What is digital learning?
What is digital learning?
Digital learning refers to the use of digital technologies to help employees acquire new skills.
This concept covers all e-learning solutions, from e-learning modules to virtual classes, MOOCs and microlearning via smartphone.
Unlike traditional e-learning, which is based on fixed content and a solitary experience in front of the screen, digital learning offers far more dynamic and interactive formats. The learner benefits from enhanced pedagogical support and fun features to encourage engagement.
Moreover, e-learning is only one part of digital learning, a wider range of teaching methods and practices, and digital learning perfectly integrates advances in data analysis. By tracking each user's activities, we can personalize learning paths and target areas for improvement in real time.
What are the different digital learning formats?
The virtual classroom
The virtual classroom enables you to reproduce the interaction of a face-to-face course at a distance. Participants and trainer connect via a dedicated platform at a fixed time, to follow the course and exchange views in real time.
Virtual classrooms also integrate various collaboration tools, such as screen sharing, interactive whiteboards, live polls and emoticons.
This format is ideal for short, dynamic sessions, project launches or geographically dispersed team meetings. The virtual classroom reproduces the feeling of belonging to a group to encourage interaction and memorization.
Some digital learning tools have even taken hybridization a step further, with immersive virtual classes in augmented reality. Participants move around a real virtual campus thanks to their avatar. All the more reason to engage learners!
Serious games
Serious games are interactive simulations designed for educational purposes. The learner is immersed in an immersive experience that combines challenges, narration and rewards to maintain a high level of motivation.
From videogame tutorials aimed at acquiring specific know-how, to real "war games" designed to train strategic decision-makers, serious games take a variety of forms, adapted to a multitude of objectives.
They offer an effective means of anchoring knowledge by provoking strong emotional involvement thanks to the principle of gamification.
💡 Knowmore has successfully supported Crédit Agricole in upgrading the skills of employees at the 39 regional banks, whose IS has been merged into a Unified Advisor Customer Portal (PuCC).
The MOOC
MOOC stands for "Massive Open Online Course". Behind this name lie online training courses accessible to a large number of participants.
Far from the traditional closed and expensive e-learnings, MOOCs focus on quality content available free of charge, sometimes with a paying certification at the end.
Originally developed in the academic world, MOOCs now target vocational training and provide access to cutting-edge courses that are proving extremely popular.
The SPOC
The SPOC (Small Private Online Course) is a more confidential variant of the MOOC, aimed at a restricted audience within a company. It's usually a tailor-made online module designed to pass on strategic business expertise to certain employees.
Mobile Learning
With the democratization of smartphones, training has now found its way into employees' pockets! Mobile learning offers short modules of less than 10 minutes, available on mobile applications.
These "microlearnings" present pedagogical content that tackles a specific problem and provides an immediate solution.
Accessible at any time, they fit in perfectly with employees' busy schedules, allowing them to fill their downtime by acquiring new knowledge.
Social Learning
In the digital age, learning can no longer be conceived as a solitary process. Social learning emphasizes peer-to-peer interaction to reinforce understanding and anchor knowledge.
Commenting features, forums, news feeds and chatbots enrich individual learning paths. Learners help each other and collaborate in online communities focused on a specific area of expertise.
This social sharing accelerates problem-solving and the assimilation of new concepts, thanks to a collective approach to training.
Adaptive Learning
Adaptive learning takes full advantage of the latest advances in data analysis. This approach relies on algorithms that adjust content and learning paths in real time, based on learner interactions.
The system constantly collects data on exercises completed, content viewed and assessment results, before providing a personalized response. If the learner masters a concept perfectly, he or she will be able to access more complex topics adapted to his or her level more quickly.
Digital Adoption Platform (DAP)
The Digital Adoption Platform is a separate category of digital learning solutions. Its vocation is to support the deployment of a new technological tool within the organization, by accompanying users on their application in real time, thus promoting adoption and lasting assimilation .
DAP offers contextual, interactive training and support resources integrated directly into the software interface. Users can access a virtual agent or tutorial videos at any time, according to their needs, to get to grips with the solution.
How to make a successful transition to digital learning?
Many companies see digital learning as a simple technological project. They invest huge sums in the latest platforms, without considering the purpose of these tools or the profound changes to be made to teaching methods. A pitfall that can prove fatal to any digital transformation initiative.
To avoid these fatal errors and ensure successful change management, it is best to follow three preliminary steps:
1. Define your needs precisely
Any consideration of digital learning must begin with a detailed analysis of learners' needs and the associated objectives. What are the skills to be imparted? In what context will they be implemented? What are the current difficulties in this field?
Answering these questions will lay the foundations for a digital teaching strategy in line with business challenges.
2. Choosing the right digital learning format
Once you've clarified your needs, you need to select the format(s) best suited to its immersive and interactive aspects. Digital learning isn't just about traditional e-learning! As we've seen, the range is much wider: DAP, virtual classes, MOOCs, SPOCs, microlearning and more.
Each option has its own specific characteristics, which need to be weighed up against the problem to be solved and the target audience.
3. Opt for the right technological tools
The final, essential step is to implement the technology needed to put the chosen strategy into practice. Numerous high-performance digital learning solutions are available on the market, like our K-STUDIO platform, which enables you to create interactive, 100% realistic training courses, perfectly adapted to your business applications.
Ideally, the tool selected should be sufficiently flexible to allow easy future upgrades.
Conclusion
The management of digital learning projects raises more general questions about the relationship with work and the social bond weakened by increasingly dematerialized organizations. Connected training alone will not be enough to re-enchant groups that have been tested by physical distance. Its impact depends on bold managerial initiatives that place the human at the heart of the machine. In this respect, new learning methods can either amplify dehumanization or, on the contrary, weave a digital Ariadne's thread to help us live together better in the face of acceleration. Digital learning invites us to wisely redraw the contours of a sustainable world of work.
Merge software use and learning with Knowmore's digital adoption solutions:
The digital revolution calls for constant adaptation of skills. Knowmore responds with K-NOW, its digital adoption platform that combines training and on-the-job coaching.