In recent weeks, we’ve seen various countries across the world affected by major cyber attacks involving ransomware. The ransomware, believed to be a malicious computer virus known as Petya, has wreaked havoc on more than 200,000 organizations in over 150 countries – including companies, universities, government agencies and hospitals across Britain, Spain, Portugal, Russia and Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at Helsinki-based cybersecurity company F-Secure, called the series of attacks "the biggest ransomware outbreak in history."

Now, this global ransomware attack has hit Australia, disrupting the operations of a number of Australian businesses – including the Cadbury chocolate factory in Hobart.

With companies worldwide scrambling to recover from corporate chaos, Australian business owners and leaders are no doubt worried about how ransomware could affect their own organisation. If you’re in this position, it’s important to understand how this form of cyber threat works and think about how you can protect your business, well before anything goes wrong.

Being prepared, and taking precautions against the risk of ransomware, will help you minimise the threat of cyber attacks on your company. Here’s what you need to know about ransomware, how it works, and steps you can take to protect your organisation.

Ransomware, such as the Petya virus, is a type of malicious software that has the ability to freeze or shut down computers – from an individual’s personal laptop computer, to the servers of a whole organisation.

You might be wondering how your computer can become infected with a virus like this? Well, to gain access to a company’s system, the malware virus needs to be downloaded onto a device within the network. To make this happen, the virus is generally hidden in an email, in the form of a link or attachment, that can be clicked on and opened by unknowing employees. When the link or attachment is accidentally opened, the virus is immediately downloaded to the system, freezing computers, taking out servers and locking up company files.

Once this has happened, hackers and cyber criminals have a way to extort money from companies or individuals. After gaining control of a system, they demand a ransom in return for decrypting the virus and unlocking computers. Pretty scary stuff, right?

The past month has shown us that it’s critical for business owners to pay serious attention to cyber security and the risk of ransomware attacks.

As the internet and the real world have become increasingly intertwined, our businesses and lives have become increasingly vulnerable to cyber criminals. Any company or organisation that depends on daily access to important data for business operations – and can’t afford to have those operations disrupted – should be worried about ransomware.

It's not only large multinational corporations, government agencies and big business that are at threat of cyber attacks. As individuals, we are also at risk of being targeted. So even if you’re not a business owner, or CEO, read on for some important tips for protecting yourself against ransomware.

How Can I Protect My Company Against Ransomware?

One of the best defenses against ransomware is to back up important data daily. This way, even if your company's computers and servers do get hacked and locked, you can't be forced to pay for access to important business data.

The director of the Australian Centre for Cyber Security at UNSW, Professor Jill Slay, recommends companies “update all Windows systems if not updated and make sure all critical files are backed up.”

"Just be really careful to back up, update Windows and applications, do not open unexpected attachments to emails – this is what we should be doing anyway – and install antivirus software if you do not have it already," Slay advises.

Jason Tanz, site director at Wired, agrees and recommends backing up your files remotely, or to the cloud.

“Make sure you're backing up your files every day, and that means on a hard drive that is not connected to the internet," Tanz says. Because ransomware is only an effective threat when there’s no other record of the files being held for ransom. As Tanz says, “if you have all your files backed up, it leaves those using ransomware against you without any power whatsoever."

Removing this power is an important step in reducing the threat of ransomware. As well as backing up data, help employees to be aware of the risks of opening suspicious emails, and clicking on links and attachments within emails. Be particularly wary of compressed or ZIP files, as these attachments are often used to hide malware viruses. And always install software updates as soon as they are available. Antivirus programs can also go a long way in stopping ransomware from being downloaded onto computers.

By taking these precautions, you can protect yourself and your business from malicious ransomware and the risk of cyber attack. Being prepared, and taking proactive steps for increased cyber security, really is your best line of defense.

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How to protect your business against ransomware

Few things in life are as inevitable as change. Whichever of life’s many great paths we choose to tread, we cannot avoid change and must accept that things come and go. Nowhere is this truer than in the dynamic world of business, where the need to be ahead of the game to outfox competitors and satisfy customers is the ongoing challenge. Overcoming that challenge is only possible with a workforce that is ready to adjust.

It’s a good thing then, that eLearning training programs are able to help organizations prepare their employees for changes. Whether it’s the size of the business that has grown, technology has forced a change or any other reason of the many possibilities out there.

In this article, we’ll explain how change management can be administered through training programs to help employees adjust to their new environment.

Let’s take a moment to make ourselves aware of what change management actually is. Change management is a really big umbrella term for the process of corporations supporting individuals and teams during a period of change within that corporation.

Change is necessary but can be traumatic for people in an organization, hence the need for support. New skills must be learned, ways of working understood and experience gained for something totally new. This can be dramatic with disruptive consequences. It’s for that reason that change should be managed.

Change management is all about ensuring that each individual within an organization is catered for directly. Their skills, educational background, and workplace experience are analyzed to decide upon the skill gaps that could be filled or the wealth of knowledge that can be improved even more to prepare them for a higher level position.

For the individual, this is a great opportunity. But don’t forget to speak to the individual.

If a training program planner is about to devise eLearning courses or programs for me, I’d sure want to be consulted beforehand.

The best way to make sure that the training you’re providing is both effective and suitable is by talking to the employee. This is particularly important during a time of upheaval in an organization when individuals can feel most adrift.

Make sure each employee is involved in a process that will bring great changes for them.

Business organizations aren’t charities. Staff members are paid to work on the behalf of the company and are expected to perform accordingly. But most companies do also care about their employees. For this reason, it’s important to include realistic benefits for individuals within a training program.

As we’ve already touched on, employees can feel adrift during overhauls. Their previous positions might be lost and they are expected to take on new responsibilities by drawing on skills they’ll be taught. Because of this uncertainty, a training program should communicate the real-world advantages of the training and explain how the individual will benefit from it.

Training should offer a window into a better world for the employee with the realistic possibility of job advancement, or in exceptional cases, even promotion, based on the successful application of new skills learned.

Don’t offer training simply to manage the change; make it work for everyone.

Training programs that are suitably administered offer a sense of control to employees during the period of change. Handling the change will be so much easier if employees are on your side. Giving employees a sense of ownership over their training increases levels of commitment and keep them engaged in the task ahead.

One way to do this is to involve employees in thinking of solutions to problems of the business, and then using training to instil the necessary skills to resolve them. In this way, the loss they may be feeling during the change will be taken care of, and the skills that employees garner will help the business in the future.

It’s that a company keeps their employees happy, to ensure company retention and staff morale. Giving staff some control over the training they receive creates a personal connection between training and staff member.

Training in the name of change management isn’t only an opportunity for employees but can serve as a way for organizations to reinforce the message of change too.

If the change is a sweeping work culture one, use the training programs to bolster the message of a new way of working. If the change is one of focus – perhaps to put a greater emphasis on customer service – then point this out regularly.

Use this opportunity to underscore the change that is happening.

The changing of a company’s working can be stressful for employees, and why wouldn’t it be? When we’re comfortable in situations, jumping into new things can seem a little scary.

Managing this change through online training programs eases the worries of workers. It improves the morale of staff, treating them as individuals and promoting the care for their well-being.

When a business changes its outlook or structure, the skills that are required for its continued success running will change too and training helps to make sure there are fewer skill shortages in important areas.

Using eLearning training to guide employees through organizational changes takes advantage of a period that could otherwise be disruptive to upscale worker skills and improve company dynamism. Don’t miss out.

How to handle change management for training programs

If you work in eLearning, it’s likely you often deal with other employees who are subject matter experts. With their specialized and in-depth knowledge, these people can provide you with the information you need to create effective online courses for your learners.

In this way, subject matter experts, also known as simply SMEs, play a very important role in the eLearning development process. As well as sharing their advanced knowledge, SMEs can provide valuable insight and feedback on your course materials, helping to ensure the content is accurate and timely.

When communicating with subject matter experts, it’s important to foster a positive and productive working relationship, just as it is with any client or stakeholder. You want the subject matter experts in your organization to feel comfortable and committed to sharing their knowledge with you. How do you do this, in a way that ensures SMEs aren’t feeling continually pressured for their knowledge and time?

Here’s our advice for the best way to communicate with subject matter experts on eLearning projects.

So who are the subject matter experts in your organization?

Generally, SMEs are employees who have been in their roles for a long time, and are known for their advanced knowledge and expertise in a specific subject, business area, or technical area. Think of them as the “go to” person within a department or company, that other staff approach for information, input, advice and solutions.

With their high-level perspective of the subject, you can expect SMEs to not only answer how things are done, but why. You should be able to rely on these experts to have the requisite knowledge that underlies effective decision-making, and to provide solid recommendations for things like company policies and procedures.

A subject matter expect will also understand all the specific terms and jargon in their area of expertise and can explain that area clearly to others. They should know their subject matter well enough that they rarely have to look up information – and if they do have to, they’ll know exactly where or who to turn to in order to find that information.

Value SMEs Time and Communication Preferences

Like all projects, your eLearning project will flow far more easily when everyone involved knows what’s expected of them and works together as a team.

One of the most important aspects of successful teamwork is recognizing and respecting each other’s time and communication style. The fact is, while your online course might be your own project ‘baby’ and something that you’re very passionate about, a subject matter expert might not feel the same way about it. For them, the time and effort required for collaborating on eLearning course materials could be considered as additional work and just another thing they need to tick off their to-do list.

As Karla Gutierrez, Inbound Marketer at Aura Interactiva, says “SMEs have high-priority, full-time jobs — and not much time to spare.”

So be flexible in your dealings with SMEs, just as you would with any client or stakeholder. After all, you are the one requesting information and help from them, so be prepared to do this in a way that’s easiest for them.

For example, if it’s clear that someone prefers to communicate verbally, and is having trouble getting back to you by email, offer to give them a quick phone call at a time convenient to them – rather than continuing to send them endless emails that will just leave them frustrated. This way, they can simply brief you over the phone and you can take dot points for the content you need.

By making simple changes like this, subject matter experts will appreciate your willingness to work with them in their preferred communication style, saving them time and stress.

It’s also important to look at the language you’re using when communicating with subject matter experts.

Shauna Vaughan, Lead Instructional Designer and Project Manager at , believes there are three words that should be avoided when it comes to subject matter experts – you, no, and problem or issue.

Choosing other words to use in place of those three words will help keep dialogue and working relationships with SMEs more positive and productive. You’ll also be creating an environment where all individuals feel included and valued for their knowledge and input.

“By using inclusive, positive language, we can build consensus and create an atmosphere of collaboration,” Vaughan says.

She suggests using we instead of you as often as you can. This implies a partnership between the two of you, where you are both working towards the same goal, as part of the same team.

When it comes to the word no, it’s best to rephrase your words to sound less negative and problematic. Instead of saying, “No, we can’t do that, it’s out of scope” try “Yes, absolutely, we can do that. Let’s take a look at our current scope and see what adjustments we would need to make to make that happen.”

Similarly, words like problem and issue carry a negative connotation. Some people can get frustrated and annoyed if they think you are always coming to them with problems to solve. Talk about finding solutions together, rather than launching straight into the issue at hand or dumping the problem on them.

Try these tips for yourself when you’re consulting with subject matter experts for your next project.

And don’t forget – once you’ve launched your online course, make sure you take the time to thank your subject matter experts for their valuable contributions! By writing an email or handwritten note, or finding a way to publically recognize or credit these experts for their contributions, you’ll be helping to build a better culture of collaboration within your organization.

The best way to communicate with subject matter experts

Learning and Development departments have always been the gatekeepers of online learning content, not only distributing but also creating the content for their organisations.

What if we told you that it doesn’t have to be this way?

One of our latest updates to the Go1 Platform puts the creative power back into the hands of your learners themselves, and we are excited to announce our Collaborative Course Creation Tools.

Traditionally when it comes to course and content creation most organisations will have a team dedicated to creating their learning material, or have contracts in place with external contractors who are tasked with the job of preparing material.

For smaller businesses this can also fall back onto human resource managers, who already have very limited time to spend on creating learning material as they are generally juggling a multitude of tasks at any one time.

So why not start tapping into the knowledge within your team

There is no one that can create better learning content for your organisation than your team itself. They understand all aspects of your business, how you operate, and the processes behind the scenes. While providing training in areas such as compliance and workplace safety may need to be created by a specialist team, when it comes to onboarding, up-skilling, process improvement and training for systems knowledge, tapping into your team knowledge will allow for a much more accurate and tailored program.

In larger companies this can be a huge advantage. You have a range of subject matter experts at your fingertips, and sharing their knowledge with employees across other departments within the organisation can be a great way to develop a culture of collaboration and learning.

How to get started with Collaborative Course Creation Tools in Go1

Normally when you set up your Go1 portal, only Administrators have access to be able to create new content within the portal. The only problem with this in the past has been that you need to make a user an Administrator to starting building out content for your team, but that may expose them to elements of your platform that contain sensitive information.

Training GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

To combat this problem we have added a new setting to your portal which allows to have all users within a portal creating content regardless of whether they are a student or an administrator.

To get started, click on your name in the top right corner of the screen and then select Portal Settings. From here head to the menu on the right hand side of the page and select the Configuration option.

Scroll to the bottom of the Configuration page and you will find 2 tick boxes under the Course Authors section. Tick the box labelled Allow all users to create content, then click the Submit button at the bottom of the page. That’s it, you’re ready to go!

Your portal is now set up to have all users creating content and helping by sharing their knowledge to train your team.

Don’t forget to tell your users about their new creative powers, and it also helps to set up an incentive program that rewards your creators, because after all their content is going to be able to take your organisation to the next level!

If you don’t yet have a Go1 Portal, don’t worry - It’s free to sign up and get started

If you have any questions about collaborative course creation, or want to know more about Go1, feel free to contact us and we would love to help you out!

Try Go1’s Collaborative Course Creation Tools

The days of chalk and board are well gone. Technology has offered a new and brilliant future for learning, one where students can be tracked with ease and progress clearly mapped. Rather than learning by rote in a “one size fits all” approach, personalization grants the possibility to change our approach to learning that considers a person’s background, expertise, interests, and position. And corporations are looking to make the most of it.

Personalization is simply the name that’s been given to the increased focus of education for each individual employee. It’s not rocket science to see that ensuring individuals have their needs addressed is a more positive approach. Through online courses and eLearning programs, organizations can tailor learning to each individual within their company to enjoy some massive benefits.

In this article, we’ll look at those benefits that personalization brings to both employees and employers, and explain how online learning helps ease the process.

Our ease with technology is a double-edged sword. While we can communicate easily, find vital information in seconds and keep up-to-date with goings on through only our mobile phones, we are also inundated with an awful lot of unnecessary and time-wasting garbage.

Information Overload (also known as Information Fatigue) is a rising problem for employees and one that costs countless hours of productivity. The workplace, and modern life is simply overloaded with technology and sorting through what is important and what is not can prove overwhelming.

Personalization allows organizations to cut out the nonsense so that employees receive only what is necessary for them in their learning process. With laser-like focus, we can personalize learning for the individual by looking at uses data collected from the educational resources, like eLearning courses, to offer only what is useful to that particular individual. Just like online advertisers use cookies to suggest products for you to buy, personalization delivers topics that interest the learner only.

The personalization process saves time and energy for employees and businesses and helps to avoid continuing to overload employees with non-vital information.

Personalization in learning is so successful because it gives the learner the power to control what they learn which in turn makes them feel valued as a member of an organization and ensures they’re much more involved in their learning process.

If an employee is given access to a learning resource like an eLearning platform, they’re free to pick and choose whatever catches their attention.

Rather than be given a list of what they must work through, personalization gifts learners the choice to proactively search out their desired topics, to find videos or how-tos on what it is that takes their attention.

Personalized resources can be more detailed and therefore more valuable because of this. They no longer have to be general enough to keep the attention of everyone. Now they’re only for the people who want to learn.

eLearning platforms can make learning a pleasure rather than a chore, granting learners the freedom to work wherever and whenever they like. Thanks to mobile technology, an employee no longer needs to sit in the education suite at the office to go through a dull slide show - learning can actually be fun.

Sure, employees will be encouraged to put some time into their learning but as they can do this on the bus or train into work and use downtime to be productive, it is no longer such a headache.

The personalized approach leverages technology to its full advantage so that learners can improve their skills and understanding on a basis that suits them. As an approach, it is far more flexible and true to life than traditional models and is more successful as a result.

Organizations that use personalized learning also gain one very important but underappreciated benefit. In deciding upon a personalized platform, a business is, in fact, acknowledging the individuality of everybody who works in their ranks.

There is a trickle-down effect to this. On top of the higher staff retention statistics, increased customer satisfaction and improved productivity as a direct result of personalization, there’s also the benefit of employees knowing they work somewhere where they’re valued.

For a large company, this is particularly relevant as a reflection of company culture and the standards that the company carries. Company culture is the human side of a business and because of this means everything.

The 70/20/10 Model for Learning and Development is probably the most famous approach to education in the business world.

This approach outlines the ways that learning is best achieved when it happens socially and collaboratively. And when learning is student-led, as personalization allows, then happy students are more likely to engage with others.

Online learning platforms offer the ability to interact socially with others so that students can assist one another in their learning outcomes. As the 70/20/10 model suggests, this social engagement with other learners generally leads to improved outcomes, benefitting each learner along the way.

So what are you waiting for? Corporate learning is enhanced when delivered in a personalized way. Indeed, it’s so effective that the approach is becoming popular outside of corporations too.

And the good news is it really isn’t very hard to implement. Using the services of eLearning companies ensures that personalization is implemented quickly and effectively so that you and your workforce can enjoy the results sooner, rather than later.

Corporate learning and personalization: the key to success

Some people are known for their ability to always think ‘outside the box.’ They seem to know how to approach a situation from different angles and perspectives, consistently solving problems and coming up with innovative solutions. What makes some people better at this than others? Well, it’s likely these individuals have strong lateral thinking skills.

Many creatives, for example, use lateral thinking habits to solve problems, pitch new ideas and produce strong results for their teams. These traits are very valued by employers and managers, as organizations can greatly benefit from individuals who know how to think in this way.

Do you want to know how to develop your own lateral thinking skills? While some people are more naturally gifted when it comes to this area, there are certain things you can do to improve the way you approach problems and offer solutions.

Creative Exercises to Improve Lateral Thinking

Rolestorming – what would you do if you were someone else? Put yourself in someone else’s shoes, or brain, and imagine what they would do in your situation.

Switch on your 5 senses – look at objects around you, analyze their shape and color; listen to sounds in your environment; use the senses of touch and smell. These elements will help you to start generating new ideas.

Create a Mind map – start off with your problem in the center, and branch out to draw the major topics, then sub-topics. This will help you visually organize information and show relationships among pieces of the whole.

Reverse thinking – think about what everyone will typically do, then do the opposite.

Write a 6-word story of your problem – make the language as simple yet imaginative as possible.

Christopher Pappas, founder of the eLearning Industry’s Network, suggests asking your online learners thought-provoking questions – he calls this “identifying limiting cognitions.”

“Maybe a past experience is an obstacle that they must overcome. For example, they naturally assume that this solution is the ONLY solution because it's always worked in the past,” Pappas says.

Asking questions that (respectfully) challenge an individual’s beliefs and assumptions helps to identify whether learners are looking at problems in a particular set frame of mind. People get stuck in the same old ways of thinking – stepping outside the comfort zone helps them to acknowledge these limiting cognitions and move beyond them. Riddles are an example of lateral thinking. Many riddles and puzzles work on assumptions, with the answer being a surprising side-step of the status quo. Lateral thinkers know how to identify clues other people overlook, and ask questions that will lead to the right answer.

Using Collaboration to Improve Lateral Thinking

Pappas also recommends incorporating group activities into your eLearning course, with online learners working together in a culture of collaboration.

As he explains, “every member of your audience has unique insights, experiences, and knowledge that they have to share.” By working as a group, each learner will be able to gain an insight into the problem-solving techniques of other learners. This encourages people to consider things from different perspectives, which Pappas considers “the greatest gift of all.”

“Online group collaboration projects allow them to collectively problem-solve and offer their point-of-view. As a result, every online learner gets to look at the problem from a new angle. They also recognize that there's more than one way to achieve the desired outcome,” he says.

There’s nothing to lose by trying out some of these things in your everyday work life. And by encouraging your online learners to do the same. Doing activities like this regularly will certainly help you become more aware of the way you use your brain to solve problems and approach issues. You may just surprise yourself when you start coming up with some cool solutions from out of left field. You might also find it quite relaxing, to switch your brain over to a different way of thinking throughout the day!

How to improve your lateral thinking skills

No matter which industry you work in, landing your dream job isn’t easy. Sometimes even the best grades and technical skills aren’t enough to get you further than the first interview round, or noticed for promotion. Sound familiar? You may need to look at the soft skills you can offer an employer – because it’s often skills such as self-awareness, self-control and teamwork that will set you apart from the competition.

Having the right technical skills and knowledge to successfully carry out your job is only one part of being the best you can be in the workplace. In addition to these hard skills, you need a good combination of soft skills to know how to work well with others.

According to a survey by Talent Q, “nine in 10 employers believe that graduates with soft skills will become increasingly important” – yet a massive 80% of employers are struggling to find graduates with the soft skills they need! While this is bad for employers, it's great news for anyone who is willing to put some time and effort into their professional development, because soft skills are something that can be learned and improved upon.

You can even do this online, through soft skills courses that you can complete at your own pace, in your own home. While your employer (hopefully!) offers plenty of training and development in the workplace, learning materials can often be focused more on those hard, technical skills. So it could be up to you to take the initiative and work on your soft skills in your own time, if you really want to get ahead.

In a previous article, we looked at the top 5 soft skills you need and how to get them, highlighting a selection of online courses to improve:

Today, we’re going to look at 3 online courses that offer an overall perspective and introduction to soft skills. This way, you can get more of a ‘crash course’ in soft skill development, while covering all the elements mentioned above.

With the 10 Soft Skills You Need course, you’ll start to understand why it’s so important to develop a set of soft skills – for both personal and professional development.

This course has been created for employees at all levels, including managers and supervisors, so is suitable for any audience. It discusses the 10 key soft skills that contribute most to career success, presenting practical ways to improve interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, communication, self-confidence, and more.

It’s particularly good for anyone looking to work on their communication, problem solving and conflict resolution skills, to build more positive relationships at work. Another great thing about this course is that it encourages learners to have the right mindset and expectations when starting the course, acknowledging that while technical skills can be learned in a short period of time, soft skills on the other hand require a change in habits and self-awareness.

Similar name, different content - The Essential 10 Soft Skills You Need course speaks to a broader audience, making it just as suitable for business owners, startups, and entrepreneurs, as well as employees.

This online course breaks down soft skills to the fundamental perspective that “no matter what your position, organization, or industry, you work with people!” You’ll learn how taking the time to build effective soft skills can contribute to a more efficient, more harmonious, and more productive workplace, as well as to your own overall job happiness and satisfaction.

From this course, you'll gain a better understanding of how to apply soft skills to specific situations in the workplace. There’s a good focus on attitude and work ethic, which can often be overlooked or simply assumed when talking about employee development. You’ll also look at improving your time management skills, flexibility and adaptability to change – all important things for successful employees and entrepreneurs.

You might also like to look back at our previous articles on soft skills:

 The Importance of Soft Skills in Today’s Workforce

 The Top 5 Soft Skills You Need and How to Get Them

How to Write Soft Skills Learning Objectives

Soft skills courses everyone should complete

Let’s not lie to ourselves – we often see problems we don’t want to deal with. Head down, keep walking. That’s the usual decision.

Unfortunately for us, that’s often not the best choice we can make. Sure, no one wants to deal with a hazard as they’re just leaving the office to head home or walking off the site for lunch. Someone else can do it!

Like we discussed earlier, no one really likes to increase their workload when they’re already busy or just about to leave work. The reason for this is usually because we think it’ll be a drawn-out process that will unravel to prove bigger than first expected. And before this course, that might have been true.

But the consequences of not reporting hazards – particularly in workplaces where dangers are already considerate, for example, laboratories or construction sites – can be severe.


We talked recently about the fact that many workers are leaving high-paid corporate positions to pursue a more meaningful career that aligns with their personal values. For these people, it’s often the non-profit sector that provides that important connection between values and job satisfaction. In fact, in today’s workforce, we’re seeing significant growth in the non-profit sector, with not-for-profit (NFP) organisations employing more people than ever before.

Not all non-profit employees are working out in the field for humanitarian aid organisations. The sector encompasses a wide range of roles and positions – from doctors and lawyers, to policy makers, researchers and communication professionals. Employers may indeed be humanitarian organisations, but they can also be social services, aged care providers, or early childhood educators.

According to the 2017 Australian Charities report, not-for-profit organisations account for 10 percent of Australia’s workforce, with non-profits employing more than 1.2 million people – making it Australia's second largest sector for employment. We can see the same trend happening in the United States, with figures from late 2016 showing that over 10 percent of the domestic workforce are employed by registered nonprofit organisations.

For staff working in the non-profit sector, it’s important to receive high levels of training and professional development. NFP employers and managers need to provide tailored training programs that will educate and empower their staff, so they can feel focused and motivated towards their purpose.

Online courses can be a smart solution for training employees in the non-profit sector. Many eLearning courses are designed specifically for NFP staff – covering areas such as management, finance, governance, marketing, leadership and communication. To give you an idea of the high level training materials out there, we’ve hand-picked 5 of the best online courses for non-profit organisations.

Nonprofit Fundamentals is a great course for those involved in, or working towards, leadership and management in a non-profit organisation. Renowned author, Leslie Crutchfield, explains how NFPs are different than for-profits, and the challenges and opportunities that this brings.

Through this course, you’ll get a comprehensive overview of how fundraising, governance, finance, and accounting work within an NFP. This means you’ll learn about fundraising, grants, social media, talent recruiting and working with volunteers. You’ll also gain a better understanding of how to shape your organisation’s vision and strategy, and scale both your organisation and the impact it has on the world.

There are many online courses around that focus on social media strategy for non-profits, but this is our pick of the bunch.

Social Media Strategy is best for anyone who works or volunteers for a non-profit and is responsible for their social media. It’s particularly good for NFPs who only have a small budget to work with. Often, when budget is tight, social media is handed over to anyone who’s willing to get the job done – but that doesn’t mean they have the skills and experience to develop and execute a proper social media strategy.

Through this course, internationally recognised influencer Devin Thorpe will help you identify your goals and develop a simple and effective social media strategy. You’ll learn tips and tricks to raise your non-profit's profile and accelerate its fundraising, including:

Using Twitter and Facebook to build awareness for your cause, attract more followers and foster a community

Optimising your social media posts to expand your mailing list and raise more money.

Use time-saving tools like Hootesuite and Bufferapp to manage your social media channels.

You’ll learn all this in just one hour, so if you’re keen to become better at social media, it’s well worth the time.

Even though your organisation is non-profit, it still requires and uses financial resources to function. In fact, successful financial management is what allows your organisation to continue providing much-needed services to the public. So if you’re working in a management position within a NFP, or aspire to be, it can help to have a good grasp of the world of finance for non-profits.

Financial Management can help you with that. The primary focus of this online course is on providing strategies and tips on analyzing the finances of a non-profit. You’ll learn all about budgets, cash, costs, financial statements, and various financial ratios used to evaluate non-profit finances.

This means you’ll be able to understand and create different types of budgets, analyse financial statements, understand tax filing basics and establish internal controls to combat misuse of funds. With real world practices, this course will leave you feeling more confident and comfortable when it comes to financial management.

Nonprofit grant writers: how to find foundation funding

This is a more niche course, specifically created for those who want to learn more about finding appropriate foundations to approach for funding. Foundations are a major source of funding for most non-profit organisations. But it can often be challenging to find appropriate foundations that are interested in what you have to offer.

The Grant Writers course will help you understand what foundations are and how to find ones that you can successfully apply to for money to assist your non-profit. Presented in one hour, the course presents strategies, through written documents and videos, in a step-by-step manner to help you locate the right foundations to apply to.

The course doesn’t focus on how to write a grant, but how to locate appropriate foundations to apply to – so it’s best for those who are already writing grants for a NFP. You’ll be able to use the information you gain over and over again, as you search for different foundations and write your grants. You’ll also feel a lot more confident and obtain better results when approaching foundations for money.

This is another course designed with a specific audience in mind. Are you interested in using Salesforce within your non-profit organization? The Salesforce course is ideal for NFP managers and directors who want to learn how to administer and develop Salesforce specifically for the non-profit environment.

Hiring a consulting firm for a full-on Salesforce deployment can cost a lot of money. This online course can save you that cost, helping you to set-up Salesforce within your organisation for various uses – donor management, grants, volunteer management, event management, receipting, communications and many more.

Presented by video, this online course will help you to understand and use Salesforce in a cost-efficient, effective way. After completing the course, you’ll be able to perform basic tasks and advanced customisations common to non-profits; use campaigns to manage programs for events and fundraising intitiatives; enter donations related to pledges, recurring donation commitments and campaigns; and much more. Knowing how to use Salesforce within a non-profit environment can be very beneficial for your skill set, giving you a definite advantage in the competitive non-profit sector.

In fact, all of these online courses will help give you that edge when it comes to working within the non-profit sector. And you can complete courses at your own pace, at a time and place that's convenient to you. Get started on improving your skill set today.

Online training for employees in the non-profit sector

One of the best ways to separate the wheat from the chaff, the average Joe from the learner supreme, is the good old quiz.

The nature of the eLearning platform can restrict the avenues that teachers can use to judge a student’s learning as student and teacher aren’t physically in the same space. But learning quizzes provide a means around that.

They’re an integral part of a course and an absolutely vital tool to score the abilities of the student, helping to chart whether they’ve been paying attention.

Problem is, is that they’re not the easiest assessments to write. However, with the helpful tips you’re about to read, and a little bit of practice under your belt, you’ll be firing out online learning quizzes in no time!

Online courses shouldn’t be full of fluff; your students are usually professionals who are short on time and expect to learn the essential pieces of whichever jigsaw you’re teaching. Your course should be kept clean and to the point, so make sure your quiz questions are too.

Don’t waste time asking irrelevant questions about bits and pieces outside of the central points of your course. If you’re asking questions on unimportant topics then the answers probably don’t matter anyway.

Give students a fair crack of the whip by sticking to the topics and learning objectives that have been fundamental to the course.


And like your course, your quiz should offer variety too. Include scenario-based questions, multiple choice, written responses and any more you can think of to provide an even-handed route to assess a learner’s ability.

You could incorporate video into your quiz too, as a way to reflect the medium’s heavy use in most eLearning courses.

However you decide to structure your questions, just make sure to offer a variety so students can show their true learned knowledge.


Keep questions short, sweet and crystal clear

Quizzes are really not the time for the quiz master to show off their writing chops.

To be as fair as possible to students taking your quiz, it’s important to word your questions in a concise, clear manner. If a student doesn’t understand the question then they’re certainly not going to be able to answer it properly.

Use easily understood wording, keep questions short and don’t give to provide too many details to cushion a question. If one of your questions can’t be asked within a sentence, then maybe it’d be better asked as a scenario-based question.


Your students must be challenged. Asking a range of questions forces them to think on their feet, draw nuggets of information and generally feel as though they’re being tested.

Certainly, the aim of a course quiz isn’t to be so hard that students feel inadequate, but a quiz requires students are thoroughly tested.


As most of your students are taking your courses for work-related reasons, it makes sense to include questions that reflect the reality of their working lives. After all, this is where they’re going to be putting their new found knowledge into practice.


Once students have sat the quiz and results have been given, you need to offer some feedback about what they did well on, what they struggled with, and in which areas they should be looking to brush up on their skills.

Regardless of how a student fared, and even if they came top of the class, look for ways to suggest where they could improve their knowledge or performance in some areas. Likewise, if a student has done badly you should attempt to look for positives to encourage them with.

There’s your lot. Some tips and suggestions to help write a well-rounded and useful online learning quiz.

Remember that the quiz should encourage students in their learning and push them to do better. It should be put together in a way that brings everything the course has covered together to be tested, in a practical way.

Though it is a gauge through which to test the learning of students, a quiz shouldn’t be a stick to beat them with. Make sure it’s fair but challenging and you’ll be fine. Good luck!

How to write good online learning quizzes