How to Create an Exceptional Student Experience in Corporate Learning

Student experience is a way to describe what it’s like to be a student. Traditionally, student experience speaks to what life is like for those studying at a college or a university, including joining clubs, living on campus, participating in sports and extracurriculars, attending lectures, and completing assignments. In a corporate context, student experience has a slightly different meaning, as learning experiences look different. However, when you explore what makes student experiences exceptional at colleges or universities, you can gain insight into what practices can improve student experience in a corporate setting. 

Great student experiences in corporate training allow companies some of the same benefits that higher education institutions gain when they deliver quality experiences to their students, namely happier, more motivated, and more engaged employees. While corporate leadership and development and colleges or universities have the same ultimate goal of educating and preparing learners for a career, learning experiences and methodology can look very different in one setting compared to another. Yet, as companies and institutions increasingly implement e-learning solutions, those lines are beginning to blur, and learning experiences in both contexts can use some of the same resources and tools to support learners. 

Explore what student experience means in a corporate context and what elements you’ll need to consider in your learning and development program to help improve your team’s corporate student experience. 

How does student experience relate to corporate learning?

A positive student experience helps corporate learners feel more engaged with their learning material. While attention to student experience is helpful in a college or university context, it also translates into corporate learning and development. Offering your employees L and D opportunities helps them feel more satisfied and engaged with their jobs, as well as helping you develop the next generation of leaders with a greater range of skills. When you improve your team’s student experience while participating in corporate training, you can help them connect more deeply with the content and encourage them to find ways to apply what they’ve learned to their career.

Read more: 9 Ways to Boost Employee Skills at Your Company

What are the benefits of a positive student experience in corporate learning?

Improving corporate student experience results in a stronger learning and development program. In turn, a stronger L and D program has many benefits, including: 

• Helping your company run more efficiently: Learning and development allows your employees to grow their skills and become more competent in their work, which helps every company department operate more effectively. 

• Increasing employee engagement: When employees feel invested in their workplace and the outcomes of their work, they will be more willing to speak up about the support or resources they need and share ideas to improve the company. 

• Improving employee retention: Employees often prefer to work for companies that offer learning and professional development opportunities. Not only will your motivated and engaged employees be more likely to stay with your company, but you may also gain a reputation as a great place to work, helping recruitment efforts as well.

• Creating a more competitive workforce: By implementing a learning and development program and taking steps to engage your employees, you can build a more resilient workforce with adaptable skills that can help you pivot and reposition when something unexpected happens in your industry. Employees who are always learning new things can help make your company more competitive overall.

Elements of student experience in corporate learning

Your learning and development program can best support your company goals when you design learning pathways based on your employees’ interests, skills, and improvement needs and when they feel encouraged to explore learning opportunities. You’ll want to consider each employee’s unique needs and preferences and provide them with training opportunities directly related to their day-to-day work. Below, take a closer look at how to achieve each of these elements and how they support a great student experience in your company’s L and D. 

Go beyond specific objectives

It may be tempting to reach for training only in cases of new technology or diagnosed skill gaps. However, you can utilize learning and development to create an ongoing learning culture where employees have an opportunity to take their own individualized learning paths through varied forms of L and D. Instead of thinking about how specific skills or credentials will check a box on an employee’s resume, consider how training might help them in a more holistic way. You can offer training, such as one-on-one mentor sessions, to better understand your employees' career goals and how they fit into your company. These sessions also give you time to give your employees feedback so they see the areas they can improve and understand how training will benefit them. You can also offer: 

• In-house seminars

• Leadership training

• On-the-job or real-time training

• Classroom-style training

• External training

Offer learning that relates to your employees’ roles

It’s vital to ensure your employees understand why learning and development opportunities are important and how training relates to their careers. When training opportunities match up to the work the employee does, they will have the chance to use real-world situations for a deeper and more interactive learning experience. You will also want them to see the benefit of their training and understand why spending time away from their normal work activities is valuable to complete the learning experience. This can help increase motivation to learn. 

Tailor content to individual needs and preferences

One way to improve student experience in learning and development is to ensure that content is tailored to your workforce's needs and preferences. Your team will have unique learning needs, interests, and areas that could use improvement; you can adjust your learning and development to help improve employees’ performance in learning formats that resonate with them. You’ll want to ensure you provide learning experiences that don’t cover old material but allow employees to learn something new and engaging. 

Build a collaborative and supportive learning community.

An additional element of a great student experience is a collaborative learning culture in which you encourage your employees to try new things, ask questions, and improve their skills. You may incorporate a social aspect into training by creating opportunities for small group work or competitive gamification of learning objectives. Your employees can learn from their peers and reflect on that learning in new ways when they are called to help others with the same material. 

Another powerful way to drive company culture is for leaders to demonstrate and support your company’s values through their actions. When leaders participate in training and development opportunities, they improve their ability to lead employees through their daily work and accomplish company goals better. 

Establish mentorship programs for skill development.

You can also create a mentorship program to help improve student experience in corporate learning and development initiatives. In a mentorship, one experienced employee provides guidance and advice to a less experienced employee. The mentor can help the mentee discover their career goals and determine what steps they should take to move forward in their career, which can include learning and development opportunities. By meeting regularly, a mentorship allows your staff members to connect with their colleagues and have someone they can confide in or seek career advice from. 

Read more: What Is Corporate Training? Your 2025 Guide

Getting started with Coursera

Drawing on student experience principles to design your corporate learning and development programs can help your employees get more out of learning opportunities. Your company can gain benefits such as increased employee engagement, retention, and performance.

With Coursera, you can train teams across your organization in the skills that matter most in today’s digital economy. Your employees will gain access to content from 350+ leading universities and industry partners, where they can build real-world experience with innovative skills, tools, and technologies while earning globally recognized credentials. Our customizable, scalable learning solutions balance workplace skills and technical skills training in diverse formats, from video clips to guided projects and Professional Certificates. Accelerate your digital transformation and equip employees to drive growth with Coursera.

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