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Learning Ecosystems: Personalized learning in digital learning environments

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The surge in digitalization due to coronavirus, working from home and the speed with which companies have to react has fueled the discussion about learning and development offerings. Corporate learning ecosystems are developing into multifaceted learning landscapes that are often not coordinated with one another. We show you how to avoid getting lost in the jungle of offers and systems

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The surge in digitalization due to coronavirus, working from home and the speed with which companies have to respond has fueled the discussion about learning and development offerings. Corporate learning ecosystems are developing into versatile learning landscapes - with a variety of digital and analog offerings. However, these extensive learning landscapes are often not coordinated with one another. In most cases, they do not yet form a harmonious whole, as there are often individual offerings: training courses, events and Working Out Louds here, a wiki there, the intranet there and then a Learning Management System (LMS). As a result, Employees have to fight their way through a jungle of offers and systems if they want to learn or are looking for solutions to problems.

Definition: What is a corporate learning ecosystem?

Learning ecosystems (also known as corporate learning ecosystems) are adaptable, diverse learning systems that have a social and technical dimension.

They play an important role for organizations that want to shape learning strategically.

Such systems help to establish a fixed learning culture in the sense of a "learner experience" for sustainable skills development.

From a wild learning ecosystem to a structured learning landscape

Many things are therefore part of the learning ecosystem: The social dimension includes Employees' willingness to learn, the attitude of managers, the learning culture in the team and the strategic, structural and budgetary embedding of learning and development in the organizational structure. The technical dimension also forms a decisive basis: the digital learning landscape and whether Employees like to move around in it and find their way around easily. Diverse learning landscapes, platforms and different learning sources in the system as a whole are an advantage. Diversity is part of a good learning ecosystem. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Employees and HR development to maintain an overview as the complexity increases.

The solution is an intelligent platform, such as a modern Learning Experience Platform LXP), which is used as a "single point of entry" as a central access point to the entire learning ecosystem. It helps to harmonize the learning sources with each other, organizes offers and at the same time supports users individually in their learning because it can filter offers and make targeted suggestions. Tailored to the users's personal details and search behavior.

Individualized learning with strategy

A good learning ecosystem is there to offer users personalized learning opportunities from the entire company. At the same time, it creates better usability and an overview for all stakeholders.

A good corporate learning ecosystem should therefore be designed to offer a single platform as a starting point from which Employees can meaningfully and independently embark on learning paths and where they can make situational discoveries.

In short: users should independently find personalized offers that interest them AND that are in the strategic interest of the company.

Another learning platform? The supplement to the LMS

Today, it is no longer enough to "just" administer and manage continuing education, for example through a Learning Management System LMS).

Nowadays, learning opportunities from different platforms should increasingly be strategically and sensibly networked with each other via interfaces. Such curated offerings then form a supplement to traditional formal further education. The right platform in the learning ecosystem makes this possible.

It provides an overview and links people and learning sources together. In this way, it supports organizing, filtering and finding. In this way, learning content for Employees can be compiled in an individualized way, but data can also be collected for personnel development. The organization's learning needs become even clearer.

Personalize the learning environment: For targeted learning suggestions by the system

The Haufe Akademie 's Learning Experience Platform is an example of such a platform that complements the formal learning offer: the platform and its algorithm access the users 's profile and support personalized learning. The platform recognizes interests and plays out automated offers based on individual search histories.

And that is exactly what a learning experience is all about: Employees move independently within a variety of offerings, find solutions to daily difficulties and can, for example, also create their own content, so-called user-generated content, and track their own development with a long-term perspective. In this way, skills development is autonomous and personalized - via a central platform with access to the entire learning ecosystem in the company.