Miniature courses with a bit of gaming thrown in, that's  the trend , finds a study by Pluralsight
Bangalore, June 26 2017: In the wake of recent downsizing by leading MNCs across the country, technology learning platform, Pluralsight, tried to decipher how much up-skilling trends changed for Indian techies. While most techies felt the need to keep themselves regularly updated with newer and in-demand skills, the trend clearly seems to be shifting towards byte-sized learning and gamification. A few notable observations:
- 74% of IT professionals in India have undergone learning programmes (Offline or online) in 2016.
- 97% of them understand the importance of learning and up-skilling while working in their respective organizations
- 74% of learners favour self-paced learning against live or classroom learning, since they do not want to be directed.
- 90% of IT companies are planning on implementing gamification in online learning, and 47% of them want to implement gamification for employees with over 8 years of experience. 
In the light of these statistics, it is clear that learning is an integral part of every techie's career. However, given the current challenges -- of time and location -- they are increasingly opting for small bits of learning tools as against larger programmes that take longer and cost more. Hence, Pluralsight wants to heavily focus on what it calls "Just-in-time byte-sized courses". Essentially, these are short videos (4-8 minutes) focussing on a micro-topic. For instance, the course of data visualization tool, Tableau,  is divided into 24 short videos, one for each micro-topic. Just-in-time learning essentially helps you when you get stuck with a specific aspect of data visualization and 'learn' it through a video. Pluralsight believes this is a better way to learn rather than committing time and money to longer, skill-based learning.
The next step is to make these courses even more engaging.  For these byte-sized courses as well as slightly longer courses, the study material will be personalized by Pluralsight to specific organizations and teams with a 'virtual mascot' who disseminates the content as a game (in the form of quizzes and demos). Pluralsight wants to break the myth that gamification is only for younger audiences by leveraging it for IT professionals with over 8 years of experience.
With all these interesting innovations happening in the world of professional learning, looks like learning is  indeed, fun!
Link to Pluralsight study on gamification