Trends

The Future of Workplace Learning

London (UK)/Berlin (GER), November 2011 - Learning Technology Adoption in European Businesses 2011, the Europe-wide study carried out by Towards Maturity in partnership with ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN (OEB), has found that a growing number of organisations are turning to new learning technologies to help them increase their business agility.




The survey, which was completed by 182 organisations, sought to identify which learning technologies are in use and how they are used, the drivers behind their use and barriers to it, their impact, and successful approaches to their implementation.

One technology that is expected to play a greater role in learning and development in the future is social media. There has been a marked shift in attitudes towards social media, with 35% of organisations actively encouraging and making time for social and informal learning and 52% of organisations now comfortable with unblocking and leveraging third-party sites such as Facebook to support learning. However, 25% of organisations remain unconvinced by the benefits of social networks in workplace learning and continue not to allow its use.

Nevertheless, the use of social media to support workplace learning is a growing trend that organisations themselves predict will rise by 20% (to 73%) over the next two years. This review of how eLearning technologies are applied in the workplace also predicts that within the next two years, the workplace culture of learning will see increased use of cloud-based content, mobile learning technologies, and Web 2.0 tools.

The report will be discussed in detail at this year's ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN, which will take place from 30 November - 02 December at the Hotel InterContinental, Berlin. The sessions will explore what learning and development will look like in the future and how to prepare for success in these new cultures of learning through the Conference's Business EDUCA programme.

The Business EDUCA sessions will explore the future of learning today and provide participants with practical insights and tools including using social media to enhance business performance, embracing mobile learning in business, and demonstrating value.