E-Learning & Aerospace

There seems to be a universal agreement in recent years that the worldwide eLearning market will show fast growth in the coming years. The worldwide market for Self-Paced eLearning practices reached $35.6 billion at the end of 2011 and the annual worldwide growth rate was nearly 7.9 % (Ambient Insights 2016) since then. Self-Paced eLearning is education in which learners study at their own pace with no fixed starting date in common with other students enrolled in the program. However, there’s certainly a fixed overall completion timeframe. Therefore, employees whether in front office or on the shop floor, not only do they have the devices to consume training in real time, but it’s accessed at the time of need.  With the proliferation of easy-to-use, easy-to-publish content authoring and learning platforms linked with a number of mobile applications and the fact that everyone has a device (BYOD - Bring Your Own Device) the learner can be engaged quickly and efficiently. With these various tools and a properly deployed eLearning strategy, an organization can:

• Personalize the learning experience – your employees are better able to learn when they have resources that are tailored to their specific needs
• Efficiently author content – your instructional designers and subject-matter experts (SMEs) need to be able to share their knowledge effortlessly and easily
• Be more agile – at the very least your learning content needs to change as the business does, assisting your employee prepare for those new challenges or new skills
• Drive performance – learning content is the fuel for individual performance gains, and thus can lead to a high-performing organization

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The aircraft MRO industry is going mobile – or at least, taking steps to implementing tablets and smartphones for maintenance and training application. Most of the mobile usage in commercial aerospace has been centered in the cockpit. However, many MRO (Maintenance and Repair Organizations) managers are taking steps to adding handheld tablets or phones to an aircraft technician’s toolbox. “Selecting the right device depends specific use-cases and user context.” (Sven Heitsch, Head of Strategy and Technology Information Management at Lufthansa Technik, Aviation Week, Sept 2014). The decision to link mobile devices to back office learning management systems or enterprise resource planning software is also on the rise, but organizations are still cautious due to cultural and integrational challenges. Many conditions apply when deploying new mobile enterprise tools. When developing use cases on the shop or manufacturing floor, the device’s screen size and readability could be a consideration; using these devices to view complex, work instructions or learning content may be impractical in certain locations or environments. Nonetheless, as these tools are evaluated, they have shown to accelerate the learning process and increase productivity across the board.
 
No industry is immune to the impact of mobile devices and almost any business can take advantages of their capabilities. Obviously, industries where employees are naturally mobile are more affected by the rise of smartphones and tablets. In particular, we see mobile devices impacting the MRO shop floor keeping aircraft technicians “ship-side” and reducing errors and increasing productivity.  Cloud computing and SaaS applications are increasingly important in these business applications and these devices are considered mission-critical technology in most aerospace use-cases.
Types of E-Learning
There are many types of eLearning tools and are synonymous with web-based training, distance learning and online training, and just about everyone is familiar with these terms. This type of training allows flexibility, access to colleagues and SMEs and an emphasis on learner-centered content. Here are a few commonly used tools:
 

• Cloud-based, Learning Management Systems – access to training resources at a learner’s moment of need, cost reduction of physical training materials and on-site instructors as well as increased employee engagement are just some of the various advantages to a cloud-based, learning management system that can be accessed by a personal device. Authors can effortlessly create skilled-based learning programs and track how they impact the business results.

 

• Big Data in eLearning – There are a variety of benefits that Big Data offer to eLearning implementation, all of which have the power to revolutionize the way we analyze and assess the learning experience. It allows organizations to understand how their learners are digesting information, pinpoint areas to fine tune courses and modules, how social learning is shared, and the power to predict the areas specific learners are struggling or excelling. An organization’s data has left a bread crumb trail and these analytics can help an author deliver better content with more precision and effectiveness.

 

• Responsive Learning Management – Current learning practices are driven by the individuals that use a learning management system, not the actual system itself. An LMS must adapt to a world where mobile devices are the learning tool of choice. As more and more learning courses are utilize  social media, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and informal learning, an LMS is only as good as the content it helps to deliver and the data that it can provide. So, for users to engage an LMS must fit into the contemporary way they learn and develop skills.

 

• Wearable Tech Transition – In order to train a new workforce, or a millennial employee, you have to introduce tools that are current with their level of technological savvy and experience. Growing up with many technologically-advanced mobile devices and appliances, this future workforce may not be able to depend on the tribal knowledge that came before them.  Not dissimilar to video gaming, wearable tech, virtual and augmented reality tools are developing at a rapid pace. They are currently being utilized on the shop floor at companies like Lockheed Martin, Lufthansa, and Boeing. They are making complex work very simple. The advancement of Smart Glasses and the proliferation of open-source software in Augmented Reality will close the gap between a millennial and a more, seasoned and aging workforce

 

• Automated Course Authoring – Curriculum is becoming more interactive and, at the same time, an increasing number of learners are using mobile devices to access learning courses. Therefore, the way that eLearning is being designed, created and delivered is rapidly changing as well. HTML5 authoring tools are becoming more easy to use and even unskilled authors can publish great content to any device on any platform, in real time. So, you can publish once for a number of BYOD devices with ease.

 

• < > – with the application of game-design elements and game principles in learning today, Gamification improves user engagement, organizational productivity, and makes learning fun. Gamification takes the data-driven techniques that game designers use to engage a younger workforce by employing high-interaction and motivational techniques to increase a learner’s knowledge.< > – Learning on the go. Different learners respond differently to digital learning, based upon how they prefer to learn and the content that is being presented. Therefore, developers should be keenly aware of their audience and learning materials should be designed for specific mediums. Mobile has evolved so much over the years, and it’s no surprise that in 2013, mobile devices became the most commonly-used, web access tool, surpassing the PC for first time (Gartner, 2014). Mobile phones are always “on” and the user can access learning courses 24/7.