In the last 30 years, research shows that the number of companies offering remote working options had tripled. In this rapidly shifting workplace environment, autonomy is becoming a necessity, rather than a nice to have. 

This need for a more autonomous approach also applies to workplace learning. Traditionally, facilitators led professional development opportunities and guided groups of employees to develop knowledge or set of skills. 

In the digital age, learning opportunities are available to participants as and when they need them, which presents the opportunity for employees to lead their learning, and drive progress from the bottom up. Research suggests that informal rather than formal learning accounts for up to 75 percent of learning within organizations. 

The question is, how can those responsible for workplace training help employees develop the skills needed for autonomous learning? 

What are the benefits of autonomous learning?

The Ethics Centre describes autonomy as “the idea that every person is in control of their thoughts and actions and can be motivated by ‘internal’ forces like choice and reflection.” 

In this sense, autonomy is a philosophical concept, rather than a skill that employees can develop. However, individuals can become more autonomous in their approach when they develop specific soft skills, such as self-confidence and problem-solving.

On a systemic level, this level of independent thought can be challenging, particularly in a large organization. Nevertheless, autonomous work is a necessary part of progress, and organizations need to embrace it to keep up with the pace of change. 

While sometimes difficult to manage, encouraging autonomy also gives employees the headspace and confidence they need to make creative contributions - an equally essential skill in today’s work landscape. 

How to encourage autonomous learning in the workplace

Before learners can start to direct their learning and make the process autonomous, organization leaders need to develop the appropriate learning culture. This process includes building trust between team members at all levels. 

Towards Maturity (now Emerald Group), an organization assessing the effective implementation of learning innovation describes how organizations can achieve this using their “Transformation Curve” roadmap. They summarise the journey into four stages: Optimizing Training, Taking Control, Letting Go, and Sharing Responsibility. 

When organizations make learning and development a priority, ensure that the appropriate systems and processes are in place, and train employees in using these systems, they can begin to relinquish control. They can trust employees to make appropriate decisions for their development that will also benefit the organization as a whole. 

Perhaps the most important soft skill to develop in becoming an autonomous learner is problem-solving. In schools, teachers aim to strike a balance between encouraging students to ask questions and making their way forward independently. As adults, we continue this balancing act: developing problem-solving skills is a lifelong process. 

Autonomous learning isn’t the same as independent learning. While an employee may have identified an area of their work that needs development, they may need to collaborate with others to learn new skills or find answers.  According to the 70:20:10 model for learning and development, 20 percent of knowledge acquisition happens through speaking and interacting with others. Encourage employees to ask questions and speak with their team members about the courses they are taking, or skills they are developing. 

Professional discourse can also be an excellent marker for whether or not employees are both engaged in learning and benefiting from it. Listen in to the informal conversations in the corridors (where appropriate!) and gauge the level of interest. 

Being open to learning something new is about having the confidence to take risks. If you fear failure, you are unlikely to engage with learning, because the risk of not understanding a new concept is high.  When we don’t know how to do something, we need to put ourselves out there to build the skill or find answers. 

Failure and learning from mistakes are all part of this process, and making learners aware of this can be helpful. When those in leadership model and openness to failure and making mistakes, this will filter down to the rest of the organization.   

5. Provide engaging, personalized content

Personalizing learning is the difference between content being engaging or boring. Content needs to address an individual’s learning needs as accurately as possible, and advancing technology is helping to simplify this process.

If employees have access to learning content that is both engaging and appropriate to their needs, autonomous learning becomes a natural process.  As ideas or questions spring to mind, they will have the necessary tools and information to hand.

If they can select content and develop in areas they have chosen themselves, they will be more motivated and interested in the subject matter. The success of any learning and development strategy rests on how engaged employees are in the process, at it is crucial to keep track of this continually. 

A one stop shop for all things training, Go1 makes it easy to compare the best training options available, and find the right resources for your professional development, compliance and business training needs. 

Encourage your learners to own their personal development training, by giving them the flexibility to search and select courses that reflect their professional interests. This helps your employees take the learning outside of the workplace, so they can access it whenever and wherever they want.

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Supporting employees to become autonomous learners

As we begin a new decade, remote working is an accepted and sought after feature of the workplace. Between 1996 and 2016, The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that the number of companies offering remote working options had tripled.  

This shift has had a significant impact on the nature of workplace learning: organizations are now allocating 59 percent of training budgets to online tools. 

With these statistics in mind, both managers and employees have had to re-evaluate the professional development process. The question is, can employees still benefit from learning collaboratively in a remote working environment?

Despite the changing makeup of the workplace, providing employees with opportunities for collaborative learning is critical. 

Learning with others works well for several reasons. According to the 70:20:10 framework for workplace learning, approximately 20 percent of people gain knowledge through social interaction. Whether the teaching is conducted face-to-face or online, social relationships between participants are crucial for the learning to be meaningful.   

Collaborative learning also creates opportunities for employees to share knowledge, an important element of a thriving workplace learning culture. 

Towards Maturity, an organization assessing the effective implementation of learning innovation (now Emerald Works) explains that knowledge sharing is an essential element of the collaborative learning process:

“Informal and social learning [is] encouraging the interchange of ideas and mutual support to facilitate personal and business goals, collaborative problem solving, and innovation.”

However, it is important to keep a balance and to give participants independent learning time. Employees need time to process their thoughts, to reflect on the knowledge they have gained, and to decide how to put what they have learned into practice.

Finding opportunities for collaborative online learning

While collaborative learning between colleagues can be more of a challenge with remote working, leaders can still create opportunities for employees to benefit from learning with others. Here are our top tips for building a collaborative, remote learning environment:  

For employees to receive the benefits of social learning, they need to be able to build relationships with fellow participants. This need for interaction applies both to learning conducted remotely and in a face-to-face context. 

Human connection is as necessary today as it was before the advent of online learning, especially when participants interact less with their instructors and peers. 

The task for leaders is to look for opportunities for remote workers to build relationships. These connections will directly impact the quality of the learning experience.

Many online learning providers build group seminars into the courses they offer. While lessons can take many different forms, most sessions will be led by a facilitator via video link either recorded or live. A discussion window also appears at the side of the screen for participants to make contributions or ask questions. Participants typically log in together, at a pre-determined time. 

Seminars are an excellent way for whole teams to learn collaboratively if this suits the requirements of the organization. Again, it is crucial to ensure there is a balance of learning opportunities. Ideally, employees should have time to learn both collaboratively and independently to remain engaged in the process and reap the benefits of both styles of learning. 

Many online courses also include discussion or comment sections to encourage learner collaboration. Even when participants log on to a session on their own, they can discuss topics and benefit from learning with others.

3. Encourage learning discourse amongst colleagues

According to the 70:20:10 model, social interactions account for approximately 20 percent of learning in the workplace. Much of this learning will happen organically, but leaders can also facilitate learning discourse. 

One way to get employees talking is to include a learning discussion in weekly team meetings. This opportunity applies equally to employees working remotely, who might dial into a conference call or meet face-to-face once a week to check in with their colleagues. 

Leaders can also model discussion about learning at appropriate times. Perhaps somebody in leadership recently learned something new. They could share that experience with staff when giving a presentation, or if they have questions, they could ask a relevant team member for help using learning-appropriate language.

Online courses can serve as a foundation for social learning opportunities. Those responsible for learning and development might set up a reflective discussion relating to a session next time team members come together for a meeting. 

The content found in online courses can also feed into other types of learning. While logging in and completing an online course will help employees in their professional development, it is essential to maximize the opportunity and help them to build on the experience with others. 

In the modern working environment, where spare time is increasingly difficult to come by, it is crucial to allocate time for team members to collaborate. Whether you achieve this with your team in weekly meetings, either face-to-face or online, encourage colleagues to think about what they have learned recently, how they are going to apply it, and anything useful they might be able to share with the team. Creating opportunities for a learning debrief enables employees to share knowledge when time is otherwise scarce.

With Go1 Premium, you’ll have unlimited access to a growing library containing thousands of learning resources, from top training providers around the world - all in one easy subscription.  

Creating a collaborative online learning environment remotely 

At Go1, we partner with the world’s top training providers, to bring you the best training content available. 

Today we want to introduce you to ViaUp, an Australian-based content creator focused on strong narratives, high-quality design and just a little bit of fun to make sure people feel engaged, enriched, and most important of all, entertained when undertaking eLearning.

Through our partnership with ViaUp, Go1 Premium customers will now have access to a range of extraordinary interactive learning experiences that can create positive lasting change within the workplace. 

ViaUp prioritises user engagement and experience, using story-telling techniques to bring their content to life, creating corporate learning that resonates. 

Introducing ViaUp - Learning with character

Learn more about the ViaUp x Go1 partnership here

ViaUp courses are developed with the fundamental principles in mind - that organisations can achieve their missions if they ensure employees understand and appreciate the importance of:

Created in collaboration with leading subject matter experts, ViaUp’s learning material is relevant and at the forefront of current discussions and trends on the subject matter. 

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

ViaUp = Interactive and engaging corporate training - Go1

Introducing ViaUp - bringing fun to corporate training with engaging interactive learning experiences

Imagine for the last month you have been preparing for a pitch with your colleague. You spend days meticulously compiling data to win over your superiors. Despite working as a team, your colleague is more charismatic in the presentation: the audience hangs on her every word. Without intending to, she receives the bulk of the praise and recognition for the work.

The halo-effect is one example of the cognitive biases built into the human brain. Our overall impression of a person influences how we feel about his character, or what she says. We find it difficult to look at the cold, hard facts, and this can lead us astray. 

No matter how objective we try to be, we are all at the whim of our brain chemistry. A number of these biases exist and can wreak havoc with our ability to make level-headed decisions. Understanding what they are can help you significantly in the workplace - even help you to gain an advantage. 

A cognitive bias is an error in judgment or thinking that occurs as we make sense of the world around us. Our brains are powerful, but limited in the amount of processing they can do at any one time. Biases are generalizations created by our minds to deal with large amounts of information more quickly.  

Instead of taking the time to think logically and objectively, our brains will jump ahead to using this pre-programmed system. This flaw can lead us to make poor decisions or take action without considering all of the facts. This comprehensive list from VeryWellMind explains each of the biases in more detail. 

Knowing about the cognitive biases wired into our brains can be useful. We can use the information to influence our decisions and actions at work. Here are our top tips for stepping back and preventing your biases from taking over: 

1. Do your best to look at all the evidence

Confirmation bias is when we favor information that supports our existing beliefs. Rather than remaining open to new information that could change our point of view, we opt to stick with what we know and discard additional details.

When you find new evidence or data, try to look at the information with fresh eyes. We don’t advocate throwing all of your prior experience out of the window. Still, it can be helpful to keep an open mind when presented with an idea or piece of information that challenges what you already know. It could help you to develop your experience in a particular topic or make you more aware of the latest advances in your field. 

The availability heuristic is when we place higher value on information that comes to our minds quickly. If we have experienced an event or found out a piece of news recently, we tend to think it is more likely to be accurate, as we are more easily able to access the thought or memory.	

When you are brainstorming ideas for a new project, allow yourself enough time to come up with a range of possibilities. Perhaps speak with your colleagues and ask for their input. The first ideas you come up with won’t necessarily be the most effective. Ideally, you should draw on information from a variety of sources to know which plan is best before proceeding. 

The self-serving bias can be challenging to manage. Naturally, we want to tell positive stories about ourselves to stay hopeful and enthusiastic about the future. However, when something terrible happens, we tend to assume that it wasn’t our fault and that forces beyond our control are to blame. 

When good things happen, we are quick to give ourselves credit. This bias can cause all kinds of problems if we want to make progress in a particular skill or area at work. If we are unable to see our faults when learning something new, we are unlikely to make progress. If we blame external forces or others when things go wrong, not only will we annoy our colleagues, we will fail to understand the adjustments necessary to get better. 

Attentional bias is when we pay attention to certain things and ignore others. We tend to focus on topics we are interested in, have experience with, or think about regularly. When making important decisions, we might fail to consider essential criteria because they aren’t readily on our radar. 

When making a decision, it can be helpful to make a list of all the criteria that might affect your choice. Involve trusted colleagues in this process, as they will likely think of different approaches to you. You can then carefully evaluate each aspect of the decision you need to make, without missing vital information. 

We also tend to favor the first piece of information we hear when coming to a decision. While the anchoring bias can make it difficult for us to come to reasonable conclusions and evaluate all of the critical information, it can also be helpful. If we are the first to bring a piece of information to the table, we are far more likely to be heard and noticed. If possible, be careful not to rush and share the first idea that pops into your head! 

Go1 is your employee's gateway to professional development growth. With courses that cover numerous business functions, we help your staff grow into their role by unlocking their potential. Content is at all levels of difficulty and is suitable for any employee, in any department, in any region

How to handle cognitive bias in the workplace

At Go1, we partner with some of the best learning content providers from across the world, to bring you up-to-date specialist training for your industry.  

Today, we want to introduce you to Cerebral Palsy Alliance (CPA) - one of Australia’s leading disability providers with more than 75 years’ experience in providing world-class services for people living with a broad range of physical and neurological disabilities. 

CPA has leveraged this extraordinary expertise to develop a registered training organisation committed to creating high quality content, based on extensive experience, evidence-based knowledge, patience and research.

Through our partnership with CPA, Go1 Premium customers will now have access to high quality, evidence-based training for individuals and organisations in the disability and community sector.

CPA imagines a world where people with disability are fully included, active and contributing members of society, realising their full potential. Technological innovation has the potential to reduce barriers and become a powerful driver of inclusion. With their training at the forefront of the disability sector, you can feel confident that you are accessing the most relevant information out there. 

Introducing Cerebral Palsy Alliance - high quality, evidence-based training in the disability sector

Learn more about the Go1 x CPA partnership

The organisation’s in-depth understanding of disability supports the development of a skilled and confident workforce, armed with the skills to meet the changing demands of the growing sector, and deliver great outcomes to people living with disability. All CPA online courses are created in consultation with their partners, and incorporate their own expertise as a service provider and training organisation. 

Disability Support Practitioner, Robert Doyle, further cements this by stating that CPA training has given him “that confidence to go in there and do my job as best I can.”

CPA offers a wide range of recognised qualifications and specialist training courses to support people working in disability, students and those looking to join the disability and aged care workforce of the future. Training content covers a wide range of specialist topics including:

Promoting health for people with disability

Workplace health and safety (WHS) awareness and duty of care

Get started with Cerebral Palsy Alliance content here!

Cerebral Palsy Alliance - Evidence-based training - Go1

Introducing Cerebral Palsy Alliance - providing high quality, evidence-based training for individuals and organisations in the disability sector

Change is an inevitable part of growth for any business. As organizations take steps forward, certain aspects of what they do will improve, while others remain constant or slip back. 

Currently, we are experiencing a period of growth unprecedented in human history, labeled as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The World Economic Forum describes this time as “a new chapter for human development, enabled by extraordinary technology advances commensurate with those of the first, second, and third industrial revolutions.”  

In light of this shift, change management is becoming an increasingly popular area of research and is now recognized as a formal vocation. The discipline aims to help organizations successfully navigate current advancements in technology and knowledge.

Here, we present the main goals of change management and suggest how organization leaders can use the underpinning theories to guide their employees through times of change. We will also explore the role of learning and development in the process. 

According to online learning provider MindTools, change management is a structured approach for ensuring that management teams thoroughly and smoothly implement changes and that they achieve the lasting benefits of change.

From a simple change to an organization’s systems to alterations in policy or strategy, change management can help organizations maximize their potential and limit the damage change can inflict. 

McKinsey & Company found that “70 percent of change programs fail to achieve their goals, largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support.” Change managers aim to increase the chances of new initiatives sticking by ensuring employees are supportive of the process. Paying attention to the employee experience makes it 30% more likely for organizations to successfully implement new strategies.

Communicating changes to employees, no matter how small, can make a significant difference to how that change is received. If employees are kept in the loop and know what to expect, they are far more likely to support each other and those in leadership to make the changes necessary. 

Jay Tankersley at Vital Learning emphasizes that it is critical to communicate the following aspects of change to team members: 

The direct effect the change has on your team

The impact the change has on individuals’ daily work

With these pillars of communication in place, organization leaders are far more likely to see employees invested in the changes they make to strategy, with buy-in being a critical element to the success of any new initiative. 

When an organization goes through a period of change, employees will form expectations along the way. If their roles and responsibilities are going to alter, being as transparent as possible is vital. Elizabeth Baskin, CEO at Tribe, Inc., explains that while transparency is essential during times of change, it isn’t always appropriate to be completely open with employees and that they understand this. 

The best outcome is to be as honest as possible, without revealing sensitive information. Baskin adds that as long as management teams give employees an idea of what to expect and information they can and can’t have access to, they are far more likely to accept the difficult decisions. 

While productivity may slow initially during times of change, this will bounce back as employees grow accustomed to new situations and requirements. Research shows that re-organizing workplaces has a significant impact on productivity in the long term. If those in leadership accept this initial downturn, the rewards will come over time. Although progress may be slow at times, it is essential to avoid looking for individuals to blame or single out.

Uncertainty can also add to stress and tension, creating undue conflict between team members. While a certain level of anxiety is a necessary part of growth and development, if this reaches an unhealthy level, managers can support employees with stress management techniques. 

As an organization moves forward in a new direction, employees will likely have to adapt and learn new skills to contribute to the process.

An effective way to improve productivity during times of change is to engage employees through learning. Will they need to learn new skills as their roles and responsibilities change? 

From a management perspective, those in leadership can also use this time to identify skills gaps across the organization and seek to address these through learning initiatives. Are there gaps in employee knowledge that leadership teams need to cover? Will equipping employees with these new skills help the management team to execute on their new strategy? Asking these questions will help those in leadership to take full advantage of learning opportunities as they arise.

5. Support employees to become autonomous 

As a preventative measure, before a change occurs, it can be helpful to support employees in becoming more autonomous. Developing this quality requires trust on the part of management, which is built over time as teams get to know each other and learn how to work together. 

For example, in a strategy meeting, the management team might identify that the organization is falling short of their targets in a particular area. When those in leadership communicate this to employees, they are far more likely to reach solutions independently if they have the confidence to work autonomously. Offering professional development in skills such as creativity, problem-solving, and design thinking can all help employees to take the lead as their organization develops. 

Go1 is your employee's gateway to professional development growth. With courses that cover numerous business functions, we help your staff grow into their role by unlocking their potential. Content is at all levels of difficulty and is suitable for any employee, in any department, in any region.

Coping with change from a leadership perspective

In the age of widespread access to digital content, the way we consume media is becoming far more individualized. Instead of watching a show on TV with family or friends, we can now watch a series of our choice. We can do this on our own or with others, and we can select what we want to watch when we want to. 

Similarly, the way we engage with learning content is changing. We no longer want to learn in large groups, nor do we want to be taught the same information as thirty other participants. We can find the answers we need for ourselves at our own pace. 

Research shows that when organizations focus on the quality of L&D, they can boost productivity and employee satisfaction. A large-scale analysis of employee surveys also revealed that career development is the second most important driver of employee satisfaction and ongoing engagement. 

In light of this research, we are going to look at how organizations can better support employees through L&D practices, and make suggestions for how to make improvements. 

While each employee has a role to play in their professional development, it is the responsibility of the organization to create a culture focused on L&D. 

Towards Maturity, an organization assessing the effective implementation of learning innovation found that in an unparalleled era of change for organizations, there is an excellent opportunity for L&D to deliver strategic value.  

Organizations can achieve this using their “Transformation Curve” roadmap, which describes how they can develop their learning culture. They summarise the journey into four stages: Optimizing Training, Taking Control, Letting Go, and Sharing Responsibility. 

Researchers also identified six dimensions that impact upon an organization’s capacity to transform:

Governance and decision making: aligning of learning strategy to business goals and objectives, with the smart use of evidence to support decision making.

Formal learning: building an efficient, active portfolio of learning resources to address skills gaps and support learners’ career development.

Informal and social learning: encouraging the interchange of ideas and mutual support to support personal and business goals, collaborative problem solving, and innovation.

The role of the learning professional: adopting business-focused and tech-savvy facilitation of L&D through blending performance support, training, and expert advice and guidance. 

The role of the manager: driving the achievement of organizational goals and championing transformation and committed to individual and business advancement through learning.

The final dimension is directly related to employees being accountable and responsible for their learning:

The role of the individual: ensuring that self-directed learners are purposeful, curious, confident, social, connected, adaptable, and take ownership of their L&D.

Bringing the research together, here are our top tips to help employees in your organization reap greater rewards from your L&D strategy:

1. Make learning and development a priority

When organizations prioritize learning and development, employees can become more agile and adaptive, meaning they have an improved ability to cope with and respond to the rapid rates of change expected of them in the digital age. 

One way to shift the focus to L&D in an organization is to build it into your organization's values. 

Values underpin every decision and action in your organization. It is important to mention them often, so employees know precisely what their team aims to achieve. Clearly defined values also make it easier to attract employees who share your organization's beliefs.

When these values include the importance of learning and development, this will filter down to every aspect of operations. Employees will be far more likely to understand how learning fits in with the broader purpose of the organization. They will also want to develop skills that help them contribute to the organization's mission.  

2. Give employees access to high-quality learning content

Employees also need to have engaging content and access to a wide range of materials to suit their learning needs. A great way to cover all the bases is to provide them with access to a well-stocked content library. The Go1 Premium platform is home to a growing collection containing thousands of learning resources. 

In the current workplace environment, employees want to direct their learning. Deloitte Insights explains that corporate learning departments are changing from education providers to content curators and experience facilitators. Their task is to develop innovative platforms that turn employee learning and development into a self-driven pursuit.

Organizations are moving away from facilitator-led programs and opting to develop tools for employees to curate their own learning experiences. Relinquishing control and empowering learners is a difficult step to take, but a rewarding one. When learners can take ownership of their learning, this increases engagement. They can also address gaps in their knowledge independently.

4. Encourage employees to share knowledge

When working in a team, knowledge is only useful when it is shared with others and communicated. Employees should be encouraged to share information. Teams could even build knowledge sharing into team meetings, where employees and those in leadership share interesting articles, books, videos, or podcasts they have come across recently. 

Peer-to-peer learning also needs to be high on the agenda. Across an organization, employees will have a wide range of skills and knowledge, and staff members should be encouraged to share what they know. Social learning is one of the most effective ways to acquire new information and expertise. 

5. Create a safe haven for open communication

It is essential that employees feel safe talking to each other and those in senior management about areas they need to focus on for professional development.  

Admitting when we don’t understand a concept or process can be difficult and makes us feel vulnerable. When those in leadership positions model positive learning behaviors, employees will feel more confident speaking up. Helpful behaviors include asking questions, seeking out opportunities for feedback, and sharing examples of great work.

When employees see those in management modeling this behavior, they are far more likely to feel comfortable with it themselves.

Five top L&D tips to help employees get ahead in 2021

As part of our goal to increase the love of learning, we have been hard at work introducing a new type of learning for our learners to enjoy; audio!

Employing our new audio learning item type, content creators can offer lectures, music, audio books, and more, all through Go1.

Whether you find that you learn better through listening, enjoy learning while travelling, or find that you don’t have the time to sit down and watch something and would prefer to learn while going about your day, you will especially benefit from this new format.

skip forwards or backwards within the audio

change the playback speed to better catch the contents of the audio at their own pace, or speed up to suit their learning needs.

🚀 Early access program - try this feature for yourself!

Get involved and join us in trialling this feature. If you are interested in becoming an early adopter, sign up here and for any questions, please email us at product@go1.com.

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Experience lectures, music, audio books and more through our new Audio learning type

Early access available: learning through listening

After receiving extensive feedback from our Early Access participants and following the full release of the new content player 1-Player, we are excited to announce a number of enhancements.

🚀 New improvements to our Content Player

The below improvements to our new 1-Player display have been released to all portals over the last several weeks:

Visibility of due dates for courses, modules and learning items so that learners are always aware of any deadlines

Module descriptions, removing the need to return to My Progress or exit the 1-Player

An expandable side navigation which allows users to easier read long descriptions

General enhancements such as unifying button text, better fitting text on to buttons and providing clearer icons for some features to reduce confusion

Improved link embedding, with many links now embeddable, instead of being taken to a separate tab

Enrol directly via 1-Player, allowing external LMS users and users sharing 1-Player links to be able to enrol through 1-Player without having to go back to Explore or the content’s Overview, simplifying the process to access learning content, better meeting external LMS needs, and making sharing easier

Parameter-based configuration options for external LMSs, allowing external LMS customers to customise 1-Player's behaviour to meet their needs and LMS user interface (e.g. hiding the X close button, title, overview and close behaviours)

Look forward to seeing the following improvements in the near future:

Clearer communication to learners when they have submitted all items in a course and are waiting on their assessor to mark an assessable item. This messaging will show when submitting or finishing the last unfinished item in a course

The mobile course overview will display the item description by default

Locked learning items will display a modal on-hover

🚀 Early access: Start learning faster through our improved user flow

We have been working to simplify the journey for learners to access course content. Until now, learners could only access our improved 1-Player via the My Progress page of a course. 

Streamlining the path to accessing learning content

Now that the 1-Player contains all of the useful information previously only found on a course's My Progress page, when a learner enrols in a course they will now jump straight from the course’s Overview page to the 1-Player. Learners will also be directed straight to the 1-Player from all other areas of the platform if they are already enrolled in the course.

Note: The My Progress page will stay available during EAP to ensure no functionality is taken away from learners without warning, and to gather valuable feedback on whether the new flow is meaningful and valuable for all learners.

To register your interest, sign up here and if you have any questions, please email us at product@go1.com.

1-Player updates, including a new feature to trial! - Go1

Our new content player just keeps getting better and better.

1-Player enhancements for the new year - including a new feature to trial!

Human beings have been making New Year’s resolutions for some 4,000 years. The ancient Babylonians held celebrations in honor of the new year and made promises to the gods to return any objects they had borrowed. 

The start of a new year and a new decade is an opportune time to reaffirm broken promises to ourselves and create new goals for the year ahead. Most of us are coming back refreshed from a break, with a renewed energy to make changes.

Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and other books on personal development, explains that we need to set up goals to suit our nature. For example, if you find you work best in the morning, your resolution might be to complete more challenging projects at the start of the day.

In a recent Go1 article, we talked about reflection as a way to move forward professionally. Looking inwards can also serve as an excellent basis for goal setting, as you spend time carefully identifying the areas in which you need to improve. 

Realistic goals are all about setting yourself up for success. Once you gain momentum and start to see tangible progress, you can continue with a new cycle of goal setting.  

Research and thinking behind goal setting 

To get started, let’s look at some of the research behind setting successful goals. Interestingly, evidence shows that looking to your underlying values, rather than trying to hit superficial targets, is more likely to lead to success.     

Kelly McGonigal, psychologist at Stanford University, explains that understanding what is meaningful to you is the key to setting achievable goals. “Give yourself permission and time to think about what it is you want to experience in your life or what’s getting in the way,” says McGonigal. She suggests to think about what you want, and then ask yourself why you want it three times in a row. 

New York Times best-selling author and life enthusiast, Mark Manson, warns that we need to be realistic in our expectations when we set goals. As an example, he explains that, “people want to be rich without the risk, without the sacrifice, without the delayed gratification necessary to accumulate wealth.” We need to be prepared to make sacrifices to push towards a target. For example, if you want to improve your communication skills at work, you need to devote time and energy to it. You will also need to be prepared to take risks and make mistakes to learn. 

Once you have set your goals, James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, explains that we need oars and rudders to meander in the right direction. Setting the goal is like the rudder. You point it in one direction and move more or less directly towards it. If you turn the rudder too much, you end up going in circles. The oars are your processes or systems for achieving that goal. He explains further using the following example: “If you’re a writer, your goal is to write a book. Your system is the writing schedule that you follow each week.”

Using these ideas and evidence-based suggestions, here is our guide to getting started with goal setting this year:

1. Identify your strengths and weaknesses

You may already have a good understanding of what your strengths are, or need to do a little more work to uncover them. When you reflect, think of three ways you have made the most of your talents in the past year. What conditions were present to enable you to do this? Did you behave any differently? Is there any way you could make more of your strengths in the coming year?  

It isn’t easy to accept what our weaknesses are or to know where our blind spots lie. It can make us defensive and irritable to think that we are imperfect, but we all are, and there is comfort in that. Understanding our weaknesses is key to making real progress, both in our personal and professional lives. 

Once you have identified areas you might like to improve in, think about one thing you would like to get better at within this framework. Consider why you want to get better. This way, you can connect with the process, and you’ll feel more motivated to keep going. 