It’s that time again! Office parties are in full swing, streets are alive with carol singing and shoppers scurry from outlet to outlet trying to purchase the last of their gifts. Yes, the holiday season is here and 2014 is almost behind us.
As we prepare to say goodbye to another year, Interactive Services has been looking back at what trends dominated 2014 – specifically eLearning trends and how they have affected corporate training.
Based on our research and experience this past year, this article highlights several key trends in corporate eLearning from 2014, which are likely to have an impact in 2015 also.
5 Big eLearning Trends From 2014
Increased use of Mobile Learning
Mobile definitely secured its place in the L&D strategy of many organizations in 2014 and caught the interest of many more who may adopt it in 2015. The potential of mobile as a tool for performance support is now more widely recognized and there is a distinct need for organizations to offer mobile-supported content and applications to meet the needs of their workers.
However, in our research, we’ve determined that mobile has been slow to provide great evidence of any real success…YET! Mobile learning is a new activity and perhaps it’s too soon for mobile to meet the expectations of the firms that use it for learning. 2015 may be the year we see more evidence of success. Our research further confirmed that compliance and business impact are seen by most organizations as two of the biggest barriers to mobile learning adoption in the workplace in 2014.
Big Data took Center Stage
‘Big Data’ (defined by Webopedia as “massive volume of structured and unstructured data that is so large that it’s difficult to process using traditional database technique”) is certainly a topic that made headlines in 2014. Big data has been leveraged by eLearning in a number of ways throughout 2014. For example, analysis and evaluation of eLearning to determine which parts of a course are proving most effective and which ones need to be reviewed or improved. Big date is also being used to determine how eLearners are absorbing the content and how much they are really benefiting from it.
Based on how beneficial it has been in making allow eLearning more effective and customized, big data will undoubtedly continue to be used well into the future. It provides eLearning developers with more information and hence a better understanding of the specific needs of learners and allows them to create more engaging and personalized learning experiences.
MOOCs Became More Popular
The term ‘MOOCs’ is something we heard more of this year also. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) which are community-based learning platforms that offer unlimited participation via the web offer great potential. For example, one 2014 article confirmed that some organizations have partnered with MOOCs to help them identify important skills they require to support and improve their businesses.
In 2013, Educase stated that “a consensus has developed that one of the primary applications of MOOCs will be their use in blended learning programs”. From the research we’ve done in 2014, the right model for implementation and management has not yet been developed.
Time will tell whether MOOC’s become widely popular in corporate eLearning. We will certainly be keeping an eye on this in 2015 to see what level of traction MOOCs gain.
Performance Evaluation Using Analytics Increased
This echoes some of what was discussed about the benefits of Big Data above.
As analytics have become more advanced, L&D departments have embedded them in eLearning to track performance and provide a variety of metrics including user behaviour, completion rates, abandonment rates, complexity of content and more. The data eLearning analytics generates has and will continue to significantly improve the design of eLearning. It will help to make the learner experience a more productive and enjoyable one and ultimately support organizations in their effort to cut costs and achieve that all-important ROI.
Small Knowledge Nuggets In, ‘Long-form’ Learning Out
One very obvious trend in eLearning is a growing movement toward short, bite-sized training and the use of ‘knowledge-nuggets’ as opposed to the elaborate training modules which take more time to get through. L&D departments globally have opened their eyes to the impact of shorter training time on learner knowledge retention and other outcomes.
With an increase in the number of organizations adopting mobile learning and demand for just-in-time training, delivering content in the form of short, concise chunks of information has been a prominent feature of eLearning throughout 2014. This is something that will potentially stay popular with L&D functions in 2015 and beyond as find out more about how to engage learners and how to cater for shorter attention spans and time-limited employees.
What has your organization seen or experienced with eLearning in 2014?
Is eLearning helping to improve performance of your workforce?
Are you using any of the other technologies and methodologies outlined in this article?
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Toward the end 2013, Interactive Services ran a webinar, Learning Technologies & Trends: Looking Back & Moving Forwards, which highlighted our thoughts on what learning in 2014 would look like based on research and feedback from you throughout 2013. This webinar will also provide you with some valuable insights into 2014 elearning trends.