There's been a lot of talk about the impact of technology in business. Digital tools improve business production, in addition to assisting management and leadership in making decisions based on concrete data. On the other hand, technology makes a difference to an essential point to the success of any company: employee qualification. In today’s post, we will talk about major trends in corporate education, showing tools you can use to improve the digital competencies of your team and the work environment as a whole.

1. Storytelling in E-Learning

Once it was a trend, but nowadays e-learning is a reality. Just in higher education, there are more than 2,000 courses available—but e-learning can also be explored in other education spheres, including business. Among the techniques and methods used to make online courses and trainings increasingly effective and efficient, storytelling is a trend that uses narratives to stimulate creativity in students, while also transmitting major information. For example, a teacher can tell how they have changed a small store in a major market after making some corporate decisions, such as the adoption of strategical partnerships. But ensure that the story content still reflects technical parts of the overall message in the class, regardless of the subject.

2. Mobile Learning

Brazil has more than 230 million smartphone users. The overwhelming majority of employees who work in your company access the Internet on their phones. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to use such a device as an ally for corporate education. Mobile learning uses applications to assist in professional education. It can include video lectures, e-books, or even educational tests and games to encourage employees to learn in a simplified manner. Mobile learning's great advantage is offering convenience and privacy to learners, who may participate in courses everywhere since they’re stored on their device. Furthermore, this kind of strategy may be combined with microlearning. In this case, the employee participates in small daily trainings by mobile phone, whether watching a short video or doing activities that require only a few minutes of their attention. So, the learning is increasingly easy!

3. Customized Training

The majority of the trends in corporate education have a common factor: customization. Generally, internal training used to be designed for a mass transmission, for either entire teams or the entire company. But each employee has specific potential and strengths and weaknesses, besides being more affected by different types of education. Customization is required. By means of customization, trainings are optimized so that they are able to help each employee in more important points. A tip to start this process is to survey the team members' skills in order to outline specific learning paths for each one. Also, customization provides professionals with autonomy, so they can seek courses consistent with their career plan.

4. Gamification

Inserting the logic of games into corporate education is a trend that will require a lot of attention in the coming years. The idea is to transform the learning into a lighter and more involving process without losing focus on the long-term results. Companies may create games or adapt them according to their internal requirements. If there is difficulty in improving employment-related accident rates, for example, an option is to create a game in which the employees identify problems by using personal protective equipment (PPE) similar to the games created in the analog age, such as the Seven Differences game. It is important to note that gamification is not strictly confined to the digital environment. Also, it is possible to promote lighter and more involving face-to-face trainings exploring concerns such as teamwork and creativity, or moments of crisis simulations that allow the building of strategies for real situations in a controlled environment.

5. Hybrid Learning

The structure of a classroom is more than known, right? In this context, a teacher is responsible for sharing knowledge with students. Just like that. But what if the students were also resources of information and experience? In hybrid learning, students receive class material in advance (it can also be done via mobile phone applications) and study it to share what they’ve learned with their classmates. The idea is to make the training and learning environment more balanced while stimulating professional autonomy at the same time. In addition, exchange of knowledge and experiences between colleagues is good for strengthening team spirit and helping to improve the work environment. So, the journey becomes so much nicer, motivation is improved, and general satisfaction with the workplace tends to rise.

6. Continuous (Nonstop) Learning

We have never before had so much access to information. Therefore, it has never been so obvious that education (personal and professional) requires continuous effort. Think about it: In addition to knowledge accumulated through education, we live in a moment in which new technologies and methods arise at an accelerating rate. As its name suggests, nonstop education proposes continuously maintaining qualifications for work. Employees receive internal training and seek qualification in external institutions (that may be supported by the company), in addition to keeping their eyes always open for fresh content on the Internet, whether on specialized websites or in social media.

7. Learning Alchemy

As mentioned, access to huge quantities of information is possible thanks to the Internet. But there is a problem: the difficulty in separating really interesting content from items that are not relevant. To transform simple data into real learning, we need to select and analyze each piece of information. So, learning alchemy may be the ideal solution to this challenge. In this case, alchemists are responsible for filtering and curating content to transmit to employees, but only the items that are important to each person. The best part is that employees need to be encouraged to practice learning alchemy, autonomously seeking new information and sharing what they’ve learned with their colleagues. To learn more, please contact Telefônica Educação Digital.