Lockdown Learnings Boost ADMA IQ

Sandstone universities, suburban primary schools and sophisticated businesses alike continue to wrestle with the online education revolution.

ADMA, as an industry association, is no exception and has delivered training to more than double the amount of people in the year to June 2021 than the previous year.

“COVID-19 resulted in unprecedented change to the way we work, consumer behaviour and technology adoption. The education sector was not immune from having to embrace technology using different training delivery methods,” says ADMA Head of Education Melinda Arko.

“Learners used the time in quarantine to gain more skills and training organisations like ours rapidly pivoted.”

Industry-responsive changes

From early 2020, ADMA rapidly revamped its online learning ecosystem to transition its face-to-face training offerings into a virtual classroom.

Today’s learners are more focussed on adapting to a rapidly changing work environment, which is constantly undergoing transformations like:

• THE END OF THIRD PARTY COOKIES: Programmatic and data-led advertising and marketing relies on this outdated technology which Google, Apple and Mozilla say they will no longer support.

• SECURITY RISKS: While technology is liberating it’s also making organisations like meat processor JBS vulnerable to cyberattacks. Scams and phishing attacks have increased, too, and there are more data breaches as well.

• COMPLIANCE & REGULATORY CHANGES: With changes to Australia’s Privacy Act underway as well as the ACCC’s Digital Platforms enquiry forcing tech platform changes and reform, marketers need to be across more than only marketing.

Teaching and learning evolves

Due to the rapid rate of change in the way we work learners are demanding flexible training delivery modes and innovating learning technologies that allow them to learn anytime, anywhere and on any device.

ADMA has redeveloped the ADMA IQ curriculum, revamping the ADMA IQ Learning Lab to create a more flexible and intuitive learning environment for online and self-directed learning.

“Learning has become a lot more personalised with meaningful and relevant training content delivered by influential industry experts,” Arko says. 

ADMA works with the local industry to revamp its 40+ annual courses each year to remain up to date with changing industry trends.

To adapt to the fast-changing business changing landscape, ADMA uses the 70-20-10 model to guide innovation in education design.

The 70-20-10 model is not just a sequence of numbers but a research-based and time-tested guideline for executive learning and leadership that says:

• 70% of learning comes from experience on the job, experiment and reflection.

• 20% derives from collaborating and working with others.

• 10% comes from formal training and planned learning.

“This is a model that brings learning and skill acquisition closer to business, so people don’t simply do a course to tick a box but genuinely develop and apply their learning to a rapidly changing industry,” Arko says.

In conjunction with the 70:20:10 model ADMA uses applied learning methodology to create learning experiences that reinforce what has been taught, turning the direct application of skills and knowledge into fun and memorable real world experiences. 

It is a learning environment designed to maximise knowledge transfer and engagement through an integrated learning model.

The Digital Marketing Certificate is ADMA’s most flagship course, but intensive Masterclasses, which enable new skills to be easily acquired and bedded down through hands-on industry work, are increasingly in demand.

Behavioural economics is growing in demand thanks to changes in consumer behaviour that are prompting marketers to find new ways to connect with customers and deal with business challenges.

Industry training meets business change faster than ever

The idea that one university degree will set you up for a life to progress to executive ranks has gone the way of the electric typewriter, with rapid business and technology skills changing everything faster than a degree can be completed. 

Futurist and author Richard Hames, who runs the Centre for the Future and has spoken at ADMA events, believes education and training will continue to be disrupted as businesses face rapid globalisation.

“When our most fundamental beliefs, relationships and technologies shift to such an extent, knowledge monopolies crumble,” he explains.

He says expensive old sandstone universities who make higher profits than tech companies like Apple or Ferrari will have to find new ways to become centres of learning. The loss of international students after COVID-19 probably bears that out.

Learning just in time - rather than paying thousands of dollars in university tuition to learn ‘just in case’ - means agile industry organisations will continue to step in and keep marketing practitioners up to date with best practices.

“Businesses and learning management systems are changing quickly so we can better link living, working and learning in a flexible, continuous, on-demand way that our parents never had the opportunity to do,” Arko says.

“At ADMA, we are in touch with industry needs and can develop skills and training - as well as the collaboration and networking support - to make sure the marketing industry is on top of changes.”

There is an alphabet of weird and wonderful labels popping up to describe the education and training revolution going on across workplaces, schools and learning institutions - from MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) to eLearning to Masterclasses and more.

ADMA is using all kinds of techniques to deliver asynchronous and synchronous learning, with course options including:

• Live broadcasts and video conferences.

• Live streaming round tables, masterclasses and lunch and learn sessions.

• Revamping online training with the ADMA IQ Learning Lab.

• Moving towards ‘always on’ learning mentalities.

• Fostering collaborative learning environments.

It’s likely the future of learning will be a habit that’s integrated into daily routines, with Tik Tok influencers, industry leaders and organisations all playing a role that they haven’t done before.