11 E-learning Trends and Forecasts

E-learning was first introduced in the 1990s as an additional method to face-to-face learning. To date, e-learning has evolved into an on-trend approach, eclipsing the method it was originally designed to support. Multiple technology, workplace, and e-learning trends have led to changes that further deepen the diminishing importance of instructor-led education, especially at a time when face-to-face interactions pose a health risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Without doubt; The benefits of e-learning significantly outweigh those of instructor-led training. For example, e-learning is flexible, cost-effective and convenient, saves time and is suitable for tech-savvy generations Y and Z. However, even with the best LMS software, reaping these benefits can be difficult without mastering the latest e-learning developments.

In this article, we've selected the latest e-learning trends to help you understand how the floor is changing. Understanding these will enable you to provide effective training for employee development. It will also help you tweak your employee training strategies to get the return on investment you want.

Did you know that the first computerized training course was developed in the 1960s? Yes that is right. However, the real development process of the e-learning industry started with the widespread use of the internet since the 1990s. And since then, e-learning industry revenues have continued on an upward trajectory. In fact, since the turn of the century, e-learning revenue has increased 900% (Brandon Hall Group, 2017), and the growth rate isn't showing signs of waning anytime soon.

So what caused this tremendous growth of e-learning?

The first and most obvious reason for the rapid growth of e-learning is digitalisation. The rapid development of digital connections, knowledge and devices has given e-learning the impetus needed for steady growth. In addition, the inherent cost-effectiveness and flexibility of e-learning is driving market growth. Additionally, there is a growing understanding of how important e-learning is to corporate training.

For example, organizations have realized that using the best e-learning software tools can increase productivity by 30%. Not only that, e-learning increases employee engagement by 18% and typically requires up to 60% less employee time (SHIFT e-learning, 2016). Most importantly, e-learning has better retention rates (up to 60%) compared to face-to-face training. These and other benefits are too tempting to ignore. For example, it is not surprising that 77% of US organizations used e-learning systems in 2017 (StrategyR).

As a result of the pandemic, the e-learning landscape will further change. Over this period, there was a 16% increase in virtual learning and a 16% decrease in instructor-led training. 62% of businesses affected by the pandemic are also spending more on education (e-Learning Industry, 2020).

The e-learning industry has benefited greatly from changing learning habits, the rise of the multi-generational workforce, and the emergence of the resilient economy. The following e-learning trends and forecasts for 2020 will help you transform your learning and development to meet the needs of the modern workforce.

1. Mobile Learning
Mobility has become an indispensable part of daily life for billions of people. By 2020, there are more than 6.95 billion mobile users today and this number is expected to reach 7.1 billion by 2021 (Statista, 2020). To put this in perspective, let's put it this way: In 2020, the world population was 7.75 billion, while the number of individual mobile phone users was 5.19 billion. This means that the usage rate of mobile phones is 67% (We Are Social, 2020).

As the number of mobile users increases, more and more people develop a strong sympathy for mobile learning. 99% of mobile learners claim that mobile learning improves their experience (eLogic Learning, 2017). In addition, 67% of people access education via mobile devices. As this happens, businesses are making mobile learning a part of their learning and development strategy.

Mobile learning is reaching maturity. So it's no surprise that mobile learning solutions that mimic desktop versions are becoming commonplace in 2019. We have yet to see the pinnacle of mobile learning, but we are already captivated by the transformative power of mobile technology.

Mobile learning has provided many advantages. For example, it allows students to consume content whenever and wherever they want. It also helps instructors closely monitor student performance. We believe that the benefits of mobile learning, such as accessibility and flexibility, will continue this e-learning trend in 2021. So don't be surprised if mobile technology combines with immersive technologies to deliver high-impact learning materials.

In e-learning, there will be a transition from mobile learning compatible to mobile learning priority. Instead of creating e-learning content for desktop users and then adapting it to mobile users, the process will be reversed to provide a quality mobile experience. This is especially important as people continue to work and learn remotely due to the pandemic (eLearning Industry, 2020).

2. Social Learning
In our childhood years, we learn entirely from others. For example, a baby learning to talk learns from their parents and other people around them. This form of learning, known as social learning, is becoming an increasingly permanent phenomenon in the modern workplace. According to a Brandon Hall report, 73% of organizations say they will increase investment in social learning (Gutenberg Technology).

Social learning involves simple collaboration among colleagues at work. It is learning that takes place in various forms, such as informal conversations, forums, learning circles, and sharing sessions. The organic nature of social learning makes it extremely affordable. Moreover, social education is accessible, open, efficient and applicable to modern workplaces, thanks to the tremendous growth of social platforms and well-established communication tools.

In the last few years, institutions have realized the value of social learning. As a result, this way of learning is finding more and more customers in the corporate world. Social learning is gaining more ground and is slowly becoming more popular than formal education.

3. The Inevitable Rise of Three-Dimensional Technologies
Like artificial intelligence (AI), three-dimensional technologies have the potential to change the environment of e-learning. These technologies include augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (XR).

AR is the most common three-dimensional technology in e-learning. This technology complements existing educational material with engaging images and graphics. The main goal is to provide an immersive learning experience that excites students and grabs their attention.

For example, insurance companies can apply AR to improve fire or disaster control training. All they have to do is cover a real house with graphs of fire damage. They can then use the resulting images to train researchers on how to identify where the fire started.

On the other hand, VR 360-degree photography requires the use of real interactions and other interesting elements. Together, these features are perfect for bridging the gap between theory and actual practice.

Other uses of VR include education in fields such as the military and medicine. In addition, VR technology has found its way into other areas such as internship training and group learning. VR's ability to support distance learning is a well-timed move for corporate training in modern workplaces where remote work is the new norm.

Currently, these technologies are still in their infancy, but the results they provide are promising. For starters, researchers from Stanford University and the Technical University of Denmark have found that virtual teaching can lead to a 76% increase in learning efficiency (Accenture, 2020). Meanwhile, a Medical University in Atlanta found that surgeons trained using VR made 40% fewer mistakes than those trained traditionally. Walmart reported that it saved 80% of training time while preparing store managers for Black Friday using VR.

This was one of the top e-learning trends of 2019 and its influence will not diminish in the near future.

4. Micro Learning
Picture this – on average, only 1% of employees' workweeks are dedicated to professional development. To put this into perspective, an employee has only 24 minutes for training in a 40-hour week (eLogic Learning, 2017). Let's admit that; With this limited time, it is impractical for employees to consume in-depth content. This is exactly where microlearning comes into play.

Microlearning is a method of providing students with small chunks of content to facilitate rapid knowledge consumption and retention. Generally, in microlearning, short learning contents (2-7 minutes) are preferred to heavy content of long texts. These easy-to-consume pieces of information are designed to help students achieve a specific goal on their learning path. In this way, students in busy workplaces can make every minute of learning worthwhile.

Microlearning is a strong option for corporate training for two main reasons. First, this approach enables organizations to offer unbiased and purposeful information tailored to the needs of each student. Short-term, focused instruction then makes learning more understandable for all students.

Second, microlearning can be performed on any device, including desktop, video, and mobile. In particular, this reason is one of the main reasons for the acceleration of the microlearning trend. Today, there are two constraints that prevent the provision of appropriate education. The first is time, and the second is the reduction of attention span. The flexibility to enable microlearning on any device helps overcome these barriers.

The adoption of microlearning has been at a high pace in the last two years. And judging by the benefits it provides, microlearning will not only gain importance in 2020, but this process will accelerate in the coming years.

5. Work-Life Skills Come to the Fore
When digital learning first came out, most of the effort was spent on resource building for content-specific techniques. In addition, organizations have made significant investments in creating materials to strengthen existing knowledge. At the time, these were unprecedented moves that fit perfectly with the learning needs of the workplace environment.

Coming to today: The concept of the workplace has evolved and a paradigm shift has begun to emerge in how employees consume information. Not only that, old learning techniques alone are incapable of providing the support needed to keep employees motivated and productive. Most importantly, more subject areas and learning objectives are emerging today.

Today, social skills and work-life skills are just as important as technical skills. It has become nearly impossible for employees to develop harmoniously and deliver their best performance without social skills. Skills such as problem solving, communication, leadership and collaboration have taken precedence over technical skills. And it's easy to understand why.

Work-life and social skills develop employees and help them succeed in different roles. Additionally, these skills give employees the knowledge they need to embrace changes in the modern workplace. Better still, organizations offer the perfect blend of work-life and technical skills to gain competitive advantage and retain top talent.

The increase in work areas and goals comes at a time when professional development time for employees is in sharp decline. In addition, the attention span of employees at work is reduced. Worse still, 49% of employees are picky about the content they read today (Prezi, 2018).

All these factors combined make it difficult to transfer work-life skills effectively. Fortunately, by combining e-learning with aspects such as gamification and video-based learning, institutions can overcome these barriers.

6. Video Based Learning
Is there a training method that is more talked about than video right now? In the last few years, video has exploded with the rapid growth of video sharing platforms. For example, YouTube users are watching more than two billion hours of video every day (YouTube) as of 2020.

In addition, a survey by Wyzowl revealed that 69% of consumers would rather watch a video to learn about new products and services than consume any other type of content (Wyzowl, 2021).

Of course, with these statistics, we could say that video-based learning gives static e-learning content a working area for revenue. Today, students prefer to view demos, explainers, interviews, and how-tos as videos rather than plain text.

There are many reasons to believe video is the future of learning. First, the video is visually impressive, interactive and more engaging. All of these elements help video content keep the student's attention in one place longer than other forms of learning. Better still, it encourages the rapid distribution of information, increases content consumption and improves retention rates.

In particular, the wider adoption of interactive videos is having a huge impact on the e-learning industry. The great thing about interactive videos is that they overcome the pacification of traditional videos. They also increase student engagement through assessments and interactions. Given that today's student's attention span is heading downwards, interactive video is a timely intervention.

Second, video content is easy to learn and deliver in parts. With video, you can take advantage of hot trends like microlearning and mobile learning. Finally, the rise of 360-degree video has given this trend new room to flourish in the years to come.

7. Adaptive Learning Takes to the Next Level
Adaptive learning has been in our lives for a while. In 2017, Donald Taylor conducted an annual L&D global sentiment survey. The results showed that adaptive learning is the Best L&D trend, surpassing Microlearning, AR and social learning (Litmos, 2018). The use of this trend has waned, but it is still used enough to deserve a place on this list.

The development of new technologies such as AI and AR has taken adaptive learning to another level. This way of learning emphasizes personalized learning. It leverages robust analytics, trust-based assessments and pre-learning testing to help organizations overcome the disadvantages of generalized learning.

Prior to the advent of adaptive learning, students were passed through the same modules. This ignored many critical factors, such as students' unique consumption of information and different attention spans. As a result, it was difficult to achieve positive results from corporate training.

Then adaptive learning came and revolutionized corporate training. What adaptive learning does is highlight the creation of customized learning activities for each student. Adaptive learning draws heavily from two models.

The first is algorithmic adaptation. It depends on personalized feedback to deliver content that meets each student's own needs. As the name suggests, this model relies on algorithms that analyze the student's learning habits to ensure the most effective educational process. The second is the designed adaptation. This adaptive learning model takes students through different learning paths according to their specific preferences and needs.

In general, adaptive learning ensures that every student goes through the most effective learning path. This way, the student enjoys learning and can get the most out of the process. On the other hand, institutions tailor their resources to achieve the optimal return on investment of education. Given the benefits of adaptive learning, this trend will only get stronger in 2021.

8. Big Data in Learning
Everything about modern workplaces is changing. Way of working, employee behavior and learning habits. Even better, demographic shifts over the past few decades mean a new type of employee has brought a lot to the workplace. All these factors combined mean that the educational style of past years cannot be effective in today's corporate environment. Therefore, your education should evolve with changing needs.

This is where big data comes in. Big data is about harnessing the power of data collected by the systems you use (LMS, social media and more). For example, if you're using a training module, the data could be student progress, test results, course completion rates, online learning efficiency, or other data about your training.

By collecting and analyzing this data, institutions can tailor learning to their students' needs. It tracks student activities such as mistakes they make during training, challenges they face, and more. The system then provides information that allows you to modify the system to make your learning process more adaptable.

The e-learning industry claims that organizations use big data to analyze learning in a process known as Learning analytics (LA) (e-Learning Industry, 2017). The advancement of digital technologies has opened new horizons for learning analytics. (e-Learning Industry) Today, businesses reap many benefits, such as eliminating ineffective learning.

Moreover, big data helps keep your e-learning strategies up to date. During training you can easily predict which strategy will work for a particular group. Organizations are using big data to understand customers. The success of big data in this field can be replicated in corporate training.

9. Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the hottest e-learning trends in higher education, as well as in the corporate and business world. And this new technology has unleashed its disruptive power over modern learning and development (L&D). Artificial intelligence has the potential to shake up the entire e-learning field. The most exciting developments in e-learning (both new and future) are in the field of AI.

AI has already made commendable advances in the areas of contextual support and continuous learning. For example, artificial intelligence offers ample opportunities to personalize learning. AI-powered models use algorithms to gather data such as student strengths and weaknesses, interests, and competencies.

They then analyze this information to understand student behavior and gain insights that facilitate the creation of customized learning paths. This way, L&D teams can deliver learning modules and assets based on the challenges students face. This helps you create more personalized and relevant learning experiences.

On the other hand, large organizations with extensive knowledge repositories use voice bots to facilitate content searches. Bots use artificial intelligence to help information seekers easily discover critical material. Not only that, L&D teams are using smart robots to help children and students with special needs get the most out of their learning.

Moreover, it is predicted that in 2021 there will be an increase in instructors with artificial intelligence and platforms that use machine learning algorithms to match a student with a teacher based on their answers to a set of questions (Emerline, 2021).

Overall, AI is the technology businesses need to create learning designs that appeal to knowledge seekers. We know that artificial intelligence in e-learning is no longer a cliché. This technology has become widespread and will continue to redefine the world of e-learning in 2020 and beyond.

10. Gamification and Game Based Learning
Using gamification and game-based learning is not a new concept in L&D. This e-learning trend started to develop rapidly in 2018 and although it continued its upward momentum, it never reached a climax.

Gamification in e-learning means using fun game mechanics to increase student engagement and improve retention rates. Originally, it was written as a cliché word. However, this technique has continued to challenge all challenges and prove itself as a pillar of modern e-learning strategies. Today, businesses of different types and sizes are using gamification to increase the effectiveness of learning.

There is no data that accurately describes how this e-learning trend will take shape in the coming years. However, according to the latest statistics and increasing relevance, gamification is not going to topple anytime soon. For example, revenues from game-based learning will rise to $28.8 billion by 2025 (Metaari, 2020).

Gamification allows businesses and learning institutions to create intangible incentives that deliver successful educational outcomes. This incentive can be a gift card or financial reward designed to generate some internal competition among employees. Organizations use gamification to develop employee skills in an engaging way.

For example, an online course could be designed to reward students with points or badges based on the modules they complete. The aim is to inspire students to exceed the benchmarks set by their peers and increase their educational return on investment.

In general, gamified e-learning courses facilitate the learning process. It makes the course content attractive to the students, increases their motivation level and increases the memorability of the content. Most importantly, when used in corporate training, gamification helps develop an emotional and intense learning experience.

11. Content Enhancement
The Internet and organizations' knowledge bases are an extensive repository filled with a sea of ​​knowledge. This, on the other hand, means that there is plenty of information on any subject you want to learn. The abundance of information makes it difficult to identify relevant pieces of content. According to one report, workers spend an average of 19% of their workweek searching and collecting information (McKinsey & Co.).

This is exactly where knowledge improvement comes into play. Refinement helps you overcome these pain points and provide students with appropriate learning resources. It helps students find the valuable information they need without difficulty.

Most importantly, content curation helps users create learning paths or choose instructor-recommended ones. Moreover, this allows organizations to leverage resources that are already publicly available without resourcing.

Content curation and user-generated content are on the rise in 2020. By 2021, we anticipate that more organizations will benefit from this technique. This prediction is supported by the findings of a survey in which 80% of leaders say they are moving away from content development and towards content improvement to provide their students with timely, accurate and relevant information (Deloitte, 2021).

Power Your E-learning Efforts With These Trends
Trends come and go, but the e-learning trends we highlighted refused to go once they arrived. While we can't say exactly which direction e-learning will take, these trends provide a clue as to where the industry is heading in 2021. The signs clearly show that the e-learning industry will continue to grow.

For forward-thinking organizations, it's time to pay close attention to these new developments. You need to reconsider your training programs and turn to the e-learning trends we just mentioned. Consider how you can best incorporate new technologies such as AI, AR, and VR into your training. Are microlearning, adaptive learning, social learning, and mobile learning the best ways to present knowledge to your employees? Also, as an organization, do you use big data to understand the learning habits of your employees?

Take time and re-evaluate your education approach to consider the needs of employees or students working at home due to the pandemic. Use trends as a guide to redefine and redefine learning processes. Also, strive to provide an accessible, customized, interactive and engaging e-learning process. You can also read the compilation of the latest LMS and e-learning statistics to better understand the industry and learn how to build your e-learning strategy.