Learning Technologies 2023 - a view from panel chair Sarah Ratcliff
Learning Technologies, Europe’s leading workplace learning event was an avalanche on the senses this year. It was great to see so many people across the industry attending with many having travelled to join the conversation. The big talking point was gen AI.
The role of AI in learning & development
There is no doubt... AI is coming our way. And it will be really useful in the world of learning and development. From my personal point of view, I think we can vastly streamline our content processes. We all know that content is never the problem. It's how we use it and how we help people get the benefit from it.
There were conversations around the possible threat of AI on certain roles and the potential loss of human interaction. And is it really as clever as a human? From what I've seen during the conference, is that the new generation of AI has exceeded the standards of what we've seen before both in capability and accuracy.
The session with Donald Clark was a powerful reminder that things will keep changing and that this is happening quickly. He believes that we must embrace it, because it's coming anyway. And I am in agreement with him. Talking to lots of different people over the conference, many are already using ChatGPT with useful results. I certainly will be on a road of discovery and exploration to learn more.
Skills-based talent management
Great work is being done around skills-based talent management. Patrick Veenhoff from Swiss Re took us through his skills framework including a common skills taxonomy and how this will ensure continual skill readiness. Patrick’s work was paired with of Asi Degani and Cheryl Gerhardt from London Stock Exchange Group who shared with us the extensive project they are working on to implement a career framework which creates a common language amongst employees to empowering individuals to own their own development and identify what transferable skills could be used in different roles.
Neuroscience and learning
On the second day of learning technologies, the keynote speaker, Beau Lotto, was inspiring. Understanding the brain and how it can help us learn, develop and create behaviour change plays a strong part in my role and certainly in the creation of experiential learning. The session was fast-paced with lots of memorable moments, exploring how human beings are designed to forget those things that are just not useful to us.
And so the reality, of course. Is that a lot of the learning and the sessions you attended may already now be starting to fade in your brain. The power, of course, is that we know this happens, and how to combat this by using what we've learned, and put it into practise with spaced repetition.
How to provide scalable learning solutions
I was lucky enough to chair a panel session with Simon Brown from Novartis, Rohit Saxena from Yum Brands, Pizza Hut Global and Jess Staker from from Rentokil. During this session, we were talking about how we can provide learning solutions at scale, internationally. This session was full of solid experiences on what considerations were needed, the benefits of a single platform, and the pitfalls that they faced along the way. And also, of course the role that generative AI will play in helping us to provide learning solutions on this scale.
As a provider of international learning solutions which need to be delivered across the world in many languages, cultures, for many different organisations it was great to hear these views so that we can all ensure learners are kept at the heart of everything that we do.
LT enables us to learn from each other and to keep sharing, so that we can help others develop and grow.
We'd love to hear more about your experiences at Learning Technologies. Perhaps you have a different viewpoint. Let's keep that conversation flowing. Because the more we talk about things and explore what we've learned. The quicker we can adapt to meet the needs of our employees.