TAPPING INTO THE POWER OF PERSONALIZED LEARNING

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1 TAPPING INTO THE POWER OF PERSONALIZED LEARNING Paul Leavoy Senior Content Manager, Docebo

2 1 Contents 2 Introduction Tag The Content. Personalized Learning is Old Onboard the Technology. 4 What is Personalized Learning Do What You Can With Personalized Learning Now. 6 The Problem With Personalized Learning Create a Personalized Learning Strategy. 7 How to Integrate Personalized Learning into 11 Conclusion L&D Programs Now Invest In The Tech Today. Establish a Competency Framework (If You Haven t Already). Build Management Buy-In Early. Don t Be An Early Adopter Study It Smartly.

3 2 Introduction There s a version of corporate learning and development we all know too well. A new employee is brought onboard with a new company. They re eager to learn how to operate in their new role. They receive scripted training, and they re expected to fulfil their new role according to the defined approach laid out in their mandated onboarding program. This works, to an extent. The organization gets to clear all of the checkboxes it needs to clear in order to designate the new employee as trained. The employee has met all of the established criteria in their training. But how prepared is the new employee, actually, for the tasks at hand? How ready is the new employee to confront the realities of a brand new job, for a brand new employer, in a brand new context of learning and working? And how accommodated does this new employee feel in the new role they have taken on? Have they been handed a stock manual, as it were, and told to figure out their function? Or have they been catered to, with all of their individual learning needs, goals, desires, and optimal learning paths taken into account? The differences here essentially describe the differences between standard learning paths and personalized learning paths. In one, stock materials and courses are handed to a new employee the day they walk through the door and commence onboarding. In the other, a tailored, custom learning path is provided to the new hire. One path places them among a herd of sheep, whereas the other makes them an Aristotle to a Plato, virtually: one student to one pedagogue. PERSONALIZED LEARNING IS OLD Here s the problem: in ancient Greece, mankind had the opportunity to assign one teacher to one learner. It s an ideal arrangement, after all. No programs. No script. No learning management system. No software. Just a student and his teacher, in a low-population environment, figuring out their roles in work and life with one another. How delightful. Enter the 21st Century. Tech. Manufacturing. Demands. Immediacy. Computers. Internet. And the overwhelming pace of getting things done as soon as possible, and faster, at whatever cost. For whatever reason. Suddenly, it isn t acceptable -- from a competitive business perspective -- to teach and learn at the pace of the learner. Instead it is all about expediting the learner journey as much as possible Enter personalized learning. So what is it? Well, it s complicated, but it s also not.

4 3 The simple part is this: Personalized learning makes the individual learner the centre of the learning path. It is tempting to think that we can put individual learners into certain categories of learning and develop plans for them to lean within those categories accordingly, but in actuality it does not work that well. But it can be done. First we learn what personalized learning actually is.

5 4 What is Personalized Learning Think of how you learn. And, beyond that, think of all the patterns and behaviours you express online, personally, and in your job function. What do you search? How do you absorb knowledge? How do you exercise that knowledge in a job-related context? These are all questions a personalized learning program would incorporate in your individualized learning program, in an ideal world. Of course, we re not there yet, but we will be. For now, a proper personalized learning path draws on all the cues it can take from you, as a learner, in terms of how you grow and progress. Personalized learning ultimately looks at our behaviour, including how we have acted and interacted in the past and how we continue to do so in the present. Eventually, once technology and artificial intelligence (AI) catch up (which will be soon), personalized learning programs will also anticipate how learners desire to learn and what kind of content the need to learn from in the future, as they progress. One way of defining it is this: The diverse variety of instructional programs, learning experiences, didactic approaches, and support strategies intended to address the unique and individual learning needs, interests, and aspirations of individual learners. Another way to think of personalized learning is to relate it to two online tools many of us use on a day-to-day basis. Netflix, the popular online video application, automatically studies your viewing history, likes, and preferences to suggest in customized lists what you might be interested in watching next. Similarly, Amazon.com assesses your search history along with your purchase history -- not to mention the buying habits of individuals that have purchased items like those you have either bought or evaluated -- to make suggestions of what you might buy next. Both are rudimentary examples and don t pertain to learning and development specifically, but they do illustrate how historical behaviour and preferences can inform an algorithm that seeks to understand how you absorb content and what content you like to be exposed to. In essence, they re tailored to the user, like personalized learning. THE CURRENT STATE OF PERSONALIZED LEARNING So, how many are actually using personalized learning in some form within their organization? We turned to Brandon Hall Group, a leading analyst firm on all things related to organizational performance excellence and learning and development, for the answers.

6 5 THE STRATEGIC USE OF PERSONALIZED LEARNING To what extent do you use personalize learning in your learning strategy? ALL THE TIME MOST OF THE TIME SOMETIMES NOT AT ALL 10% 36% 48% 6% Source: 2015 Brandon Hall Group, used with permission Clearly, although a third of respondents to this survey believe personalized learning is integrated into their learning strategies, a bulk of respondents (nearly 60%) didn t find personalized learning to be a focus. Interestingly, when asked to relate personalized learning to social learning or the 70:20:10 approach in particular (which we have covered in depth) -- an approach that pushes organizations to pursue a blended learning approach where learning achieves 70 per cent of success through experiential learning, 20 per cent through social/informal learning, and 10 per cent through traditional, classroom-based learning -- it was determined that most organizations found that personalized learning methodology aligned with the 70:20:10 approach. PERSONALIZED LEARNING AND 70:20:10 To what extent does personalized learning align with the 70:20:10 framwork DO NOT ALIGN 19 % SOMEWHAT ALIGN 36 % ALIGN 48 % STRONGLY ALIGN 6 % Source: Brandon Hall Group, used with permission Finally, personalized learning doesn t happen in a vacuum. As determined by Brandon Hall Group in a related survey, organizations need a blend of coaching and mentoring, mobile learning, and social learning in order to facilitate proper personalized learning. REALIZING EFFECTIVE PERSONALIZED LEARNING The top 5 items for delivering affective personalized learning 78 % COACHING AND MENTORING 66 % 72 % 69 % ELEARNING MODULES ON MOBILE SOCIAL LMS OR OTHER LEARNING LEARNING LEARNING TECH 61 % VIDEO LEARNING Source: Brandon Hall Group, used with permission

7 6 The Problem With Personalized Learning We have one critical problem with the promise of personalized learning right now: many believe it will be delivered by technology alone. Nothing could be further from the truth. As with so many organizational performance pursuits, we need a blend of the right people, the right processes, and the right technology to make an actual difference and implement personalized learning effectively. It can be thought of as a three-legged stool: without one of the legs in place, the whole thing will fall to the side. And that s why it is important to incorporate people, process, and technology into any personalized learning approach, as we will illustrate below. LEARNING TECHNOLOGY MUST BE SUPPORTED BY THE RIGHT PEOPLE & PROCESSES PEOPLE PROCESS TECHNOLOGY

8 7 How to Integrate Personalized Learning into L&D Programs Now In this paper we have shown that adoption rates of personalized learning vary and also reiterated that, while personalized learning has a strong foundation of use through history, its long-term potential, once supported by technology, is enormous. However, just as personalized learning has its roots in ancient teaching and learning, there are many things that can be done today in order to develop the right personalized learning strategy for the future. 1. INVEST IN THE TECH TODAY Yes, there are many things outside of the technology realm we can do immediately to support personalized learning, but we know technology will help bring these kinds of programs to the next level when they are fully realized -- and that s not far off. Getting buy-in for a new learning management system is not easy (although Docebo has provided some of the resources needed to support your business case). We all know those that hold the purse strings in an organization need some convincing to foster support. However, if you don t have the foundation of a learning management system today, that is something you are going to want to establish as you seek the technology to support a personalized learning program tomorrow. And even if personalized learning is an eventual nice-to-have component of your learning and development program, having the essentials of an elearning solution will not hurt your progress in establishing an effective learning and development program overall 2. ESTABLISH A COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK (IF YOU HAVEN T ALREADY) A competency framework, which defines the skills, knowledge, and attributes learners need within an organization, is an essential -- yet often overlooked -- component of a complete learning and development program. It often consists of four attributes, namely: Business skills Leadership skills People skills Technical skills Each of these elements has a variety of subcomponents. For example, business skills might include understanding process management and regulatory contexts; leadership skills could include team building and performance management; people skills might include negotiation and mediation; and technical skills often cover financial reporting and business planning. These aspects go beyond personalized learning, but they are fundamental to it. As a matter of fact, they are essential to building a great learning and development program overall.

9 8 However, it is highly preferable that they are established and mandated within a personalized learning strategy before the fact as opposed to after. After all, these elements help leaders in learning and development establish the very purpose (as well as the performance metrics) of their learning and development programs in the first place. In other words, a learning and development strategy without an embedded competency framework is no learning and development strategy at all. 3. BUILD MANAGEMENT BUY-IN EARLY You don t need to jump right into getting a personalized learning solution signed off by your directors immediately, but it pays to plant the seeds right now. As you communicate with those you, as learning and development leaders, will be dealing with when you seek to get buy-in for a personalized learning solution, it is advisable to communicate the potential and eventual benefits personalized learning through technology will deliver. It is known that best-in-class elearning solution providers will have mature personalized learning offering within the next couple of years. Start building interest now to make the budget talk less of an issue when you do have to have it. 4. DON T BE AN EARLY ADOPTER STUDY IT SMARTLY It s tempting to jump on the bandwagon of a new tech solution the moment it seems viable. But let s understand that a true, comprehensive personalized learning solution delivered through technology and progressive AI has not yet been realized (though it is in the works and close to market, as of the composition of this paper). At this point it is sensible to wait until a few players have entered the field with capable, functional personalized learning components before evaluating which one can provide your organization -- and your learners -- with value. 5. TAG THE CONTENT Whatever kind of learning management system you have now -- be it rudimentary, with an assortment of PowerPoint presentations, documents, and quizzes; or more advanced, with a centralized content repository of all elearning-related assets -- it is essential to tag content properly. This will make the process of advancing to a personalized learning technology solution so much easier. What do we mean tag content properly? You must jump into the metadata of all of your learning content assets and ensure their content metadata reflects what the content is actually about and

10 9 who it is geared towards. This will help you bin content -- or, indeed, help the AI component of your solution separate and analyze content -- once you have implemented a robust personalized learning solution in the future. Plus, even from a learning management system platform approach today, it doesn t hurt to have content organized through tags. 6. ONBOARD THE TECHNOLOGY Yes, we onboard employees, but how about onboarding technology? When your personalized solution is implemented, it will take time, and it will need to adopt and adapt to your processes of learning, your learning content, and the people that absorb your learning materials. Treat the new technology solution as a new employee and implement and onboard it correctly before you let it loose within your organization. 7. DO WHAT YOU CAN WITH PERSONALIZED LEARNING NOW So you want to attract and retain great talent. We mentioned earlier that there s nothing worse than an organization that has all of the mechanisms set up to listen to a new hire s ambitions, goals, aspirations, desired learning pathways, and sensitivities, only to turn them over to stock learning manuals and materials the moment they start their onboarding. It hurts even more when we don t document or follow up with their ideal learning paths. Forget personalized learning a moment and personalize learning now. Realize the talent you attracted came on board for a reason and treat them as a prize and an asset that deserves a customized, tailored learning journey, even if you don t have the tech in place to provide as robust a plan as you d like.

11 10 8. CREATE A PERSONALIZED LEARNING STRATEGY This is essentially a culmination of all of the above points, and it is something Docebo will cover in future documentation (so stay tuned), but understand that it is essential to create a complete personalized learning strategy in order to implement it effectively. Treat your personalized learning strategy as a component of your overall elearning and learning management system strategy. Broadly, it can include: Approach Technology Deployment Content Integration Desired results (and KPIs) Continuous improvement plan But there is no defined approach and, just as you tailor learning plans to the learner under a personalized learning program, you must customize a personalized learning program for your organization.

12 11 Conclusion Personalized learning has been around for ages in some form or another, from a personal pedagogue teaching a student in a one-to-one relationship, to the technology-enabled, sociallearning-oriented current state we face. It is still realized to some extent in corporate learning environments, however the potential of personalized learning in the very near future, as technology evolves, is considerable. The problem with personalized learning now is that there is a gulf between expectations of what it can deliver and how much it can actually deliver currently. However, there are steps any organization can take now in order to get employees off on the right foot from the day they start at a new organization, and to ensure their continued success and prosperous development as they continue on their tailored learning journey. Not every learner learns the same way, or at the same pace. This is foundational to the personalized learning approach, and while the technology to support it is only now starting to come to light, any organization will benefit from implementing the fundamentals of personalized learning now and developing a personalized learning strategy that covers all elements of people, process, and technology.

13 See today what personalized learning looks like first hand by trying a best-in-class LMS yourself, with no cost and no commitment Docebo has already begun to incorporate elements of proper personalized learning into its elearning offering, and robust elements of personalized learning technology are embedded into its developing product roadmap for the near future. Try Docebo free today for two weeks with no cost, no credit card, and no commitment to see what our industry-leading solution has to offer. START YOUR FREE TRIAL ABOUT DOCEBO Docebo is a global SaaS enterprise learning management system (LMS) used in more than 80 countries and offered in over 30 languages. Established in 2005, Docebo offers a learning ecosystem for companies and their employees, partners and customers that is designed to increase performance and learning engagement. Docebo is a learner- centric technology, embraced for its ease of use, elegance and ability to blend coaching with social and formal learning. It s no wonder that Docebo has been heralded by PCMag.com a the best online learning platform for business on the market. Visit docebo.com to learn more. For more information, visit twitter.com/docebo