Earlier this month I attended the 2018 AITD (Australian Institute Of Training and Development) conference in Sydney. My aim was to immerse myself in the world of Learning and Development and take a snapshot of what is happening at the coalface.
Over two days I heard from a huge range of speakers in the training industry - with some really great messages to be shared! Below are a few speakers or topics that really resonated with me:
HIGHLIGHTS
- Arun Pradhan: Design your learning from the human need, rather than the next shiny thing.
- 24 minutes is the average available time for training each week. Make sure your training bite fits this - with a little room to move. Any bigger and you are going to create a barrier.
- Video content continues to be the premium tool for engagement, showing what good looks like, and enhancing retention.
- Micro-learning is still the hero, as long as it’s well constructed. Best used for refreshing and reinforcement.
LOWLIGHTS
- VR: Unless your training is an extremely high risk (surgery) or very costly (heavy machinery) VR has very limited application in learning and is still clunky and costly.
- Self Directed Learning: Unless your team member is exceptionally ambitious or is going to be outrageously rewarded, it doesn’t happen. Nice idea in theory.
- The industry is buried in acronyms and theory, with an increasing gap between pragmatic, outcome-based solutions and technology-based trends.
- Where was the behaviour change discussion? There is a gaping hole around systems that create change in behaviour and can demonstrate long-term return on investment.
While digital learning continues to evolve, the increasing complexity in the tools on offer is making developing good learning more difficult.
Sadly there is a focus on bells and whistles over outcome-driven learning. Outcomes will only get better as we learn to cut through the clutter, simplify the message and build elegant solutions that focus on changing behaviour. At RedSeed, that is our driving force. Everything we do through our platform and content is focused on employee behaviour change.
