State of Digital Learning Report 2024

Our data

This report brings together the views of L&D leaders, experts who shape learning experiences, and the employees who engage with learning. We gathered data and insights from:

We surveyed L&D managers & leaders in organizations with over 1000 employees in North America & Europe. We also conducted 12 in-depth interviews with learning experts from some of the world’s biggest organizations.

Our findings

We’ve taken the results of this year’s research, compared answers from last year’s report and distilled it down into key findings across three focus areas.

Current challenges

Explore the critical factors that exacerbate existing issues and create new L&D challenges.

Shifting learner needs

Discover how future-focused L&D teams are trying out new ways of doing things to overcome their challenges and meet business and employee needs.

Practical steps to get started

Uncover the key ways you can get ready for the year ahead and maximize your impact in 2024.

What do the experts think?

Armed with these insights from the frontline of L&D, we reached out to some leading L&D experts to get their perspectives. Here are their thoughts on the key challenges for 2024.

Technology

There’s been no escape from Artificial Intelligence (AI) this year. 2023 saw both businesses and L&D experimenting with this new technology. 2024 is when things get real. Finding effective and ethical ways to use these tools is critical for success in 2024.

The pressure is on. Tasked with driving forward big organizational change, many teams feel they lack the capacity and capabilities to deliver. We’ve discovered that this is showing up in three key areas of challenge: technology, people, and processes.

How is this filtering down to the end user? Let’s turn our attention to the learners.

What do modern enterprise learners want?

We surveyed employees in enterprise organizations to explore how they engage with learning in a global, corporate environment. Here’s what we found.

Accessing learning

Digital learning is an increasingly regular part of all employees’ lives. Last year, people were accessing learning every month and quarter. Now, it’s becoming a more daily and weekly commitment.

Although there’s been a rise in employees completing digital learning at home, usually on a desktop or laptop, this generally happens during working hours.

Meeting needs

82% of people are more likely to stay at a company if it invests in their professional development. 

However, around a third of employees feel that their digital learning does not align, or only partially aligns, with the company’s overall goals and objectives.

Employees know which skills will most help them in their work – Tech takes the lead with a big increase (+17%) from 2023.

Yet 45% of employees have not been provided with learning on these skills over the last six months. L&D has made big strides to make it easier for employees to find online courses or resources within their organization

0 Very easy to find 0 Somewhat easy to find 0 Difficult to find 0Very difficult to find

But this may not be enough. When employees have a learning need, they’re increasingly looking to Google for an answer. And this is only going to increase as younger people join the workforce. For 64% of 18 to 24-year-olds, using Google or a Chatbot is the first choice for their learning needs.

Providing quality learning experiences

L&D need to do more to ensure the learning they provide is what employees want and need. Current learning content isn’t hitting the mark. It’s taking too long, lacking impact, and failing to meet expectations. 

In 2023, 50% of employees in large organizations rated their elearning as fair to poor. This year that’s jumped up to 60%. Recent efforts are clearly falling flat. So, what needs to change? 

Relevance

Over a third of learners were more engaged when elearning could easily be applied in their work. 

However, over 60% feel that the digital learning provided by their organization is not relevant to their role. Faced with rapidly changing skills requirements, L&D needs to find new ways to personalize content that works at speed and scale.

“Digital learning doesn’t work for me when it’s just doing something for the sake of it. Time is very precious!”

– Survey respondent

‘’Make [content] relevant and on point to you so that you can use it in the job, in the real world, as quickly as possible.”

– Cammy Bean, Senior Solutions Consultant, Kineo

Ease

A quarter of learners said their engagement increased when learning was easy to access, understand, and use at the point of need. 

Digital learning may be easier than ever to access, but if L&D wants to stay in control and maintain quality, it needs to compete with the effortless experience of unofficial sources of learning, like Google and AI.

“When elearning works it’s smooth and efficient – with no trouble at all. It should be user friendly.”

– Survey respondent

‘’There were people coming in and not feeling supported in their experience in their first year of being with us. And that just felt completely wrong … So now we’ve got some tools and templates that support people. We’ve got SharePoint sites that they can easily go to and get information from. We’ve got communications that are reminding them of what’s available. It’s just been a really great experience to bring that to life.”

– Melanie Lepine, Global Onboarding Lead, CBRE

Quality

About a quarter of employees said their engagement increases when elearning is interactive. And they’re clear that this doesn’t mean more clicking onscreen. It’s about having an opportunity to reflect on their knowledge and apply their skills.

These strategies for maintaining learner engagement and knowledge retention aren’t new. L&D needs to refocus its effort on maintaining the quality of its content.

“Elearning keeps my interest when it’s an interactive learning experience with tests to check your absorption of the information.”

– Survey respondent

‘’Capturing human attention is as challenging as it has ever been, and the competition for airtime has increased substantially. Our strategy is simple: Make great content and make it only as long as it needs to be.’’

– Kirsten Liston, Founder and CEO, Rethink Compliance

Want to explore some ways you can deliver impactful elearning?

Whether you call yourself a learning designer or performance consultant, an accidental instructional designer or a subject-expert, you’ll find what you need to design effective online learning solutions in our elearning best practice guide. Access the guide by clicking below. 

Access the guide

What can L&D do to meet these shifting needs?

The modern enterprise learner doesn’t want to waste their time with ineffective elearning. But providing up-to-date, relevant content isn’t easy when business needs are shifting and new skill gaps are emerging every day. That’s why L&D professionals are looking for new tools, and tried and tested techniques to develop digital learning experiences with impact.

Technology

Just as employees turn to AI to help them at work, L&D teams have also explored new technologies in 2023. This looks to increase in 2024, with 86% of L&D teams considering using AI to assist with their digital learning initiatives.

Of course, tech alone won’t deliver impact. You need to focus on the objective – helping employees develop the skills they need. Think strategically about how these tools can be embedded in the L&D lifecycle.

Here’s what the learning experts think you should be focusing on.

“As AI-enabled technology becomes commonplace, more data points will be available to collect, review, and interpret. Not only is AI introducing new tools for data analytics, but also processing large volumes of historical and disjointed learning data. What measures count the most [depend on] what you’re trying to achieve or what questions you need answers for…It’s not just consuming the information from a learning platform dashboard without critically analyzing the reasons and cross-referencing other factors influencing learning.”

– Stella Lee, Director, Paradox Learning

‘’L&D teams are going to have to spend time thinking about how AI tools can be embedded into their learning ecosystem…I also think that we’re coming to a potential existential question for L&D teams in the medium term. The capabilities we have today might not be needed tomorrow. It’s going to take focus and strategic thinking to move beyond that and find equilibrium.’’

– Lloyd Dean, Global Learning and Development Manager, AXA

People

The dominance of remote learning and the rise of AI all increase the risk of losing the human element that’s so critical for impactful learning. Yet, according to Fosway’s Digital Learning Realities report, the delivery of online social learning and performance support was basic. Only 27% of L&D teams we surveyed said that flexible blended learning, including both elearning and social elements, was working well in 2023. 

So, how can we build on this in 2024?

Put humans at the heart

Understand your organization’s values. These need to be at the center of your learning ecosystem to be effective.

‘’You see technologies [being considered] when we think about attracting the future workforce…You need to understand the environment, the culture of the organization, before you can say these technologies are in line with the values and the vision of the company of the future.”

– Katja Schipperheijn, Learning strategist, consultant, author, and keynote speaker

Harness internal expertise

You can’t create a new learning landscape alone. Get your stakeholders aligned. Work in collaboration with other departments. Empower organization-wide involvement in learning.

‘’Human connection matters. Real relatable stories, examples of how learning has helped people overcome challenges, and grow their career are not only important to engagement but also learning transfer…The ability to use organization-specific knowledge [with new tech] is a game-changer too as this should help fight generic, over-reductive content and experiences. Ignore human skills at our peril!’’ 

– Cheryl Clemons, CEO, Storytagger

Capture experience to create context

Capture your organization’s tacit knowledge, experience, and stories. Provide the context your people need to put their learning into practice at work.

‘The same strategies for maintaining learner engagement and knowledge retention apply in the new order of remote and hybrid work environments as they did in the old office world: make sure content is contextualized and relevant – so people see themselves in the experience and understand how this knowledge or skill applies to their work. Remote vs. hybrid shouldn’t change the principles of good learning design. It’s still got to be about people.’’

– Cammy Bean, Senior Solutions Consultant, Kineo

L&D ways of working

In 2023, LinkedIn highlighted that businesses required agility. In 2024, this is still critical. As technology evolves and new skill gaps emerge, L&D needs to respond at pace. There’s no point in spending months developing digital learning if things have moved on by the time you deliver it.

Around a fifth of L&D teams highlighted that effective collaboration helped them respond to business needs in 2023. Embracing new collaborative models and methods will be critical to delivering impact at speed and scale in 2024.

Where can collaboration be increased in digital learning production?

• Needs analysis

  Whether it’s key business stakeholders or Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), you can’t understand your business and employee needs alone. Get people involved in the conversation. Ask lots of questions. Make connections. Be ready to learn.
  
  Find out how you can capture needs effectively in our needs analysis template.

• Content creation

  Internal experts have always been essential to an organization’s learning and development success. They know the subject matter inside out. They have the experience that needs to be shared. They understand what’s really relevant to learners. But they can be much more than just a gateway to content and audience. With the right tools and support, they can create quality learning content.
  
  For tips on how you can achieve this, check out our guide to setting up SMEs for success.

• Continual improvement

  Use collaborative and iterative ways of working. Involve your SMEs, stakeholders, and especially your end users so you’re more likely to hit their target. Explore the data and analytics your tool offers together to tweak and enhance your elearning along the way and deliver more impact.
  
  Explore ways to improve L&D at your organization in our guide to using data to cultivate effective elearning.

The challenges L&D are facing also present an opportunity to explore new ways of working that can deliver more impact. Some forward-thinking L&D teams are already embracing new collaborative approaches. What could this look like for you in 2024? 

Find out what other L&D professionals and experts see as the top L&D trends for 2024.

3 things L&D teams are doing to deliver impact

1. Embracing new technology

73% of learning professionals think new technologies will be shaping the future of digital learning. And AI is overwhelmingly the top tool.

But remember, tech alone won’t solve your problems. Bring your organization’s knowledge and technology together in an efficient learning ecosystem.

Let’s take a look at the new technology L&D professionals will be embracing this year.

“AI isn’t replacing any of the roles that I’ve ever been in in L&D. I still have those technical knowledge requirements. I still need to review all of my content for accuracy. Instead of thinking about it as in competition for your job, we just need to see it as an enhancement or an accelerator.”

– Angie Elliott, Manager of Sales Enablement and Talent Development, Hormel Foods

2. Focusing on your people

From culture and collaboration to wellbeing and work/life balance, 46% see L&D shifting towards a more people-centered approach. There isn’t one right way to do this. But here are the top 5 learning approaches your L&D peers are looking to use in 2024 to better meet their people’s needs.

• #1 Personalization
• #2 Microlearning
• #3 Blended learning

• #4 Learning in the flow of work
• #5 Social learning

3. Developing new ways of working

To make the most of advances in digital technology and use it to deliver genuinely people-centered digital learning, L&D needs to take a new approach. 18% of learning professionals expect to see new L&D skills and working methods being developed in 2024.

Let’s take a look at the top methods L&D professionals will be investing in this year.

‘’The urgency is in L&D themselves taking the lead. Don’t wait until you get a question from the business. Become the strategic advisor…Go to your departments, like marketing. They have a lot of knowledge of how to influence people to change their behavior…Go to the people from IT. Work together. I think breaking down the silos and working together as a strategic office for the future, that’s what we need right now.”

– Katja Schipperheijn, Learning strategist, consultant, author, and keynote speaker

5 technology driven trends

As we move from experimentation to real-world use, the impact of new technologies will be far-reaching. Our L&D experts see five key trends being driven by this technological disruption.

“We had a great L&D year in the AI playground in 2023. All our problems are solved in pretend play! Now, let’s get messy and see how we can use AI for real. I do hope 2024 is finally the year when we stop creating content and start making an impact.

– Zsolt Olah, Senior Learning Technologist, Amazon

1. Experimenting with new ways of working

AI is going to be a game changer for L&D. Transforming everything from your ways of working to your learner experience. Stay agile, experiment, and find out how things work best at your organization.

‘’AI will impact us from 360 degrees. It’s going to change our workflows – how we do the work of L&D – and it’s going to change the experiences we deliver to learners – our output.’

– Cammy Bean, Senior Solutions Consultant, Kineo

2. Using data to feed into outcomes

AI doesn’t just present opportunities to speed up content creation. It offers a whole new world of data analysis. Choose the right metrics. Learn from the results. Transform your learning outcomes.

‘’I’m most excited about the ways data can be triangulated at scale to really understand what design and experience feed into outcomes. This will hopefully spell the end of SCORM and a better format for digesting the rich suspended data generated by personalized learning experiences.’’

– Lori Niles-Hoffmann, Senior Learning EdTech Transformation Strategist, NilesNolen

3. Reskilling for employees and L&D

The skill landscape has been evolving just as quickly as technology. Understanding how your organization wants to use AI is key to choosing the right upskilling or reskilling approaches.

‘’I anticipate a significant push towards upskilling and reskilling, driven by rapidly changing skill requirements brought about by AI…Above all, there’s an immediate need for AI literacy. It’s essential for the workforce to comprehend both the potential and the limitations of AI. This understanding will be foundational in determining the specific areas where upskilling and reskilling are most necessary.’’

– Stella Lee, Director, Paradox Learning

4. Staying on top of changing expectations

As people get used to quick, easy, and effective learning experiences with AI, their ideas of what learning could be will change. Understand and meet these expectations or risk learners switching off.

“I think AI is going to increase the expectations of the L&D teams. If the business are piloting AI tools for operational tasks yet the L&D team are offering 4-hour learning pathways I think there’s going to be an issue as the expectation of what learning could look like shifts.’’

– Lloyd Dean, Global Learning and Development Manager, AXA

5. Managing change through human connection

Like any big change, this technological transformation needs to be managed. People don’t just need to develop new skills. They need to buy into the benefits AI will bring.

‘’I think we’re ready for some nuance now around how AI gets deployed. Let’s not neglect the cultural, human and embedding aspects which need to be part of any technological transformation. AI has already been elevated to a business-wide strategy in many organizations so L&D will need to plug into this larger, intentional plan whilst applying it to their own goals. This will in turn create more change and people will need to be taken on the journey. It’s not just about the early adopters. Human storytelling will be a key thread to help this change land well.’’

– Cheryl Clemons, CEO, Storytagger

2024 is looking to be another year of disruption. This change can’t be avoided. But it won’t just present challenges, it will offer lots of opportunities to find new and better ways of working. This includes transforming your learning through data analysis, anticipating and bridging skill gaps, and meeting shifting expectations. 

Which tech-driven trends are you ready to embrace?