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How OTT Style Learning Can Improve Learner Engagement?

2020 and 2021 were the years that transformed the workplaces from physical to remote, and now to a hybrid model. This model has increased the no. of remote employees, as well as enhanced technology to help them work virtually while still being present physically when needed. By 2022 it is expected that there will be even more changes due to what we have seen thus far – Hybrid working models seem like they’re going to be here forever now too. Similarly, Remote & Hybrid learning is going to stay in 2022.

The popularity of OTT services (Like Netflix or Amazon Prime) teaches learning and development (L&D) professionals an important lesson: people can focus if their surroundings are designed to engage them.

The learning pain point that OTT’s or Hybrid working models has cracked

The length of time learners spend with learning content is used by L&D professionals to determine how engaging it is. OTT services have cracked the code for creating captivating content by that standard. These services are particularly good at enticing users to watch shows and movies for extended periods of time.

While L&D professionals should not encourage binge-learning because it can lead to cognitive overload and poor retention, they should be inspired by the captivating quality of streaming sites to engage their learners.

OTT services may appear to be able to attract users’ attention because they share entertaining rather than learning content. But engagement isn’t just about the content—people spend hours on streaming sites watching a variety of TV shows—also it’s about how the content is presented to captivate audiences.

You can design your initiatives in a way that keeps viewers learning for as long as you’d like by emulating how streaming sites present content.

3 tactics from OTT services or Hybrid working models that will captivate learners

You can design your L&D plan in a way that keeps learners focused, just like Netflix is designed to captivate users. For example

  • In a personalized playlist, Netflix recommended the show – Focus on personalized learning journeys and recommended content based on the learner’s requirements
  • You could use Netflix from any device – Make the learning accessible
  • Not just on the platform, OTT platforms create buzz about upcoming shows and uses notifications and reminders to get people on the platform – L&D professionals should also create engagement campaigns to get people excited about learning

    We’ve broken down five methods for grabbing users’ attention on streaming sites, and we’ll show you how to apply these principles to your own learning content.

     

  • CREATE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL CONTENT

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    People choose to read, watch, and listen to material that is most relevant to their lives among the vast amount of content available online. When you sign up for the platform, it recommends a series of shows or movies based on a previous video you watched. These lists may appear as “Top Picks” for you, or they may be based on a single film or television show that you watched.

    Users will be motivated to watch similar TV programs that the platform recommends if they recall how much they enjoyed the most recent show they watched.

    Reassure learners about the value of your course by offering personalized learning options in your learning management system, similar to how Netflix encourages users to watch by offering personalized playlists.

     

  • PROVIDE A HIGH-QUALITY VIEWING EXPERIENCE ON ALL DEVICES

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    People are much more likely to engage with your content if it is mobile-optimized because portable devices are so convenient to use.

    Netflix is well-suited to mobile viewing, so users enjoy watching it on their phones and tablets. For instance, the platform employs machine learning to detect device differences and make necessary adjustments to provide the best possible viewing experience. Users are more likely to watch Netflix shows even if they only have access to a mobile device because of this dependability.

    To attract learners, L&D professionals should use a learning management system (LMS) that provides a high-quality mobile experience. Use the following checklist to assess your LMS’s mobile capabilities:

  • Examine the navigation: Is the LMS’s design user-friendly across all platforms?
  • Watch a video on the LMS: Are the dimensions for each device properly reconfigured?
  • Keep an eye on the loading times. Is the LMS as fast to load on a mobile device as it is on a computer?

    Keep learners engaged by using a high-quality, mobile-optimized LMS to deliver your courses.

     

  • MAKE YOUR CONTENT AS INTERACTIVE AS POSSIBLE.

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    Interactivity in learning is essential, as anyone who has worked in L&D knows—it grabs your learners’ attention by forcing them to stop and actively engage with your lesson.

    Netflix’s recent programming backs up this assertion.

    L&D professionals should strive to make their courses as interactive as possible in order to engage learners. To see how far you can go with active learning content, consider these three levels of interactivity from eLearning software provider.

  • Basic: Quizzes are limited to multiple-choice and true-or-false questions, and learners progress through courses by clicking a simple “Next” button.
  • Intermediate: Quizzes include drag-and-drop and matching activities, and courses include “click and reveal” interactions.
  • Advanced: Many interactive media elements, such as interactive infographics and videos, are included in courses, and quizzes include branched scenarios in which learners follow a specific path based on their responses.

    Design courses that are as captivating as OTT’s.

    Short attention spans aren’t to blame for learners’ lack of engagement with your courses. The popularity of binge-watching shows that people can be engaged with content for long periods of time. If the content is presented in an attention-grabbing manner, as Netflix content is, their ability to focus is affected.

    While you don’t want learners binge-watching your course content, implementing these streaming service strategies can help you gain control over your audience’s ability to engage and complete your courses. Netflix/OTT style learning is great but L&D can do one better by adding collaborative learning, social features, practice-labs, and gamification even to make the experiences much more enriching as just consuming content is not the end goal, rather the application and skill retention are the priorities.