Technology is changing more rapidly than organizations can absorb change and learners have changed significantly. Digital learners are social learners acquiring insights from every experience. Some of the general characteristics of modern and digital learners are that they are active, inpatient, impartial, technically sound and socially active.
Less Time to Learn
Today’s employees work under intense pressures due to increased workloads and longer working hours. The available time to learn is less, and the digital learners have adapted accordingly. They absorb knowledge at the fast pace by reading blogs or articles by just a glance and searching for readily digestible content available over social media platforms. Digital learners require their courses to be divided into small portions of learning steps with a logical flow. They would read more if such small texts are added with informative images and videos. The lengthy paragraphs with lengthy text will turn them off.
Want Everything Fast
Digital learners are intolerant of complex science jargon and instead look for a learning system that matches with their needs. They expect courses to load fast and learning platforms to process the content fast. If it takes time then the attention is also diverted from studies. The pace of learning has to be comfortable and these impatient learners want help quickly. If learning process is stuck up with any topic, prefer to have an online assistance.
Multiple Devices and Plenty of Platforms
Digital learners use multiple devices like smartphones, tablets or PCs and would genuinely like to have the content available in sync with all devices. They learn in their spare time during their commute on smartphones or laptops during the breaks. Learning Management System should allow for responsive content delivery and optimized content and images to faster even on slow networks.
Socially Active
Most of the digital learners are young and socially active people. They extensively use social media sites. They have accounts on all social media sites and even have a larger member base on their network. They appreciate the value of a dedicated social following and feedback plays a substantial role in their selection of courses and learning institutions. It becomes meaningful for any online learning systems to actively maintain their social profiles. These can prove to be good promotional tools
to reach out to new age digital learners. Training and education in organizations are affected much more in recent times.
Types of Digital Learners
There are four types of digital learners classified in the form of a quadrant. The categories are based on the willingness to participate and ability to access and use the digital environment.
Disengaged Dwellers
The first category remarkably obtains less exposure to technology and use is minimal. If the opportunity is given, he is ready to embrace the digital learning and upgrade to other types.
Linked Consumers
Second stage category possesses access to technology and the links to the digital world but he remains connected for consumption of information only and contributes very little or nothing.
Able Aspirants
This kind of learner is upgraded in their willingness to participate in the learning process. But their aspirations to experience a digital life are narrowed down by lack of connectivity and accessibility to learning platforms.
Cooperative Learner
Finally, the last stage of development into a digital learner is the collaboration. He is connected all the time through multiple devices. The learner believes in the essential nature of technology and connectivity. Digital platforms are tools for them in the learning process, and they choose to cooperate and contribute their best in learning of others by sharing their knowledge.
Benefits of Digital Learning
A digital learner is constantly connected and receives information from multiple sources. They prioritize pictures, sounds, and videos over plain text. They are interactive and discuss information with peers before deriving their own conclusion. Interactions between learners are mutually beneficial for all the participants. More organizations are realizing the trends in digital learning. Companies are encouraging employees to become proactive learners engaged in improving the learning process. The training module is designed to be more employees driven in a digital world which enables the employees to truly become a digital learner.
