Trends

Innovative developments are currently taking place in eLearning at a breakneck pace. The latest eLearning trends for today and in the future are as follows:

Additional appearance of simulation
Simulation is one more business driver that will eventually be responsible for an important trend in eLearning. In particular, greater use of simulation-based eLearning, the relocation of more and more services to automated or “self-service” applications, is poised to change the face of eLearning. In the near future, with more and more use of self-service applications taking place, the type of training organizations provide to their employees will change.

Industry drives trends
From the delivery point of view, more and more businesses are likely to continue to be familiar with eLearning’s ability to quickly and efficiently build knowledge. They will also like remain aware of eLearning’s ability to expand certain skills while dramatically reducing training-related costs. This is noteworthy not only for internal training purposes but also for customer educational purposes. The obsession with technology, in and of itself, is more likely to fade away as businesses look for best practices that enhance the overall effectiveness of eLearning and it’s ROI. Future growth and continued expansion of eLearning will occur as more and more organizations discover how to productively implement eLearning methodologies that generate desired business results.

Incorporating content into context
The current way in which instruction is forwarded to employees at their desktops or made available to them at their requests is likely to change over the next year or two. To date, eLearning programs that literally shower people with information—a good portion of which does not necessarily relate to an employee’s job—have inundated the marketplace. In the very near future, however, eLearning developers will have to “mine” through this information in order to isolate what does and does not apply. As a result, eLearning development programs will become more streamlined and pertinent to students’ needs. Excelearn, a customized learning management system, already keeps the essential eLearning elements and eliminates the irrelevant so that organizational training is efficient as possible.

Creating performance data that is meaningful
Even as the experts agreed on the significance of gathering performance optimization data and feeding it back in an effort to further enhance employee performance, they noted a danger in overwhelming employees and their managers with too much information. The key here lies in finding and then sharing the “crucial” performance data, be it one or two nuggets of information that have the greatest impact on the job at a particular time and for a particular task or entire chunks of essential knowledge. When it comes to truly optimizing eLearning and on-the-job performance, employment of effective coaching will go beyond the use of technology. On the whole, eLearning, when decisively combined with ongoing performance coaching, will provide a measurable connection for organizations.

In the end, electronic learning is gradually converging with other management tools, providing managers with a unified view of all financial, customer, and employee considerations. With regard to this, all of us are moving one step closer to becoming more effective “learning organizations.”

At the same time, it is also becoming clear that within the next 18 to 24 months and looking further into the future, training technologies are more likely to become so smart and instinctive that technology will no longer be the focus. Soon, the focus will shift to the application and how it serves the organization’s business needs.

Indisputably, eLearning will continue to grow in today’s organizations. In anticipation of this growth, organizations can start focusing on applications and on the effective and efficient execution of eLearning techniques. This effort will move them closer to a flawless integration of eLearning practices into their organization’s performance management and other key processes. By identifying eLearning as a true methodology, a “behind-the-scenes” driver pushing business forward, businesses around the world can experience the greatest benefits eLearning has to offer, both now and in the future.

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