It probably won't have escaped your notice, but eLearning is on the rise. According to market forecasts the global eLearning market is expected to grow to almost 400 billion USD by 2026.
As a global company, creating eLearning content is slightly more complicated than for other companies. Your content has to serve multiple markets, all speaking different languages.
It's becoming more important than ever to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to eLearning trends. With trends like mobile-first becoming ever more present, you need to adapt to keep up.
These changes will affect your translation and localization strategy as you need to make sure your content is accessible to learners all around the world.
Here are some eLearning trends that have been coming to the forefront this year and how they affect localization…
Why eLearning is gaining popularity in global companies
Elearning has been growing in popularity for years. However, partly because of the 2020 global pandemic, we've seen a lot of companies across the world seeing the value of providing online and hybrid learning experiences for their employees and customers.
Compared to conventional in-person training, eLearning offers a convenient, cost-effective way to provide training. It also has the benefit of providing a more consistent learning experience across your company. Your learners in international markets can receive the same high-quality learning experience as those in your home market… but only if you localize the content properly.
Other benefits that are bringing more global companies to eLearning include the potential to reach larger audiences, flexibility across multiple time zones, and its lower environmental impact.
5 top eLearning trends for 2022 that could affect you
Thanks to new technology and changing learner preferences, a few key trends are driving the eLearning industry right now.
Here are 5 of those trends and how they might affect you and your learners:
1. Mobile-first learning
Mobile devices are growing more popular each year and this applies to eLearning too. People are increasingly using their smartphones for everything, including learning.
It used to be common for eLearning content to only be designed for (and sometimes only accessible on) a computer. But in the world of mobile-first, this is no longer acceptable.
2. Adaptive, personalized learning
Another trend that we are seeing in many industries is the rise of personalization. As technology has become more advanced, this trend has also become common in eLearning.
Adaptive learning helps ensure each learner receives the most relevant and targeted instruction, which leads to better overall results. Ideally, this personalization is present across your different languages.
3. Blended or hybrid learning
Blended or hybrid learning is another trend that seems to be here to stay. It combines traditional instructor-led training with online modules, giving learners the best of both worlds.
This type of learning is often better for learners, but it increases the complexity of creating the learning material, especially when you need to localize the content.
4. New types of learning content
Another trend is the move towards different types of learning content, such as videos and interactive games. These can help improve learning outcomes as people learn in different ways.
The challenge for global companies is that you also have to localize these new multimedia content types. This can be complex and costly if you don't consider localization when designing the content.
5. Virtual reality and immersive learning
As well as the rise of multimedia eLearning content, there is also a move towards virtual reality and other immersive learning modalities. Even though these are still in their infancy, they look to be the next big thing in eLearning.
When you are creating and localizing your learning content, it's helpful to look ahead to these types of learning content as you may need to support them soon.
How these trends will impact your content localization
Your content localization strategy should be specifically tailored to your unique eLearning content. As a result, each new trend will affect you differently depending on what types of content you are creating.
You need to plan your company's content strategy carefully to consider the latest learning technologies and modalities.
Many of the trends will affect both the technology and tools you use and the type of content that you create. With mobile-first, for example, you need to use an eLearning authoring tool that supports the creation of responsive content that automatically adjusts to whatever device the learners are using.
With virtual reality you will need to consider localization in your tool selection to ensure you can reach learners in your international markets.
3 handy tips to adapt your translated eLearning content
How can you adapt your eLearning content to keep up with trends like these?
Here are 3 handy tips that you can use to make your life easier:
- Make sure you are using the most effective technology. Software like your eLearning authoring tool, learning management system, and translation management system can significantly affect your content creation and localization process. Get advice from your trusted partner and pick the tools that will help streamline your process.
- Create your eLearning content with a trusted translation partner. A translation provider that understands how to create effective learning experiences will help you better localize your content for different markets.
- Keep on top of the latest trends but don't get overwhelmed by them. New technologies and trends can come and go very quickly. With a clear content strategy in place, you can ensure you are always serving the needs of your international learners.
An important step to get your eLearning content right every time
What's the most important step when trying to keep on top of the latest eLearning trends?
Having a translation provider that can help you navigate the complexity is the top of our list.
The right partner will do more than just translating your eLearning content. They will help you make better decisions about what type of content you need to create, how you can create it more efficiently, and how you can use your translation budget to best effect.
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Best Practices for Online Learning Localization
In this report, we share our best practices for writing, designing, and translating high-quality online learning material cost-effectively. Technology advances have made it easier than ever to create high-quality online learning courses, but translating instructional content can still be prohibitively expensive if it is not authored with localization in mind.