3 Key Learning Platform Features to Drive Retention for PHR Candidates

There’s no such thing as a full-time PHR preparation course. Aspiring PHR certificants can’t just pull themselves out of the workforce for a few weeks or months to devote themselves to study. If they want to prepare for a PHR certification, they’ll have to make time to do so in-between meeting the demands of their full-time jobs and answering the responsibilities of their full-time lives. 

Although it’s certainly possible to study for the PHR using old-fashioned, analog methods, there are tools out there that make the preparation process so much easier. Because PHR hopefuls only have so many minutes in a day to study, thoughtful employers can provide a major advantage to employees seeking PHR certification by investing in a robust PHR learning platform that helps them optimize their time. 

So which are the learning platform features that are worth pursuing? We’ll walk you through three of the most essential in the following post.

1. Personalized Study Plans

Employers want a learning platform that will help employees get the most of their preparation time. Although every PHR hopeful starts with the same goal—passing the PHR exam—nobody should expect every individual to arrive at that goal in the same way. 

For example, some learners—by necessity or preference—will want an extended preparation period of several months (or longer) while others will tackle their PHR prep in a short, intense sprint. 

A good learning platform should present personalized study plans to every learner based on what they know now and what they need to know by the time of the exam. Those plans should be informed by the learner’s intended exam date and a pre-assessment of their existing knowledge across the five functional areas of human resources.

2. Device Flexibility (Also Known as Omnichannel Learning)

Busy adult learners need to take advantage of PHR study time whenever they can find it, and that time isn’t always going to materialize on a laptop among the quiet study carrels of the local library. 

Learners need flexibility, and their learning platform should be able to provide the same enriching experience on whatever device happens to be handy in the moment. It should be possible to prepare for the PHR on web, mobile, and tablet devices, and whatever the learner accomplishes on a given device should seamlessly sync to the platform so she can pick up her activity somewhere else later on.

3. Grown-Up Gamification

Some learning platform features, like device flexibility and personalized study plans, help adult learners get the most out of the limited amount of time they have to study each day. These tools make sure the learner’s time is optimized. 

Other features, like thoughtfully applied gamification technology, entices those adult learners to actually find more of day’s minutes to apply towards study. Gamified platform elements leverage behavioral tendencies to make learners stay on the platform longer. 

Superficial bleeps and bloops don’t do anything, but grown-up gamification—applying gameplay mechanics to study tasks and learning outcomes, actually helps adult learners maintain engagement so they can study more without additional effort so they can meet their goals.

Conclusion and Action Plan

At BenchPrep, we are keenly aware of the tools that can give adult learners an edge. Because the stakes for these learners are so high and the task of learning itself so difficult, we are constantly investing in tools, technology, techniques, and resources to make learning on our BenchPrep HR platform easier, more convenient, and more fun. We hope this walkthrough of essential learning platform features for adult learners is useful, and we invite you to learn more about these features with the content below.

Learn More About Personalized Learning (Also Known as Adaptive Learning)

We’re very keen on personalized learning at BenchPrep, and we write about the topic all the time. If you like to learn a little more about the concept of personalized learning and the use of adaptive learning technology, you can start with The Future of Education Is Personalized Learning and Why Personalization Should Be a Crucial Part of Your Learning Program.

Discover an Important—and Powerful—Byproduct of Omnichannel Learning

Learners on BenchPrep learning platforms can study on the most handy device for the moment. Frequently, that means pulling out a mobile device to fill a few moments of what would otherwise be wasted time. To see what’s possible in short bursts of time—a couple of minutes here and there, check out How to Effectively Educate Through Microlearning and Conquer the Forgetting Curve with Microlearning Strategies That Work.

Understand the Science Behind Gamification

Gamification is not a gimmick. To learn more about BenchPrep’s approach to gamification and to understand why it’s so devoted to deploying more gamified features on its platforms, you should read Gamification Is the Secret Sauce to Explosive Learner Engagement. You’ll also want to see BenchPrep co-founder and chief operation officer Ujjwal Gupta’s How Gamification Is Changing the Education Industry post.