Many organizations have found themselves transitioning to the digital world of learning regardless of whether they were ready or not. However, putting a textbook in a digital format isn’t going to cut it.
If you are looking for ways to engage your learners online and have your business flourish, look to your Gen Z and Millennials learners. In the next 5 years, Millennials will comprise 75% of the workforce, and Gen Z is right behind them. To create a successful eLearning program, you need to consider how you can effectively engage these generations with your learning program.
In a recent webinar, we shared how to level up your existing learning strategy to engage your Gen Z and Millennial eLearners. Here are the highlights:
Welcome to 2020 - a time where our learners are more different than ever before. To ensure that your learning program is successful, you need to understand your learner’s needs and preferences first. You can start by getting to know some key facts about the modern learner.
The modern learner is:
By understanding the different characteristics of the modern learner, you will be able to reshape your learning strategies to fit your learner’s expectations.
To do this, it is vital that your learning be more inclusive, decolonized, and effective. Traditional study and exam techniques like rote memorization and multiple-choice tests are not designed with the new generation in mind.
Millennials and Gen Z eLearners are more creative and entrepreneurial, but also more distracted. When evaluating your content for these learners, think about how Millennial and Gen Z learners might like to consume it. Here are some ways to repurpose your content:
Out with the textbooks and in with personalized learning. Modern learners are demanding personalized learning experiences, and to meet this need you need to give your course a personality.
A company that does a great job at personalizing the experience: Netflix. Netflix is amazing at curating content that is personalized to what you like. Not only can you personalize your account, however, but their system also recommends movies and tv shows that are similar to your viewing history and rating.
Be the Netflix of your industry and incorporate personalized learning into your learning strategy. Here are a few applications to personalize your learning today:
As we mentioned earlier, today’s learners are collaborative. To improve the learners’ experience with your learning platform, you must have an active community. The best way to build an active learning community is through social learning.
Social learning is the theory that learning occurs through observation of others’ behaviors, values, and attitudes, or direct instruction. Social learning can be difficult when you’re learning online using a self-paced platform. But, the easiest way to overcome this is having an active community that can support each other on-demand.
Incorporating social learning into your learning program doesn’t have to be a gruesome process. There are many communication tools you use everyday that can apply to social learning, too. Some examples include discussion boards, chat features, live videos, polling, gamification, group work, and more!
Engaging your learning is one of the biggest challenges that many organizations face with their learning programs. Many of these organizations have these tools right in front of them to combat this, however they have to grab that opportunity.
We covered 3 tips to get your young learners to engage, however, there are a few more to consider to have an engaging learning program. Check out the recording from our webinar to discover the last two tips of effectively engaging your Gen Z and Millennial eLearners.