Top 5 Technologies That Are Revolutionizing Learning at the Workplace

9 Jan 2023

Are you looking for ideas to make your training more engaging and fun? Learning technologies can help you deliver appealing learning experiences. Continue reading to learn about the top 5 technologies that can help you transform your training initiatives.

Learning technology is an umbrella term that refers to the use of information, communication, and technological tools to enhance understanding, teaching, and assessment.¹ Though there are plenty of reasons to incorporate learning technologies in your training, we will focus on some of the key ones.

Why Do Learning Technologies Matter?

Learning technologies will help you offer personalized learning, boost content mastery, and, above all, make learning entertaining, which can translate to better application of on-the-job training and ultimately better business outcomes!

Figure 1: Benefits of learning technologies

1. Artificial Intelligence in Education

Artificial intelligence (AI), in simple terms, is the capability of machine algorithms to arrive at conclusions without direct human intervention. It involves making smart machines arrive at decisions by analyzing data available in an enterprise. AI can be the biggest game changer by 2030, potentially adding a whopping $15.7 trillion to the global GDP.²

AI in L&D is claimed to have significant advantages in supporting learning, particularly in the workplace setting.

It might be surprising to learn that AI in education (AIED) has been in vogue since the early 20th century - machines that provided instant feedback and were often referred to as personal tutors.

Figure 2: AI in education

AIED has now evolved into intelligent tutoring systems that match one-to-one coaching and go on to provide feedback and customize the curriculum based on the learner’s needs. The current offshoots of AIED include explorative learning environments, chatbots, continuous feedback, and more.³

Let us look at some exceptional AIED applications:^3,4

Figure 3: Examples of AI applications in education

SI. no.	AI application	Capabilities
1	SlideTutor	Train problem-solving and diagnostic classification in dermatopathology
2	TechMed	Communicates clinical reasoning with feedback as per the learner's pace
3	ReportTutor	Analysis of melanoma cases by looking at virtual slides with a virtual microscope
4	BRCA Gist	Engages learners in dialogues about the risks of genetic breast cancer

AIED at the workplace has the potential to boost learning by offering personalized, meaningful, and continuous learning and helping foster employee satisfaction and engagement.

2. Metaverse

The term “metaverse” classically describes the perceived 3D virtual spaces created with an amalgamation of virtual worlds, augmented reality, AI, and the internet.⁵ Hand controllers, voice commands, and eye tracking allow the users to navigate their perceived environment.

The 4150 metaverse USPTO trademark filings as of August 2022, almost double the 2021 filings of 1866 applications, speak of the buzz it has created.⁶

Let us now look at a few innovative metaverse use cases:

■

Novartis' Experiential Learning: Pharma leader Novartis trains hundreds of its employees in an immersive virtual simulation lab on the best practice production and aseptic procedures for one of its anticancer drugs. Any mistakes in a real-life lab could have fatal consequences. It is paramount to note that such learnings have much more impact and retention, especially when a single mistake could ruin an entire batch of drugs in production. The outcomes of the training demonstrated real-world performance with unlimited redos in a simulated environment that can alter users' neural wiring.⁷

■

GSK's Digital Twin: Traditional vaccine development often takes decades, owing to the numerous phases in their development, including robust clinical studies to establish their safety and efficacy. The pharma giant GSK is leveraging the “digital twin,” a virtual facsimile of a person, product, service, or process, to speed up their vaccine development program. GSK is leveraging this technology to collect real-time insights by merging vaccine development's virtual and real realms in a closed loop. To cut it short, the digital twin linked to the real vaccine manufacturing process optimizes the manufacturing process. GSK anticipates failures and simulates its vaccine manufacturing to improve quality and self-learning, eventually accelerating its manufacturing to get vaccines to people faster.⁸

3. Gamification

Gamification in L&D is a great way to drive engagement, raise curiosity, and make your learning enjoyable and effective. A 2019 survey about gamification in the workplace reported that 83% of the respondents who received gamified training felt motivated, while 63% of the employees who did not receive gamified training felt bored and unproductive.⁹

Let us move on to the use cases of gamification:

■

Detective: One of the top pharma games developed by Training Arcade is being used to upskill sales reps, train new hires, and reinforce key product information. This game is particularly useful in scenarios where observation and deduction skills matter the most. The game revolves around suspects and case studies with bits of evidence. The users evaluate and connect numerous data points to identify the suspects, eventually arriving at a conclusion.¹⁰

■

Bridge to Care: Merck used this 5-part eLearning on HIV to educate healthcare professionals. The training revolved around the patient journey from diagnosis to treatment. To deliver an engaging and immersive learning experience, the learning leveraged video-based patient simulations and games. According to the pilot program, 93% of the learners were confident in their ability to implement the learning from this course.¹¹

4. Storytelling

Now, who does not like a compelling story, and the L&D arena is no exception? When incorporated into sales training, storytelling can help reinforce new learning with its emotional impact.

DaVita uses the power of storytelling coupled with technology to train its 65,000 employees by making them the heroes of their immersive patient empathy tale.¹² Newer forms of storytelling have taken the shape of visually compelling and immersive data-driven stories, which act as a powerful tool to boost understanding. Instead of presenting statistics, rewriting it into a visual human experience helps it resonate with thousands of people, given the fact that people are far better at processing visual information than words.¹³

A noteworthy example of visual storytelling is “Mystery to Me,” a documentary based on patient stories about myasthenia gravis, a rare neuromuscular disease. This documentary won several accolades at the 2021 Fierce Pharma Marketing Awards, including the best online film.¹⁴

5. Learning Analytics

Learning analytics, though last on the list, is critical for any learning or technology employed. A generalized definition of “learning analytics” could be an emerging tool used for tracking and storing learning activities.¹⁵

Learning analytics is vital to chalking out your learning strategy – the intended business/learner outcomes. The analytics data will help you identify employees who need more attention and design future recommendations besides understanding learners and e-learning usage to understand learner engagement.

Now, if you are wondering how to get started using learning analytics, worry not. Most of the learning experience platforms (LXPs) now have this built-in feature. Most LXPs can provide information about what topics are being searched and help you understand the learner’s needs and customize the content. Further, LXP data can offer insights into learners’ online behavior, skills they mastered, and discern the level of learner engagement across the organization.

What Next?

Now that you know the advantages of learning technologies to bolster learning and promote knowledge retention and engagement, you can start thinking about which of these technologies fit your requirements and incorporate them into your L&D initiatives.