In the digital world, content is king. Social networks like Facebook attract millions of users daily who tune in to discover new content and interact. Content is sexy, it is ubiquitous, entertaining, inspiring, engaging and most often available in short, easy-to-digest “nuggets.” In addition, content has become democratic: Anyone can broadcast personal expertise and points of view to the world in just seconds. Content has become visually appealing, keeping with trends and advances in graphic design. In some cases, content is interactive, thanks to branching technologies and integrating quick links to other content. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, content is now primarily mobile, available anywhere, at any time and on any device. And these characteristics now define what excellent content means.

For the training industry, the importance of providing excellent content to learners is no longer a nice-to-have. Through frequent use of internet and various social networks in their personal lives, contemporary corporate audiences have acquired high expectations for content they encounter in their company’s training programs. Falling short of these expectations can often result in plummeting engagement and deteriorated motivation to learn, and even jeopardize completion, notably if the training initiative is not mandatory. As a consequence, industry experts have recently underlined the growing importance of content, encouraging L&D professionals to think resources and not courses, especially if they want to motivate and engage their learners. However, while designing and producing high-quality content for training purposes is indispensable, the importance of content in the learning process tends to be somewhat overrated and its role often misunderstood.

Identifying Context

It is crucial to identify the context in which content is utilized. To do so, one must distinguish between two specific and often confused needs: the need for information and the need for training. The first requires a robust reference tool while the second requires a strategic learning solution. While the content itself can actually remain the same in both situations, the ways in which it is delivered to the learner are means to very different ends: The primary purpose of a reference tool is to provide quick reminders or bursts for just-in-time needs, whereas a training solution seeks to create sustainable skills acquisition. Therefore, determining the purpose content should serve and which outcome it should create is paramount to creating successful training initiatives. Defining a smart rollout strategy that both facilitates content consumption while providing contextualization also participates in the overall success of the training.

Defining Outcomes

It is essential to define the learning outcome for a given piece of content and choose its format accordingly. The unbridled success of YouTube has certainly positioned video as the medium of choice. As a consequence, video often overshadows alternative media. While the benefits of video as a medium are well-known, concentrating only on video does not contribute to creating a diversified learning experience and does not explicitly prompt experiential learning – the building of skills through action and experience.

In addition, video as a pedagogical tool often relies on learning through observation, which has proven to be less effective for deep reasoning/behavioral skills than other more social, action-based approaches.  Recalling Bloom’s Taxonomy also illustrates the reduced scope of concentrating on informative/demonstrative content alone, as learning strategies should also target higher orders of the taxonomy to incite learners to put those skills into practice. Video, therefore, may not systematically be the best medium to achieve the desired learning outcome. It is essential to harness the full spectrum of content types that will contribute to creating a meaningful learning experience: polls, drills/quizzes, open questions, exercises, discussions, summary sheets, etc.

Making Content Social

Video content is not social by nature, insofar as the viewer (or learner) risks remaining passive and isolated in front of a screen. If “learning is an active process of constructing rather than acquiring knowledge, and instruction is a process of supporting that construction rather than communicating knowledge” what are the implications of this declaration in an era where video is undeniably the preferred medium? In a social learning context, perhaps video use should consciously deviate from the “presentational paradigm” which consists in simply transmitting knowledge. Video content can also become an “affordance or tool for a wide range of active learning strategies which engage the learner in the construction of their own knowledge.” Several studies have identified learner-generated content as a “valuable transformative tool for learners.” Adding a social component to this strategy is key since “[adults] especially learn by interacting with peers to acquire new knowledge and skills.”

Organizing Content

The “nuggetization” of learning content has changed the face of time management in digital learning. Of course, providing short, frequent, mobile easy-to-digest bursts of learning offer unparalleled benefits for contemporary, on-the-go learners. But what about more complex skills that cannot be learned in three, five or even 60 minutes? Some concepts, whether hard or soft skills, need to be acquired and assimilated over time in successive and organized touchpoints. Defining a metastrategy in which various nuggets are assembled to serve deep skills acquisition is key for successful training initiatives. Yes, providing attractive and engaging content is important, but even more so is how that content is organized and how it ultimately serves a higher learning goal. Organizing nuggets in a longer training path may actually be the most logical choice.

The Learning Ecosystem

The case of Facebook can serve as a compelling illustration for effective uses of content. While most users may think their frequent connections are fueled only by an addiction to new content, there are also other dynamics at work that keep bringing them back: not only is there a technological platform but there is also a lot of human interaction happening. Along with the content, these two additional elements combine to create an ecosystem that generates engagement and growth. In this way, the learner is like a plant that needs soil (i.e., a platform) to anchor its roots, water (i.e., content) and light (i.e., human interaction) to grow. L&D professionals who wish to generate lasting changes in behaviors therefore must strive to create a similar ecosystem composed of three elements: 1) media-diverse, top-quality content, 2) human interaction, and 3) technology that allows it all to happen.

Such an ecosystem will become a learning solution that provides a meaningful and engaging learning experience. Once such an ecosystem is designed and put into place, the organization can then begin to measure the skills acquisition through KPIs that not only prove training impacts on individual and team development, but also prove the transformative effects on the organization and the business. KPIs such as these that establish a direct link between learning and business stakes can only be collected and measured in an integrated learning ecosystem; by creating such an ecosystem, organizations can go beyond traditional completion level measurements to demonstrate the real value of learning and development.