Freia's implementation of LXP

The NLV community was created a year ago to connect clients with each other and to activate a piece of social learning within Next Learning Valley itself. By sharing best practices and business cases, clients learn with and from each other. In addition, new functionalities within the platform are discussed and experts share their vision and experiences. Last Thursday, Marlies Timmerman (Learning and development director at Freia Group) was a guest at the first community meeting of 2022. She shared her experience after implementing the LXP (Learning Experience Platform). In this blog you will find the highlights of her story.

"The Freia Group consists of several training companies based on the common belief that every person wants to be and remain significant. Because of corona, the need for a better online learning environment was growing. In addition, we would like to permanently connect our large group of alumni. Jos Maassen of NLV made us enthusiastic about the LXP with which we now offer Social Learning and Personalized Learning. Automation was also one of the driving forces to switch from SPOCs (Small Private Online Course) to the LXP. Most training companies within Freia started a pilot, some have now rolled it out. We have also set up the LXP internally to gain experience."

From content push to learning experience

"We found the step from a content push to a learning experience quite difficult ourselves. Out of 44 different types of learning experiences, we often choose on autopilot from the three easiest: read a blog post, read a book or watch video. In the LXP, we come across the question: What learning experience do you want to give participants? As a result, we dwell on different learning experiences and the possibility of supporting them with content. A whole different mindset."

Self-directed learning

"Participants need a lot of guidance in the transition from directed learning to self-directed learning. In self-directed learning, the initiative lies with the participant. I often ask participants the question, What did you enjoy learning most in your life and in what ways did you learn? Nine times out of 10, they answer something they learned by just doing it and figuring it out for themselves. Then you would think they would experience the LXP as a playground and get right down to it. But both participants and teachers are used to directed learning. In kindergarten, you get used to a group with an expert telling you what to do and how to do it. That pattern is hard to break; I underestimated that. We need to take trainers more into their role within the LXP and not let participants get too loose."

"To be prepared for the future, you need to ask yourself the following questions: What are the challenges and developments in my field, what can I experiment with and how can I increase my awareness? Where there used to be an expert in every field, that is no longer the case. This requires every professional to be able to self-directed learning. The LXP helps learn this skill."

The role of the teacher

"What helped us a lot is just getting started. That suits how I approach things. You discover what comes out best when. This gave us insight into the value that the trainer or teacher adds (in Horizon pograms), namely to the personal puzzle of participants, group dynamics and experiential learning. At the times when teachers and participants meet (online), we ensure that this value is added to the maximum. The things that do not contribute to this, we need to shape differently, for example, at the LXP. This is how we continue to develop the programs. And we're not done with that yet."

Impact

"All major organizations are working on learning opportunities and platforms. It is incredibly instructive to discover and develop opportunities together with these organizations. We like to work in partnerships to maximize all knowledge and experiences.

We already had the vision of learning capability development and now that has come together with the use of the LXP. We want participants to take steps on the LXP. It adds value on their own learning capacity. It's not just another platform, it provides the opportunity to develop self-learning, and that's a skill that professionals need."

We are at the beginning

"We have set up a Learning & Development Academy within Freia. Here we share experiences with each other and sharpen our visions. Through Social Learning we connect with the different companies of Freia. Now that we are using the LXP internally, we are getting to know the system much better. Much has already been accomplished of which I am proud but we are also only at the beginning. There is still plenty to discover and improve."

Curious about the possibilities for your organization?

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