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Adaptivity

Learning platform

If you’ve ever been in the middle of a storm without electricity, you must already know how hard it is to find your way around your own home without the help of a flashlight. You end up stubbing your toe on your furniture, even while knowing the layout of your home like the back of your hand.Even in the world of learning, it is possible to get lost. Imagine how a flashlight could help you find your way when you do. Similarly, a well-defined learning pathway helps a learner achieve a learning goal. Whether they are preparing for a specific job or want to update a skill, a learning journey should lead the way to success.

Visualising it

<h3>Visualise achievable growth</h3>At aNewSpring, we are constantly thinking about learners, and how we can help them find their own road to success! So, we put on our thinking caps and focused on the question:  how can we make it easier for learners to achieve competencies within our learning platform?First things first. To build and sustain motivation to learn and grow, we realised that learning paths shouldn’t be a single linear learning journey, but flexible. It should allow learners to branch out, explore and discover growth. A platform’s true purpose is to guide and nudge learners towards positive outcomes rather than instruct them on their learning process (hello, helicopter parenting!), and telling them exactly how, what or when they are going to learn.The idea that people learn in different ways through flexible learning paths led us to tie certificate activities (and in the future, learning objectives, progress, retention, and so on) to competencies. Then, we provide them with an overview to keep track of their progress and find available learning journeys, before they go ahead and achieve those competencies.

Profiles and competencies

Profiles and competencies, you say?

Profiles and competencies within the aNewSpring platform is an overarching method of guiding learners through multiple learning journeys. Initially, the platform allowed users to only create single learning journeys or a blended delivery mechanism within a single learning journey.To allow for greater flexibility, we explored the idea of bundling journeys together. With a larger learning outcome in mind, learners can then identify which learning journeys would help them achieve that goal.Let&#039;s get into the details a little bit further. The instructor/designer creates a program around a competency for a specific profile, role, subject or topic in mind. The learner then performs a set of actions or activities within that role to achieve those competencies. This answers the question: what skills or competencies are needed to upskill to the next level in their career or subject.

<h3>Time to build</h3>Then, there are the building blocks themselves:<ul><li>Profiles: The admin-users are responsible for setting up the profiles and offer these to the learners. They create a profile, add the competencies to it, and give learners and instructors access to the profile.</li><li>Competencies: Competencies can be added in one or multiple profiles. So, learners don&#039;t have to achieve the same competency in every profile; just once is enough! Admin users can link the competency - on template or course level, to one or multiple certificate activities, and then learners will begin to see it and add to their learning path. Linking competencies on the template level will instantly make it visible for all courses of that template.</li></ul>Ultimately, this helps to develop a clear picture of growth for a learner. They no longer have to wonder about getting from point A to point B any more, nor do they have to be confined by single learning journeys.

An example

Project management

If you’ve known us even a little, you’ll know what to expect here. That’s right, we love examples that can help you relate, so here’s a brief breakdown.Let&#039;s talk about project management. Better yet, let&#039;s take it apart. This way, we can show you what it would look like if implemented using profiles and competencies within aNewSpring.Like some of us might know already, a project manager is an important lynchpin in running projects by coordinating across various teams.Different organisations use certification as a measure of project management competence. Based on our initial research, we identified three project management competency areas: knowledge, proven experience and personality. Each competency area is built around specific pillars. The knowledge area can be divided into three major profiles—general management skills, project management skills and industry skills.

<h3>General management profile</h3>What would this look like if we charted it out for better clarity from the perspective of a learner and a manager in an organisational setting?For the sake of simplicity, we&#039;ll delve into one pillar. Within aNewSpring, the admin/manager can create &#039;general management&#039; as a profile and associate the necessary competencies with it. The competencies in turn, are linked to certificate activities that allow learners to achieve them. They can also very easily visualise progress, by seeing which learning journeys will contribute to the competency they would have to acquire within a specific profile.

On the platform

Diving into the platform

Now that we&#039;ve shaped a graphic around the roles and what&#039;s expected of both of those roles, the next step is to visualise this within the aNewSpring environment.You can then also see how the learner can accomplish a competency by completing the certificate activity. Notice that there is an expiry date on the certificate as well, for instances where recertification may be necessary.That was quite a simple journey we took you on, explaining how you can string several learning journeys together and help learners develop within their role. Nevertheless, for a learning or instructional designer, it still is a walk in the park to put together learning journeys targeted at each of the competencies and then pin them to the profile they should be a part of!

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Article

In the learning world, it's possible to get lost. Imagine how a flashlight can help you find your way when you do. Similarly, a well-defined learning pathway helps a learner achieve a learning goal.

Visualise growth pathways within a learning platform

adaptive learning

learning platform

Guide

A few years ago, while studying Learning &amp; Development, I was assigned a case with an organisation: advise on the best way to design a training for working with new software. During my first intake session, all seemed well. That was until I asked about the starting levels of the target audience. My client went silent for a moment and gave me the one answer I hoped not to hear: “I didn’t think about that. The starting levels are as far apart as can be”.As an inexperienced student, this filled me with slight dread, and my client wasn’t exaggerating! Some people already had years of experience working with the software, then there were others who had such a hard time working with digital software in any form, so they tried to get away with doing as little as possible. And then there was every level in between.In the end I wrote an advice report about different ways to approach the training process, based on the varying target audiences, starting levels and required knowledge. It took a lot of time and effort but provided a solid foundation for the learning design. Today, online learning offers better solutions than I was able to provide at the time. More and more platforms have integrated adaptivity and personalised learning options. And for good reason, because it makes learning design so much more effective!

Different target audiences

<h2>Working with different target audiences</h2>A lot of the learning journeys you’ll design will have to train a varying group of learners (heterogeneous group). This will bring some challenges to the design table. The first step is always to gain insight into the target audiences you&#039;re working with:<ul><li>What actually is their starting point?</li><li>How much experience do they have with the subject?</li><li>Is it completely new?</li><li>Do they have any relevant or transferable experience/skills that can make it easier for them to learn about the subject?</li></ul>Once you’ve researched your target audience, you’ll be aware of the different groups and their starting levels. However, the challenge isn’t yet completed!The next step is the hardest one - figuring out how to tailor to their learning needs. Some groups might need extra lessons to gather and understand the basic information, while others might prefer to skip past these sections, since they already know the basics. For some learners, your learning journey is merely a refresher, while other learners have to learn how to apply the new knowledge in their work. Some learners might follow the learning journey out of personal interest, while others follow it because it’s mandatory. All these different scenarios call for different approaches rather than a ‘one-size-fits-all&#039; design!

<h2>Adaptive learning is the way to go</h2>A great way of tackling this issue is to <a target="_blank" href="/learning-concepts/adaptive-learning">implement adaptivity</a>. Adaptivity is a necessity if you want to create impactful learning journeys for heterogeneous groups. The baseline of the learning journey is the same for everyone, usually (part of) the end goal too, but the way to get there is tailored to the needs of the individual learner.Let’s look at adaptivity in classroom training first. A trainer/teacher will figure out the pre-knowledge of the learners and adapt to their needs. That person may change up the learning activities, try out different ways to explain subjects, focus more (or less) on practising and maybe even pair up learners who are more advanced with learners who are newer to the subject, so they can work together and learn from each other.Adaptivity in online learning activities has advanced a lot in the past years. It will probably advance even more with the rise of artificial intelligence, vastly increasing opportunities to implement adaptivity in online learning. However, on the backend of learning platforms, adaptivity can still be a little difficult.It requires you to really think about your learning objectives and when those objectives are achieved. It usually takes a bit more time to set up an adaptive learning journey than a traditional one, too. But don’t fret, the advantages gained from all this work, will absolutely be worth it!<a href="/articles/adaptive-learning-reduce-study-time">Here’s an example</a> of how adaptive learning can reduce time spent to complete a learning journey (33% on average), without the loss of effectivity, self-efficacy and learner experience.

Adaptive learning: Reduce study time by more than 30%

Adaptivity in practice

<h2>Adaptivity in practice</h2>Let’s have a look at the case I started with: teaching a heterogeneous group how to use certain software:I run into the first problem when I realise that the different target audiences need to use the software for different things. I solve this by splitting the learning journey into a few smaller learning journeys, focused on different roles in the software.Now, let’s focus on one specific group. Within this group, there’s still some slight differences in what people need to learn about the software. To make sure the learners stay focused on what is most important for them, I create different target learning profiles. This means that some people can accomplish a learning objective by only answering a few questions correctly, while others (for example, key users of the software) need to get more questions right.Lastly, within this group the starting levels also differ. Some of the learners have worked with the software before and approach the learning journey as a refresher. Others have never worked with this software at all. Because I created learning objectives in the platform and used target learning profiles to decide when a learning objective is accomplished, I only have to set the right conditions in the template to make sure the learners can focus on what they need and skip what they already know! One learner will be guided through the entire learning journey, while another only needs to complete a percentage of it.

Now, every learner is able to take the time they need to properly work with the software (or save the time they don’t need for more important things!). The issue of starting levels has been tackled by adaptivity. Talk about impactful learning journeys!

Adaptivity in aNewSpring

<h2>Adaptivity in aNewSpring</h2>Well, all that being said: How does adaptivity actually work in aNewSpring’s platform? In aNewSpring, adaptivity is based on learning objectives that you set. Learning objectives, in this context, are most likely subjects. Once you’ve decided upon your overall learning goals, you can start to write down the specific learning objectives that you’ll need your learners to know.In aNewSpring, the level of mastery on a learning objective is tested by questions. A learner needs to answer a number of questions correctly to show he or she has mastered the learning objective. You can either start by creating questions for every learning objective and decide how many a learner should answer correctly, or do it the other way around.Once this process is done, you can build your learning journey like you normally would. Then you can add learning objectives and make your learning journey adaptive.You can find a great tutorial on adaptive learning in aNewSpring <a target="_blank" href="https://support.anewspring.com/en/articles/32237-tutorial-een-adaptief-leerpad-maken-voor-deelnemers">right here</a>!

<h2>Dive deeper into adaptivity</h2>Has adaptivity piqued your interest? All of our customers have access to the aNewSpring Academy, which contains <a target="_blank" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://academy.anewspring.com/do?action%3DviewProduct%26id%3D23&amp;sa=D&amp;source=docs&amp;ust=1696241940320583&amp;usg=AOvVaw0OeH61RX36CuKX-YWSZrm8">a great (and totally free!) course about adaptivity</a>!My colleagues have also written some great articles about adaptive learning shared in the articles below.

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Why adaptive learning matters: a personal story

BSL on the importance of personalised learning research

Go deeper on adaptive learning

Learn how adaptivity can improve your training

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How to use adaptivity to tackle different starting levels

Research

How does finishing a course 33% faster sound? Because that’s what adaptive learning can do for learners. The proof? A striking result of the study we conducted together with Bohn Stafleu van Loghum (BSL) on the importance of investing in personalised learning.Wondering how you, as a training provider, can use this to your advantage? We are happy to share our ideas with you! But first, let’s dive into the results in a bit more detail.

The results

<h3>The results are in and here&#039;s what they say</h3>Adaptive learning reduces study time by as much as 33% when compared to ‘regular’ (traditional) e-learning. All while keeping similar learning results, overall satisfaction and self-efficacy!That last one is an important predictor for change of behaviour.If training leads to higher self-efficacy, this means that learners are confident to apply what they’ve learned in their day-to-day jobs.The fact that adaptive learning leads to similar results as regular learning, but in less time, is good news. Especially in our fast-paced society where every little bit of time we can save will come in handy.<a target="_blank" href="https://content.anewspring.com/hubfs/E-books%20-%20whitepapers%20-%20presentations/aNewSpring-infograph-adaptive-learning-reduce-study-time.pdf?__hstc=69646159.f87d304ff6122e89a2113f41022ada0e.1678117863721.1686648465231.1686895286915.23&amp;__hssc=69646159.1.1686895286915&amp;__hsfp=4252290568">» The complete infographic of the results of our research</a>

What is adaptive learning?

An approach to personalised learningWhen this approach is used within an online learning platform, it collects data from every learner. Examples of this are individual characteristics from learners, like pre-existing knowledge and skills, and how they ‘act’ while learning on the platform.

For quite a while already, adaptive learning has been a trending topic in the world of L&amp;D. In the <a target="_blank" href="http://donaldhtaylor.co.uk/survey/">L&amp;D Global Sentiment Survey</a> one question always asked is: ‘What will be hot in workplace L&amp;D?’ And guess what? Adaptive learning ended up in the top three of hot topics every time over the last five years.Bearing that in mind, we think it’s important to learn about this approach and to apply it to your learning journeys, especially after seeing the research results. However, in some learning journeys it is more impactful than in others.

From our experienceAdaptive learning is most promising when:<ul><li>you’re targeting a large group of learners.</li></ul><ul><li>there’s (a lot of) variety among learners related to pre-existing knowledge, skills and experiences.</li></ul><ul><li>there are clear standards of what “good” or “capable” looks like.</li></ul><ul><li>you have expertise available on writing good learning objectives.</li></ul>

The research

The why and the how

Why we researched adaptive learningThe aNewSpring platform has allowed you to design adaptive learning journeys for more than 10 years already. However, we believe there’s still a lot to learn about this approach and that many more training providers and learners can benefit from it. That’s exactly why we researched the subject ourselves.Of course, we didn’t do this alone, because we know that together we can achieve more. We conducted the research together with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bsl.nl/">Bohn Stafleu van Loghum (BSL)</a>, a contemporary and innovative media company with a focus on professionals and students in healthcare. Their slogan is:

And we&#039;re here for it.BSL also has a lot of experience with personalised learning, which made them the perfect partner to research this topic with. We interviewed <a target="_blank" href="/articles/bsl-importance-personalised-learning-research">Karin Linden and Sara Swier</a> from BSL a little while ago. They explained to us that it’s important for the healthcare industry to have the right flexibility, especially in the currently tight labour market. Upskilling and reskilling quickly is necessary. That’s why personalised learning sparked their interest. A big advantage of this is that you spend the right amount of time on the exact knowledge that’s needed.This also helps to relieve the workload that healthcare workers experience. Apart from that, BSL thinks it’s important to keep an eye on all kinds of learning interventions and approaches in order to know what is demonstrably effective. This way, they can design their learning journeys in a way that benefits their customers most.In BSL’s experience, adaptive learning is very worthwhile. Especially when striving for a minimum final level (or having to meet it legally) and when there are large differences in levels within the target group.

How the research was set upBSL’s adaptive learning programme ‘Medical Mathematics’ was used to conduct a classic experiment on. This programme is mandatory study material for many nurses and healthcare workers, but for most of them it’s definitely not their favourite subject. It is a very important subject though, because a small error in medical arithmetic can be a matter of life or death.We compared two groups within the programme: one of them went through the regular e-learning journey and the other through an adaptive one. In the adaptive journey, the content and route adjusts to the learner, allowing them to go through a unique path. The data was extracted from the platform to compare various elements of the two learning journeys, including speed, self-efficacy and satisfaction. Both of them were offered free of charge, and participants received a certificate and possibly accreditation points.

To make sure the research was conducted independently and professionally, we involved <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/derk-jan-nijman-8558521b">Dr. Derk Jan Nijman</a>. He’s a senior researcher at HAN University of Applied Sciences and has a lot of experience with comparable research.For this study, he both shaped the research design and performed the analysis.

What you can do

The steps you can take

Stop one-size-fits-all and make courses adapt to individual learnersOur research shows that study time can be reduced by more than 30% without the loss of effectivity, self-efficacy and learner experience. This is fantastic news for learners living and working in a busy world. And it’s also amazing news for training providers to gain competitive advantage by serving learners and clients in a better way.<h2>How to put the results to use</h2>Are you targeting a large group of learners, is there a lot of variety among them and are there clear standards of the capability you’re aiming for? Then it’s time to get started with designing an adaptive learning journey. Especially when the learners you’re targeting are short on time and would benefit from being able to go through the journey as fast as possible, while getting similar learning results.How do you start building an adaptive learning journey? There are a number of essential things to keep in mind to make yours successful:

1. Take your timeAlthough it will pay off in the end, it takes time to work out a concept, and define the right learning objectives and questions. So, make sure you set aside enough time to plan and build the learning journey.2. Consider your learning objectivesTo get the most out of adaptivity, you need to use very specific learning objectives. As an example, let’s look at a course about the English language. Having ‘grammar’ as an objective is not specific enough. Instead, use objectives like ‘punctuation’, ‘plurals’ and ‘compositions’. A good test to find out whether your learning objective is specific enough? Think about how much text you need to describe it. You can fill pages with a definition of grammar, but you could describe interpunction in a few paragraphs.3. Create many questions per learning objectiveThese are necessary to continuously test how well learners master the content and what the optimal follow-up route is for them. Having a steady supply of questions per objective prevents the likelihood of repetitive questions.4. Create enough activities per learning objectiveNot only do you need a lot of questions, you also need to assure variation in activities. Learners might do multiple activities per learning objective or they might have a preference for a certain activity, while another learner prefers another type of activity. By using a wide variety, there is always something for everyone to enjoy!

Webinar recording

Recording of the webinar Adaptive learning: It works, but how?

Bonus resource

Watch the recordingOn February 2nd, 2023 an amazing webinar took place based on this research. Ger Driesen (Learning Innovation Leader) and Roy de Vries (Customer Success Manager) from aNewSpring together with Karin Linden (Manager e-learning) and Sara Swier (Projectmanager e-learning) of Bohn Stafleu van Loghum dived deeper into adaptive learning in general, best practices and just how we adapted the BSL learning journey that laid the foundations for the groundbreaking results, achieved in this research project.Would you like to know more about the research results? Or have a chat about how adaptive learning can help your training business? <a href="mailto:sales@anewspring.com">Shoot us a message</a>. We’re happy to help!

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How does finishing a course 33% faster sound? Because that’s what adaptive learning can do for learners. The proof? A striking result of the study we conducted together with BSL.

Examples

About BSL

For more than 10 years, you’ve been able to design adaptive – or personalised – learning journeys  within the aNewSpring platform. We believe that many more training providers and learners could benefit from this approach. To draw attention to the opportunities, we started a study, along with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bsl.nl/">Bohn Stafleu van Loghum</a>, into the effects of personalised learning.For this interview, we spoke with Karin Linden and Sara Swier from BSL, a provider that has extensive experience with personalised learning. What kind of company is BSL?Bohn Stafleu van Loghum is a contemporary and innovative media company that focuses on professionals and students in healthcare. Bohn Stafleu van Loghum wants to contribute to improving healthcare through knowledge solutions for (future) professionals in healthcare. Think of books, magazines, events and learning solutions such as e-learning.BSL&#039;s slogan is: How can we help you to continuously improve yourself?

Personalised learning

Why are you interested in personalised learning?“Let’s define personalised learning as a form of learning in which you are only offered what you haven’t yet mastered. This helps both the learners and trainers to form a good picture of how they’re doing in their learning process.From a broader perspective, it’s currently important that the labour market in healthcare has the right flexibility. People must be able to upskill and reskill quickly in order to have the right knowledge and skills in time, especially in the current, tight, labour market. Personalised learning can help with this, but we don’t use it enough yet. A big advantage is that you spend time on the exact knowledge that’s needed, no more and no less. This is also important in relation to the workload experienced in healthcare.For BSL, it is important to keep a good eye on all kinds of learning interventions and approaches in order to know what is demonstrably effective. What benefits our customers the most?”

Why are you investing in personalisation research together with aNewSpring?“Learning technology has really taken off in recent years. It’s important to be actively involved in this yourself and to feed the developments that are made, instead of just using it. Research allows you to do that.We continue to look at ourselves critically and regularly check whether the methods we use are still effective. We also just find it very interesting and are curious about the outcome! Any outcome will be helpful.”

How was the research set up?“We use our adaptive learning programme ‘Medical mathematics’. This means that the programme (the content and route) adapts to the learner (adaptive) who, as a result, goes through a learning path unique (personalised) to her/him. For many nurses and carers, medical mathematics is ‘mandatory reading’ and often not their most favourite subject. But everyone understands the great importance of the subject and knows that errors in medical arithmetic can literally be a matter of life or death.A classic experiment was chosen in this study. That means we’re comparing two groups. The learning journey ‘Medical mathematics’ is offered as normal e-learning and as a variant that is adaptive. We offered both variants free of charge to healthcare workers and nurses in training. We extracted data from the platform to compare various elements of the target groups. In this way, we expected to gain useful insights about adaptive learning compared to non-adaptive learning. This involved not only looking at knowledge and skills but also speed and self-confidence.In order to conduct the research as independently and professionally as possible, Dr Derk-Jan Nijman, senior researcher at the HAN University of Applied Sciences, was involved in shaping the research design and performing the analysis. He has a lot of experience with similar research. Participating provides the participants with a certificate and possibly accreditation points.”What outcomes do you expect?“Hopefully, there are clear differences between the two variants and that the participants in both programmes feel more confident in practice. Are the participants of the adaptive route faster? Did they learn more or get a better grade? Or is the opposite, true? We hope to gain insight into whether, why and when, investing in adaptive learning is a good idea?”What tips would you like to share with other training providers considering personalised learning?“To build a good adaptive learning trajectory, you need a lot of good test questions, which are preferably equivalent. These questions are necessary to continuously test the participant’s status and what the optimal follow-up route is for them. Making all those questions is easier for some subjects than others. In mathematics, this is quite easy: you can make many different, yet comparable, sums that are realistic in the context of practice. Therefore, estimate in advance how easy or difficult it is to make many (test) questions about the subject.It’s certainly a powerful form of learning, but not the Holy Grail. It’s best to think carefully beforehand about why you want to use adaptive learning in a certain situation, and whether the preparatory work is sufficient. If you strive for a minimum final level (or have to meet it legally) and there are large differences in levels within the target group, adaptive learning is very worthwhile. That’s our experience. We expect to be able to provide more tips as soon as the research is complete.”

For more than 10 years, you’ve been able to design adaptive – or personalised – learning journeys within the aNewSpring platform. We believe that many more training providers and learners could...

personalised learning

No retailer is the same, and neither are the people who work there. This can make it quite challenging for companies within the industry to find suitable secondary vocational education for their employees. How do you make sure that each of them gets the most out of their course, even when their needs are so different?NCVB Bedrijfsopleidingen has the answer to that question: by putting learners first.

About NCVB Bedrijfsopleidingen

NCVB Bedrijfsopleidingen (‘bedrijfsopleidingen’ can be loosely translated to ‘corporate educational courses’) is a Dutch training provider whose roots were established in 1998.

The company

Due to a change to a regional approach for vocational education, nationally operating organisations were looking for a single entity to provide corporate education. NCVB Bedrijfsopleidingen became that entity and has provided training to some of the largest retailers, supermarkets and governmental organisations that operate within and also outside of the Netherlands. Companies like AS Watson, Intergamma, Action, Jumbo Supermarkets, Dutch Postal Services and the Department of Justice have partnered with NCVB Bedrijfsopleidingen. For over 20 years now, around 3,000 to 4,000 students/professionals per year have received a degree.

The problem

MBO programmes with too little focus on the needs of learners and customers

Standard education programmes have some disadvantages for learners and their employers. NCVB Bedrijfsopleidingen knows how to solve these kinds of obstacles with their approach; by focusing on what the customers and learners need, it is possible to get more out of a course. Not all learners benefit from a standard <a target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/hes7RfuNqvU">MBO programme</a> (Dutch secondary vocational education, red.). For example, such a program suits those who are fairly inexperienced more than those who have been working the same job (or a similar one) for years. That means that keeping motivation high becomes challenging. Moreover, successfully completing the course does not mean that the newly acquired knowledge is easily applicable to the daily practice of the company. More is needed for that.

Aside from the content of the programme, some practical matters play a role in the level of success. A standard MBO course usually starts twice a year, in September and February, which is very inconvenient when the learner wants or needs to start the course sometime in between. This results in a delay. Furthermore, the programme commonly takes place on set days and times; it would be more convenient if it were tailored to the working schedule of the learner.

The solution

Tailor-made programmes focusing on the needs of learners and customers

Being a helpful partner in talent development, that is the goal of NCVB Bedrijfsopleidingen. Not selling, but supporting. The organisation does this by creating a tailor-made MBO programme for each customer and providing a personal learning journey for each learner. A tailor-made course for each customerThe first step is creating a course that fits the company perfectly. NCVB Bedrijfsopleidingen develops new learning material that is relevant for customers and the way they work while still meeting the requirements of an MBO degree. Applying the theory in practice becomes easier for the learner in this way. Besides, they make sure the content has the same communication and visual style as the company. Choosing the same tone of voice and a fitting design creates a nice and consistent whole. In this way, the end result fits the customer perfectly.

A personalised learning journey for the learnerAs soon as the course is rock-solid, it is time for the training to start. What the programme looks like precisely depends on the learner. NCVB Bedrijfsopleidingen uses a Skill Scan*, which gives a clear picture of the competencies of the learner — what have they mastered already and which elements still need training? Only the parts that are relevant for the development of the learner will be visible to them on aNewSpring. This not only results in time savings, but also in a more challenging and pleasant experience.

* Skills Scan: Putting the participant first with a personalised learning path You probably don’t need to explain how to use a cash register to someone who has worked in retail for 20 years. It would be a waste of time and demotivating for the participant. The Skills Scan makes clear which competencies are already present and which are lacking. In this case, the ‘cash register competencies’ are already present and the participant does not need to practice them. However, the competency ‘additional sales’, for example, may still need some attention. This saves time and ensures that each participant follows their own learning path.

Stimulating motivation contributes to better performances

With this approach, NCVB Bedrijfsopleidingen clearly differentiates themselves from other training providers and fills a gap in the market.The differences between learners and customer are approached in a unique and positive way of working. The result? A motivating MBO programme for every learner and better performances within the company.

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Customer Story

Customer Stories

workplace learning

It's challenging for companies to find suitable secondary vocational education for their employees. How does each of them get the most out of their course, even when their needs are so different?

NCVB: Better performance in the workplace and satisfied customers by putting the learner first

Better performance in the workplace and satisfied customers by putting the learner first

NCVB Bedrijfsopleidingen

Does an adaptive course provide more learning efficiency than a regular course? And do people remember the material better when it is offered in the learning style of their choice? These were the main questions in the research into personalised training that was conducted by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.onlineacademy.nl/en/">NCOI Online Academy</a>. Together with aNewSpring, a special training course was developed for this purpose.

The concept

Diving deeper into learning experience and efficiency with adaptivity

NCOI Online Academy wanted to research personalised learning. The research questions were as follows: what do people think of adaptive learning and what does it offer in terms of learning efficiency? To what extent do people remember the material better when it is offered in the learning style of their choice – visual, auditory or textual?

The challenges of an appropriate research designOn the learning platform of aNewSpring - which offers good adaptive functionalities, the adaptive training course Privacy &amp; Security was developed. In order to be able to answer the research questions properly, not only different templates had to be created (for fixed and adaptive learning paths), but also a lot of content had to be developed. Part of the subject matter was converted into audio fragments and part into animations. “That was a lot of work”, reflects Training Manager Karin Bremer. “We had underestimated that a bit beforehand. But we now have a nice complete training.”Half of the almost four hundred participants in the training could choose their preferred learning style, the rest were randomly assigned to a learning style. A start and an end test were used to measure the differences in learning efficiency between the methods offered.

The result

Positive results can gradually be seen

The first careful analyses show that people who received a combined training, i.e. a mix of video, audio and text, had the highest learning efficiency. In addition, the same appears to be true for people who had followed adaptive training (based on knowledge). “More people complete the training, they learn more from it and think it’s a nice way of learning.”Whether adaptivity in form (audio, video or text) also provides a higher learning efficiency is still unclear. “We need a lot more data for that.” In any case, Bremer hopes that even more forms of adaptivity will be made possible on the platform of aNewSpring. “That would be great, because our research shows that this can lead to very positive results.”

Lessons learnt

Lessons learnt “I was very curious to see whether people understood how such adaptive training works, because they are used to our fixed learning paths,” says Bremer. For this reason, the training was tested – as usual – by a few colleagues, who didn’t think the training was entirely logical. “That’s why it’s always good to pilot new courses with people who don’t spend every day with online training. Then you find out what works and what doesn’t.”Bremer noticed that people often close pop-ups with explanations and immediately start the first activity. “So we had to think carefully about how we could design certain explanations in such a way that people actually read and used them. In the end, we chose to show the explanation in a short video. That works a lot better than text.”

Find out more about Karin Bremer and what it&#039;s like to work for Online Academy as a Training Manager.

An interview with Karin Bremer

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