Online students at all levels are becoming more discerning and critical than ever. Why? Because as they spend more time online for meetings and work, they have become more visually literate, more tech-savvy and more digitally fluent. People don’t have time to be bogged down in something they could google or learn about on YouTube. These are all symptoms of the great transition to digital. 

As a result, the old world where learners could be dished up content and have it called learning is dying. Technology and social media have ensured that information is the most abundant resource currently available to us. These days content is used to generate better search engine listings and traffic. Blog posts have to be short and interesting to get attention. But content in the context of learning will never be the same.

It is simply not enough to present reams of textbook-like content as learning and charge for it. In an age where countless experts upload hours of mastery (for free) on YouTube, why pay to read text behind glass and then write an assessment? It is faster and more effective to grab your learning from a variety of sources like fast foods and then play around with trying out new things and see what works. Nobody has time unless it’s super relevant and worthwhile and that’s the essence of where content is at.

The content that is offered by learning providers must advance to catch up with the developments in the field of learning theory. Content in learning must therefore undergo a dual transformation: it must use personal experience to tell a story and inspire action and it must result in a change in thinking and behaviour.  In short, content must become more transformational to compete with the deluge of information that bombards learners in the bigger context of the digital transformation. Old style content may be dead, but skillful learning providers can create transformative learning experiences suited to our digitally transformed spaces, that provide a real-world return on the time invested in them. If you would like to work with CPS to #ChangeTomorrow, contact us.