For most people, businesses, and industries, 2020 was an awakening. Companies who had made a digital transformation prior to the pandemic doubled down on their investments in productivity and collaboration tools, while others were left scrambling to rebuild their programs and tech stacks from the ground up. In 2020, 68% of organizations turned to eLearning as a sustainable alternative to face-to-face learning. In fact, research shows that 82% of organizations plan to start producing more digital learning in 2021.
When we talk about digital training, we aren’t talking about exhausting Zoom calls where a trainer is droning on while a group of disengaged employees attends the session.
Digital training is the use of mediums that carry out training courses in a dynamic and engaging way.
There’s a key difference there - “in a dynamic and engaging way.” This doesn't mean using a traditional learning management system, but instead, more agile tools that can supplement or in some cases replace the need for an LMS. These range from content authoring technologies to microlearning, adaptive training, and social learning tools.
Relevancy. It’s a simple word that carries a lot of power when it comes to workplace training. The quickest way to disengage a learner is by training them on a topic without making it relevant to them. Digital training tools that leverage adaptive training and agile-self-service administrator tools tackle this in two ways:
With more and more communication being delivered through asynchronous channels, and leaders leveraging quick video messaging tools like Panopto, Loom, and Vidyard, your training technologies need to incorporate these critical learning moments. It’s not enough to simply deploy these “in-the-moment” training events alongside your LMS though. The rapid pace at which processes, products, and people change within an organization means your people are better served by tools that help them navigate these constant changes.
Whether it’s a knowledge base, or better yet, enabling your employees to commit their training to memory, digital ongoing training is critical to maintaining balance and equity in training in hybrid work environments.
Digital training is constantly evolving as new advances in technology will continue to shape what’s possible. Digital training allows us to personalize the learning experience based on learner needs and timing. Like a lot of things digital, digital learning is full of fancy words and unique terminology. Here are a few you’ll hear:
Adaptive Training: The delivery of custom learning experiences to address the unique needs of an individual. This is all about making training personal.
Badging/Rewards-Based Learning: A visible display of accomplishment, skill, or something earned in a learning environment. Digital trophy cases are always updated, portable, and stay dust-free!
Blended Learning: A blend of online learning and in-person learning.
Learning Analytics: The measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data about learners to understand and optimize learning content and environments.
Mobile Learning: Mobile learning or m-learning is learning across multiple devices through social and content interactions using personal electronic devices.
For a full glossary of training terms, read our post here.
Now that you understand the benefits and basics of digital training, it’s time to start thinking about how to deploy it at your organization. Here are 4 tips to get you started:
Digital training is no longer the future of learning, it is the present, and if you haven’t added it to your current training programs it’s time to catch up.
Trivie makes it easy to get started with digital training and deploy it to thousands of learners in minutes! Chat with one of our knowledge experts and we’ll help you map out a plan.