Top 13 Learning Trends and how they are braced in SuccessFactors Learning

In this blog, we will cover leading learning trends , and how they are supported in SAP SuccessFactors Learning.

1.Machine Learning: Machine learning is an application of AI that enables systems to learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. SAP SuccessFactors Learning has developed the personalized learning recommendation platform which is powered by machine learning capabilities with SAP Leonardo. With Personalized learning recommendations, SAP SuccessFactors Learning enables users to find relevant courses from their learning libraries without the need to search through the library.  Currently Personalized Learning Recommendations is available to customers who are part of the Early Adopter Program.

2.Learning Experience Platforms or LXP’s: As they say, if an LMS is going to a cinema, an LXP is going on YouTube. They were born out of a new approach to corporate learning platforms, addressing perceived shortcomings with learning management systems. Most LXP’s are flexible & highly customizable, encourage user generated content, simplify content generation and curation, facilitate social learning & collaboration, support AI powered learning & provide rich analytics amongst other standard features. SAP App Store has many LXP Apps that integrate seamlessly with SuccessFactors Learning like Degreed & Blend.

3.Gamification: Gamification is a concept of applying game-design thinking or gaming elements to non game applications . Its not just a buzz word and its power shouldn’t be underestimated. When employees engage with these platforms, they see how every activity they do gains them points, advances them in levels , wins them recognition & earns them rewards while building up their knowledge and skills which are critical for your business. SuccessFactors Learning provides integration with gamification vendors like BunchBall. You also have options on SAP App Store like Axonify, Centrical Employee Transform , MobieTrain etc. which work seamlessly with SuccessFactors Learning.

4. Virtual Reality/ VR: Virtual reality aims to immerse learners in alternative digital worlds. Content is accessed through VR headsets often combined with headphones and hand controllers that allow the learner to navigate their way around their virtual space. VR is especially used to create training experiences which are otherwise very dangerous or costly to create. SAP has partnered with Immerse as part of its PartnerEdge ® program. Immerse VEP(Virtual Enterprise Platform) integrates directly with SAP SuccessFactors Learning – so employees can go directly from SuccessFactors Learning into a VR session. Meanwhile, key learner data is then passed back to SuccessFactors Learning once the VR training session is complete.

5. Content Curation: Content Curation is the act of discovering, gathering, and presenting digital content that surrounds a specific topic. Natively SAP provides collections as a feature to enable curating, grouping and sharing of external content. It allows employees as well as administrators to collect and organize web content and make it easily discoverable by others within the organization. Collections can also be recommended as part of social learning. Qurate on SAP App Center provides content curation services that seamlessly integrates with SF Learning.

6. Virtual Learning: If your company holds training in online meeting spaces like Microsoft Teams, Adobe Connect, WebEx, Microsoft Skype/Lync or Zoom, you can use Virtual Learning Service (VLS) Integration with SuccessFactors Learning. Depending on the capabilities of the meeting room vendor, SAP SuccessFactors Learning can also read the attendance list, time in attendance, record completion based on the specified attendance threshold and other reporting data. This can bring in lot of efficiency in the process.

7. Integrated Content Libraries: If you want to track your users’ online learning in LMS but do not want to create or import the content , you can sign up with an Open Content Network (OCN) provider and implement the connection between SAP SuccessFactors Learning and the provider. Employees can still take the course with the OCN provider outside the LMS, but when you bring their courses into the LMS, you make it available for assignment, add it to catalogs, bundle it into a curriculum or program, or make it a part of your company’s social learning through recommendations. SAP App Center also has some OCN Connections like Go1, Speexx & SAP Content Stream by SkillSoft.

8. Social Learning: Social learning theory suggests that social behavior is learned by observing and imitating the behavior of others. SAP SuccessFactors supports social learning in many ways. Recommendation feature allows you to recommend content and thereby for employees to learn from each other. Users can rate content they complete, and then other users can search for highly rated content from the library. Users can also curate content and make it easily discoverable by others. More advanced social learning & collaboration capabilities were met by SAP JAM Module but it has been deprecated. New module called Workzone has been introduced.

9. Learning in the flow of work: It is becoming increasingly important to place learning where employees spend most of their time doing day to day activities. SuccessFactors Learning Integration with Salesforce, Microsoft Viva etc. makes sense for the same reason.

10. Learning for extended enterprise: We all understand the importance of ensuring our employees have access to high quality, engaging training programs. However, too often this training experience is not delivered to the extended enterprise: the ecosystem of customers, partners, suppliers, and communities that directly impact your company’s overall success. They too need to be given the same consideration when coordinating a learning and development program, as an under-skilled extended enterprise can be just as damaging as an under-skilled employee base. Depending on your needs, you can either leverage LMS Sites or Learning Marketplace to deliver and manage learning to extended enterprise.

11. Microlearning: In the 1880s, a German psychologist, Hermann Ebbinghaus, performed experiments on human memory and developed a hypothesis called the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve, which illustrates the rate at which people forget new information. Without the application of the acquired learning, people may forget 80% of what they learn within 30 days! The microlearning concept can be used to tackle this issue. Splitting the content into small pieces and recalling different parts of it over time can help improve knowledge retention and productivity. SAP App store has many microlearning apps which work seamlessly with SuccessFactors Learning like Centrical Employee Transform, MobieTrain & Axonify.

12. Augmented Reality/AR: Rather than blocking out the real world, augmented reality blends it with digital content. Digital assets can take many shapes and forms, so it can be flat and 2D, which is great for instructional information, or be more complex and ‘real’ in 3D. Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets allow the learner to access content, making it easily accessible. For instance, IKEA Place App are using AR to help customers view what products would potentially look like in their houses. They call it augmented reality furnishing. Not aware of any partnerships with SuccessFactors Learning in this space yet.

13. Metaverse: When Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook’s rebranding to Meta, the term metaverse became a buzzword overnight. The metaverse refers to a convergence of physical, augmented, and virtual reality in a shared online space. Many companies are already using metaverse to onboard their employees. Another interesting development is Mesh for Microsoft Teams. It provides a natural collaboration experience in mixed reality, with 3D avatars representing people in a shared space. Proximity and spatial audio let people know where they are relative to one another. Users can visualize and annotate content together in a shared 3D space. Again, not aware of any specific partnerships with SuccessFactors Learning in this space.

How is your organization incorporating these immersive and other learning trends in the context of SAP SuccessFactors Learning ? Which learning technology are you most excited about? Please do share your thoughts.