Digital means learning needs to change now

digital learning

Because the corporate learning market is evolving at such a rapid pace, learning teams are looking to go beyond traditional models of eLearning and classroom training. They increasingly want to offer learners a wider range of digital learning opportunities and better learning experiences. But what are those options? Are they expensive? Are they difficult to implement and manage? How should I compare what’s available?

To help you answer these and other pressing questions about digital learning, Litmos invites you to join us for a live webinar on Thursday 4th May 2017 at 4PM BST / 11 AM EDT / 8AM PDT. Together with David Wilson, CEO of Fosway Group, and Niamh Ryan, Head of L&D at Paddy Power Betfair, we’ll share the latest research and real-world insights on the hottest topics in digital learning. REGISTER HERE.

Attend the webinar to discover what you need to do now to:

  • Align the digital learning strategy with the overall corporate strategy.
  • Build great learning experiences.
  • Maintain learner engagement online.
  • Develop digital skills in an L&D team.

What’s driving the rapid adoption of digital learning?
The key drivers for today’s digital learning programs are increasing learning availability, agility and speed of learning, learner engagement, and cost effectiveness of delivery. These are dramatically different from the old focus on reducing headcount, which was the key driver for corporate learning for the longest time.

Now, there are five factors speeding the adoption of digital learning:

  1. Increasing complexity: Corporate learning teams must often develop multiple learning strategies to encompass many different learning contexts and learning outcomes. This is a large undertaking, so learning pros are seeking ways to simplify (or at least better manage) highly complex plans.
  2. Evolving industry trends: Innovations in cloud, mobile, social, and eCommerce have created a shift in how we learn and envision our career progression. Because we can learn from anywhere, pull learning has become more prevalent than push learning; learners want to consume just-in-time resources, learn on the go, and leverage their social network to get to the best content quickly.
  3. Decentralized L&D: Even as the learning and development market expands, we still see different buying centers (e.g., HR, service, and other departments) implementing their own LMS. This has shrunk L&D groups much in the same way that IT organizations were reduced in past years in order to focus on the service side of their function. Just as IT helps different departments buy applications, L&D needs to become the governance organization, providing insight on the right technology and best practices to enable these decentralized groups to be successful. However, this cannot happen with legacy learning systems. Modern LMSs are mobile, user-centric, connected, customizable, and agile to deliver training the way each department wants. Plus, they are able to facilitate external training as comfortably as internal training.
  4. LMS divesting from the talent management space: Although HR vendors will promote the value of all systems being banded together, the truth is that human resources queues are packed. So, if for example, you need to deliver a compliance training, you’re likely going to sit on the HR waiting list for a while to do it. This raises questions about whether HR should be responsible for training contractors who don’t work in the organization or partners or customers. Does it make sense for HR to train them all? HR departments face a massive transition. They get pulled in multiple directions these days — doing benefits, appraisals, success planning — in addition to owning learning. Today’s digital learning may fall outside what HR teams can add to their plates. Material that was once sent in emails, fliers, or presentations is now created in a digital format, fully tracked, and bundled with reinforcement questions to retain the knowledge. HR may not be able to keep up.
  5. Speed of execution and independence: People rarely let policies, governance, and processes get in the way of being successful in their jobs. When it comes to your livelihood and confidence in fulfilling your duties, you are not going to wait for your HR department or your training department to roll out the latest training. More likely, you’ll venture out on your own to find the best online learning that you can take anywhere, anytime, on your own terms to make yourself better. We see this trend all the time.

In the end, a successful digital learning strategy can help organizations bring positive changes to the top and bottom lines, increasing employee capability and productivity, better learner engagement and retention, improved learner satisfaction, and better alignment with business and regulatory compliance.[:in]being digital

Because the corporate learning market is evolving at such a rapid pace, learning teams are looking to go beyond traditional models of eLearning and classroom training. They increasingly want to offer learners a wider range of digital learning opportunities and better learning experiences. But what are those options? Are they expensive? Are they difficult to implement and manage? How should I compare what’s available?

To help you answer these and other pressing questions about digital learning, please take a look at this recorded webinar with David Wilson, CEO of Fosway Group, and Niamh Ryan, Head of L&D at Paddy Power Betfair. In addition to the rest of the article below, it will provide additional guidance on how to align your digital learning strategy with the overall corporate strategy and build great learning experiences. You’ll also get some insights on how to maintain learner engagement online and develop digital skills in an L&D team.

What’s driving the rapid adoption of digital learning?
The key drivers for today’s digital learning programs are increasing learning availability, agility and speed of learning, learner engagement, and cost effectiveness of delivery. These are dramatically different from the old focus on reducing headcount, which was the key driver for corporate learning for the longest time.

Now, there are five factors speeding the adoption of digital learning:

  1. Increasing complexity: Corporate learning teams must often develop multiple learning strategies to encompass many different learning contexts and learning outcomes. This is a large undertaking, so learning pros are seeking ways to simplify (or at least better manage) highly complex plans.
  2. Evolving industry trends: Innovations in cloud, mobile, social, and ecommerce have created a shift in how we learn and envision our career progression. Because we can learn from anywhere, pull learning has become more prevalent than push learning; learners want to consume just-in-time resources, learn on the go, and leverage their social network to get to the best content quickly.
  3. Decentralized L&D: Even as the learning and development market expands, we still see different buying centers (e.g., HR, service, and other departments) implementing their own LMS. This has shrunk L&D groups much in the same way that IT organizations were reduced in past years in order to focus on the service side of their function. Just as IT helps different departments buy applications, L&D needs to become the governance organization, providing insight on the right technology and best practices to enable these decentralized groups to be successful. However, this cannot happen with legacy learning systems. Modern LMSs are mobile, user-centric, connected, customizable, and agile to deliver training the way each department wants. Plus, they are able to facilitate external training as comfortably as internal training.
  4. LMS divesting from the talent management space: Although HR vendors will promote the value of all systems being banded together, the truth is that human resources queues are packed. So, if for example, you need to deliver a compliance training, you’re likely going to sit on the HR waiting list for a while to do it. This raises questions about whether HR should be responsible for training contractors who don’t work in the organization or partners or customers. Does it make sense for HR to train them all? HR departments face a massive transition. They get pulled in multiple directions these days — doing benefits, appraisals, success planning — in addition to owning learning. Today’s digital learning may fall outside what HR teams can add to their plates. Material that was once sent in emails, fliers, or presentations is now created in a digital format, fully tracked, and bundled with reinforcement questions to retain the knowledge. HR may not be able to keep up.
  5. Speed of execution and independence: People rarely let policies, governance, and processes get in the way of being successful in their jobs. When it comes to your livelihood and confidence in fulfilling your duties, you are not going to wait for your HR department or your training department to roll out the latest training. More likely, you’ll venture out on your own to find the best online learning that you can take anywhere, anytime, on your own terms to make yourself better. We see this trend all the time.

In the end, a successful digital learning strategy can help organizations bring positive changes to the top and bottom lines, increasing employee capability and productivity, better learner engagement and retention, improved learner satisfaction, and better alignment with business and regulatory compliance.