when they are recognized regularly.
Training certificate is a convenient, digital form of saying “You achieved it! And we are proud of you for doing it.” In addition, certification is a self-expressive tool for students to tell the world about their professional development.
In order to take advantage of this benefit, make sure your e-Learning course certificates can be added to the students’ LinkedIn profiles and Facebook pages. Additionally, encourage your students to share their achievements in tweets and course-specific hashtags that can be used on other social media platforms. For example, Hootsuite is recognized for its social media certifications that give students public recognition of their social media expertise; it’s something that they can show off to colleagues, clients and employers.
Provides employees with credibility
Nowadays, companies must constantly learn and adapt to what they learn – and so should do their employees. Probably because of this reason why 67% of employees believe that they need to constantly renew themselves to stay in their careers and maintain their credibility.
One of the ways to keep the employees’ skills up to date is through training certificates. By adding certifications to your courses, you will provide employees with the proof they need to convince their companies that they are experts in their field. In other words, companies should hire these employees if they haven’t already done it!
However, your training certificates must be earned to be a valuable source of credibility. Are you proud of the certificate you have earned after having to learn, practice and test your new skills? Or the certificate you have earned after passively watching a 6-minute video? The answer is obvious, isn’t it?
In other words, design your courses so that students must demonstrate their newfound knowledge and abilities before earning a certificate and meet a certain standard in doing so.
It is a tool for continuous learning
Careers in the 21st century are not like those in the 20th century. Career growth and development is no longer a straight path upward. On the contrary, having a successful career often means having satisfaction. This causes many people to change their jobs or even their industries many times over their lifetime.
You might be thinking like this: “This is crazy! Are you going back to university again and again? ” But no one has said anything about the university. Because online certificate courses mean that employees learn new skills for a new job in a new industry without having to step foot on a campus. Practice and relevant certifications are all that they need to enter a field which excites them.
If you are consulting on courses in industries such as digital marketing and software engineering that experience frequent change, certifications will be an even more important part of the learning experience. For example, as new coding languages and application development tools become available every passing day, then software engineers need to be trained many times throughout their careers. And certificates will be the proof of their continuous learning.
Now it’s your turn
Due to all the reasons above, let’s return to our first question: if you are not a certification body, can you take the advantage of the increasing demand for training certifications? Yes you can and you should!
The benefits of a certification program make employees feel motivated, committed, and confident in their professional standing. Not to mention that they can pursue their dream career without having to go back to school. It’s no surprise, then, that employees ask for certification. So why not offer them what they need?