We wrap up all you need to know about learning strategies, including the best ones to try.

Learning is an individual process. But as a L&D professional, that can sound like one mighty challenge.

While we are making steps to personalised learning, it currently would take too much time, resource and manpower to do it fully.

So although learning processes differ person to person, creating a learning strategy can help you build out content and processes to suit a wide range of learners.

Understanding learning styles and providing a variety of learning strategies means you’re more likely to have your learner’s needs covered.

Keep reading to learn:

• What learning strategies are
• Key learning strategies you should try
• How to choose the right learning strategies
• How to implement new learning strategies into your business

Let’s get started.

What are learning strategies?

Learning strategies are techniques or approaches that individuals use to acquire, process, and retain information more effectively.

These strategies can range from cognitive methods, like summarising or creating mind maps, to metacognitive approaches, such as planning how to study or monitoring one’s understanding during learning.

They help learners stay organised, focused, and motivated, ultimately making learning more efficient and meaningful.

Whether you’re a student, a professional, or someone picking up a new skill for personal growth, understanding and applying the right learning strategies can significantly boost your ability to absorb and apply new knowledge in real-world situations.

Key learning strategies you could try

Not sure why learning strategies to try? Honestly, there are so many out there, it can be hard to know where to start.

We’ve compiled some of the best out there in terms of learning engagement and actual learning ROI.

Here are our favourites:

1. Spaced repetition

Spaced repetition is a simple technique. It’s where you review information with increasing spaces between each review.

This helps learners fight against the forgetting curve, and commit learning to long-term memory.

This can be simply achieved by revisiting content and requizzing learners.

2. Active recall

Active recall is simply the technique of remembering information without looking at the source material.

This can be done in a manner of ways from self-quizzing, writing from memory, or teaching others.

This method improves memory retrieval and improves comprehension.

3. Microlearning

Microlearning is an other popular one. Delivering bite-sized learning, think 3-10 minutes long, allows you to target a specific learning objective.

This is good for short bursts of activity and also great for just-in-time learning.

This can be mobile-based lessons, short videos, infographics, or a short written text piece.

4. Blended learning

Blended learning is simply where you combine digital learning with face-to-face instruction.

A hybrid model can be more effective for learner retention and also adds in more possibilities for social learning, personal connection and flexibility.

5. Scenario-based learning

Interactive scenarios or simulations that mimic real-world challenges learners may face.

This method improves decision-making, critical thinking, and the application of knowledge in context. You’ll often see it used in leadership, compliance, and customer service training.

6. Peer learning or social learning

This learning strategy relies on learning through interaction, collaboration, and knowledge sharing with peers.

It can include everything from group discussions, peer reviews, mentoring, or collaborative projects. But that’s not all. It can also be as simple as a forum, or a comment to another learner.

This method leverages the power of community and real-time feedback.

💡 Pro Tip

Totara Learn + Engage offer a full suite of engagement tools that allow you to make your learning social.

See what Totara can do

7. Gamification

Gamification is what it says on the tin. It takes game elements such as points, badges, leaderboards, challenges, or levels and adds it to learning to boost engagement and motivation.

It can make repetitive or dry content more enjoyable and competitive.

By thoughtfully integrating these strategies into learning programs, you can create more engaging, personalised, and results-driven learning experiences that truly stick.

💡 Pro Tip

We created a gamification plugin that comes as part of our Edition of the Totara platform. That means you can get points, badges, leaderboards and more as part of your core LMS.

Gamification in action

How to choose the right learning strategies

When choosing learning strategies, you might feel overwhelmed.

There are so many out there, it’s hard to know which to pick.

So, before you try to shoehorn them in, it’s helpful to follow a few simple guidelines to make sure they suit your goals and learning style:

Know your goal: Understand what you’re trying to get your employees to learn whether it’s mastering a concept, memorising facts, or developing a skill, so you can pick strategies that align with that goal.

Match to your learning style: Consider how your employees learn best and acknowledge that they’ll learn differently.

Visual learners might benefit from diagrams and mind maps, while verbal learners might prefer summarizing or teaching the content aloud. So it’s worth considering multiple learning styles, and as a consequence, content formats.

Keep it active: Choose strategies that keep your learners engaged like self-testing, teaching others, or applying the concept in practice, rather than just passively reading or listening.

This is where social learning, gamification etc can come in really handy.

Break it down: Use strategies that divide complex material into manageable parts, such as chunking information or using step-by-step frameworks.

Nobody wants a huge 3 hour video to watch. They won’t find time to prioritise it, and even when they do get through it, they’ll likely forget what they learned.

Stay consistent: The best strategies are the ones you can stick with. Choose methods that fit easily into a routine and are sustainable over time.

After all, your learners are likely fitting in learning between busy work tasks.

Reflect and adjust: After using a strategy, take a moment to evaluate if it worked well. If not, try something different until you find what clicks for your team.

These guidelines help you build a toolkit of strategies that make learning both effective and enjoyable.

Implementing new learning strategies into your everyday

Integrating a new learning strategy isn’t as easy as choosing when and adding it in. It takes time, and it takes resource.

But perseverance is key.

Following these simple steps and tricks can help you reinforce integration of new learning strategies:

1. Align learning with goals

Learning initiatives should directly support the company’s strategic objectives. So you need to:

• Conduct a needs assessment with department heads to identify skill gaps tied to business priorities (e.g., digital transformation, sales growth).
• Create learning objectives that map to strategic goals: For example, a goal to expand into new markets could be supported by language or cultural training.
• Use KPIs such as time-to-productivity, sales effectiveness, or customer satisfaction scores as performance indicators of learning success.

2. Build a learning culture

A strong learning culture motivates and sustains continuous skill development at all levels. Key actions:

• Normalise vulnerability: Leaders should admit what they don’t know and be seen learning themselves.
• Make time for learning: Designate “Learning Hours” or allow 10–20% of work time for skill development.
• Recognise learning publicly: Share success stories via newsletters, town halls, or internal social platforms.

3. Integrate learning into daily work

Learning shouldn’t be separate from work; it should enhance it. To achieve that?

• Create microlearning content: Create quick 5–10 minute lessons. You can even just break down existing content into smaller chunks as opposed to creating brand new content.
• Use workflow-embedded tips: Show how-to popups or chatbot prompts within key tools that link to your leanring content.
• Build cross-functional teams: Rotate team members to projects where they can learn by doing in real time.

4. Leverage technology and tools

The right technology can scale and personalise learning effectively. Here’s how:

• Adopt a modern LMS that supports mobile access, personalised learning paths, and real-time analytics.
• Use AI to tailor learning journeys based on role, behaviour, and progress.
• Gamify learning: Implement quizzes, badges, and leaderboards to maintain engagement and friendly competition.

5. Encourage peer learning

Peers are often the most relevant and trusted learning sources. So you should use them and:

• Facilitate Communities of Practice (CoPs) around shared roles or topics (e.g., AI in finance, storytelling in sales).
• Run internal knowledge-sharing sessions such as “brown bag lunches,” weekly demos, or “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) sessions.
• Create mentorship programs with structured goals, check-ins, and mutual learning opportunities (reverse mentoring).

6. Leadership buy-in and role modelling

Learning sticks when it’s supported from the top. Make sure you:

• Involve executives as learners and teachers: Have them facilitate workshops or attend training publicly.
• Incorporate learning goals into leadership development plans and executive evaluations.
• Celebrate leaders who foster team learning as part of performance metrics.

7. Make learning measurable

Quantify learning’s impact to justify investment and improve outcomes.

• Define metrics upfront: Examples include completion rates, behavior change, or revenue impact.
• Use Kirkpatrick’s Model to measure learning effectiveness at four levels: Reaction, Learning, Behaviour, and Results.
• Incorporate analytics tools into your LMS or BI dashboards to track learning engagement and performance.

8. Embed learning into onboarding and career paths

Learning should be structured and continuous throughout the employee lifecycle so make sure you:

• Create structured learning journeys: Define what employees should learn at 30/60/90 days and for each career stage.
• Use skill matrices: Clarify required competencies for roles and link learning content to each level.
• Make learning part of reviews: Have employees document progress and reflect on learning in performance evaluations.

Start using new learning strategies

Learning isn’t just about delivering content, it’s about empowering learners to absorb, apply, and retain knowledge in meaningful ways.

And that sounds complicated.

But by integrating proven learning strategies into your L&D programs, you not only improve engagement and outcomes but also help cultivate a workforce that’s more self-directed, adaptable, and ready for continuous growth.

Whether you’re building out a new training initiative or refining an existing program, focus on embedding strategies that support how people actually learn.

Equip your teams not just with knowledge, but with the tools and habits to keep learning long after the training ends.

In doing so, you’re not just teaching employees, you’re shaping learners for life.

Book a demo to see how our platform can help you to achieve your goals. Or, just take a look to see our platform in play.