By Uma Ganesh
During the pandemic, everyone from school teachers to tiny tots to corporate executives jumped on the bandwagon of e-learning. Overnight they started discovering the vast learning opportunities available on the internet. Existing digital learning providers and startups came up with several options that users could choose from.But after the initial burst, the enthusiasm started to fade. The primary reason for this was the lack of camaraderie and excitement of physical interactions.
Even well researched courses put together by experts from top academic institutions have seen only 3 to 4% completion rates. Harvard University and MIT have found that not more than 7% of their learners are enrolling for new courses.
And although these initiatives promised to provide access to learners from countries low on the human development index, the reach is less than 2% for them. Hence, a rationale is building for moving towards cohort-based courses with a focus on learning outcomes.Cohort-based courses focus on the key elements required to make learning exciting and outcome-driven.
These include making the learning process interactive, building customised learning pathways and assignments based on a learner’s strengths and the required skills and, providing real-time feedback, assessments based on application and demonstration and not just on the basis of end-of-the-course quizzes.
The assumption that all learning can come from one source and hence content is king needs to give way to context being given a key place.Curating content from multiple sources in a dynamic fashion would be necessary to make learning suitable for emerging roles and skill sets, instead of designing content with huge investment to use it over a long period of time.Traditional learning management systems have to incorporate AI- powered bots capable of predicting and supporting learner needs and adapting to learner profiles.
Learning management systems (LMS) should bring in the flexibility to integrate with other systems and specifically enable personalisation of content, gamification and curation of content by the learners themselves. Rich analytics of learner progression, granular feedback on performance improvement areas and proven impact on business results would be essential to make decisions on investments in digital tools and platforms.
Edtech tools should be layered with cognitive psychology and guided by practising trainers and subject matter experts to embed practical insights on making learning effective. Scenario-based learning and simulations made possible by augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) shaping metaverse will make learning more immersive and interactive.
Since AR is likely to be adopted faster than VR due to accessibility via mobiles, a broader adoption of cohort-based courses is possible.In the long run, with democratisation of online learning, ownership of content and tools could get decentralised and ownership tracked through blockchain credentials.
The future of e-learning continues to be promising. However, in order to build sustainable learning communities, outcomes supported by superior learning experience would be key.
The writer is chairperson, Global Talent Track, a corporate training solutions firm