Ideas.

Smart thinking is motivational, so in the spirit of sharing, here are some of the ideas that move us. We hope they inspire you.

The way we learn should relate to the way we live

25 September 2013
Writ­ten by Sera Prince, Digital Product Lead

In the last blog post, we uncovered the core reason SCORM restricts the creation of modern digital learning experiences that truly engage users.In this post we look at how Be Learning are handling the modern digital learning vs SCORM conversation with our clients by addressing the heart of the issue – The user.

To paraphrase Jennifer Lagarde “The way we learn should relate to the way we live.”

For the end users – the employees of the companies that Be Learning engages with – modern digital experiences are more often than not second nature. People live their lives on the go, using the internet’s abilities and a variety of devices to keep updated and in touch, whether it be personal or work related.

Appreciating this user context is one of the reasons why the iPad onboarding and induction app we created for Telstra’s Retail Store network has been so successful. A distributed sales workforce needs to be able to access a learning program when and where it suits them. Telstra’s Retail Store employees not only work with a variety of mobile devices, they sell them! To learn via a traditional SCORM system would be jarring. An iPad application is natural extension of Telstra employees work and home lives.

Another case in point is the success of our mobile responsive website product, the Virtual Learning Experience (VLE), which has been utilised as a Virtual Induction Experience (VIE) by several of our clients, including ING Direct.

Traditionally inductions are conducted in person, AFTER a new employee has started. This takes valuable time away from both the employee settling into their new role, and the L&D professional running the induction.

Inductions are often created as a digital solution and served via a SCORM system, but SCORM usually relies on the employee having started at the company before they can access the system. And as we learnt in the last blog post, SCORM doesn’t serve as apps or mobile sites in an easy, natural way.

The VIEs we have created provide new employees a modern website experience that is available anywhere (labtop, tablet etc), at anytime – Specifically BEFORE the new employee has started their first day. They can get up to speed with all the important induction information, exploring at a time and pace that suits them, helping them feel prepared and ready to hit the ground running on their first day. If they have any questions, they can be submitted and received instantly by the L&D staff or even by their new manager, if appropriate.

By appreciating the way a user lives and works online, Be Learning’s digital products aspire to mirror the everyday digital world and allow a more instinctual experience with more engaging content mediums. Games and videos, podcasts and interactive infographics, photo galleries and sliders – All the tools that people use for self-taught online learning are readily available. Furthermore, rather than the traditional SCORM final stage multi choice questionnaire, more modern assessment tools are possible: Group specific polls and surveys, social engagement ratings, and data feeds from everyday digital systems can provide more accurate, less painful methods of gauging whether learning outcomes are really being achieved.

So, are you ready to move forward with your Learning and Development digital content? Is it time for a modern approach toward your company’s induction, leadership change or performance elevation program? Please get in touch, we’d love to talk to you about what’s possible when you think beyond SCORM and assess what’s the most effective way to achieve your online learning objectives and engage users.