The Experience Economy Comes
to Learning
In every area of our lives, we've come to expect fast, easy, personalized service. Netflix and Amazon make tailored movie recommendations. Even the Barista at Starbucks writes your name on your cup.
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And these experiences have shaped our expectations in every facet of our lives, including what quality learning experiences look like.
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As a result, 'learning paths' of sequenced courses, resources, and experiences tailored to an employee's unique interests or role have become table stakes for any earnest learning technology platform. Some learning tech companies have also invested heavily in 'adaptive' learning features so that new courses can be assigned based on progress in past courses.
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But the bar for personalization and adaptive learning still needs to be set higher, because the foundational goal of learning is demonstrable skill-gain. True personalization should go beyond assessing a person's knowledge (e.g. can they pass a quiz on our products) and seek to understand a learner's capabilities. If they understand our product, can they use that knowledge to sell it? If they understand our policies, can they explain them in a human way? If they've memorized best practices in problem solving, can they actually solve problems on the fly with an angry customer on the line?
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In our experience and research, there is nearly always a 'gap' between knowledge and skill. In many cases, up to 80% of learners who passed knowledge assessments need multiple iterations of skills-based practice exercises + coaching feedback before they can demonstrate skill gain and meet company expectations.
Our definition of personalization and adaptive learning goes deeper to measure skill. Our software, the immersive experiences our customers build, coaching feedback, and the amount of time spent in learning activities are all personalized based on demonstrated skill.