Learning and Development (L&D) is emerging from a period of exploration. New tech has been tested, innovative techniques trialed, and some crucial lessons have been learned along the way. Now it’s time to turn those lessons into action. The good news? Some digital learning trends have emerged that can make a real difference. We’ve tapped into the minds of top L&D experts to show you how to turn these trends into practical actions that deliver tangible impact.

Emerging digital learning trends

L&D continue to grapple with a digital learning landscape in a state of flux. From new technologies to shifting skills requirements, they’re being asked to tackle new and complex challenges. With budgets and resources staying the same, L&D need to look for new approaches to deliver impact.

We wanted to discover how teams are planning to respond to this new digital learning landscape, so we surveyed 300+ professionals in over 130 different enterprise organizations.

Three key trends emerged from the insights they provided:

1. Using AI meaningfully – Leverage new technology to deliver learning impact securely, ethically, and efficiently rather than just producing content.
2. Empowering SMEs to generate learning content – Recognize that these internal experts are more crucial than ever for accurate, up-to-date, and impactful learning.
3. Refocusing on skills – Support the business in the shift from role-based structures to being a truly skills-based organization.

But how do you turn these trends into impactful action?

5 ways to embrace digital learning trends 

Here are 5 ways L&D leaders are planning to put digital learning trends into practice.

1. Augment roles with AI

From content overload to ineffective learning, the challenges of new tech are coming into focus. But that isn’t a reason to take a step back. Instead, you need to use technology with intention. 

“Rather than replacing human roles, AI will augment them, enabling deeper needs analysis, enhancing content recommendations, checking for accessibility concerns, and supporting real-time learning insights. Ultimately, improving efficiency without undermining the human touch that’s crucial for effective learning.”
Heidi Kirby, Learning and Development Consultant and Coach, Useful Stuff

Want to get ahead with this trend?

• Identify tasks that can be automated – think administrative work, scheduling, and content management.
• Keep a close eye on where the human touch is irreplaceable – leave those areas for your team to shine.
• Use AI to spot areas prone to human error – a second pair of eyes never hurts!

2. Take personalization to the next level

When we ask employees what they want from their digital learning, relevance always comes high on their list of must haves. Advances in AI mean the tailor-made learning experiences everyone wants are now within reach. 

“AI definitely plays a part in enabling more personalized experiences, and identifying opportunities for growth and progression that we may not otherwise spot.”
Anonymous expert

Want to get ahead with this trend?

• Identify all the ways that learning could be personalized in your organization – e.g. by role, department or location.
• Dig into your organization’s available data to spot any new ways to make your learning experiences more targeted?
• Explore the ways that AI could help you provide personalized learning at scale – e.g. smarter content search and chatbot coaches.

3. Upskill in L&D

L&D can’t just talk the talk – it’s vital to walk the walk. If you’re going to lead your organization in upskilling and reskilling, you need to upskill your team first.

“It’s crucial that we not only upskill on the use of AI but also on soft skills, such as analytical thinking and problem-solving, to get the most out of AI. In the end, we want to aim for a human-machine partnership.”
Bianca Baumann, VP, Learning Solutions & Innovation, Ardent

Want to get ahead with this trend?

• Audit your team’s current knowledge and skills – what are the current and potential future skill gaps?
• Identify how you can use AI to pinpoint areas for improvement and training opportunities.
• Explore how you can adapt your foundational L&D skills to fit the new digital landscape.

4. Use data to move to a skills-based approach

The skills landscape is constantly shifting, and L&D is uniquely positioned to support that evolution. But jumping headfirst into a skills-based approach isn’t the right move. Instead, use data to find the gaps and work with other departments to deliver impact.

“Start building a skills-based organization using data in meaningful ways to identify skills gaps and to help individuals advance their careers. Prove the value of your L&D function in the face of so much change.”
Cammy Bean, Senior Solutions Consultant, Kineo

Want to get ahead with this trend?

• Be part of your organization’s strategic conversation about skills – set by leadership and flowing through every department.
• Take the pulse of external skill trends through government reports and industry publications.
• Start skill-mapping to make sure your digital learning aligns with changing skill requirements.

5. Maximize efficiency and minimize disruptions for SMEs

Experiments with AI have highlighted one key thing: human expertise is more important than ever. Make sure your SMEs are supported. Provide guidance and scaffolding to maximize their impact. 

“As technology advances and turnaround requests become quicker, SMEs will be essential for validating the accuracy of content, especially when it is generated by AI. L&D organizations should leverage technology that maximizes the efficiency of SMEs while minimizing disruptions to the SMEs regular responsibilities.”
David Barone, Head of Global Digital Learning, Takeda

Want to get ahead with this trend?

• Define processes for how SMEs, AI, and L&D teams can collaborate seamlessly.
• Create templates to keep everyone on track and maintain content quality and consistency.
• Encourage SMEs to share their experiences and insights – peer-to-peer support goes a long way.

Putting digital learning trends into practice in summary

As we move from experimentation to real-world use, new trends in technology and processes need to combine to deliver business impact. You can turn these trends into practical actions by:

• Augmenting roles with AI.
• Taking personalization to the next level.
• Upskilling L&D.
• Using data to move to a skills-based approach. 
• Maximizing efficiency and minimizing disruptions for SMEs. 

If you want to find out more about the latest trends, read our full State of Digital Learning Report 2025.

Last year saw the digital learning landscape become a place of exploration. Learning and Development (L&D) teams got busy testing the latest tech, exploring fresh approaches and bridging new skill gaps. As we move out of this phase of experimentation, what lies ahead? We’ve tapped into the minds of L&D experts to find out. Read on to discover the 3 corporate elearning trends that they see shaping L&D in 2025.

New elearning, process, and tech trends for 2025

Following a year of experimentation, L&D’s key challenges and opportunities are coming into sharper focus. And that means it’s time to start making informed decisions. What strategies will meet organizations’ evolving needs? How can technology be used to deliver impact? What does effective learning look like in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? What part do internal experts play in this new digital learning landscape? 

We wanted to discover how teams are planning  to deliver impact in 2025, so we surveyed 300+ professionals and 12 learning experts and influencers to get their unique insights on the year ahead for L&D.

3 corporate elearning trends to watch in 2025

Years of rapid change within the elearning industry have offered lots of new L&D insights. Here are 3 corporate elearning trends experts expect to see going to the next level in the coming year – dive in so you can get ahead of the curve.

Want to get even more of a head start on your peers? The State of Digital Learning Report gives you access to not only corporate elearning trends, but expert insights and interviews as well as practical downloads and resources to help you succeed.

Trend #1 Meaningful AI

“AI has already made its mark, and its influence will only deepen. Whether we’re talking about this year or beyond, organizational processes will become more defined.”
Lloyd Dean, Senior Global Learning and Development Manager, AXA

Just like employees, L&D teams are exploring how new tech can help them meet learning needs in 2025. In fact, 90% of L&D professionals surveyed see technology being the key trend shaping the future of digital learning in the next 3-5 years. So how are they looking to use this tech?

• 60% are looking to use AI to assist in content creation
• 11% see AI playing a significant role in personalization
• 11% want to use AI to assist with analytics and reporting

“As digital transformation accelerates, there’s a tendency to adopt new technologies – especially with AI tools flooding the market – simply because they’re trending, rather than because they serve a clear learning need. Instead of focusing on the technology itself, focus on the experience it enables for learners and what business problems we’re trying to solve.”
Stella Lee, Director, Paradox Learning

Experts have highlighted that there’s a risk that L&D end up using AI to deliver content rather than impact. AI content quality, accuracy, and efficiency became an increasing issue in 2024. Using this new technology with intention is the key to its success.

“While it’s tempting to use all these new AI tools to just churn out more and more content, don’t do it! Let’s not create a digital learning version of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”
Cammy Bean, Senior Solutions Consultant, Kineo

Trend #2 SME-generated content

“SMEs are the one thing AI cannot replicate, especially when there’s industry and company-specific knowledge in their brains. This is where we have to make it as easy as possible to make their insights locatable, usable, and relevant.”
Lori Niles-Hofmann, Senior Learning EdTech Transformation Strategist, NilesNolen

SMEs play a key part in every learning project. They’re your gateway to content and audience. But they can play a much bigger role. 

More and more SMEs are being called upon to generate learning content.

• 35% of L&D teams surveyed are using a hybrid mix of:
  • Centralized (with a core team of learning design experts), and 
  • Decentralized (where learning is generated within departments or regions, sometimes without any learning design input)
• 27% are using a fully ground-up or decentralized L&D structure

“Our research shows more and more SMEs, new to learning design, are getting involved in the creation of learning materials. Sometimes in partnership with a central learning design team, often without. Some governance and framework is needed to ensure what’s produced is of the right quality. Provide simple processes, templates, easy authoring tools, good examples, checks and balances, and human/AI design guidance to support this initiative.”
Kirsty Greany, Head of Learning Strategy, Elucidat

If these new structures are going to be effective, L&D teams need to build the necessary capabilities, workflows, and culture to create engaging and impactful learning experiences.

“Rather than creating content in isolation, SMEs [and L&D need a] true partnership, because this will make content more relevant and dynamic, with SMEs positioned as strategic contributors rather than isolated knowledge holders.”
Heidi Kirby, Learning and Development Consultant and Coach, Useful Stuff

Trend #3 Skills focus

“Companies are pivoting faster than ever before and L&D can no longer be in a reactive position. They need an understanding of how the skills-based transformation is happening at their organization.”
Lori Niles-Hofmann, Senior Learning EdTech Transformation Strategist, NilesNolen

To truly thrive, employees and businesses need to harness the right skills at the right time and for the right work. So, it’s not surprising that may L&D teams are getting more skills focused.

• 27% of L&D teams are exploring a shift from traditional job roles to a skills-based approach in the next few years.
• 21% are already making the shift or planning to do so soon.

“We need to recognize the importance of building skills-based organizations and moving away from traditional job roles. This approach will give organizations more flexibility to connect with the business and our learners.”
Bianca Baumann, VP, Learning Solutions & Innovation, Ardent

Tomorrow’s success requires skills agility. But, according to LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report, most weighty learning initiatives stall at the early stages. Fewer than 5% advanced far enough to measure success. With many organizations making the move to a skills-based approach in 2025, we should see this change.

‘’Think about data differently. Align learning projects directly with business goals, ensuring that programs not only support skill-building but also drive measurable impact.’’
Heidi Kirby, Learning and Development Consultant and Coach, Useful Stuff

Corporate elearning trends in summary

Taking onboard the learning from the previous year’s experiments is critical to L&D’s success in 2025. Ensure you stay ahead with the 3 key corporate elearning trends experts see creating value for your business and employees:

• Use AI meaningfully – Leveraging new technology to deliver learning impact securely, ethically, and efficiently rather than just producing content.
• Empower SMEs to generate learning content – Recognizing that these internal experts are more crucial than ever for accurate, up-to-date, and impactful learning.
• Refocus on skills – Supporting the business in the shift from role-based structures to being a truly skills-based organization.

Putting it into action

Eager to explore strategies and best practices that your expert peers are implementing this year? Access the State of Digital Learning Report where you can tap into the minds of your L&D peers and learning experts, compare approaches, and get prepared for the year ahead..

With the demand for impactful learning content at an all-time high, how can Learning & Development (L&D) teams adapt their approach to provide the right learning, at the right time, for all employees? Research says, L&D doesn’t have to do it all (phew!). This article pulls out key excerpts from a recent report that presents a new model for learning content, which helps learning teams increase capacity by putting content needs in perspective, and embracing collaboration.

The learning content dilemma

The amount of content needed to support organizational learning and business strategies has reached unmanageable levels. Under pressure to do more with less, L&D teams are stuck playing catch-up with an ever-increasing backlog of learning content. 

This isn’t sustainable!

A new mindset is needed to meet the rise in demand and tackle the learning backlog – you’ll be glad to hear that L&D doesn’t have to do it all. 

But if L&D isn’t doing it all, who’s helping? And is what they produce good enough?

This thinking is taken from the new RedThread research paper, Addressing the Content Dilemma, which was discussed by an expert panel of learning experts and global learning leaders, where they highlighted that internal experts are the key. 

Jon Thompson, Director of Learning Experience & Innovation at The Coca-Cola Company shared:

“A lot of the times L&D organizations have been trimmed, downsized, right sized or re-chassised. Ultimately, it means we’re not as staffed out as we used to be. So, how do you still accomplish your goals?…There’s no way that we’re going to be able to provide all of the content to fill that space. There’s no way you’re going to get around having to ask others to lean in.”

A model for learning content (2 key dimensions)

When RedThread Research examined learning leaders’ approaches to learning content, they noticed 2 important dimensions of the learning content they work with:

• Specificity: How unique the learning content is to their organization.
• Durability: The shelf life of the learning content.

Plotting learning against those 2 dimensions revealed a model of 4 different kinds of content:

• Specific & Durable: Unique to one organization and has a long shelf life.
• Specific & Perishable: Unique to one organization but changes often.
• Generic & Perishable: Applies to many organizations and changes often.
• Generic & Durable: Applies to many organizations and has a long shelf life.

Learning leaders can use this model to clarify focus areas and roles around learning content. They can also make decisions about what content needs to be controlled or owned by the L&D function, and what can be outsourced or crowdsourced from within the organization.

L&D teams at full capacity need a new mindset to meet the rise in demand and upsurge in calls for skills. Mostly, a shift towards working more collaboratively, and letting internal experts in on production.

The main areas internal experts can support on? Those top two quadrants in the model: content that’s specific to your organization. Let’s take a closer look.

Key category #1: Specific & perishable

Learning content that appears in this category is often specific to your organization, but tends to have a shorter shelf life or needs updating frequently. This includes learning content related to your organization’s product or service training, company policies & processes, or training on in-house tools.

L&D’s focus for this quadrant should be to enable the creation and curation of learning content within the organization—not to create or control learning content. As this content comes from all over the organization it makes it difficult (if not impossible) for L&D functions to create and update it all.

Jon Thompson, Director of Learning Experience & Innovation at The Coca-Cola Company, shares his experience in the role of L&D:

“People are very much used to finding the answer quickly. And so it comes down to. How do you enable things with guardrails? With systems and rules that are frameworks that help shape the creation of content in a way that it makes it searchable and locatable and findable and relevant. 

Challenges faced by L&D

Because this content needs to be updated frequently and can usually only be updated internally, it comes with 3 major challenges:

• Learning content becomes stale. Updating and maintaining all the learning content in an organization can be a monumental challenge.
• Content is decentralized. The best learning content exists in lots of different places. Sometimes it’s hard for employees to find the most relevant, impactful content for their needs.
• Quality and consistency of learning content can vary. Because it isn’t created by the L&D function, things like quality and branding of learning content can be inconsistent.

Opportunities for action

To address these challenges, learning leaders are implementing processes and guidance that enable anyone in the organization to create content with ease, that is consistent, and of high quality.

Here are the suggested actions off the back of the report from RedThread:

Do now:  

• Implementing basic instructional design templates. (Learn more about elearning templates here)
• Putting in place tech that standardizes templates, design principles, and formatting (like Elucidat!).
• Being available as consultants—answering questions and providing advice on effective learning content that meets standards. (Learn more about how Elucidat’s Learning Consultancy can help you with this)

Work on:  

• Improving curation by tracking usage and establishing ratings or rankings.
• Identifying, leveraging, and highlighting single sources of truth.
• Implementing systems and processes to encourage a culture of knowledge-sharing.

Also on our expert panel, David Hepworth, Learning Technology & Design Lead at Aviva, shared some insight on how his team helps the organization to create content:

“We’ve got a licence to create. So, you’ve got to do a little bit of learning and demonstrate some confidence which then opens up access to asset libraries, templates, rapid authoring…Because they know what they know. We just need to give them the framework to impart that knowledge.”

Hear more from David Hepworth on embedding democratized learning creation in this podcast episode. 

Key category #2: Specific & Durable

Content in this category is unique to your organization, and often has a long shelf life. This may include learning content related to strategic initiatives, onboarding, and what RedThread terms your ‘crown jewels’. Content that is your USP, and gives you a competitive advantage and is therefore critical to the success of the business.

Heather Gilmartin Adams, Senior Analyst at RedThread Research and creator of the model, highlights this is a key focus for L&D.

“In the top left the last quadrant [of the matrix] is content that’s specific to your organization, but relatively durable…This is where L&D’s focus comes in: helping organizational initiatives and aligning learning content with organizational goals. This might be the category of content that would be most useful for L&D to focus their time and energy on actual content creation.”

Listen to Heather discussing the learning content dilemma in more detail in this podcast episode.

Challenges faced by L&D

As this links directly to key business initiatives, L&D functions typically face challenges like:

• Staying aligned with business goals. How can L&D stay agile in a changing environment?
• Driving change. How can learning content move the organization toward its goals?
• Measuring impact. How do we know if learning content is moving the needle in ways that align with the organization’s priorities?

Addressing these challenges, particularly around measuring impact, entails intentionally linking learning content to organizational priorities.

Opportunities for action

Here are the suggested actions off the back of the report from RedThread:

Do now:  

• Make a plan for staying informed about organizational priorities and goals.
• Audit and align learning content with organizational initiatives.
• Implement marketing practices to increase awareness of content. (Learn how to Think like a marketer to drive L&D impact)

Work on:  

• Collecting data and creating metrics to measure learning content against organization initiatives over time.
• Using stories and tapping into people’s emotions to make content stick.

David Hepworth, Learning Technology & Design Lead at Aviva, shared what’s working for his team:

“Simply by focusing our energy on the top left corner with our finite resources…we’re more aligned to the strategy. It means we’re more likely to get those skill identifiers right because we’re talking to business leaders about challenges they’re facing, and we’re probably talking about indicative measures or KPIs that are evidencing that there is an issue.”

We would add that the top left quadrant works best for really tight partnerships with business units, and subject experts. It’s also one where L&D professionals need to lead with a proactive consultative approach. 

On the other hand, the top right quadrant is more about providing in-house experts with the tools they need to succeed. This quadrant needs close collaboration with subject experts, including needs analysis discussions, conversations, or templates to draw out stories and examples – but with L&D owning the design of the end solutions.

Summary

To meet the demand for high-quality digital learning many L&D teams are taking the steps to leverage more decentralized practices to enable collaborative content creation. Empowering your internal experts to create content doesn’t just tackle your training backlog, it will also help you meet your business needs with the right skills now and in the future.

RedThread’s learning content model helps put your content needs into perspective and suggests that empowering your people is the route to success. Want to learn more about how to empower others to create content or to digest the framework further?

Ready to dive into the full research report? Download your copy to unlock a new model for learning content production.

The last few years have been marked by technological transformation and new approaches to healthcare provision. While practices continue to evolve in response to the pandemic, shifting patient expectations and evolving global regulations present new challenges. This article explores what healthcare L&D teams can do to keep pace and get ahead.

Data overview

From practitioners to administration, we wanted to find out what’s happening in today’s healthcare industry. We spoke to the teams who create learning experiences, and the employees who complete the training. Surveying over 25 professionals and more than 800 learners uncovered lots of insights. We’ve distilled this down to some key challenges and opportunities for the healthcare sector.

Find out more about this research in our Training Trends Report 2022.

Biggest challenges facing healthcare

The pandemic has transformed the way healthcare is provided. Despite previous resistance to change, the industry was quick to adapt. If providers are going to build from these changes, there are three key challenges they need to overcome.

1. New technology and approaches

When the pandemic reduced in-person human interaction, telehealth was rapidly adopted for consultation and soon became the norm. In fact, a McKinsey report highlighted 76% of consumers say they are highly or moderately likely to use telehealth in the future.

These new ways of working present many opportunities, but they also bring concerns.  Whether its workflow integration or data security, many factors impact services effectiveness and compliance.

2. Shifting customer expectations

New technologies are changing customer expectations. From booking appointments to paying bills, Mail My Statements has highlighted the demand for a streamlined patient experience. But self-service requires a joined-up approach. It is essential to maintain compliance and avoid possibly fatal mishaps, as well as delivering a better patient experience.

3. Complex regulations

As regulatory bodies update standards to this new healthcare landscape, providers need to make sure their people and systems can keep up. Healthcare organizations offer a variety of services in different locations across the globe. From ethics to security, employees need to know the latest standards and how to apply them in their location.

With HIPAA Journal reporting high numbers of data breaches in the US, it’s clear there’s room for improvement when managing compliance risk.

Find out how to take your compliance training strategy from tick-box to transformational. 

What does that mean for healthcare learning teams?

Demand is high for effective digital learning that helps healthcare businesses stay compliant and competitive. Expertise from across the organization needs to feed into elearning production. It’s key to ensuring training is up to date, accurate and meets a variety of ever-changing global regulations.

L&D teams must keep pace and get it right or risk serious patient errors. But over 80% of the learning leaders we surveyed were struggling to:

• Respond at speed
• Manage stakeholders
• Maintain quality

And once digital learning has been produced, the pressure doesn’t ease. 40% of leaders highlighted a lack of investment or budget. L&D teams need to demonstrate their value with improved compliance training and better customer experiences.

What is the modern learner in the healthcare industry looking for?

Just under 90% of healthcare organizations deliver most of their training online. So, what do their employees think about all this digital learning?

What can healthcare learning teams do to get ahead?

Start by exploring what your employees really want and need. Next, take these insights and create effective learning experiences that deliver the business impact and compliance you need. We’ve identified three digital learning trends that will help you.

1. Create impact with personalized blended learning

30% of businesses are exploring new hybrid ways learning. A modern approach to blended learning combines face-to-face and online learning alternatives, like Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT), webinars and elearning. It enables you to create personalized self-guided learning journeys that are relevant to different departments and locations.

Want to find out more? Explore our new blended learning strategies.

2. Make wellbeing a priority

The increased anxiety of the last few years has had a real impact on healthcare workers. Employee mental health was highlighted in our survey as a major focus in 2023. Part of this is about giving people the tools to better support their own wellbeing. But it’s also about putting them at the center of learning and development so they can develop the skills and knowledge to excel in their career.

3. Harness the power of video

Healthcare employees are calling out for more engaging learning. If you want to avoid your people clicking through elearning, join the 41% of learning leaders who are focusing on video. From sharing knowledge to telling stories, user-generated videos are a quick and easy way to get content out there. It gives a voice to your employees and encourages peer learning.

Discover even more elearning trends in the full corporate elearning trends article. 

Summary

The healthcare sector is struggling to keep up with evolving international regulations, advancing technology and changing customer expectations. Stay ahead by taking a people-centered approach to your digital learning.

• Find out what your employees really want and need
• Drive impact and compliance with personalized blended learning journeys
• Focus on employee wellbeing and develop and retain your talent
• Provide the video learning employees want with user-generated content

By doing this, you’ll produce effective digital learning at speed and scale and overcome the healthcare sector’s key challenges.

If you want to find out more about the latest trends, read our full Training Trends Report 2022.

Whether it’s new regulatory requirements or emerging fintech challengers, the financial services industry is used to adapting. While banks operated with minimal disruption during lockdowns, global economic fluctuations and rapid technological innovations mean more challenges are on the way. In this article, we share some financial services insights that will help you and your L&D team get ahead.

Data overview

From local branches to head offices, we wanted to find out what’s really happening in the financial services industry. We’ve talked to the teams producing finance learning experiences, and the employees who complete this training. Surveying over 25 L&D professionals and more than 800 learners has revealed some key challenges and opportunities for the financial sector.

Biggest challenges facing finance

Banks constantly need to evaluate and improve their operations to keep up with changes in the industry. If they’re going to succeed in 2023, there are three key challenges to overcome.

1. New and changing regulations

Ever-changing regulations and industry standards mean banks need to make sure their people and systems can keep up.

According to KPMG, financial service firms will face many regulatory challenges in the coming year. These will impact every area of business – from ethical conduct and sustainability to new cloud-based platforms and crypto and digital assets. Differences in state, federal, and global regulations add another level of complexity to staying compliant.

2. Shifting customer expectations

When the pandemic hit, customers had no option but to use digital channels for their banking. Accenture Global Financial Services’ latest consumer study shows that this approach has taken hold. 50% of customers now interact with their bank through apps or websites at least once a week.

Without the human touch, customer trust and brand loyalty have decreased. But expectations remain high. Whether digital or in-person, customers want banking experiences that offer personalized advice.

3. Emerging technology skill gaps

While financial firms have embraced technology, keeping up with innovation requires investment. Whether it’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) digital customer support or virtual reality simulations, a Protiviti report highlights that this change is just as much about people as tech. The adoption of digital technologies requires new skills that are in short supply and require significant efforts to upskill or reskill employees.

Learn more on how to respond to emerging skills gaps in this podcast episode.

What does that mean for finance learning teams?

L&D continues to be critical to responding to changing standards and new skill gaps in the financial services industry. Demand for effective digital learning is high. It needs to be easily updated so when regulations inevitably change, organizations stay compliant.

The pressure is on to move quickly and get it right or risk serious fines. But strict governance involving lots of stakeholders and SMEs can be laborious and slow down learning production. It’s no wonder over 80% of the L&D leaders we surveyed were struggling to:

• Respond at speed
• Manage stakeholders
• Maintain quality

And the challenge doesn’t end once digital learning is produced. 40% of leaders highlighted a lack of investment or budget. L&D teams need to demonstrate their value with improved compliance and better customer experiences.

What is the modern learner in the financial services industry looking for?

With a big focus on compliance, just under 90% of financial service organizations deliver most of their training online. So, what do their employees think about all this digital learning?

Want to find out what learners across all sectors want from digital learning? Check out the shifting needs of learners in our State of Digital Learning Report.

What can finance learning teams do to get ahead?

The first step is finding out what your employees want and need. Next, it’s time to turn your insights into effective learning experiences. We’ve identified three digital learning trends that will help you deliver business impact and compliance.

1. Create impact with flexible blended learning

30% of businesses are focusing on new hybrid L&D methods. This modern approach to blended learning combines face-to-face and online learning alternatives, like Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT), webinars, and elearning. Offering a structure and shape to flexible self-guided learning journeys makes sure you have a real impact.

Want to find out more? Explore our new blended learning strategies.

2. Embrace data-driven personalization

AI isn’t just transforming customer banking experiences. 15% of L&D teams are exploring how it can help them personalize learning. With your employees busier than ever, this is about providing the right learning content at the right time. If you don’t have access to AI technology, use the tools you have to gather data. Once you’ve found out what works, you can create personalized learning that drives impact and efficiency.

See an example of how to deliver personalized scenarios that stick here. 

3. Harness the power of video

Want to avoid your people clicking through compliance training? Employees at financial services organizations are calling out for more engaging learning experiences. And 41% of learning leaders are responding with a new focus on video. Whether it’s sharing knowledge or telling stories, user-generated videos are a quick and easy way to get content out there. They give voice to your employees’ real experiences and encourage peer learning.

Explore what other elearning trends are emerging this year in the full corporate elearning trends article. 

Summary

Banks are constantly evaluating and improving their operations to keep up with changing industry regulations, customer expectations, and technology. You can stay ahead by taking a people-centered approach to your elearning production.

• Find out what your employees really want and need
• Drive impact and compliance with flexible blended learning journeys
• Embrace data-driven personalization to ensure learning is really relevant
• Provide the video learning employees want with user-generated content

By putting your people at the center of L&D you can produce effective digital learning at speed and scale and overcome the finance industry’s key challenges.

If you want to find out more about the latest trends, read our full Training Trends Report 2022.

Meet the modern learner. Busy, savvy and hungry to learn. But are they getting what they need? We’ve pulled together findings from numerous research papers and surveys to help you get to grips with what modern professionals need. Use these insights to make sure your learning solutions will cut through the noise and help people when, where and how they need it.

Our original ‘Profile of a modern learner’ infographic and blog was published in June 2016.
This new version was created with the latest insights in August 2018.

The modern learner –  busy, savvy, and hungry to learn

The terms used by Josh Bersin to describe modern learners still hold. They are still ‘overwhelmed, distracted and impatient’ (Bersin by Deloitte). But, they are also hungry to learn and keen to grow their skills to the point that if an organisation isn’t enabling them to develop professionally, they’ll up and leave. That’s right, according to Fosway, learning and development opportunities are the #1 attraction to working somewhere, and can make or break employee retention and performance. But the learning and development opportunities have to be good.

The modern learner is savvy – hunting out the best answers to their problems, in the moment of need, mostly on Smartphones. Learning content has to be useful and relevant to engage them.

Sadly, many aren’t finding what they need in their workplace.

The modern learner also has an eye on the future. In an era of rising AI, more fluid job roles and rising contractors, people are reaching out for the kinds of skills that will do them well in the future. Whilst hard skills are, perhaps sensibly, focused on data analytics and machine learning, soft skills are tipping the balance in lists of more popular online courses. What’s interesting is that they feature skills such as ‘emotional intelligence’ and ‘critical thinking’ – skills that the bots can’t offer? – but also ‘learning how to learn’.

It seems that the modern learner is crying out to self-develop, but needs extra empowerment and support from their workplaces to figure out how, and where, to go.

Here’s the detail and sources behind the facts and stats we’ve shared.

The modern learner is…

1. Overwhelmed and distracted

In Insights from IMPACT 2018, Josh Bersin shared that the average worker spends 25% of their time on emails and checks their phone 150 times a day. We spend around 35% of our working week in meetings with more than half deemed unproductive (The Muse). And, on top of that, we are interrupted around 56 times a day (Atlassian). Being productive is challenging!

Meanwhile, the average time people have put aside to learn for work, is around 20 mins a week (Bersin & Forbes). A mere 1%. It’s no wonder people are begging for targeted, timely learning content.

2. Keen to learn

Professional development opportunities are essential for attracting and retaining people to organisations. Not only is it the #1 attraction to working at an organisation (Fosway), other studies, such as this one from Brand Learning, show how learning is essential to employee engagement, and in turn, essential to growth in business performance.

According to LinkedIn 2018 Workplace Learning Report, 94% of employees would stay at a company if it invested in their career development.

But it’s not always the case that people are getting what they want. In their 2018 Benchmark Report, Towards Maturity report that only:                                  

• 15% can access learning directly relating to their job
• 10% can determine own path through learning

3. Wants personalized, timely, quality content

Relevance is king. The majority of workplace learning is done in the moment of need. And, according to Treion Muller’s 7 Consumer Realities report, in moments of need 96% of people turn to their phones and search for the answer.

What’s more, increasingly people are getting more focused on quality and relevance. Think with Google reports that mobile searches that include the term “best” and “____for me” have grown by 80 and 60% respectively, in the last two years. People are hunting for the most useful answers, and stripping out what’s not helping them.

On top of that, the average person gives content around 7 seconds to decide if a page of content is for them or not, and 70% of users will leave if it’s not optimised for them and their needs.

4. Learns as needed, anywhere, anytime

According to Towards Maturity’s Bridging the Divide report, which has researched the movements of 43,000+ workplace learners since 2003, over half of people learn at the point of need. This takes the lion’s share of the survey. We understand from Treion Muller’s 7 Consumer Realities, that the majority of users in this case turn to their smartphones for this.

Mobile learning is also popular with those on commutes, with around a third of people learning whilst they travel to and from work. But there’s still a substantial amount (41%) that learn at their desks. Is this an indication that not all content is optimised for mobiles, or the reality that this is where many people are working and so are switching to learning through on the job experience and where it’s convenient? It could also be because a lot of learning needs dedicated focus and is easier to do on a larger screen.

5. Turn to their phones

We don’t really have to report on the smartphone revolution. It’s pretty obvious these days! But it does help to frame just how distracted and bombarded modern learning audiences are to report on some of the stats.

The average person spends 2 hours a day on their smartphone. This rises to 3 hours for 18 – 24 year olds (Time to log off). The addictiveness of smartphone and social media use is now being recognised by health organisations, like the NHS, who offer treatment for it. The average person checks their phone around 10 times an hour (Bersin).

It’s no surprise that in moments of need we turn to our beloved pocket friends for help when it comes to learning.

6. Prefers learning to be through on the job experience

Without a doubt, the majority of people prefer to learn through on the job experience (93%). This comes out top in both the user research conducted, independently, by Jane Hart and Towards Maturity. In fact, 93% of employees want to integrate learning and work (Treion Muller), to up their ability to learn through on the job experience and be more efficient.

Combining the findings of both Jane Hart’s and Towards Maturity’s reports, we get a list of preference that looks like this:

• Learning through on the job experience: 93%
• Collaboration and knowledge sharing: 90%
• Google and online resources: 76%
• Manager support: 74%
• Coaching & Mentoring: 65%
• Job aids and guides: 60%
• Classroom: 61%
• Online self-study/elearning: 49%
• Webinars: 44%
• Videos: 40%

Collaboration and knowledge sharing takes silver, and is probably no surprise as learning from and with others is natural, and highly effective. We’re used to turning to others’ for advice in the workplace and this is now easier and more widely cast through the use of social networking tools, like Slack.

Google and online resources are equally of no surprise as high rankers, but the need for manager support may be one that’s not respected enough in workplace L&D. Only 4% of L&D teams provide managers with resources to support their teams with their learning. according to Towards Maturity’s 2018 Benchmark Report. Yet we hear time and time again how imperative managers are to employee engagement and retention, and have already noted how important learning is to these outcomes too. It seems crazy that learning initiatives and manager support aren’t knotted together in L&D strategies.

Classroom learning is a challenging one. Towards Maturity find 63% of people find it a useful form of learning, whereas Jane Hart reports that just 31% users find it very important or essential.  However, Towards Maturity’s survey involved 10,000 users as opposed to the 2000 surveyed by Jane. So the average comes in around 61%.

Self paced elearning is considered essential or very useful by around 49% of users, based on the same logic as above.

7. Most values quality, ease of use and relevance in online learning…

In online learning, users most value quality, ease of use and navigation, and relevance and timeliness. These findings back-up the idea of modern learners being savvy filters of ‘what’s giving them value, now’ as they swiftly and automatically assess if content is worthy, in those first 7 seconds.

Similarly, around 55% of modern learners desire personalized learning, which fits with the idea of ‘right stuff, right time to help me’.

All of these stats come from Towards Maturity’s Modern Learning Content report.

8. Seeks out learning on soft skills

Combining the lists of most popular courses from Coursera, LinkedIn Learning and Lynda.com, we found that last year, soft skills training weighed in strongly for modern learners.

What’s really interesting is how the list of top soft skill courses highlight modern learners as people empowered and willing to improve and promote themselves. ‘Body language’, ‘Acing your interview’, ‘Negotiating your salary’ were some of the courses listed in Lynda.com’s top 25. These were alongside ‘Emotional intelligence’, ‘Critical thinking’ and other leadership-themed subjects, which show modern professionals as people preparing for their futures and looking to develop deep problem-solving qualities.

Ranking in the top 3 subjects taken via Coursera last year is ‘Learning how to learn’. We know modern learners are keen to learn, but is this telling us they don’t know how? Perhaps a comment on modern-day education systems, there’s signs that performance consultants and training professionals need to help coach, support and empower modern day users to develop professionally.

9. Motivated to learn because they want to do better and be more productive

Finally, we come to what most motivates modern learners to learn. Ranking way higher than hard-edged reasons such as promotion or salary increases, modern day professionals are keen to learn primarily so they can do their jobs better and be more productive, and for the innate value within learning itself. Learning brings pleasure, a sense of worth, and has value in itself.

It’s no wonder, when done right,  it boosts employees’ sense of engagement and performance.

Final thoughts

The modern learner may be busy and overwhelmed, but they are hungry to learn and savvy around they type of content that will help them get there and the skills they deem important for the future.

To engage modern learners, performance support and training and development opportunities need to empower professionals to develop their skills easily and flexibly.  Learning content must be easy to find, personalized, fit for purpose and help them in those crucial moments of need. Modern L&D is also about enabling people to learn whilst working. Check our our best elearning practice tips guide for more insights.

Yet, findings from Towards Maturity Benchmark Report 2018 show that only 1% of users are involved in the design of their learning, and just 10% say they can determine their own path through learning content provided.

Discover the secrets to successful elearning development here.

We can help you do it!

What can you do to develop the kind of modern, people-centred learning experiences users need? Elucidat can help! Book a demo today and get in touch with elearning experts.

References

• Atlassian: Stop wasting time at work
• Josh Bersin: Insights from IMPACT 2018
• Bersin by Deloitte: Meet the Modern Learner
• Bersin & Forbes: Watch our Corporate Learning Here Comes Disruption
  
• Brand Learning: Growth Drivers Study Report
  
• Coursera: 10 most popular courses in 2017
• Fosway: Revolutionising the Learning Experience 2018: webinar recording
• Jane Hart: Introduction to Modern Workplace Learning in 2018
• LinkedIn: 2018 Workplace Learning Report
• Lynda.com: The 25 Most Popular Online Classes this Year
  
• The Muse: How much time do we spend in meetings?
• Think with Google: Consumer Insights: Meeting Consumer Expectations
• Time to log off: How much time are you spending on your smartphone?
• Treion Muller: 7 Consumer Realities that the Learning Industry Can No Longer Ignore
  
• Towards Maturity: The Transformation Curve: 2018 Learning Benchmark Report
• Modern Learning Content 2017
• In focus: Bridging the Divide 2018