Right since the early days of eLearning, learning gurus and L&D leaders have stressed on the importance of personalized learning. Challenges in technology integration severely limited the personalization of learning in the days gone by. But now learning management systems have evolved significantly to allow the delivery of personalized learning. In this blog post, we will list down the necessity of personalized learning, how it boosts retention of learning, and why your learning platform should support personalized learning.

Challenges in technology integration severely limited the personalization of learning in the days gone by. But now learning management systems have evolved significantly to allow the delivery of personalized learning. In this blog post, we will list down the necessity of personalized learning, how it boosts retention of learning, and why your learning platform should support personalized learning.

Why Opt for Personalized Learning?

Let’s consider the example of dining out. What would you prefer to eat? A standard fare of pre-defined items that has a standard level of spice, salt, and oil in it? Or would you like the opportunity to choose your favorite dishes and have them cooked to your liking with the right amount of spice and flavor? It is a no brainer, right? Why should your learning experience be any different? Instead of being forced to follow a pre-defined learning path with off-the-shelf learning programs designed in a standard template format; it makes sense in investing in customized learning solutions that can be personalized as per the learners’ requirements.

Personalized Learning Improves Retention of Learning

Studies have shown that by personalizing learning, the levels of learner engagement improve and so does the retention of the learning acquired through the training program. Learners who are engaged have a clear focus on what they wish to do and which program to sign up for next.

Personalized Learning Helps L&D Fill Learning Gaps

L&D teams have an unenviable role in modern organizations. They interact with HR, individual team leads and project managers, and the employees requiring training to deploy a training program that satisfies all stakeholders. The primary challenge for L&D teams is to identify the exact employee training requirement and then direct the employee to the relevant training program. In large organizations, there is a ready library of learning content with designation-centric learning paths. Based on the requirements, the employee is allotted relevant training programs which are to be completed within a specific time.

As the employee takes up a personalized learning program, based on how the employee fares with the program and demonstrates the learning acquired through the program in his/her work; L&D can recommend new programs for the learner. This helps identify the learning gaps in the employee and ideal programs can be recommended. Similarly, if there are multiple learners who do not find merit in a program. Then the program can be archived or removed from the learning platform and a new program on the topic can be created.

What is the Actual Personalization of Learning?

There is a notion in a certain segment of the industry that by using animated characters and bright pop-ups, or avatars of the learner based on their photograph, and welcome messages with the learner’s name translates to personalization of learning. Nothing could be further away from the truth. Another school of thought believes that using adaptive learning in assessments to make the questions easy or tough based on the learner’s answers personalizes learning. These do not actually personalize learning in its truest sense.

So, what is the actual personalization of learning?

Do you use a Spotify premium account to stream music? Or the paid version of YouTube Music? If you use either of the two services, you will notice the amount of work that’s gone into building the algorithms that personalize your music experience. Once you set up an account and start streaming music, the algorithm intelligently lists out genres of music and artists based on the music that you have already listened. Now replicate this music experience to your learning needs.

What if your learning platform analyzed your learning needs and recommended the best learning path for you? Or a collaborative learning system that showcases what your peers are learning and allows you to challenge each other to complete courses or assignments? How about links to useful videos and additional reading content based on the specific program that you are taking? How about an option to interact with an instructor and get your queries clarified? This in a nutshell is what we mean by the actual personalization of learning. It makes the learner feel special and offers them a memorable learning experience.

Fractal – The Intelligent LXP

Fractal is designed with the learner at the center of the learning ecosystem. Backed by several features that make learning engaging and refreshing, use Fractal to deploy a personalized learning experience. Our R&D Team is working continuously to improve Fractal. Employing the best principles, we are creating a powerful recommendation engine, which will analyze learner interests, skills, course status, and designation to create a personalized learning experience. This feature is constantly being refined. As the number of organizations opting for Fractal increases, there will be a diverse and vast pool of data, which the algorithms will be able to use to enhance the recommendation engine.

Case Study

Origin Fractal was deployed by a leading SaaS provider of Augmented Intelligence solutions to train its users with personalized learning.  The SaaS provider was preparing for a big product launch and they were looking for a new training platform that would offer a refined and personalized learning experience. The primary point that the client stressed was – “We want a seamless and low maintenance migration of training content to the new platform.”

The primary challenge for the Fractal Team was to meet the tight deadlines, migrate existing content, integrate the new content created for the product launch, and offer all this in the form of personalized learning paths. The project was completed well within the deadline and currently there are 400 users on the platform accessing microlearning and just-in-time learning content through personalized learning paths. Here’s a bit of feedback from the client – “I am so impressed with the quality of the content and experience. This is really a fantastic start.” VP – Product.

Fractal offers learning leaders an opportunity to harness technology to improve the employee and channel partner experience and spark innovation. What are your thoughts on delivering personalized learning? Does your existing learning platform allow you to deliver a personalized learning experience to your learners? If you are looking for a robust, intuitive, cloud-based learning platform that offers a high-level of customization, switch to Fractal LXP today.