Use Generated Content for Learning Platforms: What You Should Know
It’s common knowledge that peer engagement can be quite effective when it comes to corporate learning. Hence the reason for forums and group chats within LMS platforms.
We all participate in a common form of peer engagement is user-generated content. This is a technical term for the posts we see on Instagram or Reddit and videos we watch on Youtube and TikTok.
Some of us use this content for entertainment purposes, while a good portion of the world uses it for education. Millions of people log on to these platforms daily to digest guides, walkthroughs, how-tos, and other types of useful content that make life much easier.
Knowing this, there’s no reason to believe that this same type of user-generated content wouldn’t be useful within an LMS platform. Recently, many learning management system creators have begun to implement the addition of this content to their software.
If you’ve been interested in user-generated content, this article can provide some helpful insight. These are the most relevant highlights of user-generated content for learning platforms.
User-Generated Content in Corporate Learning
What is user-generated content in corporate learning? No, it’s not coworkers sharing amusing videos or quotes of wisdom via social media.
User-generated content is created by learners using LMS platforms. It’s not generated by subject matter experts, training managers, or elements of AI, which are the usual suspects when it comes to content creation on these platforms.
Any content that provides educational value is acceptable as a form of user-generated content. This includes articles, podcasts, webinars, quizzes, and other videos. User-generated content was not adopted to substitute the former learning content featured on modules and courses, but it does put a different spin on your training methods.
The generation of this content should only be conducted voluntarily and not assigned in a way that will affect a learner’s performance. Not everyone will volunteer or have the motivation to generate this content, and that’s fine.
There’s no problem with giving learners an extra nudge by offering an incentive to create content. However, they should never be forced to take this on.
Allowing users to participate in content creation is a new approach that’s quickly gaining steam. In the next section, you’ll find out why.
Benefits of User-Generated Content
What’s all the fuss over user-created content? Well, this content can have a significant impact on the effectiveness of training and your LMS platform overall. It also has a marked effect on your corporate culture. Let’s examine the most significant benefits of this type of content.
1. It Boosts Learner Engagement
People tend to be proud of things that they’ve created themselves. This is otherwise known as the IKEA effect, a cognitive bias that’s obviously beneficial in online learning.
Employees feel proud that they’ve built a minor fraction of a course, end up engaging more with training, and are more eager to create more content in the future.
Even learners that don’t create content feel more engaged. This content resonates with employees more because it’s the work of people they know and trust. In other words, this content was created by people that speak the same language as them.
This is also a great way to market your training program internally. Think of it in the following terms. An employee of an LMS company creates a .pdf about the best ways to handle customer service calls. Now, your friend from the sales department creates a presentation about how to smooth over angry clients. The content sounds similar, but which of these options will be better received by team members?
2. Learning Turned into a Social Activity
User-generated content promotes social learning, as well as learning in a non-conventional environment. Employees who share content on one of the forums mentioned earlier are user-generated content and social learning.
Team members who learn this way digest the material much easier. Not everyone is thrilled at the idea of spending time reading training manuals, and social learning can be an exciting alternative.
3. Improve Knowledge Retention
If something can’t be explained simply, you don’t really understand it. These are the words of the great Albert Einstein.
When team members work on creating content, they dive into what they already know and research further to add new information. This means that they will refresh their memory and add to the foundation of their knowledge. They end up learning more as they dig deeper into a topic when they attempt to teach it to others.
4. Reinforces a Culture of Learning
Another benefit of user-generated content is that it creates a culture of learning within your organization. When team members are involved in training and not just participating, there’s a completely new vibe in your workplace.
Team members become involved in projects that aren’t just strictly work-related. These are creative activities that lead to personal development along with work skills. Things like presentation and written communication, which are useful in a business and personal setting, are also mastered.
Eventually, most of your employees will want to become a part of these trends.
5. Stronger Collaborative Environment
User-generated content is the result of team members collaborating. Learning becomes more fun when we do it together, and creating opportunities for employees to work together makes things more exciting.
Overall, this has a strong effect on your corporate culture. Team members becoming used to working together will also lead to stronger sales and marketing forces.
Adding Team Value to Training
If you haven’t thought about making user-generated content part of your platform, you’re missing out on several opportunities. Not only does this content creation provide the benefits listed above, but it also makes the workplace more fun and exciting for your team members. When employees have fun at work, they end up being more productive and efficient.
What are you waiting for? It seems as if user-generated content has nothing but significant benefits in terms of corporate learning, and it’s definitely worth a shot. To start having greater production and an overall increase in the quality of your organization, contact us today for a free consultation!