What is IMPACT LEARNING & why is it VISIONARY?

Impact Learning is learning that has an impact. Simple right?
Of course, there’s more to it than that…

It’s about aligning education & training to real business outcomes and needs. It understands the true purpose and value of learning in relation to the business and the employee’s career. It shifts focus from what people learn to how people learn, so that it makes a real impact on their lives and the organisation they work within.

“Learning is an experience. Everything else is just information.”
-Albert Einstein

To echo what ol’ Bertie Einstein said, we believe the best way to learn, the most impactful and resonating way, is to learn by doing. Therefore, Impact Learning bridges the divide between learning & real world application. Rather than having the learner merely be a passive passenger on the learning journey, it gives them the knowledge and experience that allows them to fully absorb the information and in doing so, boost their confidence, loyalty and gratification during the learning process.

Impact learning at its heart is experiential and so immersive that it feels like on-the-job, real world training. You know you have achieved impact learning when you can look at the learner and say, “It’s almost as if they have done this before” and it’s because they have.

WHAT DOES IMPACT LEARNING LOOK LIKE ?

Learning experientially (learning by doing)
Learning with confidence (in safe environments)
Just in time learning (done as needed, no cohorts or classrooms)
Achieving mastery (through repetition & real-world scenarios)
Measurable (pervasive, deeper & actionable analytics)
Better alignment between learning & business outcomes
Faster & more effective learning

The nature of experiential or impact learning does however involve the trial & error process of making mistakes, which can be a costly exercise when it comes to business development.

We do, however, have a decisive tool in the Impact Learning toolbox that not only solves the cost issue but also ticks all the boxes of what Impact Learning looks like…

Education & training has finally caught up with modern technology through the use of virtual reality!

THE BEST TOOL FOR IMPACT LEARNING

Virtual Reality & Impact Learning

Virtual reality is the first technology in human history that provides experiential learning at scale. Virtual reality creates immersive digital worlds that replicate the real world, where we do our day-to-day jobs.

Because VR is immersive, it radically increases our emotional connection (3,7x) to the content we are learning, which improves knowledge retention (>75%), increases productivity (>20%) and speeds up learning (4x).

VR is the truest expression of learning by doing. It can bridge the gap that traditional learning has created:

VR bridges the gap between theory and practice, bringing course content to life and helping users feel more connected to the learning experience.
VR brings to life on-the-job training where we use the same movements and behaviours we would typically use
Being able to practice repeatedly in immersive and real-world scenarios means users build up their confidence and ultimately achieve mastery 4x faster.
VR reduces long-term costs by removing the need to create expensive training environments and losing time resetting these environments back to their original state for the next learner.
VR minimises the need for mentoring processes, which are expensive, time-consuming and often result in an over-dependence on the mentor or mentee.
VR reduces risk and safety concerns by allowing users to learn in environments where mistakes can be made, and confidence can be built without incurring the associated safety risks or costs of doing it in the real-world environment.
Soft skills training can be enhanced by removing the awkward role-playing scenarios associated with traditional training. Role-playing with VR translates into real-play, with users getting to play out a variety of scenarios in their own time in a fully immersive and carefully constructed environment, without the fear of embarrassing themselves if they make a mistake.
Efficacy and rich analytics can be significantly enhanced in VR thanks to its ability to measure responsiveness, movement, eye contact and other types of analytics that traditional assessment techniques cannot. The analytical data that VR provides allows organisations to make informed decision on what areas of training staff still need to work on and support their teams in the best way possible.

The best news is that VR isn’t here to replace traditional learning methods but rather complement them. Adding actionable, applied learning on top of traditional learning, enhances the learning outcomes without the need to replace existing courses and incur high costs.

WHY DO WE NEED IMPACT LEARNING ?

We all love to learn but unfortunately, for most, the traditional ways we learn, and even some of the more contemporary ways such as eLearning, don’t always have the desired impact that we want or need.

When it comes to training, development and ‘up-skilling’ in business, the inadequacies of non-impactful learning are grim. That’s because too often training is done for training’s sake and, in many cases, has become a tick-box exercise that adds very little value to the individual or the organisation.

RESULTS OF NON-IMPACT LEARNING

Lack of employee confidence
Lack of mastery over skills
High staff turn over
Loss in revenue
Injuries & safety issues
Poor work ethics & atmosphere
Poor brand image

You might think we’re coming down hard on the current way of doings things, but when it comes to learning and development, the proof is in the pudding, and quite frankly, the current way of doing things shows some ingredients are missing from the pudding recipe.

The dominant way of learning these days is eLearning, and while hugely scalable, it lacks impact:

SHORTCOMINGS OF eLEARNING

(The popular way of learning these days)

Low completion rates (5%-15%)
Low retention rates (5%-20%)
Low confidence levels
Poor content engagement

Before You Go…