UNLEASH America: What we learned about digital learning approaches through the pandemic

One of the more remarkable quotes from our pre-show interview with Dematic’s Casper Moerck that trailed UNLEASH America was his suggestion that digital learning wasn’t the panacea that a lot of businesses have made it out to be.

While most of us would freely admit that the mid-to-long-term solution is a hybrid model of learning (much like our new working habits, right?), it would nevertheless be interesting to see where Moerck believed his and Dematic’s post-COVID-19 learning framework sat on the spectrum.

It turned out that he was more positive about the possibilities of digital learning than we thought – but with caveats.

The key quote from this session was, “just because you can put 150 people into a VILT (virtual instructor-led training) session doesn’t mean that you should do it.”

Variations on this theme became the mantra of the talk. Design for the medium is the order of the day.

“VILTs must be designed with even more interaction than classroom formats or participants ‘zone out’ or get distracted.”

A new reality

One good medium for VILT that Moerck highlighted was virtual reality: “People learn best by doing, and VR allows for learners to practice while in a safe environment.” Tech such as VR has blossomed in the last few years and the pandemic has only helped underline the potential of the digital and the asynchronous.

The key messages from this session were around making sure the way in which you use digital is appropriate to what performance goals you are trying to achieve and that, in Moerck’s own words, “the method must fit the business objectives.”

It’s about picking and choosing. Understanding that the learning strategy that works for you and your organization is likely to be a greatest hits of other people’s.

A curated playlist of the techniques that work for you based on business goals and workforce dynamics.

If you want more from UNLEASH America but can’t make it to Las Vegas, check out our website and our social media channels.