Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.

-Benjamin Franklin.

A career in eLearning and adult learning was not on my high school Career Day bingo card. At that time, I didn’t even know that eLearning was a thing, or that in 2022, it would be a multi-billion-dollar industry. Since transitioning to my role as a Digital Marketing and eLearning Specialist here at GAAP Dynamics, I have been thrown headfirst into a field that I’ve grown to love and desire a deeper understanding of.

DevLearn 2022

Last month I had the opportunity to attend DevLearn, one of the largest eLearning conventions in the country. Thousands of people descended upon the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas to connect, collaborate, and inspire others within this tight-knit community.

Each day of the conference, there were dozens of sessions involving topics that eLearning specialists deal with on a daily basis— from understanding authoring tools and design software, to feeling connected and productive in a work from home environment.

My DevLearn learning goals

I didn’t know what to expect out of DevLearn, and to be honest, I was intimidated by the massive size of the event. Making goals for myself helped me to tackle the conference as a mission to learn, and that gave me confidence.

One of my main goals attending the conference was to learn all that I could about accessibility and bring that knowledge back to my team. Accessibility in eLearning (and just about all other educational platforms) is becoming less of an add-on or perk of the core offering and more of the standard in creating quality training and courses. It should be a goal of every eLearning developer to make sure that anyone interested in their training has equitable access to it. Now that I am back in the office, I am working on a new presentation for my team focusing on easy and effective ways we can implement accessibility into our courses and live training, going forward.

DevLearn takeaways

DevLearn also highlighted projected trends in the industry, as well as new ways to reach learners in interesting and innovative ways. Many in the industry are developing podcasts as a way to market to potential new learners and provide more access to content for existing learners. Some companies within the eLearning space are developing podcasts that learners can listen to and get training credits from. Our company is working to launch a podcast in the coming weeks. Offering CPE credits is a goal of ours, as we find our voice.

One of my main takeaways from the conference is that as developers, we should use the tools already available to create content for learners. While there is always new software and equipment hitting the market, it’s not always necessary to upgrade immediately. For example, incorporating video is essential to most eLearning development. However, it is not essential to buy expensive camera equipment; using your iPhone effectively can produce video with equal quality.

Attending DevLearn and meeting colleagues in the industry from all over the country was one of the highlights of my career. Being around other like-minded people (some rookies like me and others, true veterans of the industry) acted as a catalyst for inspiration and sparked my own creativity. It was just the thing I needed to feel refreshed and ready for the new year. This industry is built on the idea that continuing to educate yourself in your professional world is the key to growth and innovation. Until DevLearn, I don’t think I realized that the concept of “learning never stops” applies to everyone.

About GAAP Dynamics  

We’re a DIFFERENT type of accounting training firm. We don’t think of training as a “tick the box” exercise, but rather an opportunity to empower your people to help them make the right decisions at the right time. Whether it’s U.S. GAAP training, IFRS training, or audit training, we’ve helped thousands of professionals since 2001. Our clients include some of the largest accounting firms and companies in the world. As lifelong learners, we believe training is important. As CPAs, we believe great training is vital to doing your job well and maintaining the public trust. We want to help you understand complex accounting matters and we believe you deserve the best training in the world, regardless of whether you work for a large, multinational company or a small, regional accounting firm. We passionately create high-quality training that we would want to take. This means it is accurate, relevant, engaging, visually appealing, and fun. That’s our brand promise. Want to learn more about how GAAP Dynamics can help you? Let’s talk!

Disclaimer  

This post is published to spread the love of GAAP and provided for informational purposes only. Although we are CPAs and have made every effort to ensure the factual accuracy of the post as of the date it was published, we are not responsible for your ultimate compliance with accounting or auditing standards and you agree not to hold us responsible for such. In addition, we take no responsibility for updating old posts, but may do so from time to time.