How to integrate adaptive learning into your corporate training and eLearning courses

What if you could develop a corporate training with customized eLearning and other learning modules that would meet the needs of the individual learners within your organization, without spending more than you would to create a traditional, broad-based program?

When you customize a learning solution to meet the unique needs of individual learning styles, that’s broadly called adaptive learning. You develop eLearning and other corporate training courses using a range of methodologies to accommodate different learning styles, overcome difficulties, and meet specific pre-determined needs and goals. It’s a useful practice to avoid the pitfalls of traditional, one-size pedagogy that might not engage your learning audience or meet the needs of individual learners with different experience levels or other characteristics.

What is adaptive learning in practice?

Most often, the term “adaptive learning” is used to describe eLearning and digital learning that makes use of AI systems and predictive analytics. Data is gathered based on learner activities and used to build better models. Courses are developed with algorithms to serve up content, make prompts, or adjust difficulty and skill level based on learner choices.

The predictive technology is similar to the sort already used in many of the common digital platforms we use online. For example, you might see suggested videos based on your YouTube viewing habits or be served advertisements based on your purchase history. These are similar predictive algorithms used to adapt to and predict your preferences.

However, you can also intentionally design the principles of adaptive learning into your eLearning courses and blend them with instructor-led training, without investing in AI or predictive software.

Adaptive learning with eLearning but without the AI

As you might guess, adaptive learning is a way of thinking about learning as much as a technology. You will want to tailor your learning content to unique and individual learners using instructional design best practices to meet a range of learning needs. A course that includes visual elements, hands-on practice or real-world scenarios for experience-based training, and audio can help to bridge the gap with various learning styles. You can also improve outcomes by blending approaches.

In essence, you want to design your training to take into account the differing needs of learners based on experience levels, time constraints, location, and accessibility. These elements can all be combined with instructor-led and traditional modes of training.

How? In practice, you can get the benefits of adaptive learning by using the following strategies while developing your learning plans:

One – Use surveys and user data from your IT department to customize your learning. Use the aggregated user data and other collected information to inform the design of your courses.

Two – Gather user feedback to update your courses. Does your team have pain points, such as time constraints or difficulty with access? Add digital elements, such as offline resources and support to embed in the flow of work to reinforce learning and increase accessibility.

Three – Bring in performance consultants. You may want to invest in expert advice to review your data and design your courses.

Four – Build courses with learner choice built into the platform. All updates to your learning approach should provide learner flexibility, which build accessibility and equity into your program by offering self-directed options.

Conclusion

The future of learning is moving in the direction of meeting learning needs on an individual basis to maximize results. You can implement adaptive learning within your organization using a variety of training methods and best practices. For more information and to get best results, you may want to consult with performance consultants and instructional designers to ensure your investment gets the returns you envision for your organization.