Abstract:

For today’s companies, digital learning and competence development is business as usual. Digital has become the new normal and most often the preferred way of running corporate training – for staff, partners and clients. Rapidly changing workplaces can benefit from digital learning that is able to deliver targeted, precise learning experiences on-demand. Many companies, however, still seem to struggle with the issue. Already in 2013 ILO raised the issue of enhancing technological capacities and skills development with regard to meeting the changed demand of labor in companies (ILO 2013). EASME, The European Executive Agency for SMEs, has also identified this issue and has launched an initiative to analyze the situation and to look for solutions (EASME 2017). According to recent studies, corporate training managers are not happy with how they are able to provide training opportunities to their employees in the changed working society (LinkedIn Learning 2017). Our experience from hundreds of corporate learning projects pinpoint the issue of inadequate understanding among company training staff about how digital learning works and how it should be applied. This is slowing the large-scale uptake of digital learning in companies, particularly in SMEs. To be able to utilize the full potential of digital learning all personnel responsible for learning and training for staff, partners or clients need basic understanding of digital learning and the capabilities to plan projects, design digital learning concepts and produce courses with modern tools.

To fill in these skill-gaps, Finland’s leading digital learning company Context Learning has set up a joint-initiative with its international partners to launch a European Corporate Digital Learning Design program. This blended learning program (10 ECTS credits) is the first of its kind in Europe, focusing specifically on corporate digital learning. It is designed for professionals who are working (or planning to work) in corporate HR & learning. It provides them with all the required skills and understanding to plan, design and produce digital learning programs. It consists of recurring face-to-face sessions, online group learning sessions, independent self-study and a project assignment. The program provides all the required knowledge, understanding, tools and competence needed for successful, practical implementation of in-company digital learning. To ensure the most advanced and up-to-date learning experience, a series of corporate best-practices and successes achieved by global leading companies are introduced. We designed the program with a couple of leading European companies that excel in digital learning. Visiting lecturers (pioneers in corporate digital learning) from these companies are sharing their experience with students throughout the program.

The program consist of the following five core modules:
1. Digital Learning Strategy - From Ideas to Action,
2. Successful Planning and Execution of Digital Learning Development Projects,
3. Learning Concept Design and Scriptwriting,
4. Enriching The Concept: Rapid Development Tools and Production of Rich Learning Multimedia,
5. Implementation, Delivery, Follow-up and Assessment of Digital Learning Programs.

During the conference we will introduce and showcase the program concept and share experiences from the first pilot course which was launched during the spring of 2018. The program will launch in full scale in September 2018.

Keywords:

Workplace learning, corporate learning, training, HR, HRD, e-learning, instructional design, learning economics.