Workforce leaders have differing definitions and implementations of personalized learning. While most see value in personalized learning, they face challenges in scaling it across large organizations. Leaders struggle to articulate a clear vision for designing, implementing, and evaluating personalized learning programs. Workforce leaders would benefit from support in effectively developing personalized learning approaches.

1. PERSONALIZED LEARNING IN
WORKFORCE EDUCATION
HELEN FAKE & DR. NADA DABBAGH

2. 22017 DELOITTE GLOBAL HUMAN CAPITAL TRENDS

3. 3IMPORTANCE OF WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
REFINE PROBLEM STATEMENT SOLIDIFY RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Workforce Development Programs
Up from $70 Billion in 2014 -Bullen

4. 4PACE OF CHANGE

5. 5PACE OF CHANGE
70%
Of the CEOs surveyed, 70%
indicated that they felt workers did
not have the skillsets to adapt
to the current pace of change.
(Pelster, et. al, 2017).

6. 6DEVELOPING LIFELONG LEARNING SKILLS
GROW SKILLSETS
SUPPORT 21ST
CENTURY/LIFELONG
LEARNING SKILLS
TECHNOLOGY/CONTEXTUAL
DISRUPTION
CULTIVATE
AWARENESS
RECOGNIZE AND
ADDRESS CHANGING
CONTEXTS
(Leone, 2013; Shea & Bidjerano, 2009).

7. But, the struggle is real.
SUPPORTING LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE
21ST CENTURY WORKFORCE.

8. 8TRADITIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMS STRUGGLE
Legacy systems
Static training approaches
LMS

9. 9ATTRITION RATES
75%
90%
MOOCS
ONLINE PROGRAMS
Dabbagh et al., 2016Croxton, 2014
Attrition rates continue to plague training and development
programs.
(Dray, Lowenthal, Miszkiewicz, Ruiz-Primo, Araceli, & Kelly, 2011; Sitzmann, 2010).

10. 10BELIEF IN TECHNOLOGY
New training
strategies &
approaches are
needed!

11. 12
…is a strategy to put
the learner at the
center of the learning
process
PERSONALIZED LEARNING
Activate prior
learning
Account for
learning
styles
Encourage
engagement
Support
knowledge
formation
Nurture
community

12. 13INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT

13. 14THE GAP
• Wunderlich (2016)
• Skillsoft (2014)
• Raliegh (2014)
• Statistically significant
improvements in math and
literacy scores (Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; LEAP
Innovations).
• Minimize cognitive load and
increased proficiency in
language learning (Hsu, Hwang, & Chang,
2013).
• Statistically significant
improvements in program
completion and high satisfaction
(Milicevic, Ivaonic, & Budimac (2011) .

14. WHAT IS PERSONALIZED
LEARNING?

15. 16
Personalized learning refers to instruction in which the pace of
learning and the instructional approach are optimized for the
needs of each learner.
WORKING DEFINITION
Learning objectives, instructional approaches, and
instructional content (and its sequencing) all may vary
based on learner needs.
In addition, learning activities are meaningful and relevant to
learners, driven by their interests, and often self-initiated.
-Department of Education

16. 17RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.What are leadership perspectives of personalized learning in
the workplace?
2. What personalized learning initiatives are currently
occurring in the workplace?
3. What obstacles or challenges may be limiting or impeding
development of personalized learning in the workplace?
4. What opportunities exist for personalized learning from an
organizational standpoint.

17. METHOD

18. 19
PERCEPTIONS & IMPLEMENTATIONS OF
PERSONALIZED LEARNING IN WORKFORCE
(N=10)

19. 20
PERCEPTIONS & IMPLEMENTATIONS OF
PERSONALIZED LEARNING IN WORKFORCE
• CLO or Director Level Employee
• Use online tools and technologies to
educate learners
REQUIREMENTS

20. 21TIMELINE
STUDY
CONDUCTED
SPRING –
SUMMER 2017
30 – 60 MINUTE SEMI-STRUCTURED
INTERVIEWS

21. 22DATA ANALYSIS
Phase 1: Inductive
Categorical
Qualitative Analysis
(Maxwell, 2013)
Phase 2:
Refinement of
Themes
Phase 3: Deductive
Method of Analysis
(Fereday & Muir-
Chochrane, 2006)

22. RESULTS

23. 24
WHAT IS PERSONALIZED?
(content, interface, delivery mechanism)
AGENT OF PERSONALIZATION
(individual, manager or supervisor, instructor, training department, collaborative
network of peers, or learning system itself)
HOW LEARNING IS PERSONALIZED
(implicitly or explicitly, learner preferences, learner role, learner tasks,
individual proficiencies, learner goals)
DEFINITIONS OF PERSONALIZED LEARNING
OVERVIEW OF FINDINGS

24. 25
DIFFERING DEFINITIONS OF PERSONALIZED
LEARNING
“choose what path they’re going”
“learn something the way I want to
learn it”
“choose between a couple of offerings”
“flexible enough for you to make it work
for the way you work”

25. 26PERCEPTIONS OF PERSONALIZED LEARNING
OUT OF 10
DESCRIBED PERSONALIZED
LEARNING AS DESIRABLE
“there’s not enough of it”,
“it’s a great thing!”
“it’s the way of the future”
“a good plan”

26. 27CURRENT IMPLEMENTATIONS
OUT OF 10
FELT THEY HAD IMPLEMENTED
PERSONALIZED LEARNING

27. 29DIFFERENCES IN WHAT IS PERSONALIZED
CONTENT
OPTIONS
MIX & MATCH
DELIVERY
FORMATS
DEVICE
INTERFACE

28. 31
DIFFERENCES IN WHO CONDUCTS THE
PERSONALIZATION
INDIVIDUAL MANAGER/SUPERVISOR TRAINING DEPARTMENT
SOCIAL & COLLABORATIVE
NETWORKS
ADAPTIVE TECHNOLOGY

29. 34
DIFFERENCES IN HOW LEARNING IS
PERSONALIZED
PROFICIENCY
OR TASK BASED
ORGANIZATIONAL
ROLE
LEARNING
PREFERENCES

30. 35
DIFFERENCES IN HOW LEARNING IS
PERSONALIZED
IMPLICIT OR
EXPLICIT
SEGMENTED
GROUPS
GEOGRAPHY

31. 36CHALLENGES
BUY-IN
EXTERNAL
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
INTERNAL
PACE OF
CHANGE
LEGACY
SYSTEMS
POLICIES
SCALABILITY
NASCENT DEPARTMENTS
CULTURE

32. 37
…if you got 7,000 people and you were to do custom learning for, or
personalized learning for each of those 7,000, you start to think, how
could you expect to manage this?
“…if you are doing personalized learning for the United States of
America, and now you have to do 325 million different versions?
Figuring out how to do that in a scalable way is hard. I mean, we're only
300 people, and we're trying to figure [that] out.”
QUOTES

33. 39
Leaders could not articulate a clear vision
of how to design, implement, or evaluate
personalized learning.
CONCLUSIONS

34. WORKFORCE LEADERS
NEED SUPPORT
TO EFFECTIVELY DESIGN, IMPLEMENT, AND EVALUATE
PERSONALIZED LEARNING PROGRAMS.

35. 41
How do researchers and practitioners conceptualize
personalized learning in workforce professional development
programs?
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
What are dimensions of personalized learning according to
expert researchers and practitioners in workforce learning?
What dimensions of personalized learning do expert
researchers and practitioners value in different training
scenarios?
E N D P R O D U C T
• Frameworks
• Guidelines
• Implementation considerations

36. PERSONALIZED LEARNING
IMPROVING WORKFORCE EDUCATION

37. THANK YOU!
QUESTIONS?