Workplace learning is undergoing one of its largest disruptions of the past 20 years
For decades workplace learning remained a static discipline largely unaffected by innovation. Modern-day rapid and radical changes in technology have advanced workplace learning as one of the most dynamic topics critical to organizations' future. Organizational ability to learn at the speed of business is now at the core of success.
Early 2000's brought on rapid and radical changes in workplace learning that continue with relentless pace.
The early e-learning trend pushed workplace L&D to convert instructor-led content into self-paced use online. Main focus was on the exciting technology that replaced the need for ILT. Companies invested in pricey Learning Management Systems that housed extensive catalogs of lengthy e-modules. Learner experience was far from user-friendly, content was expensive to produce and maintain.
The early e-learning trend pushed workplace L&D to convert instructor-led content into self-paced use online. Main focus was on the exciting technology that replaced the need for ILT. Companies invested in pricey Learning Management Systems that housed extensive catalogs of lengthy e-modules. Learner experience was far from user-friendly, content was expensive to produce and maintain.
The next major disruption in workplace learning occurred in mid-2000's with the launch of YouTube in 2005 and the first iPhone in 2007. Smartphones and fast adoption of video content gave people new tools and sources to engage in learning on their terms - anytime, anywhere, on any subject in time of need. Workplace LMS became an optional, easily avoidable resource. Workplace L&D, for the first time, found itself competing with new players in the market that offered radically new, mobile learning solutions - bite-sized video-based lessons, MOOCs, learning apps, all of which seamlessly integrated with people's routines and habits.
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Today the evolution continues to accelerate. We are moving into an era of employees' choice - learners engaged in personalized content that is recommended to them at predicted moments of need, and delivered in radically different ways from a multitude of sources as part of learners' daily routines. Workplace L&D is challenged to shed its legacy formats, update its approaches and transform as learning providers of choice for employees.
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Early 2000s | ILT content converted into e-modules
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2005 | YouTube launches
2007 | iPhone introduced |
2010 | Khan Academy funded
2012 | MOOCs on Coursera |
2016 | 90% of Millennials own a smartphone
2017 | Walmart trains associates with VR |
Three trends continue to disrupt workplace learning today
- What people need to learn - entirely new skills and capabilities for an increasingly digital world demand new approaches in workplace learning, e.g. Virtual Reality, robotic simulations, immersion rooms.
- How people choose to learn - workplace LMS no longer has a monopoly on learning content. Learners have autonomous access to a wide panorama of learning choices and digital platforms that facilitate real-time, always-on learning and adapt it to learners' needs.
- Consumerization of learning - learners expect the same high quality, user-friendly design, functionality and engagement from learning products as they experience in other areas of their lives.