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You don’t need to look further than yourself and your colleagues to spot the differences in your learning styles. A couple of decades ago, it was inconceivable for educators to tailor their education materials and teaching approach towards the individual. Today, it is only too obvious that we don’t all share the same ways of learning.
Another recent discovery has been the strong correlation between emotion and education. In 2016, neuroscientist Dr. Mary Helen Immordino‐Yang published research on how an emotional connection to a topic can help learners think critically and be more engaged with the material. Yang noted, “Helping [individuals] to care about what they are learning is both difficult and complex, but it appears to be essential for the development of truly useful, transferable, intrinsically motivated learning.”
So, the question remains — how can you get your team to care about their online training, whether it be on compliance, leadership, or management?
Our digital experts, in collaboration with our researchers and subject matter experts (SMEs), have been working towards a digital solution that honours people’s unique learning requirements while strengthening learner engagement.
Our answer lies in contextualisation.
What is contextualisation?
Contextualisation is another way of saying customised, personalised, hyper-relevant and even tailored. It is a way of making learning and the assessment of what has been learned, relevant to a person’s workplace experience, or aka, their context. It is also the solution to motivating your team to care about their online learning.
Customised learning content
To create greater connection between the learning experience and the learner, organisations need to ensure that online training and educational materials are as relevant as possible to their staff’s job roles and responsibilities. The more an employee understands how their learning connects to their role, their day-to-day responsibilities, and the big picture of the organisation, the more engaged they will feel. It is critical staff don’t feel forced to complete an irrelevant course just to check off a corporate requirement.
Simply put, employees thrive in environments that focus on making them a more valuable asset. Employee retention is higher when people believe that opportunities exist in an organisation and that leadership is willing to invest in their mutual success. People want the chance to grow professionally, which in turn, creates greater workplace and financial success too.
That’s why it’s critical that course materials add value for the individual employee. This value encourages engagement and according to the Society of Human Resource Management, employee engagement has the potential to significantly affect employee retention, productivity and loyalty, which directly links to customer satisfaction, company reputation, and overall stakeholder value.
Engaging learning formats
Learners will also be able to create a positive emotional connection to their online training if it’s developed and delivered in engaging and differentiated formats. Remember, each employee will absorb information in different ways.
Key features include multimedia formats that are dynamic and immersive like video, scenario-based animations and engaging interactive activities. Scenario-based activities and case studies encourage learners to apply concepts to their real work setting and structured discussions apply learning to specific workplace issues.
It's also important to understand that the modern workplace is different. Online learning should be responsive with an agile learning format that accommodates multiple versions of every screen for a superior learning experience. You need to meet your learner in their time of need, whether that’s at the desk, on site, during their commute or in a shared space.
Connect with your diverse learners effectively
It comes as no surprise that organisations need to consider the extent of the diversity of their people — their sex, gender, age, ability, ethnicity, what they believe in, how they dress, and how they behave. Forward thinking workplaces know that when people’s differences are recognised, embraced, and celebrated, they become an employer of choice, which as a result, strengthens their talent pool.
In fact, a diverse workplace has several benefits for a company’s bottom-line. Research has shown that:
- Businesses with a more diverse workforce outperform industry norms by 35% (McKinsey Research).
- Companies with diverse management teams have 19% higher revenues due to innovation (Boston Consulting Group study).
- Businesses with greater diversity are 70% more likely to capture more markets (Harvard Business Review).
- Inclusion at work increases employee loyalty and longevity. 69% of employees working at diverse organisations intend to remain there for at least five years (Deloitte 2020).
These workplaces also know that their learning and training must serve and reflect the diversity of their teams. This means their online courses and platforms need to be adaptable — or better yet, enable personalisation — to meet this diversity. By doing so, a sense of pride and belonging is created among your staff.
Inclusive learning design
To ensure your business creates equal opportunity, promotes diversity, and stands for anti-discrimination, the learning you provide needs to be accessible. Kineo works with off-the-shelf assistive/adaptive technologies in conjunction with our own embedded design, which aligns with WCAG 2.1 AA to ensure our courses are accessible to everyone. This includes functions for vision and hearing impairments, as well as reading and comprehension challenges.
Why organisations are turning to contextualisation?
We know that as learners, we are better at absorbing content when it is relatable to us. When the images and context match what we see in our lives, we feel more connected to what we are learning. That’s why Kineo Courses has made contextualisation a priority. This means that our course content can be adjusted with a flick of a button to specifically match your location, your industry, and your job role to ensure that the content you are learning is relevant to you — at no extra cost.
Want to learn more?
Hyper-relevant content delivered in a format that resonates with learners can create a more personalised experience that connects with your team. Ask us how we can help you apply contextualised learning to your organisation. We’re here to help. You can also visit this previous blog post about how to make contextualisation work for your organisation.
