The Future of Learning is Personalized

Learning Management Systems (LMS) have been the conventional way of providing training courses in the business learning environment for almost 20 years. Essentially, this library of courses is a traditional way to store and provide role-based training, but it tends to fall short in personalizing the learning experience that drives individual employee performance. The one-size-fits-all approach is deficient in providing individuals with specific knowledge and skills based on their unique needs to perform their role efficiently and effectively.

In a study conducted by Brandon Hall Group (BHG), it was found that only 7% of organizations feel their learning programs have been successful. Furthermore, companies are not able to measure learning's impact on individual and business performance. Leaders are looking to transform their training to be more optimized and individualized for instruction and learning.

Personalized Learning at Scale is Here Now - Today’s learning ecosystems need the addition of an AI-powered adaptive engine to continuously measure, shape, and guide the experience based on a learner’s prior knowledge, level of engagement, knowledge gaps, preferences, and current performance. Through granular measurement and real-time information, a system can provide valuable insights to instructors and trainers to help every learner achieve their performance goals. Instead of one-size-fits-all, it is possible to continuously adapt navigational guidance to provide a personalized journey for each learner to be successful. By leveraging machine-learning, the adaptive system will continuously develop and calibrate its intelligence based on the data it gathers, minimizing the need for configuration. This type of technology is a key factor in personalizing learning at scale, and it is accessible now. An adaptive learning system should also work in conjunction with your LMS to enable and accelerate the path to personalization without requiring a wholesale replacement of your existing systems. 

In a recent episode of Brandon Hall Group’s HCMx Radio podcast, Manoj Kulkarni, CEO of Realizeit, expounded on the need for personalized learning and what is involved in a successful approach, sharing these key insights:

1. Personalization is deeper than a custom playlist – Delivering a personalized interface to select training content of interest is a start, but what is more important is what is actually being accessed under the covers in terms of the content. Personalized learning must tailor the learning map, the learning content, and the resources to be relevant to each learner’s context.

2. Focus first on the learner’s needs, not the content - In a one-size-fits-all world, content is the only thing that matters, and people have to shape to the content. With personalized learning everything should shift to be learner centric. The content and technology must shape to the learner, otherwise attempts to focus on content first will always result in a veiled approach to personalization that remains one-size-fits-all.

3. Scale to the entire organization – It is possible to provide personalized learning experiences at a small scale without intelligent technology. However, in large organizations, learning is happening all the time in all modalities. Personalization has to be based on technology that can make it happen for everyone. Today that is possible with adaptive learning solutions that integrate AI and machine learning to automate the personalization engine.

4. The journey should start with understanding your learning strategy – L&D leaders must have a clear understanding in terms of what their strategy is all about and how learning actually helps them accomplish those strategies. This creates clarity to determine the right technology to achieve the strategy and how that technology should manifest in the organization’s current learning tech ecosystem. No corporate learning environment is the same, not because the technologies are different, but because the context in which they are operating are completely different. 

To learn more about personalized learning at the scale of the enterprise, tune into the HCMx Radio podcast with Manoj Kulkarni, CEO of Realizeit, BHG’s Michael Rochelle and David Wentworth, or contact us to start a discussion.