7 eLearning Trends to Focus on in 2021
By Faizan Hayat Khan
Since we are heading towards the last quarter of 2021, it is an excellent time to reflect on the eLearning trends of this year. It is interesting to explore the aftermath of the unexpected 2020, particularly in the eLearning industry. It is time to understand what has been achieved and what to expect in the coming months.
Importance of eLearning Businesses in 2021
Electronic learning, better known as eLearning, is the term given to learning through digital resources, mainly on the internet. eLearning offers people the freedom to access education whenever they want to, at their convenience. Due to this, the eLearning industry has achieved massive growth over the past few years, and it is expected to go from USD 90 million approx. in 2016 to USD 181 million approx. by the end of 2025.
In today’s market, efficient use of technology can make or break a business. Thus, eLearning is a growing trend among businesses and can help elevate a business to reach new heights. Some of the benefits of using eLearning can be:
Skills Upgrade
Employees can gain vital skills through eLearning, which could transform into higher productivity, lower employee turnover, and increased efficiency. eLearning can help learners in polishing the communication skills that can help them in their workplace. Moreover, there are millions of online courses available online that can improve the skill set of an individual.
Business Expansion
Some businesses may decide to expand into a new market, but they cannot afford to spend loads of resources acquiring new infrastructure or building offices. eLearning enables these businesses to hire remote employees who can work from home and use the LMS platforms to acquire knowledge and comply with regulations and other company policies.
Measurable Impact
One of the most significant advantages of eLearning, compared to traditional learning, is that the progress through eLearning can be reliably measured. It can display metrics that help identify how many employees completed a particular course, time taken to finish courses or scores in quizzes, etc. This can help identify the progress of employee training.
Top eLearning Trends in 2021
Understandably, over time, things change. More and more eLearning methods have been introduced over the years. Businesses need to constantly evolve to get ahead of the competition as the industry continuously adapts to new technology. Therefore, the top eLearning trends in 2021 can be seen below:
1) Mastery-Based Learning
This trend is an instructional approach where the learners need to demonstrate a high level of understanding of one topic or subject before moving on to the next. This method is designed to ensure that the learners gain knowledge and not just skip topics to finish the course quickly.
Mastery-based learning can only thrive if it has the following factors included:
- Clear and specific learning objectives
- Precise mastery thresholds meaning what exactly should learners know
- Make learners display mastery, e.g., through quizzes, tests
- Make teachers assess learners’ knowledge
- Display the data
There are many assessment tools inside the Edly LMS that can help you organize data and use our platform effectively to enable learners to gain the highest levels of mastery.
2) Communication Tools
With Covid-19 forming a significant role in people’s lives, the use of online video-conferencing platforms has been on the rise. All latest LMS’s need to be integrated with these tools, facilitating smooth communication between instructors and students.
Therefore, the use of communication tools in an LMS is crucial. All relevant communication tools are available in the LMS Edly provides, enabling you to connect with learners effectively.
3) Tracking and Training Personalization
Organizations, at all times, need to make better decisions to thrive in this world, and there is no doubt that better decisions stem from better and reliable data.
A well-organized LMS platform enables organizations to track their learners’ progress through test scores, course completion rate, etc., and take appropriate actions, if necessary. Various training tracking software are available on an LMS, which help an organization to:
- Assign staff members to training
- Look at which members completed the training
- Offers a number of training methods
- Know when training needs to be redone
4) New Technology: AI, VR
The way we tackle all the information depends on the new technology being introduced into the world. Some components of this new tech are the ever-growing fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR).
AI is the development of computer systems such that machines can complete the tasks usually completed by human intelligence. AI can play a significant role in the LMS systems as it can direct learners to resources based on their weaknesses in a matter of minutes.
VR, on the other hand, refers to the activities that happen in an entirely digital environment. Adding an LMS to it can allow learners to get hands-on experience and move through scenarios without the need for physical/on-job training.
5) Micro-Learning
Microlearning refers to developing an extensive skill with small bits and pieces of information given gradually. This can be done by providing small modules with videos that are only 5-10 minutes long. This method engages the learner and solves the problem of learners getting distracted or bored.
Microlearning is also very popular among Millenials and Gen Z learners as it has created active participation and retention among them by delivering highly targeted content.
6) Content Creation and Curation
One of the biggest problems in managing an online learning platform is finding high-quality, relatable content for learners, which helps with information retention.
Therefore, content curation is as important as creating content yourself. A famous example in content curation is the website: Slashdot. This website provides snippets of news articles and a bit of commentary on why the information is relevant.
Content curation can logically organize the information online, which helps the learners anticipate a course’s flow. Learners will also feel that the course provided is reliable and links to the information given online, increasing the credibility of an organization’s eLearning courses.
7) Gamification
Video games have been known as the most addictive form of entertainment for decades, and there’s a reason for that. Adding game mechanics, combined with flashy visuals, to non-game environments like LMS platforms can rapidly increase participation and inspire learners to collaborate and interact more.
The gamification industry is on such a rise that it is expected to reach USD 38.42 million by 2026, displaying a CAGR of 25.10% from 2021-2026.
Engagement with game mechanics is not only beneficial for an organization’s eLearning needs, but it can also provide insightful data that can help influence marketing campaigns and reach performance goals.
Conclusively
Following these eLearning trends, an LMS system can help position your organization among the top eLearning providers, and Edly is here to help you with that.
Contact us and request a demo to see what Edly can bring to the table!
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