As we slowly come closer to the end of 2019, it’s that time of the year again to look at what ‘was’ and what ‘will be’ in the year to come. Every year brings with it a flurry of new trends, mostly driven by emerging technologies and innovations, which transform employee training just a little bit every time.

With the global eLearning market on a growth trajectory and poised to touch $15.72 billion by the year 2021, it is up to organizations and L&D leaders to get ahead of the curve and start planning and strategizing to leverage the newer learning and learning technology trends for the coming year/s.

Over the next few weeks, we will take a detailed and comprehensive look at what L&D leaders must embrace and what they need to let go of in 2020 and beyond- be it in terms of eLearning, learning delivery, employee engagement, new and emerging technologies and more.

In Part 2 of this series we explored the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in corporate learning in 2020 and beyond. Today, we explore the emergence of Learning Experience Platforms (LXPs) and their impact on employee training.  

Emergence of Learning Experience Platforms (LXPs)

Technological advancements have nearly changed the face of many an industries within the past decade, and the Learning & Development (L&D) and learning technology industries are not averse to these changes. With more positive transformations taking place in terms of learning delivery mechanisms and addressing the learning needs of the tech-savvy modern learners, L&D leaders are now aware of the impact some of the modern learning tools and solutions stand to create on employee training.

Addressing skills gaps within the workforce and maintaining an engaging learning culture remain primary challenges facing L&D leaders the world over. Today, organizations are able to automate and track learning activities across diverse touch points anywhere and in real time, which has clearly elevated the expectations from L&D and employee skilling as a whole. And, L&D professionals are welcoming the technological transformation, including the introduction and emergence of the Learning Experience Platform (LXP).

So, what exactly is an LXP?

An LXP is an advanced, more intuitive and flexible version of your traditional LMS, designed especially to boost engagement levels with the learning, through fast and easy discoverability of relevant and recommended content. 

On one hand, the LMS still reigns supreme in terms of providing proven and tested learning delivery mechanisms, while on the other hand LXPs offer a new and different experience for the modern learners that expect simple, efficient and engaging learning environments.

Moreover, an LXP offers an increasingly self-directed learning approach for the modern learners by curating content, building recommended skills and developing learning pathways, among others.

Role of LXPs in 2020 & Beyond

Celebrated industry analyst Josh Bersin states that ‘every learning platform is now an LXP, so the market is becoming a set of capabilities, not just products’. The LXP market is growing (over $350M in size) and will more than double every year, given the shifting mindsets about modern learning.

Technological disruptions and rapid workplace transformations are adding miles to the already existing skills gap across all industries. Continuous upskilling and reskilling of the workforce has now become business critical, and placed a rather daunting demand on the learn-tech industry to offer learning delivery mechanisms that are relevant and service the modern learners.

An LXP addresses some of the pain points associated with modern learning, including easy content discovery, recommendations, personalization, higher learning engagement, along with seamless learning on any device for the learners; while Mangers and Admins get access to advanced tools like Learning Analytics and the ability to provide a ‘pull’ learning environment to their learners.

Here are some key reasons why LXPs will remain a popular trend in 2020 and beyond-

  • Innovative UI/ UX

With an LXP, learners can easily navigate the platform and have a full view of their learning in one-go. An LXP gives learners the option to search topics, videos and other content, while also enabling them to pick and choose from most popular topics taken by colleagues. Like an LMS, the LXP also tracks the learner’s progress and enables them to view their progress in real time through the learner dashboard.

  • Learning Recommendations

Just like YouTube or Netflix recommends content, an LXP recommends learning content by creating personalized learning plans for employees by leveraging historical data, learning styles, learners’ likes and dislikes, so that learners always have the most relevant and engaging learning content.

  • Boost Collaboration

LXPs are great for collaborative and social learning, and enable learners to share popular content, quality learning materials like courses, videos, or even discussions. Using an LXP, learners can make the existing content more actionable by sharing information, thus fostering collaboration and boosting team work and performance.

  • Designed Mobile First

With increasing mobile penetration across the globe and availability of high speed internet, it’s critical for L&D to leverage devices that their employees use. Just like an LMS, an LXP is also available as individual mobile learning app for anytime, anywhere learning that offers the same set of features and functionalities.

Although there are quite a few distinctions between an LMS and an LXP, both systems are showing signs of overlapping in terms of the value they provide. As a result, organizations will have access to advance LMS features like tracking and measuring learning ROI, while the learners can better engage and manage their own learning.

Takeaway

The LMS still remains a priority for organizations looking to align their L&D programs with business objectives. However, the LXP stands to offer key learner-centric capabilities, like relevant content, collaboration and social interaction, better UI/ UX as well as analytics to improve workplace learning as a whole.

Today, global organizations can look at an LXP to resolve long-standing issues like lack of engagement, underutilized content and ineffective search capabilities. LXPs have undoubtedly earned an important place in the constantly evolving learning technology solutions space, and stand to positively impact organizational learning to deliver the desired learning outcomes.

Next week we will explore the importance of Online Content Libraries and how L&D leaders can leverage them to reskill/ upskill the workforce.

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