Micro Learning Practices and New & Emerging Learning Systems
Corporate training has been an industry that has always acutely felt the impact of emerging technologies. From basic slide projectors and foils that were lugged around from classroom to office, to computers that revolutionised the way programs were designed, corporate training has seen a volte face in its methodology and practices. With the advent of the PC in the 1980s, trainers suddenly had access to vast amounts of data at the touch of a button. Today’s Learning Management Systems (LMS) as we know it are a direct descendant of those early video disks and CD-ROM based training programs. In turn, e-learning resulted in a boom of content developers, designers and a whole new breed of learning tools. All was then quiet on the training front till the consumer technology revolution in 2005–2007 changed the world once again. YouTube, Twitter, and smartphones all came together and made the use of quick videos, mobile apps and courses with short-form content super easy to both produce and accept.
With that crash course in the development of Learning Management Systems, we now face yet another revolution in corporate training. 2018 has seen some pathbreaking trends in learning and the dissemination of information. Let’s have a look at where this industry is headed.
TRENDS IN LEARNING TODAY
Blended learning
While before there was a clear distinction between class-based teaching modules versus online or digital learning programs, today we see a close integration between the two. This hybrid or blended learning system brings to the student the best of both worlds by offering face to face interactions with students and trainers anywhere on the planet, as well as the flexibility and wide access provided by online training.
More choice, along with more control
When it comes to corporate training and new Learning Management Systems, staff now have the advantage of choice on their side. They can choose content that appeals to them from multiple sources as well as have the tools to collect more data and digital information via the Internet. Previously limited course curriculum and prohibitive costs are negated with the help of new technological trends in learning. Programs can be customised to meet every type of “student” and cater to all levels and abilities. Equally important is the fact that staff can now take responsibility for their own learning, at their own pace. Which leads us to the next trend.
New forms of assessment
With e-learning, student discussions, online work portfolios, regular testing and in-depth assessment of an individual’s performance is easily acquired and made accessible to the management. In this way, corporates can keep a check on their top performers and provide incentives and directed encouragement to those who are lagging behind. These new trends in corporate training are adding a more personalised human touch to an otherwise “removed” type of learning.
MicroLearning and Learning Experience Platforms
The latest watchword in the e-learning game is “micro learning.” The term was coined around 2009 and is now taking a firm hold in the training and learning industry. As an emerging learning trend, micro learning offers it all — small targeted bursts of content are delivered via mobile phones or tablets directly to the student. This is a largely learner-centric platform and is accessible at any point of time thus allowing the staff member or student the advantage of controlling his or her own learning graph.
The bald truth is that social media and digital entertainment is shortening people’s attention spans significantly. Micro learning methods are gaining popularity as an effective means to create learning experiences that contend with these decreasing attention spans by offering bite-sized portions of information that can be more easily absorbed. Some of the other benefits of micro learning in the e-learning field include flexibility in terms of when and what the learners choose to study, cost effectiveness — as micro learning proves much more economical with lower overhead costs as compared to other traditional methods of training — and finally, the ability to recognise and reward learning milestones within a more immediate time frame.
All things considered, micro learning is definitely proving to be one of the more interesting trends in how we learn and train today. To further ramp up the benefits of a micro learning platform or program, trainers and corporates can look into creating and designing crisper and shorter content modules that are easily digestible, as well as relevant. Another way to improve the micro learning process is to first identify and then attack specific problem areas. Action mapping and skill-directed modules that are personalised towards individual needs and requirements will go a long way towards building confidence and abilities in such situations.
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