Elearning will see a big change in 2023 because it will tremendously involve virtual reality now. So far, elearning has been used in a linear format with hurdles.

In this format, the learners must attempt a quiz before reaching the end of the module. Such tests are important to ensure whether the users have learned anything. After every 3–4 modules, there is a knowledge check to verify whether the learner has absorbed anything. When the learners are unable to clear any quiz, they can’t proceed to the second lesson consisting of more modules and hence have to go through the first lesson all over again. Including such tests can only ensure that learners can be trusted with work because they have completed a certain elearning assignment. In the future, following trends will be a part of the L&D:

• Classroom training will be extinct:

Self-paced training will be the need of the hour because the employees prefer to work and learn from home. This has also become easier with so many elearning authoring tools becoming available so that the learning can be designed as per the course’s difficulty levels. Therefore, elearning is the need of the hour, and the days of classroom training are over.

If there is a problem with the computer, the employee can access the learning courses rather than sitting idle and zoning out. The scope of zoning out is even more in classroom training, where the environment is noisy, and not everyone can focus.

• Necessary implementation of elearning due to a hybrid work culture: 

We have embraced digital literacy since a long time now. Employees have started realizing that being digitally literate is no longer just a privilege but a necessity because companies are using hybrid work ways. Companies are now shifting to using more digital technologies at work, due to which employee training is also necessary.

Companies had to adopt a hybrid work model in 2022 despite the pandemic taking a backseat because the employees were not willing to rejoin the offices. In fact, they were leaving their jobs when asked to come to the workplace. 49% of employees consisting of millennials were not ready to rejoin offices, and the companies had to shift to a hybrid work approach because these people form a majority of technical employees. 

When the employees don’t have any knowledge of the new software used to facilitate a hybrid work model, the companies can suffer. Hence, empowering employees is the only way before companies.  

This is a serious problem because the employees seek those opportunities which provide them with growth opportunities. When the employees can’t get the knowledge they need to perform and grow in a job, they can quit. Every large-scale organization is providing employees with learning opportunities, either through an external vendor or a tie-up with an elearning partner that prepares the course. If the companies don’t focus on training the employees and retaining them, they are very much capable of doing it on their own.

• Use of immersive technologies in elearning:

In 2023, extended reality(XR), which involves using AR, MR, and VR, will be used more. It’s because, in the coming year, employee experience will be at the center of learning. Employee training will be done using this technology for all kinds of industries.

In fact, since customer training has taken so much importance in these years, XR will be used for this purpose too. This kind of technology is useful when teaching people about dangerous jobs because it does not involve inflicting any harm. It is also less expensive, unlike actual equipment, getting used to training people for jobs such as operating flights.  

• Spread of gamification and mobile learning :

Moreover, mobile learning applications will increase because the consumption of mobile phones will enhance even more now. Even language learning applications are now using mobile phones.

Due to such easy accessibility of smartphones, gamification will assume increasing popularity in 2023. Games also provide a person with rewards, which is why people engage with them more to win points, which boost their pride also. It has been popular with people irrespective of age, a trend that will strengthen in 2023.

Immersive Games are getting used now to make people learn any foreign language. For example, gamers can see the background color of an environment change once they guess a new word. Since this involves a color change effect, the gamers are able to retain the word.

• Cybersecurity training:

The elearning will become more employees centric in the future because employees are quitting jobs when not allowed to work from home.

With increased digitalization of processes, there will also be a high focus on cybersecurity training because the systems contain much more data than before. The entire customer and employee data is now present in a system that was not the case earlier. Hence, when a company’s systems are compromised, its servers can be used to get the payment information of customers.

Although employees will be trained in using digital processes, they will also be trained on how to keep the systems safe from any attacks. Due to this, cybersecurity training will form a major portion of elearning now. Companies can’t ignore the need for mobile learning solutions because they can be easily accessed by the work from home employees.

When its courses are not accessible in such a format, the work-from-home employees can feel that they are secluded, and the organization does not treat them as equal to the work-from-office employees.

• Extensive focus on soft skills training for leaders:

Companies have to make employees stay and provide them with appraisal so that the former doesn’t bear the brunt of quiet quitting. It’s a troublesome scenario for a company when the employee is not willing to perform more than what is needed on the job. The employee has not resigned, but he is doing the least just in order to preserve his job and not be fired. In a Gallup survey that happened in 2022, 50% of the workforce was of quiet quitters.

Companies need productive employees who are willing to do more for them in times of recession rather than just stick to the job. Hence, when the company invests in the elearning of an employee, it’s a win-win situation for them because the employees feel associated with the organization.

Companies will also have to focus on leadership training so that they can prevent this trend of quiet quitting. Employees must get a positive environment at a workplace where the seniors are willing to listen to their problems genuinely. In that case, they can expect them to stay longer rather than leave at the first opportunity. So, leadership training, which ensures employees have positive and compassionate experiences at the workplace, is necessary.