When was the last time you went to a movie theatre to catch the blockbuster movie of your favorite movie star? It may have been months or years when you last went with your best friend and a huge bucket of popcorn in your hand.
Now all of us prefer watching movies from the comfort of our house, sprawled on the bean bag, and sipping coffee from our favorite mug.
The world is changing rapidly, and we are changing with it. Everything, from our eating habits to our learning pace, has drastically changed in the last couple of decades.
If we refrain from consuming the same content repeatedly in movie theatres, why shouldn’t our learning, training, and development habits evolve simultaneously?
Personalized learning is the solution to keep pace with the fast-growing world when it comes to employee training and development in the corporate sector. Additionally, due to COVID-19, almost all corporate employees have undergone additional changes, both personally and professionally. For example, some are working 24/7 from home, whereas some have resumed going to the office.
The corporate sector needs to acknowledge this radical transformation and assist and train their employees accordingly.
What is Personalized Learning?
Personalized learning refers to each employee getting a learning plan based on what they already know and how they learn new concepts best. In personalized learning, either the learning concepts can vary or the delivery method. The aim is to upskill or re-skill each employee effectively and efficiently.
Let’s understand this using an example.
Ryan has a degree in automobile engineering and works as a senior design engineer in a leading automobile company. He prefers consuming visual content over textbook material. He often engages with informative YouTube videos or online games in his free time. He is also very tech-savvy and can often be seen tinkering with electronic equipment in the technical lab.
Additionally, Ryan is one of many, and a few more design department employees follow the same patterns.
What would be the best way to train them? Would they benefit from textbook training modules or hour-long presentations?
The right way to train him and his colleagues with similar interests is by personalizing their learning experience.
The first step would be to identify what they already know. For example, as they consume informative videos and spend a lot of time in the lab, they might already know the recent trends in the industry.
Hence, the motive here is not to re-skill them but rather up-skill them.
The next step is to identify the methods of upskilling them. For example, a person like Ryan might be interested in gamified learning. This training and development strategy will save him from forced knowledge retention through textbook learning material or power point presentations and keep him more creatively and effectively engaged.
However, this does not automatically imply that all the employees in this said automobile company will benefit from gamified training and development modules.
Some employees might retain information better passed in seminars and workshops. There can also be some who prefer learning through solitary reading at home after office hours.
Important Elements of Personalized Learning
Based on the example above, these elements of personalized learning the learning and development department (L&D) must keep these in mind while training their employees.
- Employee’s profile and department
- Past training records, outcomes, and assessment scores
- Existing information and learning of the employee
- Existing knowledge gaps
- Preferred retention techniques and instruction method
Benefits of Personalized Learning for Employees
Now that you know what personalized learning is and what elements you should consider while designing personalized training modules, we have also mentioned here some benefits of personalized learning for employees.
This will allow you to focus on the needs and requirements of your employees more competently and realistically.
Makes the Employee Feel Heard
Each employee wants the company the respect their agency and voice. By providing relevant, personalized learning, the employees will get the message that their opinions and needs are rightfully acknowledged and respected.
This will allow them to instill their faith in the company and keep themselves motivated to continue working hard for individual and company benefit.
Allows Employees to Move at their Own Pace
Each employee is different from others, with their own weaknesses and strengths. Therefore, using the same training method for each employee is unfair to the employees and more time-consuming and meaningless for the company.
Personalized learning modules acknowledge that each employee has a different learning pace and caters to the employee accordingly. It also allows each employee to fill their knowledge gaps effectively.
Moving on, during future training sessions, the employees won’t be required to be re-skilled but rather up-skilled.
Saves Time and Energy
As part of the learning and development department, you must have witnessed employees getting bored or yawning excessively during training conferences, workshops, and seminars. Sometimes these training sessions are needed, but they add no real value to employees’ knowledge proving to be a waste for the company.
Personalized learning promises effective and desired outcomes and allows the company to save a lot of time and energy. Initially, setting up the personalized learning system takes a lot of work and effort. Still, once the system is in place and employees start enjoying it, it will be very efficient and time-saving.
You need a little patience and creativity while setting it up.
Provides High Retention and Engagement
We cannot stress it enough that employees prefer personalized learning over general training modules, and rightly so. It gives them a voice, fills all their knowledge gaps, and leaves them feeling fulfilled and respected.
When they learn with a happy mind and soul, they can retain information much longer. As a result, their engagement with the information will automatically deepen, fostering creativity and productivity in all their future personal and company-related endeavors.
A happy and stress-free learning environment is the best gift a company can give its employees.
Makes Learning Flexible
As personalized learning modules are designed keeping in mind the needs of each employee, it also automatically promises the employee a flexible learning schedule and environment.
Returning to Ryan’s example, he can engage with his gamified learning modules whenever he wants. Next, the company must invest in technology and develop more successful online learning strategies.
Closing Thoughts
Offering personalized learning is highly beneficial for the employee and the company. Fortunately, in the current digital times, numerous resources are easily available for companies to design personalized learning systems with great convenience and creativity.
Hurix is one such platform that can prove to be highly beneficial for companies in their effort to provide personalized learning to their employees. Its various services and tools, like digital content transformation, digital content solutions, learning management software, etc., can help companies revolutionize employee training and development.
Get in touch with our expert team now to get started!
