The previous several years in education technology have revealed one thing: eLearning is growing faster than ever before, with the majority of investments allocated to higher and corporate education. There is no doubt that corporate eLearning is here to stay. At the same time, the eLearning industry is quickly evolving, with new trends always on the rise.
ELearning experts from Emerline, a technology partner and a supplier of modern tech solutions for businesses, have identified 6 major trends that are changing corporate education right now. Pay attention to them so that your employees and your business remain effective even in challenging times.
Although most learning technologies have been around for years, the major challenge is turning these technologies into innovative and effective learning programs that will help achieve business goals. Let’s divide modern trends into two groups 一 business-driven trends and learner-driven trends, and try to figure out why they are popular and how they can help you.
Top Business-Driven Trends
Personalized experience
A few years ago, corporate training was totally different from what it is now. Companies just offered their employees to take a course, memorize the necessary information, and confirm their knowledge in the final test or exam. Dry material and the lack of an individual approach contributed to many employees seeing training as a boring routine. They wanted to quickly end up without paying attention to the final results.
Today, the focus has shifted. Organizations realized that these are employees who drive a company to success. That’s why the human center learning experience is one of the top trends for 2022. Personalized content with human-centered design, the introduction of elements that convey emotions and mood, as well as the creation of customized learning paths, will allow your employees to learn new skills, while getting pleasure from the learning process. This also improves employee engagement and, hence, retention.
AR/VR and Metaverse
Widespread adoption of AI and AR technology, as well as the rise of the metaverse, also put a huge impact on the development of corporate eLearning, offering new possibilities for learners. One of them is better student involvement and engagement.
Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.” It follows that the importance of involvement during the training process is undeniable. AR/VR and Metaverse tools allow creating virtual rooms for better teacher-student interaction and providing employees with realistic simulations to do some practice or advance already gained experience. Employees can join the training spaces via VR headsets, mobile devices, or PCs and experience the benefits of group learning wherever they are.
Microlearning
Microlearning continues to become popular and, according to experts, will remain trendy for 2022. It is becoming increasingly difficult to interest employees today, and large volumes of training materials and hours-long video lectures offered by many companies for their employees as a training base are just another log on the fire.
The effectiveness of microlearning has already been proven: people learn better and quicker in smaller chunks. Microlearning platforms allow companies to easily create, publish, and roll out courses. Employees, in turn, can use rightly spaced repetitions, gamification, intuitive reports, and analytics for rapid feedback, correction, etc. Thanks to microlearning, it becomes much easier to track and report learning knowledge to enhance the overall learning experiences.
Top Learner-Driven Trends
Mobile Learning
Mobile phones have long been part of our daily life and are actively used to perform various tasks, from making purchases to paying bills. Different studies also show that modern learners seek better learning experiences and prefer training on the go. That is why corporate training must be thought of as a mobile-first delivery.
Mobile training offers numerous advantages, including scheduling flexibility, portability, and access to more content. Mobile learning, unlike traditional learning approaches, allows businesses to provide content that includes better assessment tools, recorded information, chat features, and audio/videos. It also provides a just-in-time learning platform, which retains learners’ focus and allows them to stay current in topics.
Collaborative Learning
With the transition of all processes online, many employees have experienced a lack of communication and spending time with colleagues. Individual learning plans cause a loss of a sense of community.
Collaborative learning implies collaborative and flexible online learning using virtual rooms or other tools and platforms. It allows employees to better interact with one other, share experiences, and establish contacts. Completing group assignments helps co-workers unite, which fosters a strong sense of connection. However, it is important to ensure everyone has a choice of how to train.
Continuous Learning Through Gamification
Formal training is insufficient for imparting knowledge and skills since people tend to forget or lose the information they learn after a few days or weeks, especially if the acquired knowledge is not used in practice.
Continuous learning means providing access to educational material at any time. Learning platforms should be complemented with gamification elements that will help keep the student’s attention on the main information. Reward systems, for example, points and coins, will provide an incentive for employees to repeat the course.
A good training strategy is inseparable from company success. It’s a key element of building and growing your company going forward. Whether you want to improve your corporate LMS or build a new one from scratch, turn to a trusted technology partner. Emerline has extensive experience in creating educational platforms and is ready to help you bring any of your ideas to life. Book a free consultation.