Keeping up with the latest online learning trends is essential for any employer. Business success means empowering your workforce to face future challenges by investing in their professional development.
But as hybrid, remote, and flexible work patterns become the norm, online education is constantly changing to keep pace with the demands of the modern workforce.
Let’s look at eight online learning trends to leverage for employee growth.
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Artificial Intelligence
One of the biggest online learning trends is artificial intelligence. AI can personalize the learning experience by analyzing data on student behavior and learning styles and adapting content accordingly. It also assists tutors by providing students with personalized feedback.
But AI’s role in training goes beyond reducing educators’ workloads—it also improves learning outcomes.
Students can get help immediately if they hit an obstacle in their studies, ensuring better progress. In addition, it frees tutors from admin tasks, allowing them to focus on giving attention to students who need it.
1. Gamification
Gamification is a way of describing the inclusion of game-based elements. Not only can it be much more engaging than simply reading text or watching videos, but it also encourages social learning. This means it can also help develop soft skills, such as cooperation, problem-solving, and critical thinking.
Imagine you’re running a module called ‘What is IT risk management?’. You could have your staff sit through lecture after lecture on technical skills, taking notes and trying not to fall asleep. Or, you could create a game where they have to spot specific risks and vulnerabilities in a hypothetical system. Depending on the team, you can add some friendly competition by tracking how long it takes everyone.
Features such as leaderboards and rewards help motivate learners by giving them tangible goals, leading to better progress and learning outcomes.
2. Nano-Learning
Nano-learning means creating learning materials that can be delivered in small, manageable chunks. Gone are the days and afternoons that were blocked out for a training session. Instead, nano-learning prioritizes flexibility. After all, different people have different levels of concentration, and it’s likely they’ll be fitting in extra training around their work.
Let’s say you’re training some new staff on ‘what is Apache Hive?’. Each short piece of content would focus on one main aspect, for instance:
- A short video clip explaining the history of Apache Hive
- An infographic about different storage types
- Audio materials about metadata
- An article detailing the major Hive data functions
- A brief quiz on common SQL queries and their Hive equivalents
This educational content is engaging and attention grabbing, and delivers an easily digestible hit of learning. It’s the perfect approach for those with limited time.
3. Mobile Learning
Mobile learning is a major online learning trend. Modern learners are often on the move, studying when they can – for instance, during the commute to work. Mobile learning is flexible and portable, allowing individual learners to study when it suits them.
Make sure any content you design is suitable for a range of devices and screen sizes, and consider how you implement it. For instance, should it require processing time-sensitive data, it’s worth considering the benefits of edge computing as opposed to cloud computing to support your courses.
4. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
Recent online learning trends have included interactive videos and a more hands-on experience. However, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) can offer even more – recreating actual scenarios in an immersive environment.
Whether it’s using AR to roleplay sales pitches with virtual customers, or operating machinery in VR, this technology lets you provide a practical element to your learning. Not only does this help add variety and boost engagement, but it also provides a safe way of assessing more challenging tasks.
5. Analytics and Adaptive Technology
The learning process relies on learner engagement to be successful. The more personalized the content, the more engaged and motivated a student will be.
Adaptive learning systems all start with analytics. By collecting and analyzing data from students, educators can track and quantify the success of online programs. This allows them to spend their resources more effectively and gain insights into which methods and content are effective.
Data analytics allow trainers to spot trends in their learners’ experiences, track ROI (return on investment), measure performance, and set future goals.
However, this is only the start point. By combining analytics and AI, adaptive technology can create pathways through learning content that bypass anything a learner doesn’t need, fast-tracking them to relevant activities.
6. Upskilling & Reskilling
Needing to upskill and reskill a workforce drives many online education trends. For example, your IT team may not have time to keep up with every new software development, as well as doing their daily work.
Online learning is a perfect way to help your IT staff. For example, you could run a short course on ‘what is PySpark’ or ‘an introduction to LLMs’ in order to upskill your team in data analysis and machine learning.
Keep an eye on what skills your business might need in the future, and invest in education accordingly. You can reduce your need to hire new staff as the market changes by ensuring your current team is as skilled as possible.
7. Online Learning Platforms
Hybrid and fully remote work is here to stay. You can monitor every step of the recruitment process remotely—whether you use CRM or ATS—so why not do the same with onboarding and continuous learning? Online courses provide the perfect solution for training team members scattered geographically and in different time zones.
Of course, having a dispersed workforce has challenges and vulnerabilities. One way to reduce risk is to make sure any training materials you create use hypothetical datasets and information. That way, should any breaches happen, no real data is at risk.
8. Get teaching!
It’s tempting to opt for as many online learning trends as possible. But while all have their advantages, it’s important to look at your course material and learning objectives and, most importantly, your employees. Game-based learning can be great, but if you don’t design it right, some of your team members might find it distracting.
Choose the trends that align with your aims for online learning. Invest in tools that will make a real difference in how your courses are delivered and in your learners’ experience. This will ultimately empower your employees and your business.
