Virtual College, a digital provider with over 25 years' experience, recognised the importance of understanding learners' needs and expectations when it came to training, as well as understanding how valuable those insights could be to businesses that were planning and developing training programmes.

In an attempt to discover these insights, they sent out a survey titled "Understanding our Learners", which was completed by over 2,000 learners from a range of industries and roles.

They asked 24 questions in total, including

• How is learning perceived in your business?
• How does your employer support your learning development?
• What motivates you to learn at work?
• When looking to develop a new skill, in or out of work, how would you choose to learn?
• What elements do you think are needed to create a really effective learning experience?

There were three clear themes in the answers: how to create training to suit the learner; how organisations can support their employees; and what the future of learning and development might look like. Virtual College have since gone beyond the results, analysing them and expanding upon each theme. They are now producing three reports, which will be released throughout the year.

The first of these reports is titled "Creating Training to Suit the Learner"; it was released in early June. Drawing on the findings about how much time learners have to learn; which learning mediums they like to use; what their ideal learning environment is, and more, the report offers best practice guides, practical tips, and useful infographics that Virtual College  hope will help businesses when developing their training.

Among the topics covered in the report are

• how to create a successful learner journey
• how to create training that will engage the learner
• learners' expectations of the training provided by their organisation
• the amount of time learners would like to have to learn vs. how much they actually have

The report’s authors also interviewed industry expert Cathy Hoy, the Chief Learning Officer at The Learning and Performance Institute (LPI), who shared her thoughts and ideas about the importance of listening to learners' changing needs and how to keep them at the forefront of the training programme.

Hoy explains why learner insights are so beneficial to businesses: "Information and insights such as these, which have come straight from the learner, are essential for businesses if they want to create a training programme that works.  A successful training programme will not only get the desired metrics - high completion rates - but it should also result in the desired behaviour change. Overall, learners want to learn, and businesses now have to help set the scene for that. This approach has positive effects for businesses in the long term, as it helps foster employee retention and loyalty. Businesses will benefit from these and have a stronger workforce, turning them into stronger organisations overall."

Simon Falconer, Chief Marketing Officer at Virtual College, explains their drive to create this report and why it is more important than ever. "In this current climate, when things are changing so quickly, it's vital for businesses and learning and development professionals to understand what learners really want. After all, they are the centre of your training programme after all!

Businesses are struggling with knowing how to put the learner first and how to create training that is suitable for them, so we wanted to offer something that would help put them on the right track. With brilliant insights from a wide range of our learning base, and our in-house and external experts, these reports should do just that. They are a useful tool that businesses can use to find answers to many of the important questions they may have and ultimately, provide their learners with the support and training programmes that they need to grow and develop."