Lifelong Learning
Learning does not end when you complete college. You are just completing your education. Even after you finish college and start working, the process of learning never ends. You need knowledge and skills to help you succeed in a career. The world is changing fast, and so is the experience. You need to keep yourself updated about what is happening around you. Changing technology and fast-growing innovations make it mandatory to keep learning. Lifelong learning is learning that occurs throughout life.
Lifelong learning is an ongoing learning that happens continuously. It is voluntary, where you would learn for self-improvement. Lifelong learning involves learning at the job. This occurs in the form of training. This is essential as job requirements keep changing continuously due to changes in products and technology. Exercise helps to keep the spirit of lifelong learning going. It helps a person be updated and can add value to the organization.
In a corporate setup, lifelong learning happens through corporate training. These training programs would help in facilitating the process of learning in a structured and systematic way. It is therefore essential to establish training programs that can support lifelong learners, who are interested to learn.
Training to Support Lifelong Learning
An organization must help its employees in their quest to learn. The organization can come out with a specific plan to support learners. The organization can use the following:
1) Establish Learning Goals
Every organization sets goals for its employees related to their work. Employees focus themselves on goals and work hard to achieve them. They do this as their career growth depends on goal accomplishment. In the same way, organizations can establish learning goals linked to performance goals. This would help in highlighting the importance of learning. Organizations should not impose learning goals on employees. The organization needs to decide the purposes based on the employee need and the organization need. This is an excellent way to facilitate lifelong learning.
2) Learning should be Self-Directed
Self-directed learning is where employees decide what they want to learn, how they want to do it and regulate the pace of learning. This should be in consonance with the learning goals. This approach ensures that employees would involve themselves willingly in learning. This helps in lifelong learning. At the same time, it also helps in the growth of organizational knowledge.
3) Facilitate Social Learning
Social learning is where learning happens through interaction with colleagues. This interaction may not be limited to work, but also occurs in social situations. Social events and a get together are right occasions where this kind of social learning can take place. This is a right way of learning, as employees can learn from more experienced people. This learning happens through participating in discussions and sharing experiences.
4) Establish a Knowledge Bank
A knowledge bank is nothing but a library of resources that help in learning. An organization can create this knowledge bank online or in physical form. The company’s intranet can provide access to this knowledge bank. This can be an extensive pool of resources covering technology, self-improvement, marketing, operational processes, and all other requirements of employees. The organization can link the knowledge bank to the training process to make its use more effective.
5) Reward Lifelong Learners
Lifelong learning happens due to self-motivation and a desire to keep oneself updated. Learning itself is the reward in such cases. If an organization rewards those who are involved in lifelong learning, it helps in creating a sense of accomplishment. Rewarding by issuing internal certificates or gifts is an excellent way to motivate employees to be involved in lifelong learning through training.
Following the above ensures that lifelong learning becomes a part of organizational culture.
Training through Online Delivery
The training to create lifelong learning can happen through regular classroom training sessions or online mode. In today’s busy corporate environment, most employees would not have free time to attend classroom training. Online training is highly beneficial as employees can take up the training at their convenience. Corporate organizations can set up online training courses that can support lifelong learners. The employees can take up these programs on internal networks or through popular online portals.
Employees need to be encouraged to undergo online training that can help improve their skills and thus facilitate lifelong learning. When the organization works with employees in this way, it ensures lifelong learning that can help in overall organizational growth.
Author Bio: The article has been written by Marilou Alcaide, Marketing Coordinator, and content crafter at Coggno a learning management system. Creating appealing contents to engage the readers all around the world is the author’s keen desire.
