IOT is everywhere, conquering the different spheres of life in ways we would have never imagined. What makes the recent advances even more interesting is the speed at which all of us adapt to it. From the millennials to the more recent digital natives, technological advancement, seamless utilization of devices etc. has become common. eLearning ecosystem too keeps evolving to meet the demands of today's digital workforce.
But, what makes it Next Gen eLearning?
Updated content, innovative design, flexible navigation etc. are few aspects that cater to the GenY and GenZ learners as discussed in a post here (read the full post here). eLearning is no longer build around a single ideology but rather as a holistic approach. L&D Professionals today have to keep the dynamic nature of learners, the ever-mobile nature and lack of time in consideration before creating eLearning.
What are the key components of Next Gen eLearning? What makes it stand apart from the learning content hitherto created. Here are a few aspects.
Social
Social learning is here to stay. Learners are stuck to the social media networks, where they create, share content and learn through videos, images and various other mediums, on devices of their choice without much variation in the overall experience.
Collaborative
eLearning today is as much collaborative as it is social or even more. Collaborative learning as defined by many eLearning experts involves learning as a collective, where learners work as small groups to discuss concepts, search for the right interpretation and for finding the right solutions. Collaborative learning works in terms of group goals, where the weight of solving a learning concept is distributed among all the members of the group allowing learners to learn from their peers, through discussions, chats, etc. This mixed with content sharing on the learning portal or through emails or creating wikis etc. opens up new arenas for learning.
Micro
Learning today is concise, mostly to the point or bite-sized to gratify the learners with short attention span or lack of time in general. Research points out that the decision to stay engaged with a piece of content is made within five to ten seconds.According to an infographic by Deloitte, Meet the modern learner, “an average employee can only devote 1 per cent of their work week to professional development.” That would roughly be less than 30 minutes in a week, which is why small nuggets of learning become the best option for corporate learning.What makes such short learning modules or micro learning more effective is the capability to assist on-the-job to provide performance support or just-in-time learning.
Integrated
Technology is ingrained in the next gen learning as never before. Learning is integrated with various communication and analytical tools making data collection, predictive analysis and content integrations easier.
Personalized
Though personalization is limited to certain aspects, it necessarily is built keeping individual learners in mind. Customized to match the usage patterns, translated and localized to make eLearning available in the language of choice, on the device of choice. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality too are being used to make it more interactive and engaging.
Unrestricted
The key aspect of net gen eLearning is that it allows learners to learn whenever they wish to learn and not restricting the hours or dictating the terms of training. While its socio-collaborative builds an open learning ecosystem, the availability of additional learning material and an explorative environment allows learners to keep learning.
While there are many other aspects that can define next gen eLearning, the above-mentioned elements are the crucial ones. However, before embarking on revamping the eLearning strategy take time to analyze the organization’s readiness, infrastructural settings and the opinions of key stakeholders.
Organizations would require Next gen eLearning only if the learners are prepared for it and so understand the learners to begin with and then get started.
Considering to revamp the existing eLearning? Confused about where to begin? Feel free to ask our experts. Drop your queries at info@www.knowzies.com.