With new technologies evolving daily, from automation to artificial intelligence, many organizations are seeing an urgent need to upskill their employees through on-the-job learning. On-the-job learning helps employees develop their knowledge and skills to perform their jobs and responsibilities.
Workplace learning, whether short-term or long-term, provides maximum benefit to an organization, giving it a team of staff who can work better and embrace future changes and challenges. Here are some of the latest workplace learning trends for organizations looking to upskill their employees.
1. Virtual reality training
The changing talent landscape is creating a huge demand for upskilling, with over 80% of organizations admitting that their employees have skills gaps that need to be filled through on-the-job learning. One of the most popular trends in learning and development is virtual reality training, which has revolutionized workplace learning.
Virtual reality training is an immersive learning platform that recreates real-life environments and simulates workplace challenges, allowing employees to get hands-on training and deep learning in a risk-free environment. This immersive learning experience helps employees improve skill retention, ease application on the job, and ultimately lead to increased productivity.
According to the report, people trained through virtual reality learn four times faster and have a stronger emotional connection to the content than in a classroom environment. As a result, you will be more confident in applying the skills you have learned in your training.
One of the benefits of using VR training is the ability to recreate dangerous work environments. VR training provides workers with a safe environment to learn high-risk skills. Potentially deadly scenarios can be stimulated without putting the learner at risk.
Virtual reality training is also a powerful tool for technical training, which is prone to costly mistakes. In fact, the medical industry is turning to VR to train surgeons on highly complex surgical procedures.
2. Scenario-based learning
Scenario-based learning refers to a training method that uses real-world situations to provide context for course content. Scenario-based training, commonly used in medical and military training, is also becoming popular in workplace learning. Scenario-based training allows participants to learn and develop skills by practicing in simulated environments that replicate their workplace environments.
One of the best things about scenario-based learning is that it allows learners to control the outcome according to their choices and learn in an immersive learning environment without the influence of the real world. Learners must exercise critical thinking and problem-solving skills to navigate scenarios and enjoy favorable outcomes.
Scenario-based learning allows employees to train in a low-risk environment, minimizing the risk of real-life errors that can put employees at risk and cost the company some money. Therefore, there are advantages.
Another advantage of scenario-based learning is that the learning curve is minimized. This means participants can reach their “skills milestone” faster. Employees learn faster when they experience situations in a simulated environment rather than just explaining them in a classroom. Scenario-based learning allows you to embody scenarios that closely resemble real-life situations.
3. Digital learning
The massive expansion of digital learning in recent years shows no signs of slowing down. More workplaces are moving their training programs to online platforms, including important areas such as online health and safety courses. Many companies are adopting digital learning, but there is still room for development.
When leveraging digital learning in the workplace, make sure you’re using the right technology. It should be easy to use for everyone. Consider investing in a robust digital training platform that enables learner engagement while minimizing administrative effort. Choose a platform with reporting capabilities so you can monitor trainee performance.
Make sure to align digital learning with other strategies for workplace learning and development. Encourage employees to explore ways to enhance their education efforts through mentorship, cross-functional collaboration, and other programs that expand their professional capabilities and skills.
When delivering digital learning to your employees, don’t overlook the soft skills essential to leadership development. Unfortunately, many organizations often ignore these when designing their digital learning strategies. The best way to upskill your employees is to focus on soft skills like emotional intelligence, empathy, and communication skills.
4. Learn through collaboration
Collaborative learning is one of the latest trends in workplace learning. Many organizations have moved away from hierarchical management styles and have become more reliant on group work to achieve better results. Also, since everyone works in a team, it is suitable for learning in a team. A collaborative learning approach means working together to accomplish a task or activity in a small enough group to ensure everyone participates.
Collaborative learning approaches typically place individuals with different skills, expertise, and abilities into groups so that everyone can learn from each other. This method improves the training experience by leveraging the capabilities of individual employees.
It helps all group members present their learning needs and strengthens individual responsibility for achieving the best training results. Group participants can meet these needs by working on projects and sharing their knowledge and expertise.
Collaborative learning is not just about teaching each other. It also helps foster relationships and helps new employees grow quickly.
Also read: The rise of generative AI in the workplace: Driving unprecedented productivity gains
5. Video training
Video training is one of the learning and development trends that many organizations are adopting, and it’s easy to see why. Most people are visual learners and can better recall information provided through video than text.
Additionally, video training is one of the most cost-effective learning methods in the workplace. Trainers can use similar videos for different online courses or reuse parts for new lessons. Therefore, there is no need to create new content from time to time, which saves trainers a lot of time.
Best of all, a variety of online resources and tools, such as YouTube and Loom, make it easy to create training videos. This allows participants to develop a relevant library of training materials that employees can access anytime, anywhere.
Check out the new Enterprisetalk podcast.For more updates like this, follow us on Google News Enterprise Talk News.