As the end of 2020 begins, budgets and company financial decisions for the upcoming year are being finalized. Have you accounted for the cost of employee training in your 2021 budget?
It’s time to look forward to the future of company employee training. It seems that new training trends are embracing technology now more than ever, but what does the future of employee training look like for your business?
Learning and development have grown over the last few years and are projected to continue to grow more. It’s important to keep up with recent corporate training trends to actionable ways to apply these to your company or team.
Top training trends we expect to see heading into 2021:
Virtual learning practices will greatly increase
There is evidence that learning online can be more effective in many ways. Research shows that on average, learners retain 25 to 60% more material when learning online. COVID-19 has contributed to high growth and the need for technology in L&D at companies and in classrooms. The overall market for online education is projected to reach $350 Billion by 2025 from $18.66 billion in 2019. Whether it’s learning apps, video conferencing, or online learning software, this virtual space is going to grow drastically in 2021 and years to come. If 2020 taught us anything, technology is paving the future.
Adobe Flash is finally making its exit
Adobe Flash is a popular multimedia software that was once a dominant force on the internet and has been a popular training and development strategy in organizations. Adobe Flash has been used to develop and play audio and video content, games, and web apps. How does this affect 2021? Adobe will stop supporting Flash and users will need to move to an alternative. Traditional computer-based training will be affected. E-learning that was developed in SCORM (a way to publish the files to the LMS) will experience bugs and issues playing. Companies that still plan to use a version of their Flash-based learning in 2021 will need to alter and reformat their courses, which could significantly bring down the ROI and take up large amounts of effort and time. If your company does not have a plan in place to do this, this should be at the top of your priority list.
User Experience (UX) Design will become a priority in developing training
Have you ever been to a website that loaded slow, seemed boring, and didn’t get enough of your attention? It’s pretty simple - if user experience (UX) is poor, individuals tend to lose interest within the first few seconds, wasting the cost invested to create the training. In training terms, learners tend to lose interest and become less likely to interact with programs or training that aren’t designed well. This article simply puts it, “UX should be like air: invisible, but highly important. You just breathe air without thinking about it. The learner shouldn’t even have to think about the fact that it's there, but just let it guide them through the module or the course.” UX is going to become more of a focal point in the coming year, ensuring learners stay engaged and attentive with training. Those who develop training are going to need education and resources to help them become more well-versed in UX design.
Individualized training
Not all learners are the same, and providing them a variety of ways to access learning material can improve their engagement. That’s why multifaceted training is going to be a hot trend for training development in 2021. One of the biggest training trends on the horizon is a more individualized approach to training that allows employees some variety in how they access and complete professional development. An effective training program that offers a menu of training for employees to choose from is an essential approach. Whether it’s gamification, bite-sized learning, mobile learning, and many others – catering to all learners using technology is going to be a continuous trend.
An e-learning platform like Verasana will allow you to customize training materials and the way those materials are delivered. We can help you transform your materials to break reliance on Flash. Expert UX designers have worked on our product. We offer a variety of ways for learners to access material. Verasana keeps up with the latest L&D trends to propel businesses forward in years to come. Don’t fall behind on the latest trends, now more than ever is time to invest training and development.