What do the 2019 learning trends have in store for L&D professionals? Exciting opportunities, hard challenges, and doable solutions!
A few months ago, I wrote a story about my first job, and the very bad learning program we had. For over a year, I worked at a call center, taking calls for a sports betting company.
During that year, the one time I was taught something was when I received a very brief course on horse bets. A horse-racing expert named Nick explained everything I needed to know about the “sport of kings”; he also told me I had potential to work in the horse betting department.
That course was a one-time deal. I never received further training, and I scarcely took horse bets. Clearly, I did not get an opportunity in the horse department.
As I joined the Learning and Development industry, I realized that these sorts of experiences were common in many companies. Learning used to be considered a singular event; learning and development content was a random collection of courses and workshops.
Things, however, have changed for the better. Learning, we know now, is a continuous journey. Think of it as a complex, integrated ecosystem that is ever-evolving. Every moment we take in information—from media, from our peers, from content an organization controls and content it does not—is a step in the learning journey.
A recent in-depth article by Danielle Hart, Director of Marketing at SweetRush, focuses on that argument: the ongoing evolution of the learning ecosystem. In 2019 Instructional Design Trends and Learning Trends: The Ecosystem Evolves, Hart explores the challenges that Learning and Development professionals face—and the solutions that will help them overcome these pain points.
“As we think about 2019 instructional design trends and learning trends, though this might be a radical concept, our first thought is not about solutions. Instead, we’re thinking about the sticking points. The challenges. Those areas that are holding the ecosystem back from evolving,” Hart writes.
She adds: “As those solutions come into the mainstream and are integrated within the whole, we’ll see L&D shedding its skin, and emerging with vibrant colors that will attract talented professionals who will help continue this evolution!”
Like Hart, I feel optimistic and excited about what’s to come for L&D during this year rolling out in front of us. It pleases me to know that, despite my poor learning experience during my first job so many years ago, there’s a whole army of awesome L&D professionals who will integrate these solutions into their tool kits, and persevere in their missions to improve the lives of others through learning.
As Hart writes, “we face tough challenges, but with the talent, intellect, and creativity in this field, we can overcome the toughest of them together.”
Make sure to check out 2019 Instructional Design Trends and Learning Trends: The Ecosystem Evolves.
