Incorporate A Blend Of Modern E-Learning Strategies- Microlearning, Gamification & Theme-based Learning

We are living in an era where nothing remains the same and change has become an integral part of every organization. Change can be experienced in ample ways, such as outsourcing, introduction to new company policies, technology implementation and more. Change is an important as well as the critical path of any system. Statistics show that 33 percent of management behavior does not support change and 39 percent of the employees are resistant to change. To boost overall business performance during this change management process, it is very important to design and develop a proper communication method.

An e-learning designed with effective strategies is impactful. During the change management process, managers need to deal with certain challenges such as what to change in the first place, the resistance of the workforce and more. This is the reason why, the blend of modern e-learning strategies such as microlearning, theme-based learning, gamification, spaced learning and more are implemented to smoothen the entire change management process.

One of our leading clients in the energy management & automation domain, wished to roll out an impactful training intervention which will aid employees and stakeholders, understand the need to change the values in the overall system. So, to cater to the diverse needs of the two distinct learner groups, we followed a two-prong learning strategy – for all employees and for organization’s stakeholders.

For employees all across the organization, we created a ‘New Values Module’ we created a learning module with multiple strategies woven in – theme-based, gamified and spaced microlearning. The module had diverse learning objects to promote optimal learner engagement and helped learners understand the changing company values. The theme-based learning strategy focused on the Time Machine concept, which corresponded with the idea of taking the learners from an old system in the past to a new one in the future. To start with, a highly interactive animated video was played to aid the learners to understand the entire context of learning. Then, the learners were asked to view an important video message from the company’s CEO who informed the employees, about the relevance of the revised organizational values and the need to traverse a journey, from present to the future. This was done to convey a strong message to the learners on the need to transit from an old to a new value system. Then, a fun-filled gamified learning approach was followed so that learners could effectively learn and apply their skills throughout the game and compete with their peers. Undoubtedly, games in e-learning have proven to be more fun and engaging to the core. A Learn, Apply and Share strategy was followed to create an apt learning flow as discussed below:

Learn

In this phase, the learners gained knowledge on the overall context of learning which answered their queries on why the change was required, the need to implement new values and so on. Then, the learners were traversed to an immersive learning environment via a storytelling mode, in which the company’s CEO expressed his views on new & refreshing values, the need for change in company’s values and how it will impact the growth of the organization.

Apply

In this phase, learners were transited from the present to the future-ready value system. Mini-games were incorporated during this phase to boost overall learner engagement and enable employees to effectively apply what they have learned. The changing values were depicted via engaging videos which imparted the detailed information and improved learners’ competence on the values and facts.

Share

Certainly, learning is a continuous process and it should be spaced out over regular periods of time. Modern learners reinforce more if they learn quickly and refresh it at regular intervals. So, this phase included the delivery of training in the form of infographics, audio podcasts and comic strips to boost learning reinforcements. Microlearning approached was adopted as an effective strategy to support the theme of reinforcement. The content was created in the form of chunks and then learning was delivered at spaced intervals of time.

Consequently, it will help the workforce to retain information for long and learn at their own pace of time and location.

In today’s digital era, change management is considered as a structured approach which helps to transit individual learners, teams and organizations to the expected future state. It is not about training the latest processes for change, but creating a new type of organization which is optimized for change. The entire transformation is based on the need to align with the ever-evolving business environment and stay ahead of the curve. The resistance to change in business values is quite popular in the workplace environment. By following a combination of modern e-learning strategies from game-based learning and theme-based approach to micro content delivery, scenario-based learning and more, it is easier for the organizations to smoothen the transition processes and leverage the benefits of e-learning more rapidly.