Adaptive Learning? Eleven Reasons that Show Now is the Time

The concept of “Personalized” learning has become a hot topic with learning and development (L&D) professionals. Every learning software vendor is attempting to show that they provide a personalized experience for learners. Why? One key reason is that personalization has become an expectation because it is pervasive in the tools we use every day outside of work, from social media to entertainment to productivity applications. In that sense, our work lives are just trying to keep up to make learning more inviting. But the impact of personalization is not just a nice-to-have. As 93% of respondents to Brandon Hall Group’s 2021 State of Learning Practices study said, personalized learning improves organizational and individual performance. The link to improved performance is the real value that L&D leaders are seeking from personalized learning.

L&D teams seeking performance gains must remain wary, however, because all personalized learning is not created equal. For example, personalizing the user interface of the Learning Management System so the colors and layout appear just how each user likes it can make using the system more enjoyable. But when the actual learning content remains one-size-fits-all, no one is fooled. And while personalizing the suggestions of what courses a learner should take goes a bit further, this Netflix approach still fails to tailor the experience to improve how actual learning occurs.

Most people have a sense of what truly personalized learning looks and feels like, but most do not know where to start to deliver a level of personalization that is more effective and elevates performance. The biggest challenge becomes how to personalize at scale without simply throwing people at the problem and doubling or tripling your content-developer staff in the process. The answer to the personalization-at-scale challenge is to enhance your team’s capabilities by bringing an AI-powered adaptive learning solution into your learning ecosystem.

What Does Adaptive Learning Technology Do for You?

Adaptive learning starts with a new way of constructing training by focusing first on the specific knowledge and skills you need to develop in your learners. This knowledge map is then linked to bite-sized and measurable learning resources, ensuring the content remains focused on the learning goals. The result is an improved learning design that an AI-powered adaptive learning engine can use to continuously personalize the experience for each learner. The benefits include improving learning efficiency, speed, achievement, learner engagement, trainer and coaching efficiency and effectiveness, and job performance.

Adaptive learning delivers a more advanced approach to eLearning and directed learning beyond what an LMS or an LXP can provide. This includes a personalized, AI-powered eLearning experience that delivers precisely what each learner needs to know just when they need to know it.

An intelligent adaptive learning system also increases confidence for learners, trainers, and managers because the system introduces new levels of precision that allows stakeholders to reliably know exactly what learners know and do not know at a point in time.

Eleven Ways Adaptive Learning Will Make an Impact

What are the major ways an adaptive learning system makes a business impact? Here are eleven benefits to consider:

1. Improves speed to competency - Time spent away from the job for training purposes can be a major concern. Adaptive learning can minimize downtime spent in the learning process.
   
   
2. Ensures competency – Adaptive learning can measure levels of competency, even helping correct inaccuracies that each learner incorrectly believes to be true.
   
   
3. Improves knowledge retention - When a learner has achieved the knowledge needed to do their job well, that knowledge will decay over time. Adaptive learning reinforces knowledge to ensure it stays fresh.
   
   
4. Personalizes to every learner in context – Learner knowledge, experience, and readiness to learn come in all shapes and sizes, and learning must be accessible at any time and place. The intelligence in an adaptive learning system is built to manage the challenge of so many variations.
   
   
5. Provides a detailed learning map to guide each learner’s journey – More than just a playlist of courses, an intelligent adaptive learning system provides a detailed map that dynamically adjusts based on the evidence of demonstrated knowledge (or lack thereof).
   
   
6. Provides a true blended experience – The benefits of blended learning over pure eLearning or self-led learning are well known, including enhanced engagement, collaboration, and understanding of the content. Adaptive learning incorporates all modalities and improves live interactions by providing insights to trainers, instructors, and coaches to help focus and guide discussions.
   
   
7. Delivers greater insights for coaching - The ability to see both individual and group performance on detailed topics in real time is unique to adaptive learning systems.
   
   
8. Optimizes the training development and delivery process – A truly intelligent adaptive system gives you the tools and analytics needed to design, deliver, and maintain the knowledge maps and content that adapt to the needs of various learners.
   
   
9. Reduces training maintenance costs – With adaptive learning, you target specific knowledge bits to be updated. The system will then automatically update past learners to keep them current with the training changes in real time.
   
   
10. Creates a continuous feedback loop between learners and designers – Learners can provide feedback and raise questions at any point, providing instructional designers with targeted feedback in context.
    
    
11. Answers the most challenging question in learning: “How do you really know they know?” – With adaptive learning, the days of measuring with completions and smile-sheets alone are over. Adaptive learning provides in-depth data about learning effectiveness to enable L&D to better support the business.

Your Next Move

To achieve alignment with business goals and drive performance, your next move should be to bring personalization into your learning ecosystem by deploying an intelligent adaptive learning solution. The right adaptive solution will work as a catalyst with your LMS and LXP to deliver deeply personalized learning that is much more efficient and effective than the dreaded one-size-fits-all approach. With adaptive learning, L&D leaders can truly offer a continuous, integrated, life-long learning solution that works for all, and spans all needs and moments of learning.

To Learn More 

To read more about the eleven benefits of adaptive learning, download our eBook, Adaptive Learning – The Key to Personalization in the Workplace. Here you will find more detail about the improvements adaptive learning can bring to use in building your business case for truly personalized learning.