Learning & Development – Interesting And Upcoming Trends To Follow

Remote working and work from home have now become a new normal for us. The training and development play an important role in facilitating the employees to accommodate and assimilate in the new setup. Delivering content online while keeping the employees engaged, is the area that the training teams have been facing challenges across all industries and departments.

These challenges have helped the training sector evolve rapidly and this process of evolution has become continuous in the distance learning scenario. The trends that will continue to gain higher focus from the fraternity are:

Training the trainers for remote training/eLearning delivery

Source: dexway.com

Corporates have adapted to the situation and have re-routed their focus of training the employees from traditional classroom training to online training. Though this shift was compelled based on the pandemic scenario, our trainers are still not ready and trained enough with the skills required to design and deliver the content that will be relevant for online training.

The focus will remain to train our trainers with the required skills and by filling up the knowledge gaps. Needless to say, this shift, too has to happen remotely, via eLearning.

Microlearning

Corporates have been finding ways to leverage skilled employees from across the globe providing them options of working remotely. To provide continuous learning for employee development via eLearning has gained the focus of the corporates alongside.

It has been observed through various studies that the employee is more focused on the job at hand and learning and development is considered to be an additional task that might create stress. Taking out extra time that might affect their performance has never been attractive for the employees even if they are keen on learning new skills. eLearning facilitates the trainer to present small modules, 7-10 min long, that the employee can take up anytime without dedicating specific time for learning. The concept is termed microlearning and is a widely accepted trend.

Based on the success and benefits, this trend of microlearning is going to evolve further in the future. Currently, the micro modules that are being delivered are mostly in the form of videos or infographics that are engaging and easy to understand, learn, retain, and apply in day-to-day tasks.

Mobile Learning

Source: theeducationoutlook.com

Mobile has become an integral part of our life to the extent that you feel handicapped without a mobile phone. eLearning is sure to leverage the device with the advancement in technology that includes Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence with the launch of 5G spectrum that provides an excellent internet browsing experience.

Blending it with microlearning, the responsive eLearning programs are the future of training. The flexibility of accessing the learning program from anywhere, anytime with the latest technological training experience will make learning fun and on the go!

Personalized learning paths

The biggest challenge that the eLearning industry has faced is a lack of interaction amongst employees and trainers. Understanding the skill set level of the current employees to curate the course as per the requirement was taken care of by interacting personally with employees.

Alternate methods to overcome this challenge were looked for. The Big Data and adaptive learning solutions are expected to become prevalent and can help the trainers to offer more personalized and adaptive learning experiences.

Social learning

Source: konu.org

Working remotely offers the convenience of working from anywhere and anytime (as per the job requirement). However, this forces the employees to work in a silo that creates stress and leaves a social gap. Through the eLearning platform like Cornerstone LMS, you can embrace social communications by creating discussion forums, blogs, podcasts that are effective platforms to share best practices and knowledge while encouraging teamwork by working on common projects remotely.

Collaboration platforms like Zoom, Slack, Meet have already made a prominent place for themselves. The addition of more platforms is sure to happen that the training fraternity can exploit to the maximum and reap the benefits.

Big Data Analysis

Data is becoming important in every field. The exploitation of the training data collected will help the collection and analysis of the employee learning experiences. Capturing the data on employee performance in the training courses can further be analyzed based on the details gathered on the performance while implementing the knowledge in practical work scenarios. It is easy to present data in a suitable format that is easy to understand.

The details in the form of data help the trainer to understand the ROI of every training program. It also provides an in-depth insight into training modules that need revision or improvement. The data relating to learner’s engagement can delve down to the micromodule level to make the specific changes. Transforming training concepts that provide useful paths will be easily achievable.

Artificial Intelligence

Source: mygreatlearning.com

With the help of Artificial Intelligence, customized training paths can be designed with the help of the available data. The learners get instant answers in the form of virtual tutors and help that can speed up the learning path taking the burden off from trainers. The device, location, and time does not remain a hindrance in learning as per the convenience of the learner. Gathering information that is relevant helps in improving the training development process. This becomes an affordable, effective, and quick means of eLearning.

Immersive training experience

Extending the basic benefits of eLearning that facilitates the learner to learn at their own pace from any device and location, virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies help in immersive learning. This leverages the learner to learn via the mode they prefer and can better absorb the learnings. Providing the option of learning through textual content or audiovisual content is the choice that the learner can take the advantage of that helps them retain the knowledge easily and for longer. With augmented and reality learning, organizations get the privilege of providing a risk-free environment of learning.

Conclusion:

eLearning is the latest trend in the training industry and has been growing exponentially. All organizations, big or small, are leveraging the technology to upskill their employees. These trends will continue growing, thus it is important that we start embracing them, starting today. Click here to know more about the LMS that will provide you with the required features.