Happy new year to all the hard-working HR and L&D professionals out there!
This will be an exciting year for training and development. A study by PayScale identified training and development as the top HR focus area for 2019. Leadership is bought in, and companies are embracing practical and modern training methods to help employees learn new skills and develop their expertise.
There’s never been a better mix for learning success, and we’re proud to be a part of it!
However, we’re not one to rest on our laurels; as always, we’re looking ahead and anticipating some trends we expect to become a bigger deal with learning technology in 2019. Are these on your radar for stepping up your training game?
Gamification
Last year, gamification was the last trend we listed, following big movements like microlearning, which we know is here to stay.
This year, we expect gamification to reach more companies, as training professionals begin to understand the power it has to increase learner engagement.
While even simple gamification has the potential to have a profound impact on your training efforts, there are advanced technologies out there that expand on basic gamification.
For instance, technology firm EIDesign offers actual avatar-based gaming content. What a great way to get learners involved!
These particular games work like more traditional click-to-continue, but the competitive aspect keeps the content engaging and interesting to learners.
While technology this advanced can offer a super high level of engagement, there are simpler ways to boost your engagement – if you already have an online training provider, see what their options are to gamify the content you’re delivering.
Deeper Integration
2018 saw some organizations adopting deeper integrations – many leading learning management systems already integrate with email, various messenger apps, and company intranets.
In 2019, we expect top learning management systems (including our own) to integrate with even more existing systems – imagine an LMS that integrates with your web browser, so your training content appears during web searches.
These powerful integrations will absolutely increase utilization and will ensure that when your employees are searching for answers, they’re getting the professional, high-quality information they need.
Features like this are not far off, and some systems already have similar features built in. In 2019, expect learning technology to become stronger at meeting learners right where they already are.
Learning Reinforcement
As we mentioned, 2019 is going to be a big year for corporate training professionals. Most leaders are bought in and believe that training can solve some of the biggest challenges facing modern businesses.
As more leaders approve increased investment and focus on training, we anticipate a higher need to improve the return on that investment.
Learning reinforcement is a growing technology trend that allows companies to overcome one of the biggest challenges in training – the brain’s natural process of forgetting.
Most studies suggest that people forget over 90% of what they learn within one month. That means that for every $1.00 invested into training, roughly $0.90 is wasted in forgotten material.
While microlearning certainly helps overcome this problem, reinforcement technology is going to become a focus for serious programs in the near future.
Whether your training program is just starting, or has a history of delivering proven results, understanding where the trends are heading helps define expectations and develop goals for the future.