Early in my career as an instructional designer, I thought I would be terribly clever and start an eLearning module on data security with a screen that looked like the learner’s computer was hacked. “Your files will be deleted in 3…2…1,” it read. Wouldn’t that get the learner’s attention? I sent the storyboard to my subject matter expert thinking, “Won’t he be impressed?” Much to my dismay, his response was kind, but pragmatic: “While I appreciate the creativity of this approach, won’t learners get annoyed after the first time they take the course? What if they need to revisit the material again?” (At the time there was no branching or opt-out learning.)

The moral of the story? Instructional designers can get blindsided by their own creativity and use of technology, causing them to put their content at risk of being ineffective or altogether ignored by learners.

In a time where the workforce is largely dispersed and everyone’s competing for employee attention, how can learning teams effectively use emerging tools, technologies and approaches to create impactful programs without being gimmicky or annoying?

The following are a few tips to consider when creating a learning strategy that engages learners through the use of learning tools and technologies.

Ask: What’s the Business Problem We’re Trying to Solve?

Developing a learning strategy that works for your organization is unique; there is no one-size-fits-all solution. What works for one organization will not work for another. Knowing what will work for yours takes some investment in gathering data from your employees through learning preferences surveys, listening tours, consumption of your current offerings (e.g., third-party content, in-house courses or other technologies) and learners’ net promotor scores (NPSs) on those offerings. Don’t assume that your learning organization or business stakeholders know what learners need. Validate your approach by going to the source: your learners. Use the results of the analysis to report back to the organization on what was heard and what actions will be taken to better serve employee learning needs. No one appreciates having their thoughts and ideas ignored.

Align on the Current Technology Ecosystem

Red Thread Research’s 2023 Learning Tech Market report identified over 426 vendors, each offering discrete capabilities such as microlearning, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) certification, cohort learning and more. The saturation of technology vendors creates a challenge for learning and development (L&D) teams that are charged with simplifying the learner experience.

Before getting excited about the next shiny object that hits the market, assign someone at the corporate learning level to take an inventory of the technology used in the organization. Work with the information technology (IT) department to create a map that illustrates the overall tech stack used to support the employee experience, which might include communication tools, learning systems, collaboration tools, knowledge repositories and more.

This activity will document what may already be available, where there are redundancies, or where there may be gaps. It will also provide a holistic view of the learner experience and insight on how it can be simplified. Capturing the current investment in each system can be used to build a future business case for decommissioning overlapping systems and bringing in new capabilities. The technology map should be shared with business learning organizations to drive governance and alignment on the enterprise-wide technologies and tools used to deliver learning content. A coordinated approach between corporate and business learning teams will help to ensure learning practitioners are thinking of the bigger “learning experience picture” and not just their unique needs. Find ways to seamlessly integrate functional learning technologies (e.g., sales and research and development technologies) into the overall corporate-wide experience.

Employees don’t think about where training content comes from, they only want it to be simple and intuitive. A surefire way to annoy an employee is to send them to multiple systems to complete their learning. In other words, it’s time to clean up the house.

Meet Learners Where They Are

This one is twofold. First, consider the readiness of the workforce to adopt new technologies or learning delivery modalities. If the organization is early on in its digital transformation, jumping into VR might not be the best option. Create a multi-year roadmap to ease the transition to more advanced learning interventions. Second, after documenting the technology ecosystem, look for ways to integrate into the systems where work is being done. Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are leading the way in providing in-app contextual help and guidance that can minimize downtime and accelerate employee performance without taking them out of their work environment.

Several software providers are building AI capabilities directly in their products and there are countless vendors who can help you develop an AI strategy. Being thoughtful and intentional with the maturity of your organization to change and finding ways to integrate learning content directly where employees work will increase the likelihood for increased adoption and consumption of learning content delivery.

Be Intentional With Content Design

While the learning tools and technology used to deliver content to the learner play a critical role in engagement, how the content is produced is equally, if not more than, important. Instructional design is both an art and science, it requires creativity and a disciplined mindset to produce content that drives learner and business outcomes. Third-party content providers use standardized formats to create a portfolio with a consistent look and feel. This consistency creates confidence in the learner on what to expect, whether you’re delivering eLearning with videos, virtual instructor-led training (VILT) or in-person instructor-led training (ILT). Although the approaches used may vary by course designer, most providers have standards in place to support their learning brand. The same approach should be applied for in-house content development. Provide guidance and best practices to content developers such as templates, style guides, and image libraries that are in alignment with the company’s overall corporate brand. Defining content standards and best practices for the organization aren’t designed to be restrictive or boring. They exist to elevate the quality and impact of learning content — something that learners will appreciate.

While it’s an exciting time for the learning and development function to innovate and test new tools and technologies, don’t jump in without evaluating the business need, understanding your current environment and bringing employees along with your digital transformation.

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