The insights above are backed by recent data from organisations like the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) – and highlight a few worrying trends for L&D, and organisations in general:

Blended learning integrates traditional face-to-face delivery with e-learning content from learning management systems (LMS) or learning experience platforms (LXP) – for a seamless flow of learning from the classroom to online and back again. It’s often promoted as a more rounded, robust corporate L&D methodology.

However, significant challenges were identified with blended learning, such as:

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• Stigmas around online learning, like it being perceived as unimportant (vs. classroom training), which in turn requires proper communication, employee empowerment and ownership .

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• In-person training facing cost-cutting, as travel, accommodation and meals can be deemed prohibitively expensive.

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• Classroom training also feeling too US-centric for European markets e.g. external ‘experts’ being wheeled in.

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• In a similar vein, virtual classrooms not working as successfully in Europe, when compared with regions like the US or Asia.

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• And finally, content needing adjustment for culture and nuances across markets and regions, costing time and money.

The upshot: while it’s clear that a mix of traditional and digital learning is required for modern companies, nailing that mix has been a hard task for L&D teams.

On the topic of ‘adaptive learning’ – a more personal training model for catering to people’s individual learning needs – the question of technology and new delivery methods arose. For most, that simply meant digital, and providing scalability as employees become not only more global, but also increasingly remote, in terms of working in the field / from home / on the road etc. As a result, ensuring learning styles are supported with supplementary training materials (e.g. videos for visual and auditory learners, with transcripts for reading learners, and printouts for writing and kinesthetic learners) was identified as key, as was mobile learning, which was agreed as generally effective for achieving reach and engagement targets.

One major talking point for adaptive learning was the idea of ‘freedom within a framework’ i.e. providing structure, but the flexibility within that structure for employees to learn in a personalised way. This can involve things like customisable learning paths, allowing employees to pick and choose training modules as guided by the framework of their job function (or even development goals). The central concept is relevancy and giving people the tools to choose how and what they learn – and many seemed motivated to explore and experiment with this further.