This article by Doug Howard in Training Industry Magazine aptly sums up the hot trends that have dominated the HR industry this year. We believe that some of these trends should also be picked up and implemented by learning and development professionals next year too. After all, we design for employees; it helps if we know what motivates them to perform better at the workplace and how we can keep them hooked to the courses that training managers and the C-suite commission spend thousands of dollars on to create. Here are 3 growing HR trends training managers and L&D professionals can't ignore next year. By following these, you are addressing these needs of the modern learner.

Finding a tool that makes your job as an instructional designer even a little easier is kind of like finding fairy dust to sprinkle over your projects. Bibbity bobbity done! That’s how it feels, so why is it so hard to remember to save these tools for future use? I cannot count how many times I have found a great app only to draw a blank as to what was it called or how to found it when I need it again. Here I present to you some of our favorite bookmarked websites and tools to make our eLearning design job easier. Save them all or just bookmark this article for all future eLearning design magic.

The best eLearning designers are the ones that consistently hone their style and look to make their skills even tighter. Fortunately, this doesn’t require a drastic overhaul of your existing knowledge base nor does it mean taking time-consuming classes that reteach things you might already know. In this blog post, we will show you some handy exercises to keep your eLearning course design skills sharp as a jungle cat’s reflexes. A jungle cat sitting at a computer desk anyway, but I digress. With these easy exercises, you will see your eLearning courses begin to improve quickly and continuously. Read on to find out how a single month of simple tasks can make you a better designer.

A sudden cut on eLearning budget can generate a panic storm for the project lead. It bars access to choices — tools, resources, the types of content that can be created, and the work that can be outsourced to speed up the process. And hence, the actual time available for completing it. If you are in such a pinch, then know this: IT IS POSSIBLE to create quality eLearning courses on a shoe-string budget. It’s a matter of prioritizing your efforts, focusing the core learning objectives and deliverables, planning ahead, using toolkits, and reusing content. Here is a five-step process for delivering quality eLearning courses on a shoe-string budget.

“Responsive” is IN. It is the buzzword amongst web designers, website developers, and content creators. And it is time eLearning professionals learned it as well. Your learners have access to a host of devices with different display capabilities. After working hard to design and develop a course, you will want it to show up in all its glory and fidelity whatever the device it runs on. But wait… What is Responsive Design? In Responsive Web Design (RWD), the on-screen content realigns itself automatically depending on the size and resolution of the screen it is being displayed on. This ensures optimal viewing performance irrespective of the nature of the device. For instance, if you are viewing a course that features a Responsive Design, be assured that you won’t be made to pan endlessly or squint to read the text even if you choose to access it on your hand-held mobile device whose screen is smaller than that of your PC. The various graphical and textual elements will size and orient themselves automatically to match the dimensions of the screen. Similarly, you won’t have to resize the various on-screen elements if you choose to view the course on your laptop. See: 50 Examples of Responsive Web Design

What is Gamification? Most people describe Gamification as “the application of game elements to non-game contexts to increase user engagement". But we especially like Karl Kapp's definition: "Gamification is the cover to add the interactivity, engagement and immersion that leads to good learning".

Learning is mentally taxing. So, why would you assume that your employees want to spend additional time learning something, especially when you’ve labeled it "mandatory"? Here are some synonyms that are dancing through the minds of your employees as soon as they receive your email about the new “mandatory” training course: COMPULSORY; Unavoidable; ENFORCED; Obligatory; and a horde of other disfigured words dancing in the distance, chanting: “THERE IS. No. Escape.” Given your position, you may understand the significance of the course and its relation to bigger, strategic organizational goals. Your employees don’t. And your task is to pique their interest, engage them, and continuously compel them to keep on learning. This is only possible if you learn from the one trait that all ads, marketing content, and compelling stories have in common: they value their viewers’ time, their knowledge and capacity to absorb the content. Here are some simple tricks to get learners to buy into mandatory training:

Whether you are a training manager, learning & talent development consultant or an eLearning designer, it is now time to take a fresh look at your audience. They have changed! The Millennials are everywhere, and they make up the lion's share of your audience.