Corporate Training Outlook and Trends for 2018

Flexibility. Agility. Adaptability. Raise your hand if you heard these corporate buzzwords in 2017. From the age of the workforce to the demands of the market, so much about business is shifting, and business practices, including training and development, are shifting with it. It’s a brand new year, and corporate training is putting companies’ commitment to change to the test with these exciting trends to watch for.

1. Microlearning

Microlearning has integrated itself into corporate training in a big way, and while it’s taken root in the past few years, 2018 is the year it will sprout and grow. Characterized by bite-sized lessons designed around one or two measurable objectives, microlearning can refer to any number of learning activities, such as short videos or video series, quizzes, and flashcards, that are easily portable, accessible, and digestible. As their own program or as part of a larger training initiative, microlearning helps to teach and reinforce concepts one at a time to ensure mastery.

2. Gamification

While gamification is not exactly new, it is a trend that is expected to grow even more in 2018. When gamification came onto the scene, the corporate training industry began designing new ways to deliver training materials by taking cues from games in response to the demand for more interactive training. By including elements like stories, levels, easily identifiable objectives, rewards, and leaderboards, learners are engaged and driven to achieve more, while also providing measurable progress through gamified programs.

3. Social Learning

With the level of social accessibility we’re accustomed to, it’s easy to understand the trend of more social and interactive training experiences. Building forums, chat rooms, and collaborative or competitive activities into training helps learners by giving them several perspectives and pools of experience to draw on while working through training material, in addition to training those soft skills that are becoming so highly valued in today’s business world, such as communication, leadership, and active listening.

4. AR and VR

Early adopters of augmented and virtual reality for training have begun to employ these new technological spaces to creating engaging classrooms, scenarios, and simulations for learners, and everyone is taking notice. In fact, in the past few months, Walmart has rolled out a new program using VR headsets to train employees by simulating situations that they could encounter on-the-job, and they hope the new technology will allow them to train new and rising employees more thoroughly and efficiently. While the widespread use of AR and VR in the corporate training space is still in its infancy, it is definitely a trend to watch in 2018 as the capabilities of the tech continue to evolve.

5. Personalization

While a cookie-cutter training approach may seem cheaper, it’s just not working for employees anymore. Personalized training, including flexible objectives and instructors taking the role of coach rather than lecturer, is becoming the new normal in 2018. But not only does personalization make for a better learning experience, it also offers a broader benefit for companies looking to improve the ROI of employee engagement. Customized learning paths teach the company about the employee being trained just as much as the employee learns about the company, allowing superiors to craft goals and address areas of improvement more easily and effectively.

Whether we’re already immersed in these trends or they’re still on the horizon, there’s no doubt that 2018 is going to be an exciting year. New technologies and applications place the learner experience at the heart of the training process, building the foundation of tomorrow’s companies as the business world continues to evolve. Start your year right by making a change: try a free demo of SharedBook today by clicking below!