eLearning & Instructional Design Trends of 2022 That You Should Know A

I think we can now safely say that the pandemic is over. Okay, not entirely over but can we say almost? After nearly two years of continuous reliance on online learning, learning and Perfect Instructional Design Theory trends have hugely shifted for the ed-tech industry. People have been forced to think out of the box and come up with solutions that otherwise wouldn’t ever have been thought of. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. The world has realized that e-learning isn’t here to make lockdowns easier; it is in fact here to stay. If e-learning had been growing at a fast pace from before the pandemic, the pandemic and subsequent lockdown(s) simply gave it a boost!

Let’s talk about some of the e-learning and instructional design trends for the year 2022 as we come out of teething phases and forced conversions. This time, the future is less unpredictable and everyone is more aware. This time, everyone is also more accepting of e-learning trends and also quicker at adopting as well as adapting to them. 

Let’s First Talk About E-Learning Trends and Why You Should Be Adopting It

1. Growth of nearly 1000% in the past two decades

The e-learning industry has grown more than 900 percent since the year 2000. Although this may be largely due to the internet growing in demand, recent years have added to the value in leaps and bounds. More so, as technology keeps evolving this number will continue to rise at an accelerated pace, because e-learning is, in fact, the future. 

2) Worldwide e-learning market forecasted to cross USD 1 trillion in five years

The worldwide market for e-learning, according to a report by GM Insights, is predicted to be more than 1 trillion U.S. dollars by the year 2027. This is huge for the e-learning industry, which was at $187 billion at the end of the year 2019, and nearly $250 billion in 2020. This also shows the accelerated growth rate which is only intensifying with time and advancements in technology. 

3) E-Learning is faster than traditional learning

According to Papers Owl, students are nearly 60% faster in completing e-learning development services courses when compared to in-person classes. This may be due to the reason that in-person classes may be tiring and long. Students can avail online courses and complete them at their own convenience, in their own time.

4) E-Learning lets students retain more of what they have learned

So it’s true. Student retention rates are much higher for e-learning being as less as 25% and going up to more than 60%. The retention rate for traditional classrooms was less than 10% altogether. The higher range for e-learning may be due to the fact that every student learns at his or her pace. It is, however, important to note that even the lower range for e-learning retention is more than 200% higher than the retention rate for classrooms. 

5) Organizations offering e-learning training programs report a nearly 50% increase in revenue

Companies that have offered e-learning courses and training programs to their employees and staff have reported a 42% increase in their revenue. This amounts to nearly half their revenue. This is because, again, employees can train at their own convenience and pace and remain motivated throughout the process. 

6) Nearly half of Fortune 500 companies use Learning Management Systems

Around 40% of Fortune 500 organizations leverage Learning Management Systems in order to gain an edge over their competitors. Using LMSes enables them to attain better learning results and easier reporting and tracking. 

Are you convinced yet about adopting e-learning solutions and immersing yourself in the world of ed-tech? If not, let us talk some more about the current instructional design trends leading up to 2022. But before that, it’s necessary to know what is behind these trends and what are the driving forces. Here are some of those reasons:

• There is a generation shift at the workplace that understands the importance of training.
• Technology is becoming more and more accessible as well as affordable.
• There is an increasing focus on building an inclusive culture of learning.
• Teaching is becoming more interactive, and there is a greater focus on informal and social learning as well as performance. 
• There is increasingly more of a focus on learning on the job.

Once you have understood these reasons, it is easier to understand the latest instructional design trends and hence also easier to choose and adopt the ones that you find relevant. The pandemic obviously affected instructional design in a huge way and has just begun to settle down now. Let us discuss some of the major instructional design trends of 2022. 

Instructional Design Trends in 2022

1. Individualized and Customized Training and Courses

If you are wondering why this is a trend, imagine everyone doing the same standardized course in a company. The manager you just hired today may be skilled way more or even considerably less than the senior manager you have had for years. However, if you take their skill and knowledge level into account, then training them is going to be easier as well as more productive in the future. In case you think it will be difficult to assess the skill level for each and every employee, there are artificial intelligence-enabled solutions that can do the job for you, and give you personalized recommendations.

1. Simulations, Storytelling, Virtual and Augmented Reality

Storytelling is the ability to explain concepts in a way that engages the learner. Simulations, as well as extended reality, help bring those stories to life. This makes it easier for learners to understand what is being taught and retain more knowledge in the form of interactive stories and assessments. Learning is becoming more of an experience that learners look forward to. This is especially true with safety training programs being done with the help of virtual reality and simulations.

1. Responsive Instructional Design is Becoming a Must

Mobile-accessible, responsive design is no longer just to gain an edge over the competition. It is increasingly becoming a necessity as technology is evolving and people are relying more and more on their mobile phones. This is also bringing about more of a need for rapid development tools and solutions like Evolve and Rise. It is also making more and more companies adopt staff augmentation as a means to bring in more skills to develop custom applications for learners within a certain timeframe. 

1. Learning On The Job

One of our favorite trends of the year 2022 follows from the previous two years and is growing increasingly popular. It is learning on the job. Whatever organization you are a part of, on-the-job training helps employees stay motivated and learn while they are in the midst of the workflow. This can be made possible with accessible microlearning courses facilitated by smart chatbots and artificial intelligence solutions. 

1. More Focus On Evaluation and Analytics

More and more people are realizing the importance of performance evaluations and analytics and investing in them. They are beginning to realize that yearly evaluations aren't going to help motivate their employees or keep them efficient. They are realizing that these evaluations need to be done more often. This also made the Learning-Transfer Evaluation model by Will Thalheimer popular and trending because of its focus on evaluation. 

1. The Shift Towards Design Thinking

The general shift towards a more empathetic culture has helped in giving more importance to the design thinking approach. Some even go so far as to say that design thinking is the one that has legitimized the general for empathy and using it to help make business decisions. Hence design thinking helps us understand users and empathize with them before taking their needs into consideration to make a solution for them.

Hello, 2022!

In conclusion, 2022 should really prove to be an interesting year in terms of trends in the ed-tech industry and e-learning space. There will be challenges but they will be solvable challenges. The best part is, we can see up ahead unlike the past two years where we had absolutely no idea what was in store for us. In the end, we would just like to say that learning is not the final destination but it is what makes the journey worthwhile. You should adopt the trends that you think work best for you so that you can make the most out of them and help your company succeed.