The way we work, live and learn is changing just as quickly as the world around us. New economic conditions and technological breakthroughs are combining in unexpected ways to disrupt stable industries and create new business opportunities. The challenge for today’s organisations is how best to develop the capability within their workforce that will allow them to innovate and stay ahead of the disruption curve.

Like any industry, digital innovation is driving big changes in the organisational learning and development field. Here are 5 future education trends that could fundamentally change the way we enable our employees to learn.

1. Gamification

It may seem like a gimmick for engaging Gen Ys and Millennials, however gamification in learning and development has the potential to deliver big results in embedding new knowledge. Taking the gaming concepts of new challenges, the opportunity to fail and a sense of accomplishment, gamification is tapping into 30+ years of game design to deliver engaging experiences that encourage learning. Since integrating gamification into their Leadership Academy, Deloitte has seen a 37 percent increase in the number of users returning to the site each week.

2. Social learning tools

As advocates of the 70:20:10 learning model, at AIM we know that 20% of learning is through mentoring, role modelling and learning from others. We also know that people get more of their information from social media platforms than any other medium. Social learning tools take elements of popular social media channels and contextualise them within an organisation to allow team members to share and collaborate on content in new ways. This type of social learning is a highly effective method for augmenting the results of formal training and learning on the job. For new capabilities to really take hold in your organisation, customising training programs to your organisation is always incredibly valuable.

3. Microlearning

Another learning and development trend that will better enable employees to learn on the job is what’s known as microlearning. By delivering short, fast learning modules that take less than five minutes to complete, people can get the information they need, when they need it. Because we’ve grown accustomed to accessing information instantly through a Google search, experts have predicted micro learning could overtake formal training in the future as our attention spans become shorter and we have less time to devote to training. This concept also underpins the continued popularity of short courses for providing targeted skills and knowledge precisely when your team members need them.

4. Mobile learning

For many of us, smartphones are the last thing we look at before we go to sleep and the first thing we see when we wake up. Mobile phones and devices are now so omnipresent in our daily lives that it’s a logical progression to deliver learning and development modules through mobile platforms. Mobile learning provides the opportunity for employees to learn when they want, wherever they are. By combining the concepts of gamification, microlearning and social learning into a mobile platform, organisations can greatly increase employee engagement with learning and development programs.

5. Personalisation

From medicine to marketing, digital technologies such as social media and data analytics are enabling greater personalisation in every field. Learning and development programs are also becoming more personalised as organisations see enhanced outcomes as a result of customising an individual’s career goals and aspirations within the context of an organisation. Formal learning outcomes are then arranged around the individual’s needs as well as the organisation’s to deliver optimum capability development, particularly in leadership development qualifications.

Digital technology is certainly driving the biggest new trends in learning and development. At AIM, we see firsthand the benefits that formal training programs deliver for organisations and their people. In terms of investment, we know from experience that the greatest returns on learning and development budgets are from formal training programs delivered by knowledgeable and engaging facilitators in a comfortable and professional learning environment.

Every business is different and so is our approach. AIM’s customised corporate learning and development solutions are as unique as the challenges you face. Matching the right skills to organisational needs and backing this up with an investment in learning and development can achieve business success and an engaged and motivated workforce.