What is the Modern Learner and how to teach them

Just as the workplace has changed significantly over the past few years, so has the way people learn. Today, employees feel overwhelmed, distracted, and impatient as they work amid constant disruptions and distractions, leaving very little time to turn their focus to training and development. The modern learner can be difficult to reach.

It's especially difficult for companies that are embracing remote or hybrid workplaces. Companies find it challenging to develop employees that spend time away from the office. With 42% of companies expected to have at least some employees working remotely at times, the learning model must adapt.

At the same time, younger workers are seeking out training at a higher rate. Millennials and Gen Z workers say learning is at the top of the list of what makes them happy at work but squeezing that training into the available time demands a different approach.

Training the Modern Learner

To reach modern learners, you need to provide them tools to train efficiently. This means creating training content that is on-demand, visual, quick, organized, and up-to-date.

On-Demand Training

The modern learner

wants to train when and where they want. Rather than wait for a group training session or an email with a training link, they seek out what they need in the moment it’s needed. In fact, they're frustrated when they can't access training immediately.

Dave Derington, Customer Education Director of ServiceRocket and Co-ost of CELab, describes reaching modern learners in this way:

“Your job is to give them deep resources they can reach anytime they need them. The modern learner is a person who wants to solve problems right away. And that means they're going to want to get in and then get back out.”

This means training must be available on demand to be truly effective.

Visual Training

People retain 95% of a message watched on video vs. just 10% when reading it via text. Clearly, teaching must incorporate visuals. Training videos need to show users how to do things with visual walkthroughs so they see solutions in action. This is especially true for software demonstrations that must convey a complex series of steps.

Fast Training

The modern learner is looking for quick answers. Derington comments:

“Modern learners are very busy. They're pressured by executive leadership to get numbers and to show value…optimizing revenue, improving sales, and increasing retention. So, they're given these bold things to do, and they need to learn platforms really quickly.”

Short bursts of information rather than long training sessions are instrumental here. This means providing more, but shorter, on-demand training sessions. Experts recommend training videos of four minutes or less to hold workers’ attention.

Derington adds:

“You gain trust from people that are looking at training videos by keeping lessons concise. Once you establish that you’re not wasting their time and you've captured their attention, they’re more likely to go watch an hour-long video you may provide as an additional resource."

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Motivational Training

One way to motivate learners is to let them show off what they know. Besides checklists and wizards, Derington recommends credentialing. 

“You watch a video and get a badge. People eat that up. They will go and hunt and look for content if you do this well.”

Providing credentials people can display on LinkedIn or in a social media group, for example, validates the learning and produces self-motivated onboarding.

Up-to-Date Training

Systems, processes, and workflows are frequently changing, which requires constant updating of training materials. This is especially true with software and SaaS platforms which now work in DevOps cycles where updates happen often.

Training must reflect the current state, or it becomes disorientating.

How Videate Trains the Modern Learner

Whether you are creating content in-house for employees or providing product training for customers, there are three significant challenges:

1. Creating the volume of videos needed
2. Keeping videos current
3. Providing video training that is efficient and affordable

That’s where Videate comes in.

Videate allows you to produce videos at scale by automating the process. Users can simply create a script, and then Videate accesses your software platform to capture visuals in perfect sync with an automated text to speech audio. There's no need to do screengrabs, record videos, or even record audio. Videate handles it all automatically.

Videate allows you to update training libraries with every new release or change. Without human interaction, Videate can render hundreds of videos designed for the modern learner. This allows you to scale production and lower costs.

Modernize Your Training for Today’s Modern Learner

There’s immense value in modernizing training practices. Research from IBM shows that not only does providing training for modern learners help improve performance, but it helps with retention. Companies providing employees with the training they need retain 62% more of their workforce. For software companies, robust training tools are crucial to customer retention.

To learn more about how Videate can help modernize your training, request a demo today.