EMERGING LEARNING TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

Within the past decade, one of the most exciting and frustrating aspects of the training industry has been the incredible rate of change. One year we’re delivering all our e-learning modules on large 17-inch monitors and then the next year learners want content delivered on a screen slightly bigger than a deck of cards.

The training industry is constantly impacted by the newest technology. In fact, about 10 minutes after the announcement of the Apple Watch, people were already posting about the potential of watch-based learning, or w-Learning.

The propensity of this industry to be attracted to the latest and greatest technologies makes it hard to identify useful trends from misplaced uses of technology. But upon close examination, there does seem to be three emerging trends that will have a dramatic impact on the training industry in the foreseeable future.

BIG DATA COMBINED WITH ANALYTICS

The opportunity to capture, analyze and monitor the actions and activities of learners to find trends, patterns and previously unexplored associations opens the door to a rich understanding of what motivates, interests and educates learners. Big data allows for the creation of regression models and correlational studies that can unveil the right combination of learning events to maximize the learner experiences. Combine big data with a trend that has been around for a while, learning analytics, and you have a powerful combination of technologies that will simultaneously allow for the collection and understanding of learning activities. This knowledge can then help learning designers create an optimal approach to teaching any type of content.

INCREASED NEED FOR DATA SECURITY COMBINED WITH MOBILE LEARNING

With the training department responsible for the capturing of large amounts of data comes the responsibility to protect that data. Previously much of the responsibility for data security has been on IT folks and not on learning and development professionals. But as knowledge has become more and more valuable and the increase of cyber-attacks and cyberespionage has accelerated, learning professionals must now assume more responsibility for data protection and security. This means more secure learning management systems, increased attention to the proprietary nature of the content of online courses that can be easily hacked and the need to educate learners about their own due diligence in terms of physical security of tablets and smartphones.

ADAPTIVE LEARNING

This trend has been around in the K-12 space for a while but, until recently, has failed to gain much traction in the corporate space. The idea is that the learning system will dynamically adapt and change to the individual needs of the learner based on how the learner interacts with the learning system. It has never made any productivity sense to have someone who knows content presented in an e-learning module to review every screen and piece of information when they could just as easily be served only the content they don’t yet know. Consumer websites such as Amazon have adapted and personalized their content based on a user-based data for years. Learning systems are beginning to be built and implemented that provide a pre-assessment and dynamically deliver content based on learner interactions, answers and even wait time between screens. These types of concepts are starting to be integrated into learning modules to help maximize learner time and to provide just the right amount of content. The movement toward big data and data analytics is helping to accelerate the implementation of adaptive learning. Consider how you can leverage these three trends to keep your learning and development efforts focused in the right direction and providing the right learning results.

Karl M. Kapp, Ed.D., is a professor of instructional technology at Bloomsburg University, author of six books and the Lynda.com course “Gamification of Learning.”