6 tips for better digital learning in the workplace

One of the major LD trends is creating better learning experiences, and that means offering more consumer-like online learning opportunities. Employees want simple access to online resources and easy-to-use digital tools that have intuitive interfaces.

Take the experience of Visa, based in San Francisco. When chief learning officer Karie Willyerd started at Visa in 2018, the company already had digital training offerings, she said on the panel. People did contribute great content, but on the user experience front, it was difficult to navigate, so adoption was low.

Visa embarked on an ongoing digital transformation, as the company develops and refines its learning and development approach, Willyerd said. One priority has been simplifying the way users are able to access content on the front end. To that point, Visa uses Microsoft Teams to provide a simple user interface for learning.

Developers created APIs to stitch together about two dozen applications to create the current offering, Willyerd said. The learning experience platform (LXP) is the front end for learners, and on the back end resides the learning management system. For example, learners can access the Intrepid learning platform and Degreed upskilling platform through Teams, where they also collaborate.

“We’re really experimenting with bringing everything to the learner in their workspace, even though these are all separate applications,” Willyerd said.

Getting feedback from employees on what they like and don’t like is important, but there are also new technologies that can help.

One way to understand whether specific learning experiences resonate is through the use of xAPI, a protocol that allows companies to collect from different systems what learners are clicking on and using, store it in a learning record store, and apply analytics so companies can improve the offerings. It’s an important new technology, Bersin said, pointing to Watershed as an example.