Digital Learning Just Hits Different

THE EVOLUTION OF DIGITAL-FIRST LEARNING

Have you tried an online course to learn a new skill or add a new certification to your resume? How did that go? If you're like the majority of people, you started with a lot of enthusiasm and then got distracted somewhere along the way.

Today, online training is more prevalent and varied than ever, but very few programs are built for the way we learn best, which results in a lot of wasted time, money, and opportunity.

I'm sharing a quick story here for two reasons:

1. I'm proud of what we've accomplished
2. To help you make the most of the online education that's out there

Junction has been leading training in various forms for the better part of a decade. We've always loved doing it, and we got really good at building engaging, valuable, in-person sessions (our NPS averaged around 85-90). Then, the pandemic hit. While we had delivered some online learning before 2020, it hadn't been a core focus. So we set began adapting our workshops to a digital format, making adjustments along the way.

The response to our online offerings has been awesome – we've had thousands of people run through various formats, and our learner success rates have consistently come in around 3x greater than the industry average. But something still didn't feel right to us. Despite the fact that so many more people were engaging, completing, and submitting great work, it still felt like we were trying to cram content into live sessions, and having to work to keep people's attention.

That's when a realization struck us that seems so obvious that I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier: Online and offline learning behaviours are fundamentally different, but most online courses are just adaptations of offline curriculum.

Armed with that insight, we dug into piles of data and research in order to rebuild the way we train to match the new digital-first reality. The result? Our learner success rate went from 3x industry average to over 5x. We're now seeing completion rates similar to that of an IRL workshop, and NPS results that match what we used to see from a room filled with enthusiastic, engaged learners.

The online medium may never be able to match that in-person energy, and we're looking forward to getting back into training rooms with people, but digital gives us certain tools that offline never will. Here are a few specific lessons we've learned that can be applied to any form of digital-first training:

• No more long, live lectures — The #1 way to lose people is to book a 2-hour Zoom lecture. Record your content, cut it up into digestible chunks, and let people consume when/where is best for them.
• Live collaboration — We all crave accountability, and the ability to work through tough concepts with other people. Use live group exercises, breakout rooms, and other interactive tools for short, high-energy sessions that keep learners on track.
• Micro-exercises with micro-feedback — Give lots of opportunities to try, adjust, and adapt as learners are moving through the materials.
• Keep in touch — Give learners lots of opportunities for two-way communication. Slack groups, forums, Facebook Groups, and many other tools exist to keep the conversation going throughout the training.
• Everyone loves a gold star — Use virtual high fives, badges, and rewards to keep people engaged.

Most importantly, whether you're looking for online learning for yourself, or developing training for your team, always ask yourself: Is this built to match the way that people actually behave online?

While the industry in general may not have caught up, there are some amazing examples that are leading the way for digital-first training. Here are just a few:

• Harvard's CS50 — Computer Science
• MasterClass — General areas of interest
• Rosetta Stone — Language learning
• Section 4 — MBA-style business education
• OpenQuest — Web3 learn by doing (and earning)

Written by Conner Galway, Junction Consulting