Effective learning and development (L&D) is a must for growing companies in a modern globalized workforce. Learning and development content is the common language connecting learners from various cultures and continents.

It unifies professionals within your company, facilitating individual career development and ensuring an agile and responsive environment within a dynamic global market. However, developing L&D content can be challenging when catering to a multilingual and often remote workforce.

While it’s crucial to ensure inclusivity and accessibility in e-learning, other weighty issues, such as creating content that fits various learning styles, abilities, cultures, languages, and other demands of diverse groups, aren’t easily addressed.

Companies look to artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) to generate L&D content and address some of the above issues; however, leveraging AI and LLMs also comes with its own risks. For example, poorly trained AI models could create biased content and lack inclusive language.

This guide covers the importance of developing culturally sensitive, linguistically inclusive, and accessible content for e-learners.

What’s New in E-Learning?

Some of the latest trends and innovations in the field of e-learning include the following:

• AI and machine learning (ML) adoption. Integrating ML and AI into e-learning platforms facilitates seamless personalization of learning experiences and adaptive assessments. It makes the accessibility of e-learning achievable, especially for companies with a diverse, global workforce. For instance, AI-based natural language processing (NLP) technologies allow real-time language translations within e-learning platforms. This aids diversity and inclusion in e-learning since learners can access content in their preferred language.
• Modern e-learning involves short and focused learning modules that cater to e-learners’ preference for short, easy-to-digest information. Microlearning modules make learning more convenient and accessible, especially for remote learners.
• Including game elements, such as leaderboards, badges, and points, helps make online learning more fun and engaging. The motivational aspects of game elements allow instructional designers to create a more effective and immersive learning environment.
• Mobile learning. M-learning leverages mobile devices to give learners access to educational content anytime, anywhere. Some m-learning solutions provide options to download learning materials for offline access.

Figuring out how to make e-learning accessible starts with adopting relevant technologies and techniques that allow inclusivity in your content and learning materials. Microlearning’s bite-sized format facilitates providing information in multiple languages, and gamification transcends language barriers by leveraging universal motivational principles.

Mobile learning allows easy access for geographically dispersed and e-learners on the go. Essentially, these innovative e-learning techniques help bridge linguistic gaps, establishing an effective and cohesive learning environment for your multilingual workforce.

AI plays a key role in making e-learning faster, better, and cheaper by:

• Personalizing learning paths
• Automating content creation
• Leveraging NLP for translations
• Predicting future learning needs via predictive analytics

What Is Inclusive Language?

Inclusive language is a communication method that acknowledges and honors the differences in individuals regardless of their gender, abilities, background, ethnicity, and more. The goal is to promote equality and respect by challenging discriminatory attitudes and to avoid stereotyping and exclusion.

Below are some of the most common inclusive language examples:

• Instead of saying “manpower,” use “workforce.”
• Instead of saying “husband or wife,” use “partner.”
• Instead of saying “mentally ill,” use “person with a mental health condition.”

Difference Between “Inclusive Language” and “Inclusive E-Learning Language”

While both inclusive language and inclusive e-learning language share the same basic principles of inclusivity and respect, the context and application of the latter punctuate the digital setting. Inclusive e-learning language is delivered through e-books, webinars, and online courses, among other digital formats.

The Importance of Learning in the Right Language and Why Inclusivity Is Important

Providing training and development content in the e-learners’ native languages is vital since it ensures your learning materials are inclusive and culturally sensitive. It gives e-learners access to learning materials that fit their needs and linguistic abilities.

Training content in the e-learners’ native language also facilitates a better and deeper understanding of the material, boosting knowledge retention and engagement. It’s important to note that inclusivity in today’s world goes beyond linguistic considerations.

You need to design content with consistent quality and messaging across various languages to create memorable e-learning materials. Create your content with universal accessibility and inclusivity in mind. Incorporate culturally relevant examples and use universally used e-learning materials, such as interactive quizzes and videos, to avoid biases in large language models, and, in turn, your content.

Avoiding Bias: How to Spot It

Bias can be the biggest hurdle to creating inclusive and accessible training and development content for e-learners within a multilingual workforce.

Some strategies to help you identify and mitigate bias include the following:

• Assess your e-learning content for stereotypical portrayals and examples. Replace them with genuine, culturally sensitive, diverse examples with accurate and respectful cultural references.
• Check your training materials for equal representation of languages. Steer clear of assumptions about e-learners’ language proficiency and offer diverse language examples.
• Challenge common assumptions during your content development. Ensure your e-learning materials’ scenarios and examples are inclusive and avoid presuming a specific linguistic or cultural context.
• Review language choices across your e-learning content to ensure inclusivity. Avoid using terms that can be unfamiliar or exclusive to specific cultural or linguistic groups.

Future-Proof Your L&D Organization — The Rise of AI Tools in Content Creation and Translation

When unpacking AI’s role in content, it’s undeniable that AI tools are revolutionizing learning and development content creation.

For instance, you can leverage AI to translate and localize transcriptions, subtitles, voiceovers, and other image-based learning materials. AI can also auto-generate multimedia e-learning content, saving you time and resources. It can personalize learning experiences for more memorable and immersive training and development.

Generative AI’s impact on multimedia and capabilities to automate language translation and content adaptation ensure your e-learning materials are culturally resonant and easy to understand for your teams and employees worldwide.

Using AI technologies, such as AI-assisted synthetic voice solutions, offers these benefits to businesses.

• Cost savings. AI-enabled solutions help economize your resources and make your e-learning content development process more efficient.
• Time savings and efficiency. AI can speed up and streamline your multimedia content production. For example, AI-assisted synthetic voice solutions can auto-generate content rapidly. Human voiceovers (VOs) generally require seven workflow steps and a turnaround time of 10 to 12 business days, which can be costly. On the other hand, synthetic VO via AI-assisted solutions often takes six workflow steps and five business days to complete, cutting the turnaround time and costs in half.

The Impact of AI Tools Across Industries

It’s not a question of why high-quality AI data matters in global content anymore but how real-life applications of AI tools impact the following industries:

• Many companies and organizations in the tech industry use AI-based tools to automate code generation. For example, the OpenAI Codex uses NLP to understand user prompts and generate code snippets, streamlining the software development process. Tech companies also use AI for neural machine translation to enhance technical documentation translation efficiency and accuracy.
• Manufacturing companies can use AI to auto-generate product descriptions. They can also leverage AI-driven translation services to translate technical manuals, product specifications, and assembly instructions into various languages.
• AI-generated screenplays are gaining traction in content creation within the entertainment industry. While AI isn’t meant to replace human creativity, it can help writers brainstorm ideas, enhance the creative process, and suggest plot points. AI adoption is crucial for translating and providing subtitles for global streaming platforms. For example, Netflix uses AI algorithms to generate contextually relevant and accurate subtitles in multiple languages.

AI: The Future of Inclusive Learning and Development Content for Multilingual Teams

Inclusive e-learning means translating, localizing, and adapting training and development materials to meet your multilingual workforce’s needs. AI makes this process more efficient, cost-effective, accessible, and accurate while removing bias.

Work with reliable and professional AI-driven translation and localization services to create inclusive learning and development content. Connect with Welocalize to explore how we can help with your global projects.