LXP – The Impact of Technology on Workplace Learning and Development

Digital disruption has impacted virtually every industry, optimising the way we perform day-to-day tasks and consume products and services.

New technology has also impacted the way we learn and develop our skills at work, creating a workforce that’s more innovative and productive than before, and with better access to training. Many businesses have realised the benefits of leveraging technology in this way and are investing resources into learning and development programs.

When we think of learning in the workplace, implementing a Learning Management System (LMS) has long been the preferred option for businesses delivering mandatory training to employees. Using a traditional LMS, administrators enrol learners on to the required courses and learners can work their way through them, often in a linear and time-sensitive path.

With a Learning Experience Platform (LXP), however, a new, smarter option for learning and development has emerged on the market. Powered by the latest in eLearning technology and compatible with experience API (xAPI), LXPs offer a learner-centric experience with more relevant and personalised training solutions, and the ability to map your own learning paths.

What is an LXP?

Janet Clarey at Bersin by Deloitte defines an LXP as:

“Single-point-of-access, consumer-grade systems composed of integrated technologies enabling learning. They can do many tasks, such as curating and aggregating content, creating learning and career pathways, enabling networking, enhancing skill development, and tracking learning activities delivered via multiple channels and content partners. By delivering on a central platform, LXPs enable businesses to provide an engaging and learning-rich experience and may lessen their reliance on an LMS or talent suite as the learning hub.”

We can think of the LXP as offering a more improved and personalised learning experience, accessible to learners through a single, consolidated platform. LXPs essentially help businesses leverage a wealth of learning resources and assets which can be easily delivered to individual learners with the goal of improving skills and productivity.

Usability

Usability is about effectiveness, efficiency and the overall satisfaction of the learner. With an LMS, administrators can restrict the content available to learners and, in doing so, restrict learners’ control over their own learning pathways. LXPs offer better usability making it possible for learners to engage in content beyond the mandatory training and create their own learning journeys.

LXPs harness technology such as the Experience API (xAPI), which collects behavioural data about learners, and AI, to make smart recommendations and promote learning opportunities. For example, how often the learner has logged into the LXP to complete a course, when the learner explores a related article, and so on. Every action is stored within a Learning Record Store (LRS) unique to each user, which helps the LXP to become a user-friendly resource for learning new skills as well as completing mandatory training. Using Machine Learning, a form of AI, an LXP enriches learning in the workplace into a highly personalised experience – the more you learn through the LXP, the better it will get to know the learner and, their preferences and requirements.

Content

One of the LXP’s strengths is the way relevant, personalised content is presented to the learner.

The xAPI works as a data collector, turning learning experiences into data so that it can recommend the most relevant learning opportunities for each person. This system is good for career development and risk management.

Through xAPI, an LXP can present learners with varied learning experiences that might be broken up into recommended, relevant learning opportunities, for example, “recommended for you” or “popular in your company”. They can then choose a learning path that aids in their career development, rather than one imposed from the top down. For businesses, it means improved visibility into learner data that can help with risk management and identifying gaps in skills.

Continuity

Even the most engaging content can become an afterthought with a busy workload, especially if it takes people out of their daily work tasks for long periods. LXPs aim to provide a seamless learning experience, encouraging learning in the flow of work. eLearning, therefore, doesn’t become “an extra task” to squeeze into somebody’s working day; it becomes an integral part of their routine, giving access to the courses they need and want, on the device of their choice and at the times they require it.

The growth of mobile technology and 5G has changed the way learners are consuming eLearning. Training is no longer restricted to the desktop or through a web-based browser. LXPs make it possible for learners to access learning resources on the go, on a variety of devices. Content delivered through an LXP can also be optimised for the device the learner is using.

Security Testing Confirms Continuing Excellence of Astute Platform

Protecting our client’s information has always been a top priority at DeltaNet International. We provide Information Security and Data Protection eLearning to other organisations, so we pride ourselves on practising what we preach.

We recently asked a third party CREST approved security specialist (3GRC) to conduct an annual penetration test on our eLearning platform, Astute. Over the course of several days, they subjected Astute to thousands of vigorous, industry-approved tests, checking every aspect of its data integrity. Throughout the process, there were no issues detected that would pose a major risk to customer data. This is an excellent testament to the platform’s security.

Of the thousands of tests applied, only four low level improvement opportunities were identified. We used these as action points to continue to ensure we’re complying with industry best practice, and provide the most secure eLearning platform available.

These results confirm we have exceptional security and take our responsibilities to our clients and their data very seriously. Our dedicated Astute team work hard to make sure our platform is the best it can be and are always working to improve the user experience.

Existing and potential clients are encouraged to view the full report; this can be obtained by contacting your account manager or representative.

How CPD Benefits Employers and Employees

Progression is the process of developing or moving gradually towards a more advanced state. This is true for both personal and professional life. On a personal level, we are constantly progressing in terms of gaining knowledge, such as learning new DIY skills around the house or experiencing a different culture while travelling.

At work, employees practice continued professional development (CPD) to become better at their jobs and contribute to the progression of the organisation they work for. How effective or fast that progression is, depends greatly on how often employers encourage employees to learn and engage in CPD. So how does CPD benefit you and your employees?

Keeping the Standards Up for Employers

Employers play a key role in CPD for employees. For high performing businesses, this means that learning and development is imbibed within your culture. Employers invest in learning and development programs, actively encouraging employees to reap the benefits of CPD. The benefits of CPD for employers include:

  • Ensures high standards throughout the organisation.
  • Contributes positively to an organisation’s growth and success.
  • Enables a culture of learning and promotes a healthy working relationship with employees.
  • Boosts employee productivity and helps build a more efficient and motivated workforce.
  • Improves employee retention as employees feel valued and loyal to the company.
  • Enables employers to embrace change and react to the shifts within your industry.

Learning and Development for Employees

Without CPD, employees may struggle to keep up with the ever-changing world of work. This is especially true if your business involves compliance, where regulations and official advice is constantly being added or updated. It is also a great way to keep employees engaged and passionate about their work.

The benefits of CPD for employees include:

  • Keeps qualifications up to date, helping learners gain relevant skills on the job.
  • Plugs any gaps in knowledge and enable employees to adapt to the fast-moving world.
  • Aids in improved productivity at work and the ability to learn and improve.
  • Enables employees to demonstrate ambition, aptitude and willingness to learn new skills.
  • Keeps employees focussed on the pathway to career progression, leading to job security and achieving success at work.

CPD is, therefore, beneficial and essential for both employers and employees. CPD goes beyond just learning and development. It is instrumental in building a happy and knowledgeable workforce with a great working relationship between employees and employers. Further channelling down to customers and prospects, it can enhance a business’s reputation among customers and clients as well as future employees.

Accredited eLearning from DeltaNet International

DeltaNet International’s eLearning courses are are all CPD Certified and can be purchased individually or as one great value package.

Visit our Compliance eLearning courses, Health and Safety courses and Performance Management courses.

Alternatively please contact us on 01509 643925 or [email protected]

5 Benefits of Using Astute LMS to Manage All Your Training

We launched Astute in 2015 and have worked tirelessly to build a comprehensive learning management system (LMS) designed to take the pain out of eLearning administration. Now, with the addition of F2F, we have taken the first steps towards developing Astute into an all-rounder learning and development (L&D) system. The new feature is a great addition to our learner-centric, intuitive eLearning platform with the capability to manage your offline L&D activities.

We list out the benefits of using Astute LMS to manage all your learning and development needs.

Manage all your training from one platform

Astute is built for today’s dynamic workplace, offering easy-to-access eLearning to learners – anywhere, anytime. While we cannot stop emphasising on the convenience of eLearning and the value it adds to your L&D program, we appreciate that for some organisations, face-to-face training will be just as important.

This is the biggest benefit of F2F that you can use your existing LMS to manage your entire training program calendar – making Astute your go-to for all things learning and development. Whether you an administrator, trainer or learner, you can use F2F to manage and access offline training events:

  • For administrators: Scheduling and managing face-to-face training events including adding trainers, facilities management and supervising enrolments.
  • For trainers: Accessing course information, viewing course attendees and taking the attendance register.
  • For learners: Enrolling onto a face-to-face training course, viewing course information and requesting withdrawal from a course.

Save money on training management

Some LMS may enable administrators to manage face-to-face training with the help of external integrations which may be expensive and require technical support to set up. F2F is bundled within Astute, so as a subscriber, there are no additional costs or set up required to use the functionality within the learning platform.

F2F enables administrators to maintain a schedule of training events alongside eLearning modules within Astute. With F2F, administrators, trainers and learners can use Astute to access course material in digital format, helping save on paper and printing.

Develop a culture of learning

Learning is key in defining an organisation’s commitment to support innovation, ensure compliance and get employee engagement necessary for success. With the process of managing your training streamlined and time saved on planning training events and informing learners, you are freeing up your L&D team to spend more time developing an all-inclusive program of work. In the long run, a culture of learning will be beneficial for both your employees and your organisation.

Track learner history

Astute already enables administrators to view performance reports for learners using the Performance Manager. With F2F, you will also be able to log face-to-face training hours for learners. With a robust audit trail of all learner activity visible to administrators, L&D teams will be able to determine benchmarks in mandatory training such as compliance and health and safety, as well as mitigate risks by identifying knowledge gaps within the workforce.

Build a high-performance workforce

According to a recent survey, the L&D division of services provider Capita found that 85% of line managers thought L&D was best placed to improve workforce productivity. With the pressure on L&D teams to deliver impactful training for improving workforce productivity and efficiency, the onus lies on organisations to offer the necessary support and tools for managing L&D. Investing in a comprehensive LMS enabling you to manage both eLearning and face-to-face training can help your organisation hit training goals, build a productive workforce, and align culture and business strategy.

Does your LMS offer a cost-effective and seamless integration between online and offline training? If the answer is no, book a demo of Astute today and find out how to make the most of your investment in an LMS.

6 reasons Astute is the perfect platform for compliance

6 reasons Astute is the perfect platform for compliance

It feels like only yesterday Astute was just a glimmer in our eye, but its first birthday is fast approaching – and what a year it’s been!

We set out to address deficiencies in the LMS landscape with an enterprise-level, learner-centric eLearning platform that could be accessed anywhere, on any device. Mission accomplished – as thousands of happy Astute users will attest – but we’re not stopping there.

Compliance training has changed. It’s no longer enough to simply enrol learners onto courses once a year and keep poking them until they’re passed. It might look like compliance – you can export a list showing that every learner completed the training – but actual impact on knowledge and behaviour will be limited. And isn’t that the whole point of compliance training?

We think so, which is why we set our sights on making Astute more than just a really good eLearning Platform. So without further ado, here are six features we’ve added to Astute that make it a better choice for managing compliance than your common or garden LMS.

1. Performance Manager

Making training a mandatory annual event, prescribed to everyone regardless of its relevance or their existing knowledge, is the fastest way to lose learners’ interest. As well as creating bad feeling, delivering training employees don’t actually need is simply not productive.

Rather than delivering generic training to everyone, with Performance Manager you can start the training process with a skills assessment to measure capabilities against job roles. Employees then receive personal learning plans tailored to their own capability gaps, which can consist of eLearning courses, other Astute activities, and offline tasks, too.

2. Policy Manager

Regulations evolve constantly, and it’s vital your organisation is equipped to respond by keeping employees up to date with the latest versions of policies. But managing version control, change history, and keeping track of which employees have signed which policies (as well as who needs to sign new versions) is an administrative challenge.

Not with Policy Manager, which handles all of the above with a robust audit trail and simple mass assignment. Once policies are assigned to employees, it’s easy to keep everyone up to date; policies requiring attention will display directly in their dashboard.

3. Risk Manager

The risk management and assessment processes in your organisation can make the difference between identifying problems before they become serious issues and facing the cost of fixing things after they go wrong. Risk Manager streamlines this process and makes assessments available on mobiles, tablets, and PCs.

As well as providing a robust audit trail, risk areas are easily identifiable at a glance on Astute’s dashboard. Risk Manager allows the creation of bespoke assessments, with custom mitigation outcomes including Astute activities, and just like with courses, stakeholders can be alerted automatically when intervention is required.

4. Self-directed Learning

While it can’t be denied that some subjects require annual training, that doesn’t mean learners should only be able to access them once per year. Especially in compliance subjects, where following correct processes is so important, making training available on demand can make all the difference.

So why aren’t companies doing this already? For starters, the need to enrol learners – then there’s the fact that, when a learner just wants to refresh their memory on one topic, sifting through a full length course is more trouble than it’s worth.

Our Take 5 microlearning modules are designed for this exact reason. They’re the eLearning equivalent of skipping to the chapter you need, without having to read the whole book. And if you choose Astute’s new Open Access portal feature, learners don’t need to be enrolled – or even logged in – to access them.

5. Offline communications

Creating a compliance culture can’t start and end online. If the only time learners see key messages is while completing training courses, they’ll be unlikely to remember them and transfer them to their work.

Astute can help here, too. Each of our off-the-shelf courses comes with a series of associated posters, flyers, and other printed material reinforcing the learning outcomes of the course with memorable messages.

These can be managed and printed directly from Astute. You can even drag and drop your own company logo in for a consistent, branded compliance message – online and offline.

6. Quick Quiz / Surveys

Gaining insight on engagement with your learning and development efforts is a vital part of optimising their impact, but in a typical LMS, completion rate is probably the best metric available for measuring it – and if courses are mandatory, then it doesn’t really tell you anything.

Astute’s integrated surveys make gathering feedback on engagement easy. Create custom surveys and link them to courses, risk assessments, or just make them standalone and open to anyone. You’ll be able to gather, analyse, and report on feedback easily, without needing to set up a separate system and import all of your learners.

Contact us now for a hands on demo of Astute.

Extended Astute eLearning Platform with 360-degree performance reviews, social notifications, and more

Extended Astute eLearning Platform with 360-degree performance reviews, social notifications, and more

We’ve been hard at work on product innovations and are excited to share details of the latest enhancements to Astute, our eLearning Platform.

Social Notifications

Users and teams can now enjoy in-platform messaging with social media-style notifications, further extending Astute’s capabilities as a social knowledge sharing platform, while administrators can create organisation-wide notifications.

Like emails, notifications can be triggered by activities like passing a course or logging in for the first time, making them a powerful, flexible communication tool that minimises needless email.

My Team / My Progress

Astute’s new My Progress feature gives learners an overview of their progress through courses and assessments they’re enrolled on. For managers, My Team provides an overview of progress, total time spent, and number of attempts for each individual in their team without the need to delve into reports or spreadsheets.

Performance Manager Extension

Astute’s latest extension, Performance Manager, gives organisations the power to identify employees’ individual development requirements and deliver tailored training – all through one central platform.

With customisable job profiles, capability frameworks and assessments, you’ll be able to gather multi-source feedback, benchmark capabilities and identify untapped potential within your organisation. Where capability gaps are identified, learners are presented with development opportunities which can be links to online resources, files, or Astute courses.

Contact us today to find out more about Astute and Performance Manager.

4 added values of a data privacy culture that go beyond compliance

Compliance with data protection regulation is often seen as a bane of the IT department’s life, so it’s no surprise that efforts are sometimes focused solely on meeting the minimum legal requirement as quickly and easily as possible.

Regulations can feel like barriers that get in the way of doing business, but there are benefits of creating a data privacy culture that go far beyond compliance.

So, apart from avoiding legal repercussions and fines – which could be up to 4% of global annual turnover once the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes in – what other benefits might businesses expect?

1. A data privacy culture gives you a competitive advantage

When choosing which businesses to deal with, customers increasingly want to know their data is in safe hands.

Full transparency around the data you collect, what it will be used for and how customers can control it will be one of the core requirements of the GDPR, and customers will look elsewhere if businesses don’t win their trust.

By being one of the first to implement a transparent data privacy culture, you could make the difference between which leads to a potential customer choosing you rather than a competitor.

2. You will (by necessity) develop a better understanding of how your data is used

To be transparent around how your business processes data, you need to have develop an in-depth understanding, including identifying every point at which data is captured, where it is stored, how it is accessed, and how it is destroyed.

Getting to grips with all of this may require initial effort in defining and redefining processes as well as employee training, but will pay dividends in the long run.

Better organised, more centralised and more accurate data makes streamlining processes and meaningful analysis possible and far more straightforward that if your data culture is a free for all.

3. Good data handling builds trust among employees

One of the main focuses of the GDPR is to empower consumers regarding the data businesses hold on them, and the discussion around this has increased widespread awareness of data privacy issues.

Data privacy has therefore become as much an ethical issue for your employees as a legal one. They’ll want to know the business they’re working for respects the privacy of consumers in the way they want demand their own privacy is respected by companies they purchase from.

Implementing a data privacy culture will therefore make your best employees more proud to work for you – and more likely to stay.

4. Your business will be more secure

Though it can sometimes feel like it, data protection regulation doesn’t serve solely to meet the best interests of consumers. Compliant businesses are protected in equal measure, and implementing a data privacy culture makes businesses far less vulnerable to cybercrime.

Why? Because all of the processes, policies and training required in creating a data privacy culture strengthen the biggest data liability in your business: your employees. The vast majority of data breaches are caused by individual errors, some of which are unforced, and some the result of hackers exploiting the naivety of employees through techniques like phishing and social engineering.

Embedding a data privacy culture is the surest way to secure your business against these threats at the same time as complying with data protection regulation.

How VinciWorks can help

Our Compliance Essentials Suite is a cost effective training solution for creating a data privacy culture. Compliance Essentials includes a number of information governance eLearning courses covering data protection legislation, records management and information security.

Compliance Essentials also includes delivery through our Astute eLearning Platform and all courses are regularly updated to reflect changes in legislation and best practice at no extra cost – so when the General Data Protection Regulation is in place, subscribers will not need to budget for additional training.

Astute sets benchmark for eLearning security

VinciWorks has set the benchmark for eLearning security following recent penetration tests.

Astute was tested against 70 known vulnerabilities and security risks and, we’re pleased to confirm, has been given a clean bill of health with no issues identified.

The tests, carried out over three days by IT Security Consultants Pentura, subjected Astute to the kinds of techniques hackers use when attempting to compromise computer systems.

In thinking like hackers, the testers were attempting to identify any security risks or vulnerabilities which could negatively impact on the confidentiality, availability or integrity of Astute, DeltaNet’s network, business data, and users.

Information security is a growing concern for businesses as systems and data are increasingly cloud-based, so we are delighted to have received a clean bill of health, demonstrating that with DeltaNet and Astute, your data is in safe hands.

Our cloud-based Astute eLearning Platform helps businesses do much more than just deliver courses. Create automated communications campaigns, gain rich insights with powerful Learning Analytics, and make eLearning available on multiple devices.

How can eLearning help you achieve organisational compliance?

Every business understands the need to be compliant, but actually achieving it is a complicated and ongoing process which causes headaches for business leaders.

An overwhelming number of regulations must be followed, and as organisations grow and the number of moving parts increases, so does the level of risk – and the complexity of managing it.

The problem? Compliance can’t be solved for an entire organisation in one fell swoop. Yet businesses still seek out ‘quick wins’ to their compliance problem.

Organisational behaviour

Organisational compliance is only possible when each individual employee understands exactly what is required of them. With regulations frequently changing and employees coming and going, each having their own job role and learning style, this is no easy task.

That’s a big part of the reason why many organisations’ compliance training efforts fail to yield the results they need.

Ideally, you’ll already have an awareness of what training is required for each employee, but even if you do, actually implementing the training can still prove a headache.

Segment learners

In order to achieve regulatory compliance, certain employees will require training which is totally irrelevant to others.

Allocating training based on job role or department does not entirely solve this problem, which is why Astute enables custom segmentation of your learners.

Careful use of Astute’s custom fields allows you to segment your learners, rapidly delivering training to the right employees, at the right time.

Learning Analytics

Knowing which employees have completed what training is vital not only for audit purposes, but also determining your learning and development strategy.

When it comes to analytics, eLearning comes into its own against other training solutions.

Astute’s Learning Analytics go far beyond course completion reports. The Learning Analytics dashboard can be drilled into to give you powerful insights such as:

  • Which teams, departments or segments of employees are more engaged with training
  • Which subject areas would benefit from further training intervention
  • What the impact of your eLearning efforts has been on other key performance indicators
  • And of course, Course completion status for any segment of employees

Having an overview of which areas of knowledge are lacking in your organisation, or which employees are less engaged with training gives you more insight than ever before, which can dramatically boost your compliance efforts.