Analysis
eLearning 2016

Three experts analyze the major trends for e-learning for the coming months. Some trends analyzed by the specialists: learning as sales collateral, integrations, vertical solutions, adaptive learning, extended use of gamification as a standard delivery modality for learning activities, and a broader adoption of stackable credentials as a means of demonstrating academic achievement and skills/competencies for the workplace.

 

David Patterson, director of the UK-based consultancy and market analysts, Learning Light, and a Founding Principal of the international corporate e-learning think tank, The Company of Thought:

 

1. Learning as sales colateral.

Organizations are, increasingly, using learning materials provided for their products and services as part of their sales collateral. Demonstrating a new product and highlighting its features and benefits has long been the way a sale has been made. However, showing potential customers the training that goes to support the use of a new product or service moves the conversation on to another plane.

Potential customers are being given access to these learning materials so that they can see the product from a differing perspective.

 

2. Integrations

Integrations are going to be hot in 2016. LMSs in education – first - and in the corporate sector will move to integrate, with CRM and HR systems being the obvious targets. Indeed HR systems are already stealing a march on LMSs with integrations into CRM such as Salesforce.

Integrations with data-rich platforms such as CRM systems will bring big data analysis opportunities to the fore with sales and service performance aligned to learning.

Integrations can prove more challenging than imagined given the powerful bespoke customisations that Salesforce can offer. This makes integration a challenge when beyond the common core of the CRM configuration. However, with huge amounts of sales performance data becoming available, the requirement to integrate at greater and greater levels of detail to reflect sales process and KPIs will grow.

 

3. Vertical solutions

A new generation of wholly integrated online training solutions for specific industries is likely to emerge. There is likely to be strong growth in global academies – as currently in the maritime and the hospitality industries for example - driven by global standards of compliance or service.

It is in these specific domains that augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) will emerge, since the costs of these technologies can be defrayed over a large number of users. AR and VR appear to be the hot topics in learning at present.

 

Bryan Eldridge (Senior Business Consultant, eXact learning solutions) and Fabrizio Giorgini (R&D Manager, eXact learning solutions): Some of the key trends on the horizon for eLearning in 2016 include adaptive learning, extended use of gamification as a standard delivery modality for learning activities, and a broader adoption of stackable credentials as a means of demonstrating academic achievement and skills/competencies for the workplace.

 

- Adaptive learning has been on the popularity docket for the last several years but has had difficulty in coming to full fruition due to the lack of available tools, standards, and associated pedagogical approaches to make it an attractive option for eLearning designers and developers. With the emergence of the xAPI standard and CMI-5, designers now have well documented standards and communities to leverage for building out adaptive and role-based training solutions. The use of xAPI and Learning Record Stores (LRS) will allow to capture and analyze metrics to make immediate adjustments to learning paths to quickly improve retention and performance.

 

- Gamification has also been making the rounds as a topic of conference presentations and learning-oriented discussions for the last few years with very little movement in the field of practitioners. As standard attributes of a gamification strategy – i.e. mechanics, measurement, reward, and behavior change - are quickly being adopted and disambiguated from simply building learning experiences that are essentially educational video games, gamification is becoming a clearer and more easily adopted option for training designers and developers everywhere.

 

- Stackable credentialing, formerly referred to as open badging, is receiving tremendous support from the US Department of Education and several other global influencers such as Bill Gates as a means to create transferable and “stackable” credentials that can be earned and collected as evidence of job-readiness without requiring lengthy and/or expensive monolithic degree programs.