Here are the eLearning trends for 2022!

If we learned anything from the 2021 pandemic, it’s that training needs to be more individualized and flexible than ever. So previous eLearning trends, such as microlearning, blended learning, adaptive learning and video learning are still relevant, but they’ll be evolving naturally into new tools and methods in 2022. They all promise to deliver better learning outcomes by enabling individuals to integrate learning into their daily routine, taking even better account of their needs in terms of content and organization. At the same time, VR, AI, and other technologies are making the distance between medium and learner ever smaller.

While companies have so far focused on formal training courses that deliver specific content within a predetermined framework, these are increasingly being supplemented by informal learning. Hybrid models of working, constant technological progress, increasing on-demand consumption, and the general trend toward greater individualization make it clear that formal training—even where it’s already delivered as eLearning—cannot be the sole educational approach. At least not if companies want to take advantage of the immense benefits of the new flexibility to achieve better learning outcomes. 

These ideas are confirmed by the 70:20:10 model. This model suggests that we only acquire 10% of our knowledge through traditional education. 70% is gained through experience-based learning in the workplace, with the remaining 20% resulting from social interactions. Informal learning therefore occurs at precisely the point where the authority of formal education ceases: at work, with your family, with your colleagues, or in your spare time.

So informal learning is not structured, and does not usually lead to a qualification. Instead, you regulate your own knowledge acquisition in the context of your everyday work and life; the aim is not learning itself, but solving specific problems. But because problems don’t arise on demand, the knowledge can be accessed any time and anywhere, and at the time you need it.

Self-regulated learning is a process that originates with learners themselves, i.e., it is based on individuals’ intrinsic motivation. Instead of requiring learners to operate within defined structures, it enables them to set their own goals, monitor their own learning, evaluate their results, and to use their findings to direct future learning. Self-regulated learning can be delivered via a learning platform, for example, where learners can choose freely from core and optional content and complete courses in any order they like. Questions and optional exercises at the end of the course prompt self-reflection and promote further learning. 

The benefit to you is that the self-directed learning through individually chosen learning paths not only significantly increases your learners’ motivation and satisfaction, it also trains them to be more self-directed and thus more effective in other situations, such as their day-to-day work.

The better eLearning takes account of participants’ individual needs and circumstances, the more motivated they will be and the better they will achieve. It makes sense—if you’re given exactly the knowledge you need when you need it, without having to invest time unnecessarily in revising knowledge you’ve long been familiar with, you not only save valuable resources, you’re also more motivated.

Learners are also more motivated if they’re able to identify with situations and images. And personalized technology ensures that participants who are learning on the go on the cellphone network receive information in the form of graphics or images, for example, rather than long videos. Courses can be tailored through personal learning paths, target-group-specific content and other adaptive mechanisms such as pre-tests and reflection on courses.

Knowledgeworker Create and Knowledgeworker Share have special adaptive learning features, which allow you to personalize both content and the learning process itself. 

Theoretical knowledge, also known as secondary experience in the context of education, is valuable and important, but it is best absorbed when it can be tested in a practical situation and become primary experience. Modern eLearning technologies make it possible to achieve this within the learning process by creating realistic virtual learning experiences. This is enabled through the use of technologies such as virtual reality. Instead of reading a textbook about how the pyramids were built, for example, VR makes it possible to eliminate the distance between learners and the medium almost completely, enabling them to “be there” watching thousands of workers piling the stones of the Cheops pyramid on top of one another under the shimmering desert sun.

VR also offers cost-effective scenario-based learning for the corporate context, such as virtual behavioral trainers, that allow employees to learn how to conduct specific sales conversations relating to sales or provide advice.

For years, AI was an expensive and virtually unattainable technology that was developed and sold for only a few specific purposes. However, we now know that everyone who owns a smartphone has access to artificial intelligence: Google Assistant and Siri are just two examples of how AI has become a natural part of our everyday lives. But AI is not limited to virtual assistants: it can be deployed in almost any digital context—including eLearning. Many LMSs use AI for data automation, with the information they gather enabling them to recommend strategies for individuals and improve learning habits. Even if AI takes time to become more intelligent, learning gradually through new data sets, the technology already has the potential to deliver enormous improvements in learning outcomes.