Implementing Personalized Learning: 5 Must-Have LMS Features When Training Millennials

Implementing Personalized Learning: 5 Must-Have LMS Features When Training Millennials
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Summary: To implement an effective eLearning strategy, organizations must first select a Learning Management System that has the right features to support personalized learning. Choosing an LMS that does not have the right features could become costly or decrease the effectiveness of the training program and learner experience.

Top LMS Features For Personalized Learning Experiences That Engage Millennials

Millennials are now the largest generation in today's workforce. It's no secret that millennial employees learn and work differently than the generations before them. This has created a challenge for many organizations. They must now find and implement new learning strategies that engage their millennial workforce as well as the rest of their employees.

Personalized Learning Experiences: Gearing Up For The Millennial Workforce
Discover new approaches to better engage employees and prepare for the future of work.

Utilizing a personalized learning model is quickly becoming a popular strategy due to its ability to develop learning plans that meet individual student learning styles and needs. Whether the learner is a millennial, baby boomer, or a Gen-Xer, a personalized learning model optimizes the training content to create meaningful and engaging experiences for the learner.

To implement this effective eLearning strategy, organizations must first select a Learning Management System that has the right features to support personalized learning. Choosing an LMS that does not have the right features could become costly or decrease the effectiveness of the training program and learner experience. Before selecting an LMS, there are 5 must-have features you should know about.

Personalized Learning Paths For Gen Y Employees

If you plan on implementing a personalized learning strategy, the most important feature you should look for in an LMS is the ability to create personalized learning paths. Not every LMS has this feature and it is not a necessity for every learning program. However, it is an essential feature for creating personalized learning experiences.

Your LMS should be able to analyze user data to determine which content will be the most relevant for each employee depending on their role, skill level, and learner preferences. Some Learning Management Systems also have the ability to create learning paths that provide learners with both the courses they are required to take as well as with suggestions as to what further training sessions they may be interested in.

This feature helps keep learning content relevant and useful which will help keep your millennial employees engaged. Giving employees choices also helps them become actively involved in creating their own learning experiences, boosting morale and increasing knowledge retention.

Advanced Learning Analytics

Most Learning Management Systems come with some form of learning analytics already built in. However, you should consider choosing an LMS that has advanced analytics features. Advanced analytics will provide more detailed reports and may even come with customizable reporting features. These customizations make it easier to identify specific trends and patterns.

More detailed reports can help you get more specific detailed information which you can use to measure and achieve your learning initiatives. For example, you may be working on increasing user engagement. A custom report could help you more quickly identify which forms of content have higher levels of engagement. You could use this information to determine which content may need to be updated.

If you wish to implement personalized learning, advanced analytics are a top priority when deciding on the best LMS features to train your workforce.

Responsive Design To Increase Millennial Engagement

Selecting a mobile responsive design is essential for millennial engagement. Millennial employees don't always have the usual 9-5 work schedule. In fact, many employees work in distributed teams, from home or even while traveling. Ensuring that your LMS can be accessed on any device will break down barriers to training increasing the levels of engagement.

Recent studies have also found that learner preferences regarding the technology they use to access training varies greatly and is highly dependent on individual preferences. One employee may prefer using a tablet for training while another uses their smartphone or laptop.

Choosing an LMS with a mobile responsive design will help you personalize the learning experiences and remove training barriers even further by empowering employees to learn on the devices they are the most comfortable with.

Brand Customization

The most successful online training programs have a clean, simple-to-use interface and appearance that reflects the company brand. To create a training program that has a professional look and feel, you will need an LMS that allows you to make customizations that match your organization's brand.

Millennials are tech-savvy and do not trust online resources that look outdated or unprofessional. Fortunately, some Learning Management Systems allow you to change the color scheme, add your brand logo, and even adjust the dashboard or layout of the program. This will give your program a professional and cohesive look helping to build credibility and trust with your audience members.

Collaborative Learning Features

Enhancing your personalized learning program with social and collaborative learning elements is one of the best ways you can boost excitement and learner engagement around the program. This is an especially important feature for engaging millennials because they place a high value on social learning experiences.

When you are looking for an LMS, make sure it has the social collaborative learning features you are looking for. Some Learning Management Systems provide video conferencing and project management tools that make communication and social interactions easier. Or you may need an LMS that has plugins for chat or webinar features.

Choosing an LMS with the right social and collaborative features ahead of time will prevent you from having to buy additional tools and services later, which will save you both time and money.

Conclusion

Choosing the right LMS to support your training strategies and goals is an essential component of success. If you plan on implementing an online personalized learning program to engage your millennial workforce, there are 5 features that will help you enhance your training program.

Selecting an LMS that can create personalized learning paths is essential to personalized learning. Collaborative learning and brand customizations will help create a User Experience that is both social and visually appealing. Selecting an LMS that has a responsive design will break down training barriers and help your employees learn using the tools they are most familiar with. Learning analytics will help you optimize your training program so you can get the most out of it.

There are many ways you can utilize personalized learning to engage your millennial workforce. To learn more about personalized learning for millennial engagement, read the eBook Personalized Learning Experiences: Gearing Up For The Millennial Workforce.