What are our L&D Content Trends for 2017? … and beyond
At this time of year we see so much analysis and discussion on trends. So I wanted to chime in with some of my own, with a slightly different approach – less on tech (well… still a little) and more on content.
The following are my thoughts on 2017 content trends to look out for in enterprise and larger organisations in general.
Mental health
During the second half of 2016, The Learning Hook had a number of enterprise customers requesting custom learning solutions to better support and embed awareness in their organisations about mental health; particularly with a focus on establishing mental health as not an afterthought; that mental health is just as important as physical health.
We see this as a trend in 2017 – becoming a mainstream need in terms of health and safety over the next couple of years.
Considering that health and safety is often referenced as an organisation’s number one priority and that mental health in our community is such an important issue, many more organisations will define this as an area to be covered for staff and to ensure managers in particular have the skills to support mental health issues in the workplace.
Change resilience
With the only constant in our lives being ‘change’, and the ever increasing disruption we see in our professional lives, change resilience related content and training will become a part of many enterprises’ well-being and health strategy.
We are seeing this custom content need in both Australia and New Zealand and feel it’s a trend in content worth watching (while it’s also been brilliant to be involved in these initiatives which we have seen tangible results in workplace engagement, stability to perform and general wellness).
Metacognitive machines
Probably not the best of headings for a hot content area, but hey, I liked the description when I thought of it while I’m also partial to alliteration.
According to futurist Thomas Frey from the DaVinci Institute, ‘by 2030 the largest company on the internet is going to be an education-based company that we haven’t heard of yet’ (Business Insider – 28 Dec, 2016).
Frey’s prediction is focused on AI / Machine-based learning to exponentially increase our ability to exploit our learning opportunities. Think about it as a program or online bot that stays with a child throughout life, learning how the individual learns and then providing them material and experiences that best address their specific learning needs and preferences, pushing them, balancing them and growing them in much shorter time frames than current learning/educational systems.
OK, for 2017, this technology isn’t here, but the trend to personalise all content is.
In 2016, we’ve seen content delivery trends and approaches to really deliver on the ‘Just in time and Just enough’, but in 2017, I think we’re bringing it home to include the ‘Just for me’ too.
Systems training
Not sure if the trend here is content specific or crosses over to technology, but as we see more sophisticated solutions to tackle the challenge of system training, we believe a trend in systems content will be ‘context sensitive’ systems training.
There’s now a growing number of sophisticated tools and applications focusing on this which far surpass the older simulation training/screen capturing processes like Captivate, Articulate, Camtasia etc. These tools go much further to cater for the ‘Just in time, Just enough and Just for me’ – being context sensitive, real time and performance support focused. The effectiveness of which will make them on trend.
Induction training (zzzzzz)
No snoring please. I appreciate Induction is nothing new and really is an ongoing area of content that’s somewhat always trending. How we do it though is the trend we see happening in 2017.
With many more businesses embracing learning eco-systems, micro-learning moments and person-centred learning, we see induction becoming a hot topic to repackage using multiple media elements packaged and curated for individual learners; delivering Induction journeys – rather than just one off events.
Cyber security
Cyber security solutions and consultancy services are growing rapidly (see here for more). It’s clear with this industry trend, along will come awareness training and performance needs.
Issues of ‘spear phishing’ to ‘social engineering’ are relevant across all enterprise and public sectors. The ever changing nature of cyber attacks also means learning / communications strategies need to be fast, flexible and just in time.
This is an area The Learning Hook has seen growing custom and off -the-shelf demands in, particularly for topical content for specific enterprises.
More…
There’s so much more to share, but a short blog (or medium size in this case) is enough for a taste of what we see as trending in 2017 and beyond. I hope you got something out of these ruminations.
If you want to discuss the work The Learning Hook does in any of these areas, or your own trends, please contact us, comment, or follow us on LinkedIn.
Brenden Carter is the Creative Director at The Learning Hook. He loves his team, his job, learning communities and a whole lot more … including his ruminations (unless they’re three months old, in which case he generally hates reading them as time passes far too quickly, as do trends!).
For more eLearning, visit www.learninghook.com.au
