As a modern business, creating an environment for efficient learning and development is likely one of your highest priorities. To fulfill it, the materials that communicate your company’s learning goals to your employees should be tailored to the way your employees’ learning preferences. Multimodal learning can help with this.
Since employees’ top priorities in 2022 and beyond include expanding their skillsets in their industries and using their jobs to advance their careers, a more effective learning and development process will attract and retain more talent. Businesses that practice multimodal learning set themselves up for success in an economy that values versatility by taking advantage of how different kinds of people learn in a modern setting.
What is Multimodal Learning?
Traditional learning models utilize one delivery method to teach employees while multimodal learning uses several at once. These include visual, written, auditory, and hands-on methods. Not only does this learning model utilize multiple senses to increase retention but it also teaches employees more effectively by expanding their applications of the lessons being taught.
Most people have had experiences where they had trouble learning something from an explanation and needed to see the text or do it themselves. Numerous employees at any given company are likely the same way, differing in their learning styles in a way that makes it disadvantageous for managers to restrict the methods of learning to one traditional model. That restriction turns into a limitation on the learning and development process, which in turn limits productivity across the board.
Types of Multimodal Learning
Multimodal learning follows a formula called VARK. It describes how individuals are best able to process and retain vital information. From VARK, we know that most learners benefit from a versatile learning strategy that mixes teaching styles, though many have a preferred method.
VARK stands for:
- Visual, with resources such as training videos and other multimedia content dominating the business space
- Auditory, which helps verbal learners absorb information through discussions, meeting recordings, and podcasts
- Reading/writing, which teaches through text such as user manuals, emails, noticeboards, essays, and any other written material
- Kinesthetic, currently the most popular learning style, which allows people to learn interactively through role-playing, observing demonstrations, and having hands-on experiences.
Benefits of Multimodal Learning
Rather than rely on one learning style, multimodal learning expands the reach of L&D material to reach more employees more effectively. By presenting information in multiple ways, multimodal learning practices create a more versatile and well-rounded educational infrastructure in any business, no matter its size.
Multimodal learning materials are more engaging because they allow workers to isolate their unique learning style and absorb content more creatively. The concepts laid out by the VARK method define how educational outcomes improve as learning methods diversify.
How Does Multimodal Learning Contribute to Learning Culture?
Multimodal learning takes different learning styles into account, supporting an employee’s unique experience within a company’s learning and development framework. This fosters a continuous learning culture that enhances retention and employee enjoyment.
A learning system that utilizes multimodal learning practices is better equipped to create the versatile environment that employees demand in 2022 and beyond. Companies who employ it reap the benefits of employee engagement, productivity, and retention that come from offering diverse learning structures to a team of employees with diverse learning needs.
