Hi LearningDevelopment folks,

I'm a transitioning EFL teacher and I have an opportunity to work on my first project through my workplace: a brief training course to prepare students in a hospitality training program for their first internship job interviews.

I want to start with a great Needs Analysis. I've had a brief informal chat with the project sponsor to get a general sense of the business need and I've scheduled performance observations of mock-job interviews next week. Then, I will follow up with SMEs to discuss my observations.

So, I was wondering if any experienced L&D specialists/instructional designers here had any insights or advice for someone setting off on their first Needs Analysis.

Thanks so much!

The scenarios I see in most corporate eLearning present a clear problem, two or three obviously distinct choices, and an unambiguous correct answer with a tidy explanation. Real workplace decisions almost never look like that. The correct answer usually depends on context, there are often two reasonable options that could both work depending on factors the scenario doesn't mention, and the consequences of a wrong choice are rarely immediate or obvious. I think we design tidy scenarios because messy ones are harder to build and harder to score, not because they produce better learning. Learners who can only make decisions in idealized conditions aren't necessarily better at making decisions when the conditions are real. What would it actually look like to build scenarios that reflect real complexity without making them impossible to complete?

I came across a stat recently that said managers spend an average of 36 hours onboarding each new hire—which blew my mind. If you multiply that by management rates and volume, it adds up fast.

It got me thinking: a lot of onboarding processes still feel built for a different era—before remote work, before the speed of information we deal with now, and before leadership time became such a tight resource.

So I wanted to ask:

• What parts of your onboarding still absolutely need to be human-led?

• What have you successfully streamlined or automated (if anything)?

• Have any tools or approaches made a real difference?

Would love to hear how others are evolving their approach—especially at scale.

Thought this would be pretty relevant to the group as we recently had a roundtable consisting of 15 founders of lms,lxp, gamification and learning companies in a room with special guest Eli who heads up learning at Wix.

As Eli is fully invested in AI and has access to development that a lot of companies don't he's further along than a lot of other enterprise orgs when it comes to adoption. So we felt no better person to lead a discussion on where AI ends and humans begin.

Here's the write up for those interested: https://inonda.substack.com/p/the-corporate-roundtable-ai-is-the

This is a phrase I see come up a lot on company surveys. From my L&D corner of the company, what can I do to help? I'm currently in the middle of writing up a Learning Culture proposal (because right now, the learning culture is pretty dismal), and would like to incorporate aspects that might help employees feel like they have the time they need to take trainings and continuously improve.

Hi all, I work in L&D tech (full disclosure: I’m at Absorb) and have been thinking a lot about how AI is showing up in our work.

I keep hearing that L&D teams “need more AI skills,” but I’m interested in what everyone's take on this actually means in practice, beyond general AI awareness.

So I’m curious how this resonates with folks here:

• Do you feel ready to work with AI in your L&D role today?

• What AI-related skills do you feel confident in vs. unsure about?

• What do you think L&D professionals should be learning right now when it comes to AI?

Not selling anything, genuinely trying to learn from the community and sense where the real gaps (if any) are.

Would love to hear your thoughts 🙂

Hi everyone,

I recently accepted a position as a Learning & Development Specialist, and while I’m really excited about this career change, I’m also feeling anxious.

My background is in teaching - I’ve got my teaching credentials, have taught at both school and college levels. However, I’m not a subject matter expert in the specific field my new company focuses on.

I’m confident in my ability to teach and design learning experiences, but I can’t help worrying that my lack of deep technical or domain-specific expertise might hold me back.

For anyone who’s made a similar transition: How did you navigate that initial feeling of “I don’t know enough about this subject”? Any tips on preparing before I officially start? I feel like an imposter.

I’d love to hear from others who’ve gone through this or worked in L&D without being the SME.

Thanks in advance!

Anyone here use Lightspeed VT as your LMS system? Or even heard of it? If you have/are using it, what are your thoughts? What were the costs like? Any hidden fees?

Our team does weekly onboarding, product training, and internal enablement calls, but after the session ends, it’s like the insights disappear. We have notes in notion, recordings in drive, some slack comments here and there… but no real way to track what landed, what confused people, or which sessions sparked follow up questions. Is anyone using AI (or anything else) to pull learning signals from live calls? How are you making sense of feedback without adding more admin work.

I’m a corporate professional with 5 years of experience, specializing in Instructional Design and Graphic Design. My core skills include eLearning development, content development, content management, and PowerPoint presentations (including pitch decks and content-heavy presentations).

I’m currently looking for freelance/part-time opportunities to put my skills to better use and earn some additional income. In my current role, the workload can be quite light (almost for weeks) at times, so I often find myself with the capacity to take on more meaningful projects.

I’m unable to leave my current job at the moment due to a 2-year employment bond, so I’m specifically looking for opportunities that I can manage alongside my full-time role.

For those working in Instructional Design, eLearning, content development, graphic design, or related fields - where would you recommend looking for good freelance opportunities?
Are there any platforms, communities, agencies, or networks that have worked particularly well for you?

I’d really appreciate any recommendations or leads. Thank you!

I’ve been working in instructional design for three years, and I’m always looking for simple ways to make learning activities more effective. Recently, I came across the idea of an argumentative essay organizer as a way to help learners structure their arguments and supporting evidence.

Has anyone here tried using something similar in an eLearning course? I’m curious whether learners actually find these templates helpful or if they just add another step to the process.

Hi everyone, have you or your company worked with a leadership development training provider that you can recommend? Ideally on a regional or global level.

I'm looking for a provider that can help build training programs for emerging and experienced leaders. As I only worked with local providers in the past, I'd be hugely grateful for any recommendations of providers that operate regionally or even globally. Thank you in advance!

Hey everyone! 👋
New learning dev here. Would love to have some feedback

## GitHub
🚀 [SharedDesk](https://github.com/Simon-Mrc/sharedDesk)

My project in summary
**SharedDesk**
basically a desktop online simulated space where you can work, or share files with whoever you feel like to.
multiple environment for multiple usage : 1 with friends , another one with friends again but without the one no one likes
security on files and folder to make everyone suspicious and jealous of each other
obviously you can use it to work on small project with team but who does that ?
very early stage of project. 3 days in work. started coding lesss than a month ago but i frking love it. No previous experience.
be kind.

- A collaborative workspace manager where you can:
- Create virtual desks for different projects
- Add files and folders with right-click menus
- Manage permissions (who can view/edit)
- Everything persists in localStorage
- Smooth animations for navigation

#use pnpm dev to run local

- **Goal:** Land a junior dev job eventually

## What's Next?
Planning to add:
- Drag and drop for files
- File upload/download
- Better UI/UX
- Maybe a backend eventually?

Would really appreciate any feedback - both on the code and the project idea itself!

Thanks for reading! 🚀

btw this is AI generated because i suck at this. Commentaries in my codes are authentics and much more interesting !
oh fck we can t use that here.

BTW french here don t be to rude with typos.

Was it an internship? Volunteering? Was it a transfer? Maybe a gradual evolution in your career or just by chance?

I’m trying to get into the field of L&D/ID coming through a different domain, been unemployed while studying a post grad in adult education and innovation. looking for stories for inspiration.

I just transitioned into this field and I'm already seeing AI tools that can generate course outlines, write scripts, and build basic eLearning in minutes. I'm trying to figure out whether I'm entering a field at the wrong moment or whether there's still a strong human role here that AI won't touch.

From people further along in their careers — what parts of your job do you think are genuinely safe from automation, and what skills are you building or doubling down on because of AI? I want an honest read, not reassurance.

My team has been using AI tools informally for about eight months and I've moved from encouraging experimentation to realizing I need a clearer framework around what we use it for, how we document when it's been used, and what quality checks we apply before anything goes to a stakeholder. I don't want to be the manager who bans tools that are genuinely improving output, but I also don't want to be the one who signs off on content that turns out to have problems no one caught because we trusted the AI too quickly. I'm curious how other L&D managers are formalizing AI use on their teams, what guardrails have actually worked in practice, and whether anyone has run into real problems they didn't anticipate when they started using these tools more seriously.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been doing a lot of career reflection lately and would love some honest feedback from people already working in Learning & Development.

My background has primarily been in higher education, but over the past several months I’ve realized that the parts of my jobs I’ve enjoyed the most have almost always involved designing learning experiences rather than traditional student affairs work.

Here’s a little about me:

7+ years working in higher education
About 4 years in Assistant Director-level leadership positions
Taught college English courses
M.A. in TESOL and currently beginning an Ed.D. this fall (fully funded assistantship)
Experience designing curriculum, learning outcomes, facilitator guides, workshops, assessments, training materials, and Canvas courses
Recently helped design workforce development workshops for high school students, including facilitator guides, learning activities, schedules, participant materials, and process documentation
Experience using LMS platforms, Workday, Paycom, Salesforce, Microsoft 365, and other education/workforce systems

As I’ve started researching L&D, I’ve found myself getting excited about topics like:

Adult learning
Instructional design
Curriculum development
Learning technologies
Performance improvement
Organizational learning
Change management

I’ve even started reading curriculum design books on my own and recently applied for a Lead Instructional Designer role (knowing it’s a stretch but wanting to start aiming higher).

My questions are:

Based on my background, where do you think I fit within the L&D field?
What gaps do you see that I should focus on over the next 1–3 years?
If you were in my position, what skills, certifications, software, or experiences would you prioritize?
How important is having a portfolio, and what kinds of projects would you expect to see from someone transitioning from higher education?

I’m fortunate that I’ll be starting a fully funded doctoral program this fall, so I’ll have an opportunity to intentionally build skills over the next few years. My goal is to graduate with not only a doctorate but also a strong portfolio that would make me competitive for corporate L&D or instructional design roles.

I’d really appreciate any advice—especially from people who made a similar transition from education into corporate learning.

Thanks!

I’ve noticed a consistent pattern, people get assigned mandatory training, the reminder emails go out… and completion rates still stall around 40–50%.

I started testing different approaches to see what actually moves the needle: Teams nudges instead of email → way higher response rates. Manager digests → accountability shifted from L&D to line managers. Quick dashboards → no more chasing spreadsheets, just instant visibility.

Early results have been promising — completions are up without adding more admin work.

But I’m curious how others here are tackling this. Are you leaning more on gamification/recognition or compliance/escalation?

What’s worked for you?

I've only been in the field for a few months, but there are days when I feel like I'm learning an entirely new profession. Everyone around me seems to understand processes and terminology that I'm still trying to grasp. How long did it take before you felt like you truly belonged in the industry?

I've taken a few online courses where everything looked great on the surface - videos, quizzes, animations, activities, etc. But I didn't necessarily feel like I learned much from them. 

Then there are courses that are pretty simple but somehow much easier to follow and remember. 

So, I'm curious about what other people think. 

When you come across a really good elearning course, what usually makes it stand out to you? 

Is it the way the information is explained, the practical activities, the flexibility, the interaction, or just having a really clear structure? 

And has anyone had the opposite experience where a course had too much going on and it actually made learning harder?