Implementing learning technology can be learned

The deployment of new learning concepts or technologies hinges on their implementation. Sounds logical. Yet too often we still see something being thrown over the fence and employees having to "just figure it out with the new concept. That is why a good implementation plan is so important. Such a plan was devised by the participants of the Develhub Winter University at the end of March 2022.

Under the guidance of expert social learning Kim Jooss and senior implementor learning innovation Hans Ramaker, an enthusiastic group of diverse L&D practitioners set to work co-creating an implementation plan with which to properly roll out a new vision of learning or a new learning platform within your organization. What should you pay attention to? What is useful? And what is not?

Implementation plan de campaign

"After a brief digital introduction, Hans and I mostly did our best to say pretty little," Kim laughs. "The idea of the workshop was for the participants to work on coming up with an implementation plan for new learning technology themselves.

What you often see in practice is that L&D people within an organization have been working on a new vision of learning and associated learning platform for some time, but it still comes out of the blue for employees because they often don't get wind of that new vision and plans until months later. Then it is difficult to make sure everyone adopts the new platform or idea because not everyone has been included in that change."

Creating success climate

"The workshop participants had a nice conversation about how things should actually be done: listing the organization's ambitions, strategy and goals and examining how a new vision of learning fits in. What are employees actually up against? And how do you properly communicate these new ways of learning or developing?

Smart anyway: start with a pilot and set up a sounding board group to deal with the new platform. Also useful: involve experts within the organization in content development. That way there are more and more people who are already engaged with the new vision or the new platform and who will start circulating that. And if you call something a pilot, employees feel more room to experiment. After you finish the pilot, you can also celebrate it (very important). To roll out the platform further from there. The run-up may be longer, but the effect of the change will be greater."

Evaluate and scale up

"Once the first successes are celebrated, the evaluation begins: what's going well, what could be better? And then the scaling up can begin. Bring in the marketing communications department to shout that something is going on and introduce more and more people to the new learning vision and associated learning technology. Eventually the time will come when everyone is "over" to the new platform. Especially then, it is important to keep improving continuously. Implementation often stops when everyone is in the new platform, but that is such a waste. Instead, keep bringing it to attention and apply the idea behind the 'Learning Accelerator'!"

Learning Accelerator?

"I often compare the Learning Accelerator to my Computer Science degree," Kim explains. "There they always said: we're training you for a job that doesn't exist right now. And to prepare you for that, we mainly teach you an attitude so that you no longer depend on content or a platform, but can lean on your own learning ability. We also do this with the Learning Accelerator: we measure employee motivation, self-efficacy and engagement. We visualize this data in a dashboard. Based on these dashboards, you can make interventions as an organization. For example, you can increase employee motivation by paying attention to the importance of their role within the entire organization.

Conclusion

During the workshop we developed an implementation plan together. It was nice to see that everyone gradually discovered that a new vision of learning really starts with including everyone within the organization. Within Next Learning Valley, we often say to each other that our projects are really change processes, and that was evident once again now."

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