Personalized Learning Within Online Workforce Learning Environments: Exploring Implementations, Obstacles, Opportunities
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Personalized Learning Within Online Workforce Learning Environments: Exploring Implementations, Obstacles, Opportunities, and Perspectives of Workforce Leaders Helen Fake1 · Nada Dabbagh1
© Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract High attrition rates in online workforce training and development programs suggest that practitioners continue to struggle to develop relevant learner-centric experiences for their workforce. One strategy to increase learner engagement and make training more relevant is through personalizing learning. While there are several efforts to understand personalized learning within K-12 and higher education contexts, there are few published studies that focus on the use of personalized learning within workforce education. In this qualitative study, leaders in training and development (N = 10) were interviewed to uncover (a) the current operating definition of personalized learning, (b) whether or not personalized learning initiatives are occurring within the workplace setting, and (c) what obstacles exist in implementing personalized learning as well as (d) what opportunities for personalized learning exist from an organizational standpoint. Design and implementation considerations for future programs, resources, or tools that incorporate personalized learning as a learning strategy in online workforce training and development are discussed. Keywords Personalized learning · Online learning · eLearning · Workforce development · Instructional design · Training and development
1 Introduction Despite the recognition of how important learning is to the workforce, many training and development professionals struggle to create learner-centric experiences with legacy systems and static training approaches (Pelster et al. 2016). Many have pointed to attrition rates as an indicator that current training and development programs are not able to meet the needs of modern learners (Dray et al. 2011; Sitzmann 2010). For instance, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been shown to have a 90% attrition rate (Dabbagh
* Helen Fake [email protected] Nada Dabbagh [email protected] 1
George Mason University, Fairfax, USA
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et al. 2016). This trend, however, is not unique to the MOOC structure. According to Croxton (2014) student attrition rates in online training programs experience attrition rates as high as 75%. A pessimistic report from Ambient Insights (2016) suggests self-paced online training’s poor performance in meeting business goals has precipitated the decline of the self-paced online training and development industry. Current projections by Ambient Insights project a − 6.4% decrease in revenues. While many practitioners understand the potential of online learning to support their workforce training and development programs, attrition and loss of confidence towards self-paced online programs presents an ongoing challenge to running effective training and development programs for an organization’s staff. Therefore, new training strategies are needed to addre
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