Millennials are driving shifts in how we employ, engage, and train our employees, as we have explored recently in Close the “Gaps” to Solve the Millennial Retention Crisis and A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Millennials as Employees.

This generation embraces on-the-job training and personal development to keep up with the accelerating pace of technology. At the same time, organizations need cost-effective ways of training increasingly diverse and scattered workforces, with options that work for all employees, regardless of age or learning preferences.

For these reasons, learning systems are now the fastest growing segment in HR technology spending, according to Deloitte. Statistics reveal a necessity for an ever-increasing array of training tools to support Millennials’ (as well as Gen Xers’ and Baby Boomers’) professional development—especially digital tools that appeal to younger workers’ self-reliance.

• 65 percent cite personal development as the most influential factor in their current job. (UNC Kenan-Flagler)
• 22 percent cite training and development as the most valued employment benefit. (UNC Kenan-Flagler)
• 45 percent of executives believe keeping up with learning technologies that support today’s technology-driven careers is an urgent or very important concern. (Deloitte).

The following are a spectrum of learning technologies that are trending in 2018. Some incorporate elements of traditional in-person learning, while others are purely digital.

Interactive Video Learning

This format blends the engagement and retention benefits of video with the element of user interaction. A trainee can watch a video and then answer questions, complete activities, and put new information into practice. Taking these actions furthers the already proven impact of video on knowledge learning and retention.

Savo Group research has shown that video can improve the ability of people to remember details with increasing effects over time. Presentations with visuals like video along with slide text are 9 percent more effective than text alone when comprehension is tested right away, but become a staggering 83 percent more effective when those tests are delayed.

Virtual Instructor Training

This format provides the benefits of a traditional classroom setting online. Webinars and webcasts are popular iterations of this format, which is ideal for employers with a dispersed workforce, as well as organizations with high generational diversity. Baby Boomers and Gen Xers accustomed to human instruction can appreciate this setup as well as many Millennials who prefer self-directed learning. In pre-recorded webcasts, this format enables easy, flexible, and convenient scheduling.

Gamification

Like video games, this format uses virtual reality to train employees, putting them in real-world scenarios. This format is ideal for applying training and putting it into practice. Walmart uses gamification in 187 employee training centers, where employees go through simulations of situations like Black Friday and are asked to perform a variety of tasks. Many teams in the National Football League have applied this technology to positional training. It has been widely used to train inexperienced quarterbacks to advance more quickly through the learning curve of reading complex NFL defenses.

Mobile Learning

Millennials have grown up expecting anytime, anywhere access to information, and they often prefer to use their own devices to access content. Mobile learning content is typically packaged in short, digestible bites, which can include videos, charts, graphs, audio files, and text content, as well as some interactive features like chats and surveys.

Microlearning

This efficient format can be combined with the methods above and is ideal for extremely busy workers who cannot find significant chunks of time each day to devote to training, but can find a few minutes here and there. Microlearning takes lengthier content and divides it into smaller, digestible learning “bites.” Research from Germany’s Dresden University of Technology showed that this format drives over 20 percent more information retention than long-form training.

Social and Collaborative Learning

This format is typically delivered through a social feature of other digital platforms. For example, trainees in an interactive video learning or virtual trainer program may be able to access social features in which they can share information in real time, provide peer feedback, and collaborate on projects.

Blended Learning

This form of learning blends formats. Often, employers will use microlearning or mobile learning to support traditional in-person training sessions or workshops. Another popular iteration is online social learning among classmates who attend in-person sessions.

Many of the employers we work with are using several of these technologies and tracking employee learning progress using advanced metrics. As these organizations learn more about these formats in practice, we will report on which of these technologies are producing the greatest returns on investment.