How to Prepare Employees for Remote Certification

There are a few key things to consider when you’re planning how to prepare employees for remote certification. Whether remote team members are sitting for a one-time test or will need to be regularly re-certified, you can make the process easier by following these guidelines:

1. 1. Use a secure online exam software solution that lets you build and deliver your learning modules, tests, certificates, and communications all in the same place.
   2. Communicate with your exam takers every step of the way, from user onboarding, to learning and testing, then certificate or license acceptance.
   3. Set clear expectations for every part of the learning and testing.
   4. Explain in detail what constitutes cheating for your organization.
   5. Explain all security efforts being used, including virtual proctoring, to keep proprietary and user’s personal information safe during the credentialing process.

It can be a big challenge to make sure all of your remote team members are on the same page with daily operations, goals, and meeting company KPIs. You add a whole other layer of challenge and potential complication when it comes to online exams for remote certification.

Whether you need to manage one-off online exams and tests that will let the individual begin work in a new role or take on new duties and responsibilities within their position, or you’re juggling a constantly revolving door of staggered re-certifications, you need to have a handle on all the moving parts. There’s seldom room for missteps especially for professional field service jobs with credentials that require regular updating in order to legally be allowed to continue working.

Traveling nurses who work through an agency might need to renew their licenses while they’re pulling back-to-back emergency room double shifts in another state. Keeping them up-to-date is critical in more ways than one. Maybe your civil construction company has hundreds of skilled workers who all require licensing to operate heavy equipment working highway jobs in a dozen locations. The only way to keep those machines rolling on time and on budget is to ensure those workers can test and get certified no matter where they are located. You understand how important that is, but do they? You can set your program up with an online platform to ensure they know exactly what they need to and make it easy for them to do it.

The fact is, you can’t afford accidental lags that will hold up your business operations, so your people need to be ready and able to complete learning and testing without hiccups. It’s up to you, the testing program manager, to set your remote workers up for success by optimizing your testing programs. These are the key steps you can take to support your remote teams and ensure they’re ready and able to learn the material, take the test, receive their certification, and get to work.

• Online Testing Platform – take advantage of the one-stop shop many online credentialing platforms provide. You’ll be able to prepare your remote teams easily with a platform that includes the following features:
  • Multimedia, custom learning modules
  • A wide variety of question types, question banks, and advanced question settings
  • Built-in communication capabilities via email and direct messaging
  • Easy user onboarding that can be completed individually, in bulk, or by the user
  • Custom user/administrative permissions
  • Ability to translate into multiple languages
  • Advanced security features like remote proctoring, IP authentication, data encryption, and audit logging
• Learning Materials and Exams – set your remote teams up for success by designing learning materials and exams to be accessible, using photos, videos, and infographics and by translating into multiple languages. There are many different learning styles and preparing for that on the front end will save time, money, and frustration later.
• Communication – at Gauge, we don’t think you can communicate too much when it comes to preparing employees for remote certification, which is why we built those tools into the platform. OK, maybe you can go overboard if you’re sending multiple messages a day, but we think it’s a good idea to err on the side of overcommunication so there’s no question about the who, what, where, when, why, and how of your online testing and exam programs. Use your online platform to deliver information to your users about onboarding, instructions, timing, and expectations.

Here are some of the ways you should consider using the built-in email and messaging tools to prepare your employees for remote certification:

• • Create a user profile – provide a link and instructions, making it as clear and simple as possible to avoid frustrating your remote team right out of the gate.
  • What to expect for future communications – let them know how to turn on notifications and what other information you’ll be sharing (user instructions, schedules and timelines, reminders, and expectations).
  • Instructions for using the platform – show them how to navigate the platform and where they can find a user manual and FAQs. Provide contact information with phone and email so they can get assistance if needed.
  • Set Expectations – let them know when they should begin, how quickly they should progress through learning materials, and when they will be scheduled to sit for the test, and explain how and when they will receive their credentials. Also spell out what constitutes cheating and explain the security measures such as proctoring and IP authentication that are taken to protect both your organization’s proprietary information and the user’s personal information.
  • Encouragement – acknowledge that you appreciate the time and effort they’ll put into this process to work for you. Let them know what measures you’re taking to make it as seamless as possible.

While you can certainly go on manage all of your credentialing moving parts from afar the old fashioned way of scheduling in-person learning and testing, sending individual emails, and hoping for the best, you’ll have greater control over the outcomes with an online testing platform. Communications can be automated with boilerplate information, so you only have to do that work once until a content update is required. With learning modules, tests, certificates, and related communications delivered in the same user dashboard, you can focus your efforts on building the most effective learning materials and tests that will deliver the results you want. And yes, Gauge offers all of the features you need to ensure your employees are as prepared as possible for their remote certification.

---

If your certification program is running on tools that were never built for it — and you’re starting to feel the friction in your daily operations — Gauge was designed for exactly this situation. It handles the full exam lifecycle for professional credentialing programs, from item banking through results and credential issuance, without requiring you to stitch together separate systems.