Edtech: What are the latest big elearning trends?

E-learning is more important than ever

Staying connected and up to date will be more important than ever. Your employees need information, knowledge and new skills to keep business moving in 2020.

Below, we look at some great ways to get the most out of e-learning, especially in our fast-changing times.

Mobile learning

With mobile learning, you give learners access to educational content via their smartphones or tablets. They can access knowledge whenever they need, no matter where they are. It’s perfect for working remotely.

Researchers report that more than half the world’s population now owns a smartphone. There’s a good chance that nearly all your employees own or have access to a mobile device. That means mobile learning can reach the vast majority of your workforce.

We all rely on our phones to find new information with quick online searches. Mobile learning plays into this common behavior. It serves as a lifeline, keeping your learners connected to the knowledge they need.

Cloud-based e-learning

Modern cloud-based learning platforms offer the cost-effectiveness, security and stability that your business needs in 2020. Best of all, they enable your learners to access learning content from anywhere.

Putting your learning content on the cloud has many advantages. It saves on infrastructure and IT costs. You normally pay a subscription to use a cloud platform. The maintenance, updates and servers are all handled by the vendor.

In the months ahead, we’ll all be looking for ways to lower costs. Cloud-based tech is a great option here. It generally costs a fraction of what you’d pay for a locally hosted learning management system (LMS), along with all the IT hassle that goes with it.

Just-in-time learning

With “just-in-time learning,” you give your learners access to a searchable knowledge base. This lets them quickly pull up facts, procedures, tutorials or other information, whenever they need.

In the past, companies would offer a classroom training session and expect employees to learn everything they needed to know. However, studies show that within just six days of learning new information, an average person has already forgotten up to 75% of what they learned.

Just-in-time learning is a more realistic alternative. Instead of expecting people to memorize information, it lets them access it on-demand, when it matters most.

Social learning

Social learning reinforces knowledge by encouraging people to learn together. E-learning is rapidly becoming more social. And in 2020, it will become more social than ever, as many businesses will rely almost entirely on online training for the foreseeable future.

Social media usage has skyrocketed since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. Why not leverage the popularity of social media in your e-learning? Choose a platform that contains features like content sharing and net promoter scores (NPS) for content and courses. These are ratings that learners give to the content they’ve used, indicating whether they would recommend it to their peers.

Employee-generated Learning

Easygenerator offers an original approach to social learning. Our Employee-generated Learning (EGL) model encourages learners to collaborate with each other to develop their own learning content. It harnesses the knowledge of experienced subject matter experts (SMEs) within the organization. These SMEs use the company’s e-learning platform to create and publish relevant learning content.

The content comes from true experts who understand the business. That makes their peers more likely to accept it and engage with it. The EGL model shines a spotlight on top performers within the organization (the SMEs). It makes learning into a collaborative group activity. This strengthens bonds between people. That’s going to be a big help to us all in the uncertain times we face.

Immersive learning

Immersive learning creates realistic simulations that encourage learners to learn by doing. E-learning is the best option for creating immersive learning situations. You can harness the power of videos, mockups, screen recordings and interactive learning games. These allow learners to walk through real-life work situations step by step.

Psychological research finds many reasons why “learning by doing” is so effective. For example, it helps learners gain practical experience, experiment through trial and error, and more easily identify areas where they need more information (learning to ask better questions).

An immersive learning environment doesn’t have to involve state-of-the-art 3D graphics and virtual reality goggles. Simple e-learning resources like videos and screen recordings of common procedures are already a great basis for an immersive learning experience.

Microlearning

Microlearning is another powerful e-learning trend that will prove its worth in 2020. This e-learning method involves providing small nuggets of information to learners on demand. It breaks complex topics into bite-sized pieces that are far easier to internalize.

It works great in combination with mobile learning and just-in-time learning. When learners pick up their phones to search for a piece of information they need, they don’t want to scroll through pages and pages of text to find the answer they’re looking for. Microlearning offers clear single-topic answers.

Plus, the convenient size of microlearning content makes it kind of addictive. It encourages repeat viewing, which helps drive learning retention.

2020: The year of e-learning

While it’s still too soon to tell how 2020 will pan out, one thing is clear: e-learning will be the go-to training option for many businesses. That means it’s time to start getting the most out of our e-learning technologies.

Fortunately, we’re living in the golden age of e-learning tech. There are now so many exciting new features to include in your e-learning toolkit.

Be sure to offer your learners a rich mix, including plenty of the options discussed above. This will keep your company’s workforce informed, educated and connected, even in the uncertain times ahead.