Bend towards learner centric approach creates more Hybrid-retail model in Ed-tech

The global EdTech market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 19.9% from 2021 to 2028 to reach USD 377.85 billion by 2028, according to grandviewresearch.com, making it an indispensable part of the education system. The EdTech industry has played a pivotal role in bridging the gap between modern-day technology and age-old studies by changing the teaching landscape.

What is needed to be incorporated into these modern technologies is a human touch to make learning imperative and fun. Over time, distant, or online, learning with the help of modern technologies can make learners feel isolated and even make them lose their enthusiasm for studying. But humanized learning can increase the relevance of content for learners and boost their engagement and motivation.

Digital learning solutions can actually bring about measurable business value. They provide learning and development (L&D) professionals with a role in creating effective digital learning environments by humanizing digital learning. They must understand that adding a human touch is equally important and necessary today to get users’ attention.

While designing a course, L&D professionals should understand that their digital learning programs should have great values attached to them, making them gain ‘pull’ factors instead of ‘push’ factors. So, it becomes very important to understand how you, as an L&D professional, are packaging your digital learning content. By creating e-learning experiences that connect your learners with your online content, you can make learning become natural, effortless and simple.

Here are some tips on how to humanize digital pedagogy to make it more interesting and engaging for working professionals…

Keep Your E-Learning Courses Organized

Speaking of clear structure, keeping the e-learning content organized is crucial for an engaging learning experience. To avoid cognitive overload, which prevents learners from focusing on key points, keep your programs well-thought-out. Ensure that you prioritize information by identifying the most important messages you want to get across. Which courses are compulsory and which are supplementary?

You may even try ‘action mapping’ to arrange your topics and distribute them in a logical flow to boost knowledge retention. Well-organized learning content will help your learners absorb the course material easily and quickly and allow you to distribute the information in an effective way that matches your e-learning objectives.

Trigger Your Audience’s Curiosity

When you provide your learners with something to be curious about, you increase their interest, as well as their engagement levels. Grab their attention with good visuals and create an environment that stimulates their curiosity with the help of thought-provoking scenario questions and challenging e-learning games. Exercises that introduce conflict and dilemma will encourage your audience to contemplate on what they are learning.

Interactive Videos and Animations

Add animations, music and dialogues in your videos so that they become more engaging. There is a saying that you learn faster by seeing visual imagery than by listening to, or reading, text. Make your videos short and crisp instead of dragging them like a lecture.

Introduce Roleplays & Simulations

Roleplays and simulations are forms of experiential learning. By taking up various roles, learners improvise as a character or a personality to participate in, and interact with, varied and complex learning settings. Students learn by exploring the viewpoints of the characters or personalities they are trying to articulate in the environment. This student-centered space can help learner-oriented assessment, where the tasks are designed for active student learning.

Use of Online Digital Brainstorming

By using an online brainstorming tool, you can even ideate collectively with remote team members. You can post a question or an idea and invite colleagues to respond. These answers can form a word cloud in real time.

Provide a Meaningful Experience

You can activate your learners’ existing knowledge by using relevant information, along with their emotions, and give them a more meaningful e-learning experience. To create such an experience, you have to focus on resonating with your learners’ personal experiences and evoking their emotions because finding meaning in new information helps learners connect easily with it and grasp the knowledge effortlessly. Addressing your audience’s emotions is one of the most effective ways to increase their engagement levels; well-chosen images, compelling stories and small humor doses stimulate interest and give positive motivation and emotional connectivity.

Student engagement will directly translate to online learning success.  The more engaging your course is the more valuable it will be to students and the more successful your course will be. By creating a meaningful experience, changing teaching formats and connecting directly with students, you can become a better teacher and help your students become better learners.

(The author Mr. Brijesh Kohli, Director Xebia Academy and the views expressed in this article are his own)