The art of learning is one that underlies everything that humanity has built. None of us come out of the box with the skills we need to traverse our lives, but rather we learn them over time through experience, coaching, example, media, and many other methodologies. The better we are at learning, the more effective we are going to be in the world.
In recent times, there has been a significant sea-change in the world of learning, one that has transformed how we learn things forever. It’s the dawn of the digital learner.
Traditional learning methods just aren’t as effective as they once were:
- The internet has democratized information, bringing it to the fingertips of everyone – rather than being hoarded behind walls of large academic institutions. Memorization is becoming less and less important as a result.
- The world is advancing so fast that stagnant curriculums are becoming less and less relevant.
- Our concentration spans for long lectures or written content is shrinking due to the smartphone and other digital distractions.
- The list goes on and on…
The old methods have lost their relevance. They are traditions of a bygone era and it’s clear that they don’t prepare us for the modern world in which we live. Things have to change.
Thus, the age of the digital learner is upon us. Those companies and individuals who embrace the way things are moving will find themselves leapfrogging the stagnant waters of how things used to be done. The future looks something like this:
- Hybrid learning methodologies allow for a combination of digital education for the masses and more personalized human to human coaching to deliver value in a way like we’ve never seen before. By combining methodologies and delivery methods, every learner, regardless of their optimal learning style, can get the input that they need in a scalable way.
- Byte-sized coaching refers to coaching practices that are broken down into small chunks which create fast feedback loops between coach and learner. Instead of long-drawn-out sessions, the coaching activities act as regular regrouping points that makes them much more efficient. When we reduce the scope of these interactions and increase their frequency, coaches can deliver focused insights at the exact right moment, just in time to be applied.
- Mobile-first learning allows us to learn from wherever we are, on whatever device we have available. This opens up all sorts of possibilities when it comes to accessibility and location-independent knowledge transfer. It moves learning beyond the lecture hall and into the hands of anyone who wants to engage with it. All it takes is an internet connection.
When you put all this together, you get a digital education revolution that is changing the very fabric of our learning ecosystems. It’s a trend that will shape the world of the future. Those who cling to the status quo of the past are going to be left behind. But those who embrace the inevitable and become digital learners themselves will reap the benefits of what is to come.
This is only the beginning. Digital learning is here to stay.