Purposeful talent development: Supporting the modern learner

Three key boxes to check to ensure online education includes personal elements.

Educational offerings need to check more boxes than ever before, as expectations from learners increase. In particular, demanding personal and professional schedules and technology have changed the way modern learners access professional development.

With this shift, educators still offer and people still access face-to-face learning experiences, but online courses, e-learning modules and videos have become much of what learners consume. This has many positives, including access to content when you need it, the opportunity to learn about content of interest and fitting with schedules. However, the belief that reading or watching ensures learning—and the ability to apply it—is problematic. When we place responsibility on the learner to engage in application of learning, it can be forgotten or even ignored in place of daily tasks. And, with so much focus on the resulting microlearning and on-demand offerings, have we lost sight of the value of personal interactions with development?

Checking all the boxes to support the modern learner requires building application into learning and offering opportunities to build relationships. Within your talent development offerings, how many of these boxes can you check?

 

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