With the New Year nearly upon us, training and development professionals alike are preparing for 2018’s key L&D trends and best practices. Learning and Development is a key factor for businesses alike and (as discussed in our previous blog) must keep up with modern adaptations such as VR/AR, mobile technology and social learning tools to ensure they stay on top.

Here at the Professional Academy, we have put together the top 5 trends for 2018 that all L&D professionals must know about:

Mobile Learning

As Smartphones are incorporating more and more advanced technology, we are coming to a point where we can no longer call them a phone, but rather a Personal Computer. Almost everyone has a Smartphone today and companies need to utilise this learning channel as much as possible. Bespoke mobile learning apps may seem costly at first, but can be an asset to the company’s learning.

Social Tools

As social media is continuing to grow rapidly, there is the opportunity to use this not only as a leisurely activity, but for work-related purposes also. Discussion forums, company blogs and video are only a few of the majorly effective channels that businesses can tap into to aid them in their development process.

Adaptive Learning

Each individual learns in their own time; forcing learners who aren’t as adept at picking up new ideas can sometimes be overwhelming and not very effective. Adaptive learning is a methodology that breaks traditional models and allows employees to learn at their own pace. Employees can be monitored individually throughout their learning so to determine what approach will best suit their needs in real time.

Measuring Effectiveness

Companies should find a way to consistently measure effectiveness of their development processes to determine whether the strategy currently in place is driving business outcomes or not. Determine metrics in advance and include both HR/learning metrics and business metrics to when measuring. Currently, team encouragement, employee encouragement and employee satisfaction are being considered as key metrics; as opposed to the more concrete business metrics such as retention, turnover and revenue per full-time employee.

Outsourced Learning

Not being able to supply competent learning and development training shouldn’t be looked down upon; there are a variety of causes limiting this such as time, out-dated knowledge, and workload. Outsourcing is often used by various sizes of companies in a wide variety of sectors. Don’t feel ashamed to reach out to external training providers such as Professional Academy to get help with your training needs.

Now you can be sure that your training techniques are up-to-date and ready for the year ahead.