eLearning Will Be A Trend In 2023
eLearning will see a big change in 2023 because it will involve Virtual Reality (VR) tremendously now. So far, eLearning has been used in a linear format, with hurdles. In this format, the learners must attempt a quiz before reaching the end of the module. These tests are important to discover whether the users have learned anything. After every three or four modules, there is a knowledge check to verify whether the learner has absorbed anything. When the learners are unable to pass any of the quizzes, they can’t proceed to the next lesson consisting of more modules and hence have to go through the first lesson all over again. Including such tests can only ensure that learners can be trusted with work because they have completed a certain eLearning assignment.
In The Future, The Following Trends Will Be A Part Of L&D
1. Classroom Training Will Be Extinct
Self-paced training will be the need of the hour because the employees prefer to work and learn from home. This has also become easier with so many eLearning authoring tools becoming available so that the learning can be designed to accommodate different course difficulty levels. Therefore, eLearning in 2023 is the need of the hour, and the days of classroom training are over. If there is a problem with the computer, the employee can access the learning course rather than sitting idle and zoning out. The scope for zoning out is greater in classroom training, where the environment is noisy, and not everyone can focus.
2. Necessary Implementation Of eLearning Due To A Hybrid Work Culture
We have embraced digital literacy for a long time now. Employees have started realizing that being digitally literate is no longer just a privilege but a necessity because companies are using hybrid work. Companies are now shifting to using more digital technologies at work, due to which employee training is also necessary.
Companies had to adopt a hybrid work model in 2022, despite the pandemic taking a back seat, because the employees were not willing to rejoin at the offices. In fact, they were leaving their jobs when asked to come to the workplace. 49% of employees (consisting of millennials) were not ready to rejoin at the offices, and companies had to shift to a hybrid work approach because these people form a majority of the technical employees. When employees don’t have any knowledge of the new software used to facilitate a hybrid work model, companies can suffer. Hence, empowering employees is the only way for companies.
This is a serious problem because employees seek those opportunities which provide them with growth opportunities. When the employees can’t get the knowledge they need to perform and grow in a job, they can quit. Every large-scale organization is providing employees with learning opportunities, either through an external vendor or a tie-up with an eLearning partner that prepares the course. If companies don’t focus on training employees and retaining them, they are very much capable of doing it on their own.
3. Use Of Immersive Technologies In eLearning
In 2023, Extended Reality (XR), which involves using Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, and Virtual Reality, will be used more. This is because, in the coming year, employee experience will be at the center of learning. Employee training will be done using this technology for all kinds of industries.
In fact, since customer training has taken so much importance in these years, XR will be used for this purpose too. This kind of technology is useful when teaching people about dangerous jobs, because it does not involve inflicting any harm. It is also less expensive, unlike actual equipment, and is used for training people for jobs such as operating flights.
4. Spread Of Gamification And Mobile Learning
Mobile learning applications will increase because the use of mobile phones will increase even more now. Even language learning applications are now using mobile phones.
Due to such easy accessibility of smartphones, gamification will assume increasing popularity in 2023. Games also provide a person with rewards, which is why people engage with them to win points, that boosts their pride also. It has been popular with people irrespective of age; a trend in eLearning that will strengthen in 2023.
Immersive games are being used now to make people learn any foreign language. For example, gamers can see the background color of an environment change once they guess a new word. Since this involves a color change effect, the gamers are able to retain the word.
5. Cybersecurity Training
eLearning will become more employee-centric in the future, because employees are quitting jobs when not allowed to work from home. With increased digitalization of processes, there will also be a high focus on cybersecurity training, because the systems contain much more data than before. The entire customer and employee datasets are now present in a system, which was not the case earlier. Hence, when a company’s systems are compromised, its servers can be used to get the payment information of customers.
Although employees will be trained in using digital processes, they will also be trained on how to keep the systems safe from any attack. Due to this, cybersecurity training will form a major portion of eLearning in 2023. Companies can’t ignore the need for mobile learning solutions, because they can be easily accessed by the work-from-home employees. When courses are not accessible in such a format, the work-from-home employees can feel that they are secluded, and the organization does not treat them as equal to the work-from-office employees.
7. Extensive Focus On Soft Skills Training For Leaders
Companies have to make employees stay and provide them with appraisal so that it doesn’t bear the brunt of “quiet quitting.” This is a troublesome scenario for a company, when the employee is not willing to perform more than what is needed on the job. The employee has not resigned, but they are doing the least in order to preserve their job and not get fired. In a Gallup survey that happened in 2022, 50% of the workforce were “quiet quitters.”
Companies need productive employees who are willing to do more for them in times of recession rather than just stick to the job. Hence, when the company invests in the eLearning of an employee, it’s a win-win situation for them because the employee feels associated with the organization.
Companies will also have to focus on leadership training so that they can prevent this trend of “quiet quitting.” Employees must get a positive environment at the workplace, where the seniors are genuinely willing to listen to their problems. In that case, they can expect the employees to stay longer rather than leave at the first opportunity. So, leadership training, which ensures employees have positive and compassionate experiences at the workplace, is necessary.
