Leaderboards and rewards are powerful tools for motivating teams. They work by providing clear and tangible markers of progress, as well as a sense of competition and accomplishment. A study conducted by the University of California, Berkeley found that leaderboards can increase productivity by as much as 44%.
Motivates them to achieve a goal
When team members can see their progress on a leaderboard, they are more likely to feel motivated to continue working towards a goal. Additionally, leaderboards can be used to track progress over time, which allows team members to see how far they have come, and how much further they have to go.
Creates a sense of competition
Another reason leaderboards and rewards are effective is that they create a sense of competition. When team members can see how they are doing compared to others, they are more likely to push themselves to do better. This can be especially effective when the leaderboard is public, as it creates a sense of accountability and encourages team members to work harder.
Creates a tangible marker of achievement
Rewards are great motivators for teams, as they provide a tangible marker of achievement. When team members are rewarded for their hard work, they feel a sense of accomplishment and validation. This can be especially motivating when the rewards are meaningful and relevant to the team members, such as extra time off, or a bonus. A study by the Harvard Business Review found that tangible rewards, such as bonuses or gift cards, can increase motivation by as much as 25%.
Builds camaraderie within the team
In addition to providing a sense of progress and competition, leaderboards and rewards can also be used to build camaraderie and teamwork among team members. When team members are working towards a common goal, they are more likely to support and collaborate with one another. This can lead to a more cohesive and productive team overall.
Drives employee engagement & boosts morale
Research also shows that leaderboards and rewards can have a positive impact on employee engagement. A study by Gallup found that engaged employees are more likely to stay in their job, leading to lower turnover rates and cost savings for the company. Research by the University of Warwick found that happy employees are 12% more productive than their unhappy counterparts.
However, the way leaderboards and rewards are implemented can impact their effectiveness. It’s important to make sure that leaderboards and rewards are used in a way that is fair and transparent. Team members should be aware of the criteria and rules for earning rewards, and should be able to see their progress on the leaderboard.
Let’s look at a case study of how leaderboards can be used to increase training adoption in a sales team in ABC Inc., a Pharmaceutical company. ABC Inc. wants to increase the adoption of a new sales training program among its sales representatives. To achieve this, ABC Inc. implements a leaderboard system to track the progress of the sales representatives as they complete the training.
The leaderboard is displayed on a large screen in the sales department and updated in real-time. It shows the names of the sales representatives and their progress through the training program. It also includes metrics such as the percentage of training completed and the scores achieved on quizzes and exams. The leaderboard is set up in a way that sales representatives can easily see where they stand in relation to their colleagues, and the top performers are highlighted.
To further motivate the sales team, ABC Inc. also implements a rewards system. Sales representatives who complete the training within a certain timeframe or achieve a certain score are given bonuses or other incentives, such as extra time off.
This would ideally result in further competition among the sales team and an increase in training adoption.
To sum up, leaderboards and rewards are powerful motivators for teams because they provide clear markers of progress, create a sense of competition, and provide tangible markers of achievement. Additionally, they can build teamwork and camaraderie among team members. When used in a fair and transparent manner, leaderboards and rewards can help to create a more motivated and productive team.
Sales training is extremely significant for pumping up your team. Check out how you can go about it to train your team for success!
Sales training and strategies do go a long way in converting leads into sales. However, after a point, there’s only so much your team can do. With bulk orders to keep track of, an abundance of customers to manage, and hundreds of leads to convert, the logistics of sales can be quite cumbersome.
The path to success lies in prompt training and building a team that is prepared for any kind of situation that is thrown at them. Different companies like to do it differently. There’s no set formula to train your people for success. There are some great training tools and software, though, that you can use to make sure you prepare your team for what’s in store with hardcore sales.
Here are 5 of the best training tools that leading companies employ with their sales training programs. The best sales training tools include a combination of CRM-based software and other platforms to consistently help reps get comprehensive training. Browse through these to boost your training strategy to make all the difference:
An advanced CRM tool like Pipedrive can be great for training reps about the desired workflow. Especially if your organization is sales-enabled and employs workflow automation, this is a great tool that can help reduce administrative overhead. A great training tool like this one teaches how to deal with leads, conversions, and different aspects of multi-tasking.
In the era of AI, what better than a prediction-based tool for an intelligent form of sales training. 6Sense helps leverage AI predictions and sales insights to foresee hot leads and segregate premium leads. It is also a great engagement platform where reps can get the hang of what kind of leads and opportunities would be more viable in a given situation. An intelligent sales tactic definitely helps close deals faster!
One of the best ways for sales training is through a healthy, gamified, and competitive platform. Quodeck can be a great sales training tool with custom interactive experiences especially catering to your reps team. Especially for target training, micro-learning with a gamified interface can promote active training with two-way engagement. What’s more, is that it is readily integrable with your existing learning management systems!
Salesloft – Training for lead and prospect management
Next up is a focus on training for lead and prospect management with tools like Salesloft. One of the most significant aspects of sales training involves dealing with leads promptly. A hot lead takes very little time to become a dead one if your rep cannot follow up proactively. Salesloft is a great sales tool and training avenue for streamlined automation of leads. With personalized interface and follow-up interactions, reps can learn about dealing with different case scenarios.
Chili Piper – Train to manage time and optimize conversions
Time management is a key aspect of sales training. Advanced scheduling software like Chili Piper can help automate the scheduling aspects of sales in tandem and integration with your CRM. With active communication and distribution of roles across the team, a readily integrated sales schedule tool can impact more than you’d think! Finally, even great conversions would stand to be useless if they took too long or lack prompt follow-ups.
Conclusion
Pave the path for your team to perform better with effective sales training. After all, your team is only going to be as good as you train them to be with practical skills. Try implementing some of these training tools, and enhance your sales team with a default protocol for every situation they encounter. Eventually, an adept sales team is one that is trained for the unexpected!
We belong to an era where everything is getting digital very quickly. Especially during this pandemic, the world has faced the dire need for digitization even more. And as we progress towards automation, we focus on simplicity. From the simplest commands on Google or Siri to manless Tesla cars, where can you not find an example?
Digital marketing is no exception in this case. The introduction of AI in digital marketing has only made advertisements and promotions easier and smoother. It also saves you a lot of money. How? According to the Salesforce’s State of Sales report, sales personnel only spend 34% of their time selling their products.
The same report also says that sales personnel spend a lot more time doing other things like writing emails, follow-ups, data entry, scheduling meetings, etc. Now, all these tasks can be easily achieved by using Marketing Automation tools. So, here are our choice of 7 best marketing automation tools for sales enablement.
Top on our list we place Sendinblue, an excellent marketing automation tool. Sendinblue has various features for email marketing, SMS marketing, chat, CRM, etc. This marketing automation tool can learn to message and email that you can customize and design.
Sendinblue is also helpful in campaigns. Here you can design effective landing pages. It has additional features like Facebook ad targeting, custom-signup form integration, retargeting, etc.
MailShake is an inevitable marketing automation tool for email marketing. This automation tool excels at finding the most engaged leads. That way, you can focus more on qualified prospects who can be converted into customers.
MailShake also includes various outreach features. It has a very simple dashboard for prospect follow-up. MailShake engages your prospect on whichever platform they are active online. But above all, its built-in phone dialer lets you contact your leads in real-time.
Hubspot is a very popular marketing automation tool available in over 90 countries worldwide. It is the most famous platform for inbound marketing and sales. Hubspot has various tools for social media marketing, landing page designing, SEO, web analytics, etc., made for small to medium-sized businesses.
Hubspot is also popular when it comes to email marketing. It has automated content and attractive templates for each recipient. It also has additional features like document management and tracking, contact management, customer profile, email tracking, etc.
Taking note of each of your prospects can be troublesome for any salesperson. Plus, it consumes a lot of time. But Pipedrive keeps everyone on the same page. It effectively collects customer data like age, demographics, gender, etc., and sorts it accordingly. Thus, you can understand a qualified lead better before handing them over to the sales consultant.
If you are looking for a complete business automation solution, Automate.io can be the one. This marketing automation tool is an outstanding business workflow manager. It can offer you a completely secured workflow.
Furthermore, it can easily automate and manage business requirements like marketing, payment, and sales. Automate.io supports various major platforms like CRM apps, helpdesk, eCommerce and payment forms, etc.
Small business owners know the pain of managing multiple CRMs and marketing automation tools. Sometimes, it is not even possible for them to align everything as per the budget. EngageBay is a platform where you can do multiple tasks together.
You can sync all your contacts here, and it will nurture those leads automatically. You can also schedule sales calls. Thus, you can focus on one thing instead of many.
With Highspot, you can easily fulfill your revenue goal with its expert guidance. Highspot features outstanding integrations like AI-powered search, in-context training, guided selling, customer engagement, and actionable analytics, etc. It has enterprise-ready sales enablement with all the eye-catching modern designs, which can be a breakthrough in your campaign.
Conclusion
Marketing Automation tools are becoming the new future of the digital marketing industry. And the reason behind this is quite clear. They help you create efficient campaigns with a lot less human power. It means that you save more while getting more efficient. We hope that these 7 best marketing automation tools for sales enablement will change your marketing scenario.
In our previous blog, we discussed how onboarding training can boost efficiency and productivity in your organization. As new learning methods have grown in popularity, more and more businesses are realizing the advantages ofe-learning. Although online learningcan be costly to implement, it pays off every time an employee completes their courses. Virtual learning is not only less expensive than traditional learning, it’s efficient, and reduces instruction time significantly.
Here are 5 reasons that will help you understand how switching from traditional learning to e-learning can benefit your organization.
In traditional learning, you usually have an educator who has his teaching tools, methods, and approaches. Employees may find it hard to adjust to new learning methods while simultaneously absorbing the information educators share.
One of the advantages of e-learningis that it can provide important information in ways employees can understand easily, which results in improved retention. Content is simplified using podcasts and interactive modules. Employees can access their learning when their energy and focus are at their peak for retention. This nature makes it easier to retain the new concepts and, of course, to implement them in their work.
Providing new learning methods
Not everyone learns in the same way. Some people prefer to retain knowledge through videos, while others prefer written notes, and still, others require realistic opportunities for practice before they truly grasp a new skill. One of the most significant advantages of e-learning for employee training and development is the availability of a wide range of content formats. These new learning methods are engaging for everyone when it includes videos, notes, infographics, games, and other types of content.
An increased engagement is a sure sign that employees want to finish their course. Apart from this E-learning enables you to update the material whenever necessary. This means the online learning courses can be adapted along the way as it is relatively simple to make changes to online material, particularly textual changes, online courses are always up to date, and employees are not provided with information that is no longer relevant to them.
Some new skills require more than video notes. Active employee participation is required in learning new skills. The ultimate interactivity and practice can be provided through a powerful learning management system (LMS) that supports gamification, quizzes, branching scenarios, and surveys. Interactive e-learning courses enable employees to practice new skills in a secure place, so they are set up for success in real life. Furthermore, by using a variety of assessments such as quizzes and case studies, you can engage learners as they progress through the training.
Collaboration and community building
Learning can be solitary, but social exercise shouldn’t be so because employees learn much more by interacting with their colleagues than by reading a book. New learning methods lead to discussions and discussions lead to innovation.
Online learning benefits the community and leads to collaboration. Including activities such as forums for discussion and live tutorials can be immensely beneficial. Commitment to other employees encourages collaboration and creates a team culture that showcases its benefits beyond the educational environment.
Immediate feedback and acknowledgment
Another advantage of e-learning in the workplace is that employees have access to immediate feedback. Immediate results from online assessments assist employees in determining how well they are doing and which sections of learning material they may need to review before moving on. Furthermore, gamification features in courses such as leaderboards, badges, and certificates give employees a sense of recognition and achievement, which motivates them to learn. Timely and automated feedback is beneficial not only to employees but also to their managers and the business. This is due to the fact that it eliminates the need for manual feedback and grading.
Conclusion
Learning is an ongoing process and as time changes we all have to adapt to the new virtual learning. Online learning programs apply to every industry, business, and employee worldwide. These learning methods are convenient, easy to access, easy on the budget, and measure results while keeping a digital record for everything. E-learning is cost-effective, improves employee performance, reduces staff turnover, and boosts productivity.
The Outbreak of Covid19 has created social devastation and economic disruptions in the country. Pretty much all the workers across various sectors are in lockdown, and some are self-quarantined. The concept of Work from Home has therefore become an essential part of most organizations.
You need some proactive strategies and tools to create social bonds, connections and motivate employees that are working from home. So here are some pointers on how to do this effectively:
Set Clear Expectations: Flexibility in schedule is an advantage for working from home employees. But if you want your employees to be present and more responsive at a certain time, you need to communicate this to them in advance. Encourage employees to maintain a calendar to know their online and offline availability.
Communicate and Stay Connected: Try and connect with your employees over phone or video/audio conference. Your voice and tone will typically communicate your thoughts much better than emails.
Recognize: Recognize the efforts made by the employees and reward them with praise, whenever appropriate.
Create a visual scoreboard: You can create a visual scoreboard for the week and ask employees to tick each and every pointer on the scoreboard. This will help the employee understand their goals, progress and potential on an ongoing basis.
Convert Phone calls/Conference to Video conferences: Use technology to the utmost. Organize Video Conferences instead of phone calls to have a stronger connect with your employees. Agenda of what will be discussed in the meeting should be sent well in advance to allow the employees to prepare themselves. The call should always start with small talk by the Manager to make the employees feel connected.
Use Gifs: While chatting or on a group chat, in order to praise and congratulate, you can use gifs to make employee feel more connected. After all, comfort of the employee is most important. Often having an informal conversation with employees can be constructive.
Group Breaks while you work from home: Whenever you take a break, consider connecting over video conferencing with other employees to have an informal chat. Be as creative as much as you can with your team.
Have a Development Plan: Make sure you have a development plan for each employee for one week. Have video conferences every day. Here are some points you can discuss as per the day:
Monday: Cover the following stock-taking and planning points:
Did we finish and meet the deadlines of the last week?
What are the new tasks for each employee this week and how are they planned to be done?
How can we help each other in the tasks?
Who should improve and in what areas?
Tuesday- Thursday: Have a conversation with each employee (if possible) or have a conference with small groups to help the team tackle the tasks and any problems they face. This would help in increasing coordination among the employees.
Friday: Friday should always focus on Reflection. Here the manager should ask about how the team felt while doing tasks, what problems they faced, etc.
While there are many advantages to working from home, managing employees over the wire presents unique challenges. While the work environment has completely changed, the goals are no different from the traditional workspace because you require the same results as what you needed at the office workspace. Remember, a little planning, help and praise for hard work can go a long way in keeping your team motivated while working from home.
All successful businesses, big or small, have one thing in common – Extensive business knowledge. In big organizations this knowledge can reside in entire teams, or units. In small organizations such knowledge is restricted to the people who founded the business, and maybe a few key employees that drive company strategy. In either case, scaling and sustaining organizational growth might be difficult, if the knowledge discovered, collated, and curated by the team is not stored for future reference. And that is why it is important to have Knowledge Repositories.
Before going any further, let us understand what knowledge means to a business. Business knowledge is a sum of skills, experiences, capabilities and expert insight, which you collectively create and rely on, in your business.
Knowledge can exist in many forms, but can be broadly categorized into:
Tacit knowledge – Personal know-how or skills rooted in experience or practice (Eg. Skill, Competency, Experience).
Explicit knowledge – Articulated knowledge recorded in documents, memos, databases, etc.
Embedded knowledge – skills and understanding locked in processes, products, rules or organizational culture (Eg. Informal Routines, Codes of Conduct, Organizational Ethics).
Your understanding of what customers want, combined with your workers’ know-how, can be regarded as your knowledge base. Storing, searching, accessing and using this knowledge in the right way is together known as Knowledge Management (KM).
At its core, KM has important implications on decision making in an organization. Effective KM supports the process of decision making and strategic planning and makes it possible to create, transfer and apply knowledge at different levels in a coherent and productive way.
All of this is sounds great, and we can look up to major organizations such as Microsoft, Amazon, etc. for how they manage knowledge. However, implementing this in small businesses might create some challenges.
To do it right, a small business should
Start with thorough research to find the right tools for knowledge management
Implement these tools, without shying away or getting intimidated by new technologies
Thorough documentation goes a long way in Knowledge Management such as developing SOPs and guidelines of workflow.
Lastly, simple creative measures such as mentorship programs and discussions ensure effective flow of knowledge sharing and develop awareness amongst employees.
All the efforts of Knowledge Management are pointless if it is not safeguarded and backed up. A surprisingly unsettling statistic shows that 60% of companies that lose their data will shut down within 6 months of the data disaster. In addition to replacement time and irretrievable data, catastrophic data loss can destroy client confidence, leading them to take their business elsewhere. Retrieving the data requires an embarrassing explanation, and lost data could even lead to lawsuits.
Given the risk loss of data poses, it is important for every business to have a reliable backup solution. If your business has physical servers, backing up these entire systems are critical. As a small business owner, this should not be a big task once you have a proper plan. Backups can be created using two basic methods: file level and image level. File level is perfect for backing up files and folders on your file server. Image-level backups are perfect for when you want to protect an entire system at once. Backups can be done in full, incremental or differential manner. A right backup strategy would also include backups such as Cloud Backup, Encryption of Data In-Transit, 3-2-1 Strategy, and Testing Backups.
Knowledge Management helps you run your business more efficiently, decrease business risks and exploit opportunities to the fullest. So, treat and safeguard your organizational knowledge as carefully as you would a sack of diamonds. Because it is every bit as valuable or more.
At this time of the year, you look out for trends that can enhance your training delivery. In this article, I share the eLearning Trends in 2019 you can use to enhance, measure, and maximize the impact and returns on your learning strategies.
eLearning Trends In 2019 You Can Use To Enhance Your Learning Strategy
As I began my exercise to predict eLearning Trends in 2019, the fourth one in this series, I took a step back to see why anyone seeks upcoming trends.
The top 5 reasons why L&D teams look at trends are listed here. They prompt them to adopt new or better approaches that:
Keep the learners engaged.
Ensure knowledge acquisition happens.
Facilitate the application of the acquired learning on the job.
The desired performance gain and ROI occurs.
A positive ROI on training spend is established.
In this article, I take this need as the thread to share the eLearning Trends in 2019. I have grouped them as follows:
Section 1: I list the trends that help learners learn and, more significantly, apply this learning to show better performance or the required behavioral change.
Section 2: I list trends featuring learning strategies with a proven track record of delivering a better engagement quotient and higher training impact.
Section 3: I follow this up with a list of trends that organizations must invest on to measure, enhance, and maximize the impact of their training.
Section 4: I wrap up with trends that are clearly emerging as front runners for investment in the very near future.
With this approach, I am confident that the featured eLearning Trends in 2019 in this article will offer tremendous value in enhancing your learning strategies in the New Year.
Upcoming Release: I also have a free eBook on eLearning Trends in 2019 releasing on Jan 15th.
Designed as a guide that you can practically use, it features a typical learner journey that highlights how modern learners learn and what they wish to see in their online training delivery.
I use this backdrop to highlight how the featured eLearning Trends in 2019 can be used to add value to learning and its application plus measurement and further gains.
Without further ado, here is my list of eLearning Trends in 2019 banded logically to facilitate their impact and application.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Section 1: The Trends That Help Learners Learn And Apply This Learning To Show Better Performance Or Behavioral Change.
Mobile Learning
Digitalization of ILT (to Blended or Fully Online)
Performance Support Tools
Informal Learning
Social Learning
Self-Directed Learning
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Section 2: Learning Strategies With A Proven Track Record Of Delivering A Better Engagement Quotient And Higher Training Impact.
Microlearning
Gamification
Video-Based Learning (Videos and Interactive Videos)
Mobile Apps for Learning
Personalization
Curation and User Generated Content
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Section 3: The Trends That Organizations Must Invest On To Measure, Enhance, And Maximize The Impact Of Their Training.
Learning Engagement Platforms – LXP
Learner Analytics
Big Data-Reporting and Analytics
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Section 4: Other Notable Trends To Watch Out For—The Future Is Here!
AR/VR and MR for Immersive Learning
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Learning
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Section 1: The Trends That Help Learners Learn And Apply This Learning To Show Better Performance Or Behavioral Change.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #1: Mobile Learning
Over the last 4–5 years, the adoption of Mobile Learning has been on the rise. This is on account of the flexibility it provides to learners (learning on the go, multi-device support – including smartphones, tablets or laptops/desktops, and anytime and anywhere access).
From an organization’s perspective, this is clearly an approach that resonates better with learners, offers higher engagement, provides better completion rates, and can be used to support both formal and informal trainings.
What I see changing in 2019 is the maturing of Mobile Learning solutions, leading to a bifurcation into mobile friendly or adaptive designs and mobile first or fully responsive designs. The latter will align better to the way learning is expected to be consumed (notably on smartphones) and will feature learning interactions optimized for them.
Additionally, Mobile Learning will be used to offer almost the entire spectrum of corporate training needs. It will feature high-impact formats including videos, Microlearning, and apps for learning.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #2: Digitalization Of ILT (To Blended Or Fully Online)
While the ILT mode is not dying, it will soon start getting limited to niche programs. 2019 will see further increase in the Digitalization of ILT (to blended or fully online). Even the core ILT delivery will get supported by online resources including pre- and post-workshop material and assessments.
The triggers include push from learners to reduced training budgets and shorter cycles to train employees.
My assessment is that in 2019, we will see a higher percentage of programs going to the fully online format that can be consumed on the device of the learner’s choice (ranging from smartphones/tablets to laptops/desktops).
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #3: Performance Support Tools
Performance support tools or PSTs are learning aids or job aids that are designed to address a specific learning need.
They are available to the learners within their workflow and hence can be easily accessed and used without having to log on to an LMS.
Designed to support formal training (focusing on knowledge acquisition), PSTs can facilitate learning application thereby improving the training impact and learner proficiency. They can be used to support ILT as well as online training, and they effectively serve as a measure to offset the “forgetting curve.”
2019 will see further adoption of PSTs riding high on the increase in mobile learning, Microlearning, and video-based learning.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #4: Informal Learning
The fact that learning happens through multiple channels (and not just formal training) is an established one.
Many of us may be familiar with the 70-20-10 model for Learning and Development. According to this model,
70% of the learning is experiential (that is, happens on-the-job).
20% is through social or collaborative learning (that is, learning with or from others).
10% is through formal training programs.
While we may debate on the percentages shown here, the model does affirm the need of organizations to create a support system and the opportunities to promote informal learning in their workplace.
The usage of measures like performance support tools or PSTs as well as platforms to promote social learning will see significant increase in 2019.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #5: Social Learning
In our early years, our learning is purely from others and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is true for learning at the workplace too. Over the last 3–5 years, L&D teams have seen value in adopting and promoting social learning.
With the options of platforms, next gen LMS, and learning experience platforms, social learning is finally poised for growth in 2019.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #6: Self-Directed Learning
In general terms, self-directed learning is the approach of moving the onus of learning to the learner rather than the teacher. As an extension, in the context of corporate training, it maps to empowering learners to choose how they want to learn.
Unlike training programs that are “pushed” through LMS, self-directed learning is all about giving this control to the learners. They can decide on what they want to learn, how they wish to learn, when they choose to learn, over what time frame would they want to learn and so on.
As you will note, this approach provides control to the learners and gives them the option to decide their learning path. Alongside social learning and informal learning, organizations are recognizing the value of promoting self-directed learning that can help them create learning as a continuum. This trend will continue in 2019.
eLearning Trends For 2019 – Section 2: Learning Strategies With A Proven Track Record Of Delivering A Better Engagement Quotient And Higher Training Impact.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #7: Microlearning
The debate on the value and impact of macro learning (or traditional eLearning) and microlearning (bite-sized, short learning nuggets of 2–7 mins run length each designed to meet a specific outcome) goes on.
However, the fact is that the usage of microlearning-based training has revolutionized training delivery over the last 2 years, and I see this trend accelerating further in 2019.
Today, you can opt for microlearning-based training to offer formal training and informal training and support ILT. Its flexibility to be delivered as a single, short nugget to meet a specific outcome to a learning path that can have an array of learning nuggets makes it a powerful choice for corporate training. I see an increased adoption of microlearning in 2019.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #8: Gamification
Till a few years ago, the impact of gamification-based training had a big question mark associated with it. While gamification provides fun-based learning to users, does it indeed help them achieve a specific learning outcome?
The usage of gamification for serious learning has been on the upswing in the last 2 years, and I see this trend increasing in 2019.
The application of gamification, including the game-based approach, or partial gamification will see an increased application across various corporate training needs. With the reduction in development costs and shorter time frame to develop, L&D teams will see higher value in this investment in 2019.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #9: Video-Based Learning (Videos And Interactive Videos)
Video-based learning is fast becoming a standard piece of online training. This includes its usage in traditional eLearning formats to its extensive usage in the microlearning-based trainings.
In 2019, I see this trend continuing. Equally interesting is the wider adoption of interactive videos that overcome the passivity of traditional videos and increase learner engagement manifold through interactivities and assessments.
Another usage of video-based learning in 2019 will be through the curation of public domain videos.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #10: Mobile Apps For Learning
The widespread adoption of mobile learning and its updated avatar of mobile first or responsive design leads to an important fact that the learning experiences on smartphones must be optimized to the devices. The interactions must mimic the way we use these devices.
On similar lines, similar to Apps that learners use, mobile apps for learning can provide a very effective strategy for online training. The training can be personalized and updated with ease.
The cost and longer lead time to develop mobile apps for learning have led to its limited adoption. I see this as a very powerful approach; I see it play a significant role in training formats.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #11: Personalization
Today’s learners do not have the patience or the attention span to go through learning that is generic and doesn’t map to what they are looking for.
This is where personalization of learning fits in and provides a custom learning path to learners. You can personalize learning based on the learner’s role, proficiency, area of interest and so on.
The Microlearning-based training approach provides the required granularity to draw up highly personalized learning paths for various learner profiles. Rendered over mobile devices, this approach can provide a highly relevant and personalized learning path to each learner.
This trend is worth a watch in 2019 wherein we will also see the usage of machine learning and AI to create more meaningful learning experiences.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #12: Curation And User-Generated Content
While we may be spoilt for choice on data and information that is easily accessible on the Internet, tagging it and identifying the relevant info is a time-consuming process.
Content curation addresses these pain areas and provides relevant learning resources to users. Learners have the flexibility to opt for the recommended learning path or configure their own version.
Furthermore, the exercise also promotes user participation by encouraging user-generated content to keep the knowledge base current and relevant.
This is not all. Content curation enables organizations to tap into resources that are available in the public domain, and they do not need to re-create them.
This trend has been on an upswing, and I see a similar traction in 2019. This too will benefit from emerging techniques like AI for learning, machine learning and so on, to create even more relevant learning paths to the users.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Section 3: The Trends That Organizations Must Invest On To Measure, Enhance, And Maximize The Impact Of Their Training.
Learning Engagement Platforms (LXP) provide a highly personalized learning experience to users through learning pathways. Besides this, they feature social or collaborative learning, inclusive learning, content curation and facilitation of user-generated content.
In contrast to LMS, the LXPs empower learners to define their learning path from a set of learning assets featuring varied formats. Besides facilitating self-directed learning, they encourage learner participation through user-generated content.
They feature social learning and offer recognition to active participants. They do feature assessments along with badges and certification.
They are fun, more engaging, and relevant for learners, and they will help learners meet specific learning outcomes.
In the short term, including in 2019, they will co-exist with LMS. Many existing LMS players are already offering the LXP option as an add-on. Then, there are new participants that offer AI-based recommendations and aspects like “career pathways” that resonate very well with the learners.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #14: Learner Analytics
2019 will continue to see the usage of learner analytics to review learner behavior and what additional measures can be adopted to increase engagement, motivation, and facilitate the application of acquired learning.
A wider adoption of Tin Can API will provide the relevant cues in this endeavor. Furthermore, the usage of Artificial Inteligence (AI) in learning will further facilitate the usage of this analytics to create more relevant and personalized learning experiences.
I see this trend seeing further traction in 2019, resulting in learning designs that appeal to learners and create the required value and ROI that businesses seek.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #15: Big Data-Reporting And Analytics
Big Data refers to voluminous data that is aggregated from various sources (typically, LMS, LCMS, learning portals, and surveys/polling or assessments in the context of eLearning). Given its volume, complexity, and the fact that it is dynamic, there is no tool that can manage and analyze it.
Big Data-reporting and analytics refers to the methodology to present the data in formats that are actionable. When processed right, this can give us tremendous insights on how learners learn, the impact of training on skills or behavioral change, and the impact on business and eventually ROI determination.
I see an increase in Big Data-reporting and analytics in 2019, leading to further optimization of the training delivery. This analysis can be used to understand learner behavior, the way they want to learn, the learning paths chosen, and how to update the existing training delivery. These cues can then be used to create personalized and more effective learning paths that enable learners to learn, practice, obtain feedback and remediation, and so on.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Section 4: Other Notable Trends To Watch Out For – The Future Is Here!
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #16: AR/VR And MR For Immersive Learning
L&D Teams’ hunt to evaluate immersive learning strategies is an on-going endeavor. Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR) are acknowledged as superb approaches to provide highly immersive learning experiences for a few years now.
High price and substantial lead time to develop them have been two factors that have limited their wider usage. Also, the use cases that justify the investment and ROI are limited.
With main authoring tool providers like Adobe and Trivantis getting into VR solutions, the price points have dropped. Their design approach also makes it easier to author these learning experiences in a short time. I see further traction on VR solutions in 2019 as these solutions become more affordable and can be offered to supplement the formal training.
In my opinion, 2019 will see a wider adoption of AR-based training, including mobile apps that embed VR features. The use cases will expand to include soft skills training as well as learning to trigger behavioral change.
eLearning Trends In 2019 – Trend #17: Artificial Intelligence (AI) In Learning
The usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in learning is one trend in 2019 that you should watch out for.
AI can facilitate the creation of highly customized learning paths by analyzing the data it collects. This data can then be used to understand the learner’s interest, proficiency, and recommend further learning assets that they may not be aware of. Potentially, personalized learning will not only engage the learner better but also help L&D teams gain the impact they seek.
I hope this article helps demystify the value and impact of each eLearning trend I have listed and provides the context of why you should use them.
QuoDeck 