5 Ways to Meet the Needs of the Modern Learner

Atthe heart of today’s digital transformation is the modern learner. Organizationsare racing to keep up with the pace of change, to leverage the mix of ever-changingdigital technologies, data, and channels, and to provide their employees withthe support and resources they need to stay current.

As aTowards Maturity In-Focus report, The Consumer Learner at Work, shows, modern workers are, ingeneral, highly engaged learners who are curious to learn more. (Editor’s note: Registration required toaccess the full report.) Here are a few of the stats from that report:

• 80 percent of learners can see how learning can help furthertheir career
• 70 percent agree that online learning has had a positiveimpact on their job performance
• Over 50 percent engage to improve professionalism and want totake control of their career and development
• 26 percent engage in learning through curiosity

So,this is great—it makes our job as a training organization a snap, right? Notquite; there’s more. Referring to Bersin by Deloitte’s widely available infographic“Meet the Modern Learner”:

• 38 percent of workers say they have opportunities of learningand growth in the workplace
• Employees say they can spend only 1 percent of their time ontraining development
• 70 percent of employees access answers to on-the-jobquestions through other sources

(Editor’s note: if you use the linkabove, you will need to register for a free account on Bersin by Deloitte’ssite in order to access the infographic. Or you can use Google to find theinfographic freely available on many websites.)

Inaddition, 74 percent of employees feel they aren’t achieving their potential atwork, according to a long-term research project commissioned by the Middlesex University Institute for Work Based Learning and reported in an article by The Learning Wave,a New Zealandleadership development organization providing management education andtraining.

What’sall of this data telling us? The issue for the modern learner is not a lack of desireto learn—they understand the new landscape and pace of the digital world, andare desperately trying to keep up. As Bersin points out in “Meet the ModernLearner,” today’s modern learner is overwhelmed, distracted, and impatient.They want learning content that is relevant, focused and succinct, timely, mobile,and engaging.

Hereare five ways to address the needs of today’s modern learner.

1. Prioritize the learner

Makesure you put the learner at the center of the solution and that you’ve properlyaddressed their needs. Ensure the content is focused on driving behaviors and impactingwork performance. The thing that matters most to today’s learners is that weanswer their question, “How’s this going to help me perform better and faster onthe job?” They want to know that their effort and time devoted to learning isgoing to have some sort of personal impact. Additionally, today’s learner wantslearning that is centralized, personalized, self-paced, entertaining, andsocial.

2. Complete a proper analysis and design process

Learnersare inundated with hours of ineffective learning, sometimes categorized as“stuff.” To avoid creating more “stuff,” it’s important to start with a properanalysis of the problem or business issue, without assuming training is thesolution. If it is, you want to make sure you’re focused on the right solution designedto solve the right performance problem(s). Create learning objectives andlearning content that directly address the determined performance needs. Createcontent that allows learners to practice behaviors they need to change. Havinga plan and following the proper learning design process is key to developingeffective learning. Understand that time is always an issue, but it should notbe a reason to skip the necessary steps to creating effective learning solutions.

3. Simplify the experience—limit content, and make it bite-sized

Withthe needs of today’s modern workforce and an ever-changing working environment,there is an insatiable need to keep up, at both a personal and organizationallevel. People find themselves inundated with information from all angles, andthere never seems to be enough time to consume all of it. Our job as learningdesigners and developers is to look for opportunities to deliver the rightamount of the right content at the right time. Focus on what really matters,get rid of the clutter, and present content in a way that can be easily consumedand digested. 

4. Design for usability (mobile, accessible, and available)

Mobile-only users now outnumber desktop-only users 2 to 1, according to a September 2016Google report, How People Use Their Devices. An increasing number ofpeople are relying more and more on mobile devices as a key source ofinformation to help manage their personal and professional lives. Our learnerswant the information they need, when they need it, on any device, and whereverthey are. Learning happens everywhere, so providing multiple delivery methodsand channels for our learning solutions is a must.

5. Choose the right eLearning authoring tool

Asmentioned, in many cases learning solutions will require a blended approachwith a number of methods and channels to address the performance need. Choosingthe right tool(s) for development is not a simple task, and choosing the right authoringtool is no exception. There are a lot of variables to consider when making yourselection, and all of the previous points should play a role in this process. Examinethe following desired tool traits from both the learner’s and designer’sperspective:

• Learner
  • Easy to navigate
  • Accessible and mobile
  • Logically chunked, relevant, and engagingcontent
  • Personal and experiential
  • Structure and activities support performanceneeds
• Designer/developer
• Easy and intuitive
• Provides enough creative control and flexibility
• Cost fits within budget
• Allows for project collaboration
• Allows me to achieve my objectives effectively
• Produces output that is accessible to everyone
• Supports my preferred delivery method, and supportsmultiple devices with a single output
• Allows for quiz and assessment creation
• Supports standard tracking methods
• Provides numerous support channels

Theright authoring package will allow you to deliver content the way it was designedand intended, and the way the modern learner wants and expects. Mobile-friendlycontent is at the top of the list, and responsive and adaptive design arequickly becoming an industry best practice. Examine all of your options andchoose a tool that will allow you to deliver content to multiple devices, onethat is flexible and extendable in its design, and accessible to all. Select atool that you can grow into, not grow out of, and make sure it has good reviewsand a solid support system.

Today’smodern learners are tomorrow’s leaders, and they are central to the success ofour organizations. As technology continues to evolve, so do the needs oftoday’s learners. It’s important for learning organizations to keepup with technology and the needs of today’s learners by enabling learningdesigners and developers with the skills, processes, tools, and templatesnecessary to develop effective learning solutions to meet the needs of themodern learner.