Picture this: Two ambitious professionals are each taking an online project management course.
- When Mitchel logs into the course, his is greeted with the standard welcome page. He sees what sections he’s completed and clicks on the next one in the list. He works through the course answering the standard knowledge checks and quizzes that all students are presented with. He finds himself rushing through familiar concepts, but then struggles with new concepts and doesn’t feel he’s truly grasping them.
- When Sunita logs into the course, she is greeted by name and asked if she would like to pick up where she left off along her customized learning path. The course observes that she’s excelled in the risk management module of the course but might need a bit more practice with stakeholder communication and recommends some practice activities. As she progresses, the content adapts, offering more challenging scenarios in areas where she is strong, and providing additional resources and simplified explanations for concepts she’s struggling with.
Two Design Approaches
Which of these two learners will be more likely to achieve—and retain—the promised learning objectives and outcomes?
Mitchel is taking a course designed using a generalized learning approach. Long the norm for eLearning development, it is a one-size-fits-all solution designed to meet the needs of the average learner. The pace is fixed so all learners progress through the material in the same manner by following a pre-determined path. Assessment questions are standardized at the same level of difficulty and provide general feedback applicable to all learners. Interactions appear throughout to engage the learner, but the forms of engagement may not meet the needs of every learner.
Sunita, on the other hand, is taking a course designed using a personalized learning approach. The content in her course is tailored to her individual needs and preferences and allows her to progress through at her own pace. The assessment questions adjust in difficulty based on her responses, and the feedback she receives is targeted based on her individual performance. Additionally, if warranted, she is provided with extra opportunities to practice in areas where she has shown that more attention is needed.
Both Sunita and Mitchel will achieve the learning objectives as stated – even if it requires multiple attempts at a final assessment. But Sunita is more likely to retain what she has learned for longer and ultimately achieve the performance objectives that she wanted to see as a result. Why? A personalized approach puts the learner at the center of the process and adapts to their needs while guiding them toward the defined learning objectives. This means deeper learner engagement which in turn, results in better outcomes.
The Cost of Personalized Learning
So, if the personalized approach to learning is more effective – why don’t more organizations personalize their learning? In a nutshell, cost. Developing personalized learning is resource-intensive – it takes significantly more time and effort to develop and implement a course that adapts to the learner compared to a generalized approach designed for the average learner. Personalization is data-driven and requires complex algorithms to control the pathway. Even if a simplified approach of using branching pathways based on learner choices is used, all the additional content must be designed and developed, regardless of whether it will be seen by every learner.
As much as organizations know that personalized learning creates a more engaging experience, they must also manage costs. Unfortunately, we see this manifest through reductions in training budgets during economic downturns, rightly or wrongly.
AI and the Future of Learning
All is not lost though. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence – particularly in generative AI – present new approaches to personalized learning without the need for overly complex algorithms or large amounts of potentially unused content. With thoughtful planning by humans, courses can be personalized to interact with large language models that reference curated course content and provide real-time interactive experiences for much lower per-student costs than previous approaches.
At Smartfirm, we believe that AI has a prominent role in the future of eLearning and are developing solutions that provide strong learning experiences focused only on YOUR learning content. We are calling our AI division Learning Leader, which will soon offer a personalized assistant designed to supercharge your current eLearning courses and provide a customized experience.
Interested in learning more? Go to learningleaderai.com to see what we have in store, and add your name to our waitlist to get early access when we are ready to launch.