Why are average course completion rates so low?
1. Content gets outdated quickly
Most L&D platforms offer hundreds - if not thousands - of courses. This might sound impressive at first - until you realize every piece of content has an expiration date. You can spend hours developing a course, but it’ll be obsolete as soon as your product team adds a feature.
Even worse, you might not find out until you review your program a year later. By then, too many people have taken it and concluded that internal training is a waste of time. And what if this training includes health & safety procedures? Outdated content can pose a big risk.
2. Content is too long and unengaging
Another problem is when content drags on too long. Today’s learners are juggling more competing demands than ever, and they need prompt access to key guidance and advice. A half-hour training video created for YouTube simply isn’t going to cut it - even at 1.5x pace.
3. Training is top-down with no feedback loop or interactions
Finally, too many organizations define training priorities from the top-down. They don’t give learners a chance to collaborate with their peers, express their views, or choose topics of interest. All of this adds up to learning content that is outdated, sluggish, and prescriptive.