WFT Key List of Elearning Stats for 2022 – And What They Mean For You

2022 promises to be an exciting year for elearning and may open up a wide variety of new and exciting opportunities for workforce training and L&D.

With online training becoming more innovative and accessible, it’s a great time to check into the latest developments and find out about the elearning statistics and news that will help you take advantage of opportunities this year.

According to data from researchmarkets.com the elearning market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.7% between now and 2026. This shows that online learning is truly standing on its own two feet and can be as much of a viable option as in-person learning

The elearning industry is a fast-growing sector. The speed of this progress demonstrates to CEO, L&D managers, and employees that their training programmes are missing out if they choose to miss out on online learning opportunities.

Ultimately, as a more remote workplace becomes the norm, distance learning will also grow and improve to meet the same standards as face-to-face learning. If predicted rates of growth are seen throughout 2022, it’s clear that now is the time to revise workforce training programmes and schedules to incorporate an approach that focuses on distance and elearning platforms.

A great barometer of quality elearning trends in teaching is when teachers themselves back a trend within the sector. Now, 86% of teachers think that technology should be a core part of education, according to a survey from Prometheon.

For managers in charge of upskilling their team, data like this shows the importance of reviewing your workforce training for 2022 to ensure that tech is integrated. Employee training with course content that utilises new educational technology can bring a fresh new approach to your corporate elearning programmes. 

Elearning courses can allow companies to place a greater focus on technology. Distance learning allows online students to interact with technology and software on their laptop, phone, or through virtual reality extension to get forward-thinking and cutting-edge training wherever they are. Education within a virtual space can utilise a wider range of learning materials, such as smartphones, social media, apps and mobile devices, which can revolutionise the learning process for employees. 

This trend could be a game-changer for retention rates for companies who feel that their teams are unengaged or not enthusiastic about training. Gamified learning refers to courses or programmes with a game-like structure and factor in engaging and entertaining goals and challenges for players.

This form of education can revitalise a dull education or training programme, as 67% of students surveyed by ScienceDirect said that gamified learning was more motivating and engaging than non-gamified learning.

Gamification could become an essential part of online learning platforms and in-person education process in a short space of time as employees will be keen to try out this style of learning going forward.

Virtual reality is becoming a more standard feature of gaming and entertainment, but it’s also making a splash in the education market as a learning tool.

According to research Grand View Research, virtual reality as a market will see a growth rate of 21% YOY. Meanwhile, Zion Market Research predicts that the global edtech virtual reality market will reach a value of around 1.4 billion dollars within five years, making it a significant part of the future elearning landscape.

Companies looking to give employees an incredibly immersive elearning experience can look at VR and learning technologies as a way to create an experience that could be even better than in-person learning. With the use of dynamic environments and personalised virtual classrooms, the possibilities for learners are endless. 

Better still, the tech is perfect for remote teams who want to keep flexible working from home setups whilst also receiving outstanding levels of training and education.

Recent research from Guru and Loom found that 90% of workers were happy to work from home for at least some of the time indefinitely, clearly showing that employees are likely to push for current remote options to remain, even if restrictions around office work go away.

This is big news for online education, as it demonstrates that employees are happy with the idea of an increasingly remote workplace and would be fine with the idea of never returning to a traditional office setup even after the pandemic is completely over.

With this in mind, employees may expect greater levels of remote learning as well. For companies that have adopted remote work policies, having a training programme that relies on in-person teaching negates the flexibility and benefits of working from home for both employees and managers. 

If educational resources rely on physical locations or use in-person teaching settings, fully remote workers may struggle to get the same learning experience as their non-remote colleagues. 

Furthermore, having an inflexible in-person training programme may cause issues when hiring fully remote workers. Having a fully online learning programme allows you to pivot and change your training setup to best suit the needs of your team or company. 

More workers are seeing the vast benefits of microlearning as an approach to employee training that can drastically improve engagement. 

By splitting online classes and modules up into small, bite-sized chunks, employers are finding that their workforce is showing greater interest in training programmes and see them as less of a burden to their normal work schedules.

58% of workers surveyed by Softwareadvice.com said that they would be more likely to use their company’s learning management system if courses were broken up into smaller chunks.

This demonstrates that taking a new approach to how training is implemented could be a great way for companies to get employees interested in training again, boost engagement, and drive up the effectiveness of their training.

Time spent away from the office highlighted the importance of social interaction and shared learning to some employees. Companies can take additional steps to keep social interactions high within teams through regular team calls or virtual socials.

Informal interactions can lead to “social learning,” where skills are informally taught through questions and demonstrations. Simply asking for a colleague to run you through how they use a piece of software or getting a quick demonstration all counts as social learning. It’s something that almost every worker has done without even realising.

This kind of company-wide engagement is vital for learning, as a survey conducted by Kineo found that 74% of L&D professionals said that social learning was key to their L&D strategy. Typically, the benefits of elearning are focused on the flexibility it provides and the fact that it can be done alone at home without the need for other colleagues or managers.

However, utilising group discussions, open Q&A sessions, and online group learning projects can be used to make elearning more social and help push the social learning benefits typically associated with an in-person, traditional learning environment.