A significant trend I’ve noticed in the whole Edtech industry over the past couple of years is the increased focus on evidence and learning from other disciplines. So many more webinars focus on learning science, neuroscience and psychology, and there are a lot more learning scientists than there were a few years ago.
As someone who came to learning as a subject matter expert having trained in another field (finance), I really appreciate this cross-disciplinary approach.
With that in mind, here are my key learnings from #LT22
Using a product mindset in L&D
The team from iAM Learning shared their take on using the product mindset in learning development.
One of the key takeaways was the importance of learner centricity and solving the learners’ problems.
Putting the needs of members first is something that associations are generally pretty strong in doing, so applying this to learning solutions should be something that associations can do really effectively, using techniques that have already been successfully used in other parts of the organisation.
One of the challenges for associations is the risk averse nature of most governing bodies, and some of the tools that are used in product development might help give the board more reassurance, including:
Opportunity map – a visual framework of the needs of learners, considered from the point of view of the learner.
Empathy design – adopting the mindset of the learners to develop a solution that works for them
Minimum viable product (MVP) approach – rather than trying to offer a comprehensive solution in the first launch, offer a solution that has just enough to be useful, and get feedback from learners on what they want you to offer in the next iteration and the next, in a continuous improvement cycle (using an agile approach).
Engaging Learners like a Marketer
Emma Smith and Stephanie Lyras from Degreed gave an excellent presentation, packed with useful tips. Stephaie brought insights from her previous role in behavioural change, and Emma from her marketing background – both disciplines that persuade people to behave differently than they have in the past, which is the essence of effective learning – especially in the workplace.
A few tools and approaches to note:
The 7Ps marketing mix - if you haven’t heard of this before, you can google it and get lots of great information online, it’s a widely used approach in marketing and marketers are good at sharing their knowledge! One of the key benefits of this approach is looking at the whole learner experience, from first contact to satisfied learner/repeat user of learning.
Empathy map – empathy is a key word in any human-centric design, so we see this in the product approach and in the marketing approach to learning development.
Personas – a useful tool for understanding the different needs of different segments of your learner audience. It’s quite widely used in marketing, so your association might already have a lot of the information you need, and the experience to help you develop personas for learning.
Influencers – getting the buy-in from key influencers in your community is enormously helpful. These are people who, if they like your solution, can persuade your target learners to take up the learning solution, and persevere with it.
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