According to Gartner research, self-service platforms will make up nearly 80% of all enterprise reporting by 2020, and they’ll be very critical to evolving talent spaces across organizations.
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Below are more details about what you need to know regarding self-service learning as a learning and development (L&D) or human resources professional.
What Is Self-Service Learning?
Whether organizations offer them or not, employees are actively seeking out their own learning materials and learning opportunities online (i.e., they’re using platforms like Lynda.com or enrolling in free courses offered on platforms like EdX).
Essentially, learners will access learning content they’re interested in when it’s convenient for them via mobile devices and platforms. And if organizations want to survive, they will need to adapt to their learners’ behaviors and demands by offering them more self-service learning opportunities via mobile apps and platforms, too.
Potential Drawbacks of Self-Service Learning
Some L&D professionals are skeptical of self-service learning because it’s harder to monitor and control. The more L&D teams rely on outside curated content and third-party software, platforms, and vendors, the less control and understanding they have over the learning content and experiences their learners encounter.
And, unfortunately, self-service learning won’t be possible for most organizations without their reliance on outside curated content, mobile apps, third-party platforms, and vendors, etc.
Self-Service Learning Requires Cloud-Based Technology
Another thing that L&D professionals should realize is that implementing self-service learning requires the right cloud-based technology. For self-service learning to work, all learning management systems will need to be based in the cloud, and learners will need to be able to access learning content when they want via cloud-based mobile apps or via cloud-based platforms.
Focus on Creating a Culture of Learning with Self-Service Learning
With self-service learning cloud-based platforms and experiences, your organization will easily be able to focus on creating and promoting a company culture of learning because it will be very easy to promote learning content and for learners to access it when it’s convenient for them. And when it’s easier to share, endorse, and access learning content, more employees will engage in learning experiences on a regular basis.
Adaptability and Agility Are Key
While you don’t necessarily need to know all the nitty-gritty details about the learning content your employees are accessing on their own, you will need to know how to adapt to their learning preferences and needs within the self-service learning tools or apps that you’re implementing. You’ll want to be able to easily curate content and courses they find useful, update features and functionalities in your learning apps to meet their desired experiences, etc.
Like it or not, self-service learning is driving future workplace learning. So, keep the information detailed above in mind so that you can appropriately implement it for your own organization.