In recent months, the feeling has grown that Corona is finally over. Many training offers are returning to in-person formats, while some remain digital. But what do we actually learn from the last few years, and can we perhaps even benefit from this experience? A fitting question about the future of continuing education comes from the current mmb Trendmonitor – we would like to discuss it with you in this article:

Does Corona force learners to take more self-responsibility?

In the current issue of the mmb Learning-Delphi Trend Study 2021/2022, this very question emerged as a conclusion from this year's study results. Ultimately, the results show that especially informal learning forms are gaining in importance. But can this question be answered so easily? I at least want to give it a try.

Disclaimer: We are aware that this question is very general and there is not ONE answer. Therefore, as the author of this article, I exchanged ideas beforehand with other Blinkies. We would also love to hear your perspectives – feel free to share them in the comments! 😊

Recap of the last Corona years: How has continuing education changed?

To get to the bottom of the question above, let's take a brief time travel: In spring 2020, many people had to radically rethink due to the first lockdown and start working and learning digitally from one moment to the next. The shift from in-person formats to digital learning worked faster in some areas and poorly in others. Many educators developed creative solutions in a very short time.

Since the beginning of 2022, the feeling of “Corona is finally over” has been spreading more and more. Many supervisors are bringing employees back to the office and are allowing more time for further education again – partly in person too. All “back to normal”? In other areas, digital learning remains and can be understood as an additional gain in educational opportunities.

What do we learn from this? Digital learning works! And yet there is not ONE secret recipe for successful further education measures.

Depending on the continuing education goals you pursue, different methods are suitable. This e-book provides you with a rough overview:

Returning to the initial question: Does Corona force us to take more self-responsibility in learning?

In discussions with my colleague Corinna, we quickly concluded: The question of learners' self-responsibility cannot be answered so simply and also brings at least 3 other questions with it:

1. What can learning look like?

What does learning even mean? For many, learning in the work context is closely linked to traditional education in a seminar room. This contradicts the thesis of increasing self-responsibility. After all, learning in this classic form is relatively one-sided: learners listen to a trainer or a course leader and, at best, take something for themselves.

But learning does not always have to be a large-scale training course, as it could not take place during the strict Corona lockdown. Learning can also happen in small bites or on demand – right at the moment when knowledge is needed. And here comes an important key point: This type of learning is often not perceived as learning at all.

2. What does self-responsibility mean?

The question of self-responsibility also remains complex. On one hand, many employees in home office were forced to take care of the learning process themselves – if time and budgets were even available. Continuing education mainly took place digitally at the beginning of the pandemic, in many cases asynchronously.

This creates new opportunities and tasks for participants that were less present before: Learners need to take time for themselves to work on their further education. They need a suitable place for learning and must take care of the technology themselves. Additionally, they must bring a certain level of discipline to meet these conditions.

3. How much coercion is actually involved?

The self-responsibility only works if learners are given certain freedoms. After all, self-directed learning does not improve if employees are time-controlled by supervisors. What is meant by this? Regardless of whether in the office or at home: If supervisors still determine when which measure seems relevant enough, learners have no responsibility for their own learning process.

The pandemic as a push for continuing education?

Corona does not necessarily force learners to take more self-responsibility. Corona makes the necessity for self-responsibility visible.

With this thought from my colleague Corinna, I would like to introduce another aspect of this complex question: Many participants only became aware through digital learning of how much work actually goes into the continuing education they attend. Before the pandemic, it was much easier to participate in an in-person event, spend a day in a seminar room, and simply return to everyday life after the event.

Digital learning is different: Often, you have to engage more consciously with the content and can less easily escape it. Thus, the learning objective is more easily recognizable than in person. Additionally, in digital learning, the learning process usually extends over a longer period.

Especially with asynchronous continuing education measures, learners are called upon. If trainers and further education organizers do not just deliver content but link it with concrete tasks (e.g. in the form of quizzes), learners are forced to not only consume content but also process it.

Our credo: Throw black-and-white thinking overboard!

What is often forgotten: Digital learning is just as diverse as a presence seminar. The Corona pandemic can also be understood here as a booster, as there are also blended forms of learning in digital education. Not every online course has to be asynchronous; for some topics, webinars can also be used to transfer the live character from in-person to digital learning formats. From our perspective, it is advisable to build on the newly learned self-responsibility of many participants and perhaps even create a completely new form of learning.

The mmb Trendmonitor also has a suitable proposal for the future of learning:

⅔ digital learning in the form of informal learning and other virtual formats, and ⅓ in-person learning for application-oriented content.

These ratios can, of course, be adjusted individually. In general, the consciously chosen mix of different formats maintains the independence and awareness of learners.

Are you currently planning your next blended learning or e-learning? Then this tabular overview will help you with the media selection for your online course: Find the media mix for YOUR e-learning [Table]

How educators and HR professionals can support the learning process

When people learn digitally and independently, success often depends on their own motivation. To catch all participants equally, concrete deadlines are a good means. After all, they would also have to attend a specific date in person or in a webinar. In digital learning, it is even more important to plan fixed learning times so that learners can allocate enough time. Only if continuing education is mandatory and this relevance is also perceptible, will all learners participate diligently.

Another motivator can be an visually appealing preparation: If you can look forward to not only the content but the entire presentation, it almost makes learning self-fulfilling.

How you can visually enhance your courses, we have already shared in this article based on our blink.it platform: In 4 Steps from boring online course to successful highlight

As so often, technology gets in the way, and many participants are already annoyed and discouraged before the continuing education begins. It doesn't have to be this way! Remove all possible fears from learners from the beginning: Communicate transparently about the process, create screencasts and tutorial videos for the technical setup, and rely on a simple and intuitive tool. Additionally, both learners and you as the person responsible for continuing education need a foundational learning culture to be able to integrate learning into everyday work life.

And what is our conclusion now?

First of all: Great that you have made it this far and taken in my and our thoughts on the initial question. But what about the increasing self-responsibility due to Corona? As mentioned at the beginning: There are different opinions. We believe that the learned self-responsibility of learners can be seen as an advantage and that both educators and participants can build on it.

You can support your learners' self-responsibility in the following ways:

• Set concrete deadlines

• Plan sufficient learning times

• Convey the relevance of continuing education

• Design online content to be visually appealing as well

• Communicate transparently about the continuing education process

What do you think? How will the future of continuing education develop and what role will learners play themselves? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments – we are curious!

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