Top tips: Enhancing virtual learning experiences
The core attributes of the healthcare industry include its fast pace, tight regulation and competitiveness, as well as its continuous desire for innovation. It is hardly surprising that successful learning and development (L&D) activities should want to follow suit to become more relevant, personalized, motivational, secure and easily translatable to practical action. Of course, ‘digital innovation’ in L&D does not mean one strategy or one way of thinking; it encompasses a plethora of opportunities that can be integrated during the development phase to improve the learner experience of training. This article highlights some of the key tools and tactics to consider when developing your training program.
Choose the right tools and tactics
Accessible
With an increasing number of individuals embracing remote and flexible working, learning platforms should support an easy and on-demand access to information from any location and multiple devices.
Personalized
Provide a clear learning journey that is tailored to the individual’s professional development needs and learning preferences to improve engagement and facilitate effective knowledge uptake.
Compatible
Use content formats that will work seamlessly on your platform. More importantly, make sure they are best suited to your learner’s needs, whether they are eLearning modules, PDFs, multimedia formats, or virtual collaborative environments.
Measurable
Choose a system that can gather useful metric indicators of the learners’ interaction with materials and their performance, so that you can monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your training program.
Keep it interesting
Interactivity
It comes in many forms. From discussion opportunities to click-and-reveals that allow learners to progress at their own pace, interactivity can provide many learning benefits and positive experiences – if it’s not confused with engagement.
Innovation
It doesn’t have to be high-tech and expensive. It can be as simple as upgrading your learner management system (LMS) platform, creating a learner journey, improving navigation, developing collaborative learning spaces, or generating better assessment and feedback approaches.
Gamification
Building game mechanics and aesthetics into more traditional learning formats can really stimulate participation and improve memorability of the training content. Gamification can support real-world learning through hands-on practice, problem-solving, and learning from mistakes in a competitive and risk-free environment.
Assessment and progress tracking
Select assessment tools that provide instant feedback, opportunities to revisit certain content, and retake tests. Keeping track of progress on a learning dashboard and the option to rate or fill out surveys on the learning experience can further boost learners' engagement.
Support well-being, information retention, and inclusivity
1)
Beware of digital fatigue
Strained eyes, fractured concentration, and lowered productivity are all signs of digital fatigue. The secret lies in using human-centered design and keeping digital tools and resources purposeful and intuitive. Technology should not hinder; it should enhance the learning experience.
2)
Aid memory consolidation
Memory is the foundation of learning. Information processing requires the brain to have ‘quiet time’ to organize newly learnt concepts. Reducing training times or building in screen-free breaks for socialising or even physical activity are great ways to battle digital fatigue and support encoding information into long-term memory.
3)
Protect mental well-being
Remote working and multichannel communication need careful streamlining and prioritizing to prevent paralyzing information overload, frustrating distractions, fragmented attention, and blurry work–life boundaries, all of which can damage mental health. Make your mission to prioritize your learner’s well-being above all else.
4)
Foster inclusivity
All learners benefit from training programs that are produced using universal design principles, with accessible materials and flexible delivery that enables all staff to engage in self-directed study as part of their working routine.