Print, eBook, or eLearning? A Guide to Choosing the Best Format for Your Needs.

At ASCENT, we offer training materials in print, eBook, and eLearning formats for both standard courseware and custom training developed for a client. If you’re ordering training materials for your organization, you may be wondering which format is the best fit. In this post, I’ll discuss five key things to consider but first let’s look at the three formats. 

 All formats can be used for instructor-led or self-paced learning. 

So which format should you choose? Here are five questions to consider: 

When deciding on a training format, consider your learning environment – is this for instructor-led or self-paced learning; how many users are taking the training; what computer access do users have? If you’re planning on instructor-led training, either in person or online, a print or eBook copy of the material may be beneficial to give your users a resource to follow and refer to after the training. 

If you have a large number of users to train, eLearning may be more efficient than scheduling training sessions with multiple groups. 

For self-paced learning, any format would work in the right context – print may be better for field workers or areas with limited screen access, while eBooks or eLearning would suit those with easy access to computers. However, a main benefit of eLearning is the ability to track course completion to ensure your users actually take the training. 

Take a look at the type of content you’re delivering, as this could influence your format decision.  

Print might be better suited to reference guides or checklists that will be referred to often or used off-site, away from computer access, while eBooks provide the advantage of being accessible from most devices. ASCENT eBooks are available in color and provide tools like search or bookmark functions, which can make it easier to use as a reference, especially for longer or more complex documents. 

eLearning bundles enable a user to complete fundamentals through advanced level courses with a one-year subscription. eLearning courses also combine instructional topics with hands-on practice exercises and video lessons so users can master the software at their own pace. 

If content will require updates as time goes on (such as learning material for the Autodesk software), then both print and eBook materials require a reprint to make changes, which could lead to multiple versions of the same book being used by your users. 

With the annual subscription of ASCENT eLearning Bundles, users gain automatic access to the latest version of the courseware, whenever that courseware/software release is updated. eLearning Bundles are therefore always up-to-date with the latest content. 

eBooks have an advantage as they can be delivered near instantly, without the added time or cost of shipping that comes with physical books, allowing you to distribute them with less lead time. 

Our eLearning Bundles are cost effective as they contain content from several guides in one subscription, saving separate shipping costs and time ordering. Plus, they ultimately provide more benefits when it comes to updating the content and tracking user completion. eLearning courses are also hosted on a platform where adding or reorganizing content to suit changing needs can be an easier process. 

As mentioned earlier, tracking course completion is a huge advantage with eLearning. Many eLearning platforms, such as ASCENT’s ProductivityNOW platform, allow for completion rates, quiz scores, and other metrics to be tracked, so you can see which of your users have finished the training and how they did. Depending on your industry, this could be essential for meeting compliance needs. 

With print, you can’t use the format itself to track completion or comprehension of the material. Quizzes are included in the ASCENT content but are only tracked by the user. The same holds true for eBooks, which would provide very limited tracking opportunities unless paired with another platform. 

So, which format is right for you? 

There is no single best format for training. The right choice depends on your learning environment, content type, update frequency, budget, and tracking requirements. Using these questions, you can select the format that delivers the most value for your specific training scenario.