There was a time when your users expected to have to wait for training opportunities. User education was confined to traditional courses set in classroom environments and scheduled at specific times and places. 

Now, however, your users are conditioned to expect education on demand. Whether they need a quick answer to a problem so they can get back to work and keep moving forward or just have a few minutes between meetings to read up on a new product update, users want fast, convenient access to learning materials.

User education tools like learning management systems make it possible (easy, even) to give your users 24/7 online access to your organization’s learning resources. Additional LMS features like customizable learning paths and insightful analytics can help you make it even simpler for users to access the information they need in the blink of an eye.

The idea that information should be readily available to users at their point of need is called just-in-time training (JIT training) or just-in-time learning. Let’s dive into some just-in-time training definitions, benefits, tips, and examples to help you familiarize yourself with this important concept in user education.

What Is Just In Time Learning?

User education is a complex subject that involves many different styles of learning. One of these learning styles is called “just in time” learning. 

What is just-in-time learning? Just-in-time learning makes relevant resources available at the user’s moment of need. When a user experiences a problem or feels uncertain, they can access helpful information immediately and apply it to the situation at hand.

Just In Time Learning Advantages And Disadvantages

Like any learning style, just-in-time learning has some pros and some cons. It’s important to be equally aware of just-in-time learning advantages and disadvantages if you’re going to implement this style of learning at your organization.

Advantages

• Better Employee Performance - Just-in-time training directly impacts employee performance. It’s one of the most actionable types of learning because users are able to quickly digest the information at their moment of need and then immediately put it into practice, thereby improving performance almost instantly while minimizing workflow disruptions.

• Faster Learning Process - Just-in-time training also enables a much faster learning process than other types of user education does. Since users can access information exactly when they need it, they can get straight to the lessons that are truly valuable to them without wasting time on information they won’t use very often. Plus, just-in-time training typically utilizes very short training modules, which enables learners to soak up information quickly and then move on with their tasks.

• Easier Access - The whole point of just-in-time training is to give your users access to the right information at the right time. If a user needs help with a tool or needs to know more about a topic, you may have that information available, but it's of no use to them at that moment if they don’t know how to locate it quickly. Just-in-time learning makes the information available right when the user needs it so they can react to changing situations in real-time.

Disadvantages 

• Significant investment up front - Just-in-time training is more cost-effective than many other types of training in the long run, but implementation does require a substantial investment of time and resources. You’ll need to create learning content, which will involve collaboration between different subject matter experts, content authors, and other user education team members. You’ll also need a tool to deliver the content, like a learning management system.
• Ongoing Upkeep - Once you’ve created your training content and your just-in-time training program is up and running, your users can access the content whenever they need to; you can publish content once, and your users can continue to benefit from it over and over again as needed. However, most industries evolve at a rapid pace, so you’ll need to have a dedicated team to update your training content. The best just-in-time learning strategies also dedicate time and resources to gathering feedback and using it to make iterative improvements to training content or the strategy in general.

How To Implement Just In Time Learning

Even though just in time training methods require some time and effort to implement, you can make the process very manageable by keeping some best practices in mind. You can follow this simple, step-by-step guide to help you get started:

1. Determine what your users need “just in time.”

Before we discuss how to implement just-in-time learning, the first step is to identify what kind of training your users need just in time. It may not be necessary for some types of information to be available “in the moment.” You should start by separating the information that your users need immediate access to from the information they can consume effectively at a slower pace. A good way to figure out which information needs to be available just in time is to ask your employees about common problems they experience on the job.

2. Design a training strategy.

The second step is to create a cohesive just-in-time learning model. You need a roadmap to guide your efforts as you develop content and introduce it to your learners. One of the best ways to formulate an effective training strategy is to choose a few specific business outcomes you’d like to see result from your learning program. Then, you can design content that aligns the topics you need to cover with the goals you want to achieve. You’ll also need to choose a tool that can facilitate your training plan, like an LMS.

3. Create content.

Next, you can create content for users to access just in time. Just-in-time content is typically structured around concise, informative modules that can be digested quickly and easily. You’ll most likely need to collaborate with a subject matter expert and a graphic designer, preferably one who has experience designing educational content.

4. Deliver your content to users.

Step four is putting the content you’ve created in front of your users so it can start benefiting them. Obviously, your content is no good to anyone if your users can’t access it. The most effective way to deliver practically any kind of learning content, including just-in-time content, is with a learning management system like Northpass. An LMS makes it easy to provide learners with 24/7 on-demand access to training materials.

5. Analyze and improve your just-in-time strategy.

Finally, once your just-in-time learning model is up and running, you should continue to monitor it. Many learning management systems come with tools for collecting and analyzing data about your just-in-time training content’s impact and how your users are interacting with it. You can use these insights to continuously improve the training you offer.

Just In Time Training Examples

Just in time training encompasses a wide variety of training scenarios. Let’s look at a few just-in-time training examples to give you an idea of what it looks like in action.

• Negotiating strategies -  Real estate agents can use just-in-time learning to keep their negotiating skills sharp and adapt their strategies in real-time.
• De-escalation techniques - Gig workers, can use just-in-time training to learn de-escalation techniques. It’s difficult to deliver consistent training to a gig workforce, but just-in-time training enables workers to take charge of their own learning. They can access resources like de-escalation training as needed and receive a unique learning experience that’s relevant to their specific needs at the time.
• Policy and compliance - Compliance training is one of the most important types of training you can offer your employees. Just-in-time training ensures employees never miss an essential policy update or new compliance procedure.
• New feature update - Your sales reps need to be product experts so they can discuss products with clients in an authoritative manner. That means they need to stay on top of learning about new product features. Just-in-time training can give them fast access to information about changes to the products or services they sell.
• New product launches - Both employees and customers can benefit from just-in-time training regarding new product launches. All your teams need to be on the same page when it comes to launching any kind of new product or feature. Just-in-time learning can make it easier for everyone to quickly learn what they need to know about recent changes. Customers can also learn about new products much faster with just-in-time training.

Just In Time Training In The Workplace

This article is only a brief overview of just-in-time training in the workplace. Any kind of user education is precious for your customers, employees, gig workers, and partners, but just-in-time training has some unique advantages. 

When your users have access to concise, easily-digestible training content exactly at their moment of need, they can learn much more effectively and ultimately have greater success with the tools they use or the skills they practice. A faster learning process and higher proficiency levels can lead to all kinds of benefits for your business, like a more productive workforce and faster time to value for customers.