EdTech goes crazy with AI – JOSH BERSIN

This week, I spent several days at the ASU/GSV conference and ran into 7,000 AI-obsessed educators, entrepreneurs, and corporate trainers.

No, I’m not kidding. This community, made up of training managers, community leaders from his colleges, educators, policy makers, etc., is completely engrossed in ChatGPT, large-scale language models, and all sorts of problems with AI. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of this. But the frenzy is unprecedented. This is bigger than the excitement of the iPhone launch.

To add to the excitement, over 100 AI-powered tools and startups showcased their products. There are top 150 of his EdTech (learning tech) companies, GSV 150, and then Elite 200, 200 startups competing for venture cash. And if you browse through all these startups, you’ll see an amazing bag of tools for content development, virtual worlds, adaptive learning, and more.

I’ve seen this happen before, so let me give you some perspective on this craze.

First, the market for these technologies is huge in the corporate space where I spend my time. Global spending on corporate learning is about $320 billion, a largely recession-proof market that is always on the lookout for new ideas. All onboarding, sales training, leadership development, and compliance programs require new tools and delivery systems, so opportunities for innovation abound.

In fact, a recent large-scale research study on enterprise learning found that today’s L&D success is due to two factors. The first is to focus on employee growth, not just skills. The second is the need for more useful and interactive “learning” in the workflow. Some of these 200 new startups could become billion dollar businesses as her L&D managers around the world look for new ideas.

Second, the L&D market is about to be disrupted like never before. I did two of his interactive sessions with about 200 of his L&D leaders and heard basically the same thing over and over. What will our jobs look like when these generative AI tools start automatically building content, assessments, teaching guides, rubrics, videos, and simulations in seconds?

The answer is very clear. It would be confusing. I’m not saying the L&D team should worry about their careers, but they clearly have to swim upstream in a hurry. As with all new technology, learning her leaders need to know about these tools, understand how they work, and start experimenting as soon as possible. Some of them are skill engines, some are content his machines, and others build interactive development experiences. Each has the opportunity to change your behavior.

Third, you can’t slow this down. There were quite a few voices saying, “Can’t you wait for the market to calm down?” The answer is “no, definitely not”. Here’s why. Employees and remote business units use these tools whether they like it or not. Just as YouTube and the iPhone democratized video (which was previously difficult to create), generative AI will rapidly democratize all forms of learning.

And it’s more destructive than you think. Imagine your company adopting his ChatGPT Enterprise or the new tool Glean to provide employees with a curated and validated chatbot with online access to company training and documentation. Employees use it and immediately stop watching the page-turning compliance course.

If you’re creating a course such as “How to use Workday,” you can assume that the “informational side” of this training can be delivered by a bot.So Your Instructional Design Cheese Has Moved.

I suggest revisiting Bloom’s taxonomy. Rather than creating courseware or videos at the ‘knowledge’ and ‘understanding’ level of the model, can this be delivered by the ChatGPT bot and have access to all company procedures and documentation? are likely to be best learned by bots.)

I know that L&D professionals are problem solvers at heart. Now you can help build “information bots” and spend your time on deep skill development, soft skills education, high-fidelity content, challenges, and simulations. And spatial learning, an innovation that delivers great value, is easier than ever. Our new Josh Bersin Academy not only offers more simulations and videos, but also mobile-friendly “micro-learning nudges” to help you learn at work.

What does this mean for LMSs, talent management systems, and all the analytics infrastructure in learning?

New systems such as Eightfold, Gloat, Docebo, Cornerstone, LinkedIn Learning and Degreed have also acquired “ultra-strong AI” so they can identify content that matches their skill requirements, find and discover learning quickly, and ultimately is exactly the micro-training you need, using Neural Networking.

For example, one of my favorite AI vendors to watch is SeekOut. Their talent intelligence system is currently geared towards hiring, but its new feature will allow a single engineer to quickly learn in-depth technical skills by reading and analyzing GitHub and other submitted work. You can check (Eightfold does this too). These skills can then be “grouped” by team. You or your CIO can look at your technical teams and see which teams lack which skills. This kind of ‘team-based’ assessment has never really been possible before. The CIO saw it and immediately wanted him to join L&D.

And much more awaits. The team at STRIVR (Leader in Immersive Learning) is experimenting with using AI to build his 3D simulations faster. Vendors selling leadership development are looking at highly trained intelligent coaches (beware BetterUp, CoachHub, Torch), and CoRise’s team uses AI to provide in-depth training in technical areas for each class. We offer a “virtual teaching assistant”.

Learning will undoubtedly be one of the biggest markets for generative AI, LLM and intelligent chat systems. The L&D and learning community is the most creative tinkerer marketplace I’ve ever been involved with.

One final point. Should I be afraid of work? Is it time to stop doing it?

Absolutely not. The L&D market has been stagnant for some time, but these new tools are bringing the space to life. Training, education, and knowledge sharing are among the greatest opportunities in business.

Overcome your fear of AI (lots of high-level learning to make you feel comfortable) by watching some videos on large language models, and jump in with both feet. The vendor market is confusing and immature, but the impact of these technologies is enormous.

Let’s all get in and have some fun.

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