New Marketing Instituteâs best practices for scalable learning in adtech

In the lead up to our first webinar with the DMA, The Power of Programmatic; we want to take this opportunity to introduce NMI's philosophy and approach to learning. Here we share our best practices to outline what people can expect when signing up to NMI's industry leading certification courses.

“Meet the Learner Where They Are.”

Everything we do at NMI starts with this mantra! Our mission is to create a learning environment where people feel “safe” to learn. This means acknowledging and responding to the different needs and learning styles of each individual. We do this by offering varied levels of curriculum and collaterals that scaffold their learning.

The theme could also be taken literally – ensuring learning tools are comprehensible locally and globally across your organization and client base. Achieve this by investing in translation.

It also means helping participants to want to learn. Ensure that content is accessible, then provide clear learning objectives. Ask what are the real world benefits of this learning? What expectations are placed on the learner afterwards? How is their mastery of the content evaluated? The content should appeal to them as people, not just as workers.

We can distill “meet the learner where they are” into a commitment to 3 basic principles:

1. Adopt a Blended Learning Approach.

Many intelligence theories tells us that some people are visual learners, some kinetic, some auditory, and so on. A variety of teaching methods, content types, and delivery methods will keep engagement high. Thus, maximizing the chances of your teaching meeting everyone’s needs.

Treat blended learning like the fully integrated program it is, rather than a solution that happens to have a piece of this and a piece of that. Work with stakeholders to select blended learning elements most appropriate for the purpose and audience.

The New Marketing Institute’s blended learning approaches include:

• Facilitator led – A live classroom and a competent, engaging teacher giving feedback on the spot. While difficult to substitute, this is far from the only method.

• E-learning – The content and delivery method is purely online. It includes webinars, videoconferencing, quizzes, surveys, infographics, Twitter feeds, video, blogs, and much more.

• On-Demand (self-directed) – Content tailored to participants’ schedules. This maximizes “on-the-go” moments like a morning train commute. Participants orient themselves in the coursework based on what is and what isn't valuable to their learning. On-demand learners are never held back by the pace of the slowest learner, unlike live classrooms. They own their learning and can skip content or take a refresher, as needed.

• Train-the-Trainer – The most scalable learning strategy. This involves teaching colleagues or clients how to teach critical content. If planned and executed poorly, this strategy will have big consequences that will take considerable time to fix. Build out your content. Pair it with a Facilitation Best Practices course. Additionally, conduct “teach backs” to test their skills in real-time.

• Documentation – Be relevant, up to date, and comprehensive for terms, processes, product offerings, and software. Always design documentation with specific audience(s) in mind. But be accessible with location too. Think about where it should “live” and who should have access. Plan a regular cadence for updates.

2. Bite Size is the Right Size

Short, engaging content is generally more effective than longer, more tedious lessons. Why? The human brain learns in short, efficient bursts. Effective formats are; email, blogs, videos, chat sessions, games, quizzes, simulations and case studies, podcasts, social media, articles and slideshows. Microlearning is consumable via devices such as cell phone, tablet, or laptop. Partnering with Grovo enables us to teach complicated adtech concepts via digestible 60-second videos.

3. Partner with Trusted Advisors.

You can’t do it alone and you shouldn’t do it alone! Whether it's tech solutions or content translation/ co-development; choose your partners with care. Select an LMS that integrates with other tools you currently use. Can you schedule events? Connect with live events? Assign homework? Track engagement? Always rely on internal subject matter experts to vet content from vendors and other partners.

It takes time and resources to build out an effective scalable learning program. But, an investment in educating employees and clients in programmatic is an investment in your programmatic offering.

Click here to register for our Webinar The Power of Programmatic on the 27th April. Don't miss this expert session on the essentials of Programmatic!

Please do comment to share your thoughts on the topics discussed or to reach out for any further info. Look out for more NMI blogs over the coming weeks and catch up with previous posts by clicking the links below;

Industry Thought Leaders Share Predictions for 2016

4 Steps for Acquiring Sophisticated Users through Education

Looking back at NMI's 2015 Highlights

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