The Learning and Development (L&D) industry is not just a big business but a changing one. That is, organizations are shifting the way they spend their training budgets as they adjust to evolving expectations and preferences among learners as well as L&D professionals.

To learn more about how the landscape is evolving, HR.com’s HR Research Institute conducted an extensive study of HR professionals and wrote a full report, The State of Learner Experience, Engagement, and Solutions 2020.

The Key Drivers of Organizational Learning in 2020

More than three-quarters of HR professionals report that training for new skills is the predominant driver for learning. The factors that drive learning in today’s organizations are:

•         New skill development (76%)
•         Career development (67%)
•         Regulatory compliance (51%)

New skill development can be driven both by organizational needs and also the needs of individual employees for professional development. More than two-thirds of participants agree or strongly agree that career development is a primary organizational learning driver. Regulatory compliance is the third most widely chosen driver for organizational learning. More than half of all participants acknowledge that compliance is an ongoing requirement for mitigating financial and legal risks, and it needs to be addressed consistently through employee education.

Learner Experience, Engagement and Culture

Many organizations feel confident that their learners have a positive learning experience (69%), are engaged (65%), and experience learning success (64%). 

Dr. Heidi Scott, HR.com's CLO, states, "L&D leaders can help drive a learning culture by understanding the organization's goals and objectives and by creating learning opportunities that are directly tied to helping the company reach those business goals."

Despite the relative successes of learners in about two-thirds of organizations, only 41% of participants agree or strongly agree that represents a top-notch learning culture.

Moreover, as we will see below, few organizations have robust learning metrics, which calls into question the optimistic view that many L&D professionals hold in regard to learner engagement, experience and success. After all, if they cannot properly measure learning outcomes, can they have an accurate picture of how their learners are faring?

The Role of Learning Metrics

Robust learning analytics is essential to any learning strategy and its execution. However, only 14% of HR professionals have robust learning analytics to measure learner success. Metrics are just as bad or worse for learner experience (13%) and learner engagement (10%).

One of the two most widely used measures is based on how learners feel about their learning experience (59%). This measure is problematic because it is based on the subjective experience of the learner and does not guarantee that learning has occurred.

More interesting and convincing is the metric, also used by 59%, of evaluating on-the-job behavior. This likely requires direct observation, manager and team feedback and/or measurement of job output. Relatively few respondents measure learning success via return on investment, or ROI.

Classroom attendance is cited as the most frequently used metric of learner engagement. In other words, they measure engagement by who actually shows up for class. Half of the participants report the use of a survey instrument to measure learner engagement. This is a better metric because it at least gets the learner’s impression of their own engagement. The other two most widely cited measures of engagement are achievements (41%) and level completion (also 41%).

Today’s Organizational Learning Ecosystems

Learning technologies have become commonplace in today’s organizations. Fully 84% of HR professionals say their organizations use at least one type of learning technology.

Even among organizations that use learning technologies, however, face-to-face instructional opportunities remain the most common component (83%), followed by learning management systems (63%).

Because the concept of “learner experience” has become more important in the L&D community in recent years, we also asked about learning experience platforms, or LXPs. We found that only 11% of respondents say their companies use LXPs.

Few organizations are satisfied with their current learning technologies. Among the HR professionals in organizations with learning technologies, only 39% are satisfied with those technologies. A larger percentage, 42%, say they are actively dissatisfied in their systems. This indicates that most organizations still have a long way to go in terms of purchasing, implementing and using learning technologies that work well for them. Even among respondents to this survey, who understand their learning systems better than most, only 59% say they’re able to take advantage of the functionality of their current system.

Why are so many dissatisfied with learning technologies? One factor may be a lack of integration. Just 24% agree that their learning technologies are well integrated. More than half actively disagree.

What Matters Most in Learning Technology

The research indicates that the most widely-cited important capability of our learning systems is the ability to effectively engage learners (73%). Other top-five important capabilities include ease of use (70%), intuitive interface (53%), customizable reporting (52%), and collaboration tools (45%).

Collaborative features make today’s social media highly engaging, and L&D professionals would like to make learning collaborative as well, partly to improve learning but also to engage learners.

Today’s systems are surprisingly conventional to the point of almost being antique. Most have the standards of online courses (74%), learner assessments (64%), course management (65%), and systems track progress (56%).

Certifications (69%) are the most widely leveraged method for assessing learning performance results. Individual Development Plans (IDP) are used by 48%, and employee skills gaps can be identified by 44%.

Content creation is an integral feature of learning systems. The most common content are elearning courses, created by 54% of all organizations with learning technologies and 62% of those with an LMS.
 

A lack of collaboration is the most widely cited weakness of today’s learning systems, cited by half of the respondents. The other three most widely cited weaknesses include lack of integrative abilities, mobile-friendliness, and customizability.

Differentiators of Top-Notch Learning Cultures

Top-notch learning cultures* are much more likely than lesser learning** cultures to have a variety of collaboration features. For example, top-notch learning cultures are twice as likely to have enterprise social networks and real-time discussion among geographically dispersed people.

•    Learners in top-notch learning cultures are much more likely to have good experiences, success and engagement
•    Top-notch learning cultures are much more likely to be satisfied with their learning technologies
•    Top-notch learning cultures are more likely to have integrated systems

The Future of Learning

Most HR professionals are optimistic about the future of learning. About three-quarters believe that learning in their organizations will improve over the next three years. This positive view may be a reflection of external factors, such as the emergence of new technologies and learning paradigms, and internal factors such as a renewed commitment to improving employee skills and experiences.

The Learner Experience Paradigm

Based on the various findings in this report, we have put together a model illustrating where we believe the topic of learner experience is headed in the near future. We believe that L&D specialists will be working to enhance learner experience by boosting learning’s effectiveness in all of these areas.
 

To learn much more about the survey results and insights on how organizations might create top-notch learning cultures, we invite you to read the complete report.



* Top-notch learning cultures: These are respondents that either agreed or strongly agreed that their organizations have established a top-notch learning culture.
** Lesser learning cultures: These are respondents that either disagreed or strongly disagreed that their organizations have a top-notch learning culture.

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