What is the best training in 2024?

Discover the best training formats based on the latest studies

Did you know that despite the popularity of online courses, many learners are dissatisfied with them? Recent research conducted by iSpring entitled The state of online corporate training in 2024: Key insights for companies and organizationsIt reveals a huge gap between what learning and development professionals offer and what employees actually want. If we want to close this gap, it is time to change our approach to training and adopt methods that better engage and empower learners.

Let’s explore which formats aren’t resonating with learners and which alternatives will produce better results.

The most popular training formats among cognitive and learning and development professionals

Most corporate training programs consist of the following forms:

• Live online lessons
• Virtual sessions
• Training videos
• the exams
• Screen recordings

However, these formats are the least preferred by learners. For example, while 77% of training programs are online courses, only 47% of learners enjoy them.

This does not mean that we should abandon these formats completely. It is difficult to imagine e-learning without online courses, assessments and video lessons. Screen recordings are probably still the best way to teach employees how to use software. Webinars are one of the few opportunities for distance learners to interact with each other and the speaker.

Therefore, you do not need to exclude these formats. However, you may want to scale it down a bit and add some other training activities that your learners are currently lacking.

Training formats that learners actually enjoy

According to the research results, most employees now prefer micro-learning, face-to-face training, role-playing simulations, and virtual and augmented reality activities. Let’s take a closer look at each of them and see in which cases these formats are most effective.

1. Microlearning

Microlearning is a teaching method that breaks down entire courses into bite-sized chunks. A microlearning course focuses on a single learning objective and takes only 5 to 7 minutes to complete.

Why do learners love it? When explaining why they don’t complete training, 68% of employees say they are too busy to learn. Furthermore, social media seems to have changed the way we perceive information. People often don’t have enough focus on formats that are much longer than a post or a TikTok video. These two factors make microlearning the most organic and easy way of training for people.

You can Create microlearning courses On any topic and in any format, from pages of text and short videos to scenarios and interactive knowledge tests. Thanks to this flexibility, it fits into any training scenario, be it onboarding, product training, or compliance training.

2. Face-to-face training

Traditional face-to-face training sessions have also proven effective and popular among employees. It includes lectures, practical sessions, group exercises and other personal activities.

In fact, in 2023, companies used face-to-face training 8% more than in 2022. However, it is worth noting that these companies do not run purely traditional training. They use Blended learning An approach that combines online and in-person training sessions. This approach takes advantage of the best of both worlds: learners can interact with each other in real life to practice their new knowledge and skills while still learning most of the time online at their own pace.

Face-to-face training is ideal when you need human interaction. For example, creative thinking or team building sessions will be more effective when conducted in person.

However, this format has some limitations that led to the birth of online training in the first place:

• It is difficult to gather all employees due to their busy schedules.
• Remote employees are excluded from training.
• The effectiveness of the session depends greatly on the speaker (good speakers are hard to find).
• In-person sessions are usually more expensive due to travel expenses for speakers and/or staff from regional offices.

However, if you have the opportunity to conduct such trainings and do not have many remote employees, consider adding face-to-face sessions to your programs. This is what many of your learners want.

3. Role-playing simulation

Role-playing simulations, also known as scenarios, are interactive learning experiences that allow employees to learn new skills and practice them as they would in real life, through trial and error. Contrary to popular belief, role-playing simulations go beyond customer service games and fit into almost any training scenario.

Using role-playing, you can practice leadership, interpersonal processes, activities in physical space (such as how to act during a building fire or robbery), abstract relationships (such as a demand curve), and even certification skills (such as how to inspect documents).

Moreover, Clark Aldrich, one of the most experienced educational simulation designers in the world, says that Role-playing training It should be the foundation of corporate training because it helps you achieve better learner engagement and knowledge retention and remains the only innovative training method with proven effectiveness that most organizations can afford.

The only case where role-playing is not appropriate is complex and specialized training, such as a flight simulator. The format described in the next section is ideal for such cases.

4. Virtual reality and augmented reality activities

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) activities have been energizing workout enthusiasts for a long time — for years, if not decades. At first, it seemed like this was what all digital training would eventually become. Immersive 3D experiences with a kind of interactivity never seen before. While VR training is really effective and very engaging (no wonder employees enjoy this format so much), it is very expensive and very difficult to create to meet regular training needs.

As new technologies – such as Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3 – come to market, there may be new developments in this area. VR headsets may become less expensive, and content development may become easier and less time-consuming. But…we’re not there yet.

However, as mentioned above, there are some situations, such as pilot training, that require this form of training. If you need to train employees in critically important skills – the ones on which people’s lives depend – there’s nothing better than virtual reality and augmented reality.

It’s not just about coordination

Training formats play a huge role in achieving your training goals. However, there are also some factors that undermine the effectiveness of training, regardless of whether you use a format that resonates with your learners or not. Here are the challenges businesses most often face:

• The interaction is weak The lack of variety in assessments, coupled with repetitive training content, is a major downside for trainees.
• Focus on one training content format. Learners view long, heavy reads or dry PPTs as ineffective content types. The same goes for monotonous video content, such as long Zoom videos.
• Passive learning These include low-quality presentation (the presenter simply reads from the slides) and a lack of in-depth insights or real-life cases to illustrate the material.

Furthermore, most companies cite that the biggest barrier to effective training is the lack of clearly defined training objectives and the failure to define the target audience.

So, if you want to succeed in your training initiatives, consider not only the formats you will use, but other factors as well.

Download the full report

To learn about other aspects of the current state of corporate training, such as how to overcome employee resistance to training, measure training effectiveness, and formulate their training budgets, download the research results from iSpring website.

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