Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more employees than ever before are working from home. As a result, many employees are participating in corporate training from home, which presents challenges to workers as well as companies. Remote workers may find it more difficult to engage in training when they aren’t in a familiar work setting, and administrators and supervisors may have trouble helping employees engage in training when they aren’t physically in their presence.
Companies must encourage remote employees to take a greater interest in learning so that they can stay current with training. To do this, organizations must be choosy about the employee training software they use to deliver content. Whatever platform they opt for must appeal to learners. To encourage self-directed learning, companies should consider implementing a learning experience platform (LXP).
3 Ways an LXP Promotes Self-Directed
Learning in Remote Workers
Employee training shouldn’t be deprioritized during the COVID-19 pandemic because it’s important to the success of workers as well as employers. Here are a few ways a learning experience platform inspires those working remotely to continue to participate in training and direct their own learning experience:
1. Enable and Encourage Informal Learning
Some companies are still training employees using a traditional, classroom-style model. This style can be appropriate at times, but research shows that humans primarily learn informally (i.e., through self-directed learning or learning from experience).1 Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has made in-person training impossible for most companies. One of the key benefits of a learning experience platform is that it promotes informal, self-directed, remote learning by allowing employees to pace their own learning experience and engage with training from any device. This type of learning not only feels natural for employees to engage with, but it also makes administrators’ jobs easier since it isn’t as heavily facilitated as traditional learning. With an LXP, remote employees will learn in a way that feels most instinctual and enjoyable to them, and L&D professionals will have more time to create effective training.
2. Personalized Learning Increases Engagement
Unlike most other online learning platforms, LXPs can personalize a stream of content for individual learners. This makes it easier than ever for learners to choose the training that will be most helpful for them and access it immediately, which can drive learner engagement and encourage self-directed learning.
In general, the more personalized training is, the more engaging it will be to all employees. This is especially true of those who are working remotely and don’t have the positive social pressure to participate in training. And by delivering a personalized learning experience for employees, a learning experience platform not only promotes self-directed learning in workers, but also helps businesses improve onboarding, retention, and productivity.
3. Cater to Employees With a Variety of Learning Styles
Some LXPs are content-agnostic, meaning they can host documents, audio, video, SCORM, xAPI, and LTI. This can be beneficial to learners because all remote employees do not share the same learning style. On the contrary, some are auditory, some visual, some kinesthetic, etc. A learning experience platform gives these learners access to content that works best for their learning style and promotes engagement and self-directed learning. For this reason, learners may prefer an LXP over other types of online learning platforms.
Related Reading: 3 Types of Learners Who Love the Learning Experience Platform (LXP)
A Learning Experience Platform Frees Up Time
for L&D Professionals to Create Better Training
A learning experience platform can help you enable your remote employees to direct their learning and training experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, which will take the pressure to facilitate training off of your L&D employees and allow them to allocate their energy to creating training programs that drive the best results.
There are many LXPs on the market. When choosing an LXP, consider a hybrid platform that has all the functions of a learning experience platform as well as a learning management system (LMS). To learn more, request a personalized TOPYX demo, which functions as both an LMS and an LXP.
If you are interested in learning more about how your company can provide learning and training opportunities during the Coronavirus crisis, explore our COVID-19 eLearning resources.
References:
[1] https://trainingindustry.com/wiki/content-development/the-702010-model-for-learning-and-development/