10 Technological Trends That Are Changing the Way We Learn

In any organization, roles and responsibilities keep changing as requirements keep evolving. The top management must recognize this dynamic environment and come up with an effective training plan to upskill for their employees.

Effective training is needed to provide the required skills to meet the challenges in the world of technology and automation. Here are some of the trends that will change the world of training in the coming years:

Ensuring accessible learning

As work gets more dynamic and roles become complex, organizations need to provide training that can be accessed from any device, anytime, and anywhere. Ensuring that the level of accessibility is a challenge. Providing effortless learning experience will ensure the greatest impact on the learning application. Repackaging the training into micro-learning modules is a quicker way to develop training.

Including immersive technology

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have been used in the gaming industry. However, its potential in learning and development is now slowly being realized. With AR/VR becoming more accessible every year, this is fast replacing traditional courses and assessments where the skill required is taught and practiced in a simulated environment.

Ensuring reinforcement techniques

The use of off-the-shelf or customized training will not have the desired impact unless the learning that is taught is reinforced. Effective training is not a one-time effort. Organizations should design training to help learners retain the knowledge learned so that they can beat the forgetting curve. Training should provide enough support to the teams to ensure the skills learned are applied immediately.

Using artificial intelligence

The growth of technology has provided organizations with the opportunity to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) in learning and development. Applying AI to the workplace will enable employees to receive personalized recommendations on the courses and the learning path that they could choose. AI can be used to measure the effectiveness of a learning program. Based on this, assessments could be customized and sent to individual learners.

Introducing automation

The rise of the chatbots in customer support has provided an opportunity for organizations to leverage this for L&D opportunities. The bots can quickly place training in front of employees, putting the learning literally at their fingertips. As organizations look at auto bots to handle repetitive process-oriented tasks, humans can add value by focusing on tasks that require creativity and objectivity.

Connecting technology and organizational performance

With a growing mismatch between organizational needs and employee skills, organizations can no longer rely on external recruitment alone to bridge this gap. Organizations need to develop the skills of existing employees instead of merely relying on the external labor market. The way forward is to use technology to anticipate requirements and upskill employees to fill hard-to-fill job roles to reduce turnover costs.

Designing learning for Generation Z

Generation Z (born between 1996-2011) are likely to make up 20% of the global workforce by 2020. With these employees being the true digital generation, organizations need to design strategies that will suit their learning style. One way to get their attention is to create training scenarios that are dynamic and authentic. Another strategy is to introduce gamification in existing training to bring a healthy dose of competition among their peers.

Moving from LMS to the learning platform

Learning technology was once all about a learning management system (LMS) that was designed to house and manage content that offered training to all employees regardless of their location. However, some organizations have begun to feel the need to have a modern learning platform that can identify the needs of the learners and offer a comprehensive learning experience.

Blending experience and learning

There is a need to move away from traditional blended learning and focus on blending experiences to ensure effective learning. The blend could include role-playing, job-shadowing, coaching, game-based learning, e-learning, and classroom training. Leveraging the required tools and resources will ensure a robust learning experience for each employee.

Leveraging social media

Organizations are embracing social collaboration tools to foster a learning culture and better engage the employees. However, organizations are yet to invest time and effort to leverage the full potential of these tools for learning and development. Though document-sharing, discussion forums, and blogs are being used, the use of videos and micro-blogging is yet to catch up.