The 4 Stages of the Integration of Technology, In Learning
Learning, it is something our life revolves around. We learn, and then we apply. Everything that we have achieved or we will achieve, it is because of the curiosity and that wanting to learn instinct. It is an essential prospect of every aspect of our life, from education to work, and from work to living life. We adopt certain things from different people just because we like those things, so we learn them. Learning is the building block of development. Without learning, there is no room for improvement. Same way in schools and at the workplace, we can do certain things because we have learned it from somewhere, and we are just repeating the pattern.
If we talk about the business perspective, learning and development is the process of improving the performance of an individual or a group of people. It is done by polishing or increasing skills and knowledge. It comes under the umbrella of human resource management. We often call it training and development, because it is mostly used to manage the talent and strategy to reach the individual goals or company's overall goals.
As we know, the latest business environment demands fast-paced and constantly evolving management, because we need skills and talent to capture the marketplace. In a good learning strategy, it is made sure that even senior executives of the company get training sessions regarding how to lead. In this way, senior executives can evaluate the management strategies and get to know the talent they have in the pipeline.
Role of Technology in Learning and Development
We are living in an era of technology, where technology has become a vital part of our life. No aspect of life is complete without technology. Learning & development and technology are two different things. But like in any other matter, technology plays a role in the learning and development phase. Even though we have technology and learning being integrated but we still face some challenges in using it. If we talk about schooling, we have technologies available at schools and we also have teachers who can teach better with the help of technology, but technology is not being used the way it should be.
With that being said, we can use technology to its full potential to enhance the learning process. For instance, the use of brail machines for students who are visually impaired. In other words, technology is a catalyst to enhance learning, and by integrating these two we can also make sure that students with special needs can also be benefitted fully and get their part of education.
If we talk about technology being incorporated with learning and development in business, it can be very profitable for the organization if we used it wisely. It is mainly used for the training purpose of employees. Where the management team can use it to polish the skills of employees or train them to learn new skills. That will help the organization in achieving long-term goals and also in capturing the market.
Integration of Technology in Learning
In today's world, businesses that are run by traditional methods are not as successful. These businesses are failing due to their inadaptability towards optimal and modern learning solutions and management practices. That puts them on a road of not so enhanced productivity, and they stay behind their competitors in the market. Most of the time, learning and development teams do not have the skills to utilize the learning technologies efficiently.
As we know, digital technology is now compact and more robust than ever. It allows us to achieve a lot more than we ever did and in very little time if used properly. However, it must be a challenge for the learning and development team to keep themselves up to date with the latest technology trends. Organizations are looking to reinforce their L&D teams, and the reason is simple. To achieve the goals, in the long run, they need to utilize their skilled and talented employees, and isn't it what L&D teams do? Let's look into the way we can integrate technology and learning and development. There are 4 stages that we will discuss further.
- Learning Management System (LMS)
Designing a learning management system is the first and the best way to start the integration of technology and L&D. There are all the essential techniques, software, practices, and tools are there in a management system. By using this, it can be made sure that employees are well educated about their responsibilities. There are a lot of problems if there is no structured system available. Enlightening the employee about his duty, train them to acquire new skills are some of them. In an LMS proper planning, training, and implementation are always the top point of the plan.
- Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence
It is not only the software that your employees need to learn, but there should be training keeping the future perspective in mind. Virtual reality and artificial intelligence will become a part of the business world shortly. Virtual reality is going to be used for simulation and training purposes. There are other IT certifications training that needs to be given to employees keeping in mind the engagement of technology in the business lately.
- Analytics
We know how important data is, right? But only if we know how to get accurate information out of it. Analytics is the process we do to pull out the useful information. If your L&D team has the analytical skills and if they know how to use analytic tools, only then they can brainstorm your employees with the right amount of information.
- Internal Collaboration
Internal collaboration is another key factor when it comes to integrating technology and L&D. As technology is heavily involved in almost everything related to business, the IT department has to be in touch with other departments to fulfill their needs. The same is the case with the L&D team, they are in touch with all the departments and keep looking for ideas from them about what kind of training is needed. Effective learning requires communication and collaboration among different departments.
Benefits of Integrating Technology in Learning
Talking about the benefits we get by integrating technology and learning, there are a lot. First of all, it motivates us to do better. It improves the engagement and the person tries to be attentive towards everything. And last but not least it encourages us to collaborate. These are the few benefits we mentioned, there are a lot more. Well, to conclude this, we need to integrate technology with the learning and development to make it intact.