Learning Support Technologies in 2016

This short feature is a follow-up to last Monday’s featurethat focused on the disruptive trends playing out over the next five years anda broader look at ways to assess technologies that will be getting a lot ofattention in 2016.

Today I’ll look at five trends that started in 2015 orearlier and that continue to run, two important technologies with a risingnumber of adopters (or at least a lot of discussion among practitioners onlineand at conferences), and two disruptive approaches that could make a bigdifference in your eLearning outcomes in 2016.

Continuing as before

Change tends to take place slowly; year-to-year you canexpect that what was standard or common practice one year will by and largecontinue to be standard practice in the next year. The same is true of thetechnologies that support those practices. These five trends will be key to sustainingyour success in 2016.

Games andgamification: Note that in 2012, Gartner predicted that by 2014, 80% ofgamified applications in the enterprise would fail to meet their respectivebusiness objectives, mainly due to bad design. If you are already using gamesand gamification, what has your experience been? Do you need to tweak yourdesigns? It would be fair to say that if you are just taking up this approach, it’sa good idea to start your gamification efforts with a very small number ofprojects (one or two), and measure the results. Take the necessary action tofix any problems before moving on. Don’t try to gamify everything in yourcurriculum simultaneously.

Video: Use ofvideo for performance support, as media support within eLearning, and (sadly)for what amount to recorded lectures will not change much in 2016. However, videoediting and post-production tools will continue to get better, possibly easierto use, and we hope users’ skill and creativity with the tools will alsoimprove.

Cloud: Authoringand management tools and services will continue to move to the cloud, withrelated changes to software licensing and costs. License management problemswill not go away, particularly those related to anticipating future spend. Readyour license agreements carefully and monitor the changes.

Mobile and social technology:It is more than ever true that thinking “mobile first” pays off. Remember thatthe combination of mobile and social can provide excellent support for“informal” (workplace) learning as well as for collaboration.

Rapid authoring tools:These tools will continue to improve in 2016 by adding power and features thatenhance their flexibility. Joe Ganci’s reviews can help you make decisionsabout tool selection.

Growing numbers of adopters, more discussion

Two technologies and areas of practice will show increasedadoption in 2016, and organizations that learn to leverage them will be moresuccessful.

xAPI, cmi5, and LRS:These are more than just “the next SCORM.” They can be the key to tracking andunderstanding part of what some refer to as “dark learning,” the learning thattakes place outside of formal curriculum established by the trainingorganization.

Video use for“microlearning”: These are short (typically less than 10 minutes),stand-alone videos, not chunked content. They may be produced by individualemployees, by customers, or by other contributors such as subject matterexperts. Often these videos will show up on YouTube. It is important in 2016 forthe training, learning, and development team to support these, make use ofthem, and help people to find them.

Disruptors (actual or potential)

These are technologies and areas of practice that can changeyour business and change the position of learning and development within anorganization. In 2016, adopting these disruptors, or leveraging them, will putyou ahead of the curve compared to other practitioners.

Predictive Analytics:This goes beyond the learning analytics as practiced in the past with LMS data.Predictive analytics attempts to identify information about learners, theirlearning experiences, and other factors that indicate future job performanceand business outcomes.

Informal learning:This is the “dark learning” area that accounts for much of what people knowabout their work. While learning and development departments don’t plan andorganize any of this learning, it is possible for them to support it by makingsocial, collaborative, and personal learning systems available and by helpingemployees understand how to learn from their work and from each other. JaneBozarth has offered examples that may help you identify ways to provide thissupport: Nuts and Bolts: Social Media for Learning Part 1 and Part 2, Reflective Practice, How (and Why) to Show Your Work

Happy New Year!