The Rise Up blog

The World of Learning event in October 2023 was a pivotal gathering of learning professionals, and experts looking for answers on the ever-pressing issue - the frustration surrounding the inability to present a Return on Investment (ROI) for learning initiatives.

According to the Fosway Group's Digital Learning Realities 2023 study, which CEO of Fosway, David Wilson shared during the Rise Up Connect 2023 event, 49% of Learning & Development (L&D) professionals believe that their current programs are ill-suited for the modern workforce. In simpler terms, most employees lack access to innovative training platforms necessary for skill development. Plus, digital learning fatigue is increasingly affecting learners, with a third of L&D professionals identifying it as a concern. Here is where AI can help. The integration of AI into businesses’ learning strategies ushers in a new era, expanding possibilities in teaching strategies, content creation, and learner engagement. Below is a recap of the Rise Up Connect 2023 event, which sheds light on AI's contribution to skills development. Jasmine Silver, a researcher and specialist in Education and Psychology, as well as David Wilson, CEO and founder of the Fosway Group, provided crucial insights. Improving the Learning Experience L&D teams’ aim is for employees to find meaning in their learning journey and enjoy a seamless progression, enabling them to acquire the technical and soft skills they need quickly and effectively. According to David Wilson, organizations' short-term priorities for learning experiences revolve around two primary aspects: To strengthen the connection with skills. To integrate this experience into a career development strategy. What's evident is the shift towards skills-based professional training. A survey conducted by Deloitte (Skills-Based Organization Survey 2022) reveals that 77% of business leaders consider adapting skills at work as essential to navigate future market changes and innovations. Yet only 5% of them invest adequately in helping employees acquire new skills to stay current. AI plays a pivotal role here, as 61% of business leaders believe that new technologies like automation and AI will be the primary drivers of adopting a skills-based approach within their organizations. The Potential Impact of AI on Professional Training The immediate impact of employing an AI system is most visible in services related to delivering learning content and designing training programs. David Wilson explains that AI expedites and simplifies: Content aggregation and curation: Centralizing educational content from various internet sources onto a single training platform. Compilation of content for creating a diverse training catalog. Developing learning resources and training modules using authoring tools. In the medium term, AI's deployment primarily affects professional training at the technical and technological level, including learning systems and software solutions. In the long term, AI's impact is assessed on a broader scale: transforming learning, refining strategies, and achieving better performance. Challenges in Professional Training Jasmine Silver highlights the limitations of current professional training, including a lack of engagement and practice, and poor knowledge retention. She also demonstrates how AI helps organizations overcome these challenges. Lack of Learner Engagement In a rapidly changing professional landscape influenced by new technologies, employees face the ongoing necessity of updating their skills. However, obstacles to learner engagement are very real. Firstly, there is the issue of time, with employees having an average of only 24 minutes per week for training. Additionally, they juggle multiple business applications (an average of 9). This means employees fail to remember much of the knowledge and skills acquired during their training in the long term. Consequently, employees often lack engagement, exhibit inconsistent attention, and fail to fully benefit from their training sessions. Implementing techniques aimed at overcoming the "forgetting curve" and reinforcing memory anchors is crucial to ensure effective skill enhancement. Lack of Practice Translating acquired knowledge into professional practice is a significant challenge for learners. Even if they complete training courses, validate content, and commit information to memory, they often struggle with practical applications. Implementing new technical skills within simulations replicating real workplace challenges is essential for gaining efficiency and improving performance. How Will AI Enhance the Learning Process? Jasmine Silver emphasizes the benefits of AI in learning with the personalization of courses, improved learner support, the introduction of complementary teaching methods, and AI's ability to create immersive experiences. For example, Rise Up’sAI capabilities perform automatic content selection to present training that directly benefits the employee. This personalization extends to the evaluation process, replacing general quizzes with questions tailored to the employee's professional context. AI also enhances learner support and motivation by providing instant, precise, and detailed feedback. Personalized evaluations yield more relevant feedback, and learners can easily monitor their progress through an individual dashboard on the training platform, fostering a greater sense of accomplishment. Promoting Learning through Knowledge Reinforcement Simply passing the final evaluation of a training course does not guarantee long-term retention of technical skills and knowledge. Linear learning, without revisiting previously acquired knowledge, often results in forgetting key information. AI offers valuable assistance in mitigating this phenomenon. AI supports memory anchoring through key learning techniques: Spaced repetition: Exposure to new knowledge multiple times is essential for assimilation. The virtual coach provides short review sessions regularly, well after the training ends. Retrieval practice: Simply reviewing is insufficient; retraining is crucial. AI offers quizzes tailored to the content learned and the employee's daily context. Elaborative learning: This involves deepening the understanding of content by establishing connections between recent knowledge, professional tasks, and previously acquired concepts. These "bridges" enrich and anchor knowledge effectively. Working on an Immersive Experience AI aims to ensure the practical application of theoretical concepts through immersive experiences that closely mimic real professional scenarios. AI is capable of generating simulations that replicate employees' activities by aggregating a wide array of case studies relevant to their challenges. Learners can practice these simulations as often as needed until they achieve mastery of the targeted technical or soft skills. Furthermore, AI assists employees in setting learning objectives and translating acquired knowledge into concrete actions in their daily work, thereby integrating training seamlessly into their routines. Getting Started with AI in Your Learning Strategies with Rise Up Rise Up is at the forefront of the AI revolution. Our LXP/LMS solution harnesses Generative AI to accelerate the development of professional training systems, optimize learning, and enhance the learner experience. AI is involved from the training's design phase; automatically generating content our authoring tool can offer learning resources and assessment content with a simple entry of the training title. Rise Up also aids in creating visuals, translating training into 22 languages, and automatically tagging associated skills. Already have a set of learning content (text, videos, etc.)? Great! Importing them into the Rise Up solution can transform them into high-quality training modules, incorporating innovative teaching methods and interactive elements. Beyond this, AI enhances the overall course design by automatically combining modules to provide a better context for learners. Learners, in turn, benefit from an enriched learning experience and accelerated skills development. With a few clicks, they access content tailored to their specific needs. Generative AI uses the learner's profile and training history to select resources directly useful to them. It’s time to join the revolution! Learn more here. Download our AI guide here.

Rise Up is an accredited LPI Technology Vendor, meaning we were invited to the digital forum, and it was a privilege to gain insights from Daniela Landherr during her interview with Andy Lopata, Psychology Today's journalist. Daniela, the former head of talent development at Google, who now works as a coach, shared a wealth of wisdom on creating a learning culture and the importance of embracing the era of AI.

"What the steam engine did for mechanizing labor, AI will do for intellectual work."