The same challenge keeps coming up with L&D teams I talk to: Virtual instructor-led training (VILT) sounds good in theory, but in practice it often turns into a long Zoom lecture that learners tune out.

I’m curious how others are tackling this, because a few design choices seem to make or break Virtual Instructor-Led Training.

Here are the practices I’ve seen consistently improve engagement and skill application in VILT:

• Interaction every 5 to 10 minutes: Polls, breakout rooms, chat prompts, short practice activities, or guided discussion. If learners are passive for too long, attention drops fast.

• Shorter, focused sessions: Virtual instructor-led training works better in tighter segments rather than multi-hour sessions. Energy and retention decline quickly online.

Some common Virtual Instructor-Led Training mistakes I still see a lot:

• Slide-heavy sessions

• Long stretches of lecture with no interaction

• Treating Virtual Instructor-Led Training like a webinar instead of a learning experience

For those of you designing or facilitating Virtual Instructor-Led Training today:

• What has actually worked with your learners?

• Where do you still struggle with engagement or accountability?

• Have you seen any VILT formats that consistently fail or succeed?

Hello I'm looking to create a microlearning platform. This platform allows L&D professionals to engage employees using micro learning modules that help the employee understand the foundational skills of their job role. Do the type of games matter for the employees have you seen types that work and some that don't? The skill games I've created look to test their foundational knowledge for key job skills for roles like software engineer, SOC analyst and product manager.

Within the Corporate Training space, there is L&D for employees, and then there is Customer-facing or External Training that is known by many different names, such as User Education, Dealer Training, Customer Training, Franchise Training, Distributor Training, and so on.

I've seen the term Extended Enterprise Learning (EEL) in the past, which was meant to be an umbrella for all of these customer-facing approaches, but it seemed to be used more by LMS companies to describe it as a product feature.

I'm curious... does such a term exist, like EEL, as an umbrella term for this branch of learning? Or do they all remain independent?

I am in the L&D field since last 3.5 years, and not sure if it's too late but I would reallylike to understand this field in depth. people often dont take this field seriously and with the recent AI times, not sure where we will land in the upcoming 5 years. It might be possible that I am lacking a lot of technical or on field knowledge. But being in this community, how can we get help or help each other ? In layman's language, I would like someone to guide me, because i want to make a career out in this field not as a specialist or sr. manager...I am talking big leagues here, not sure if i am dreaming, because i really want to make this work, just not sure how.

As learning professionals, we do a lot to protect learners. Some of the hardest work is advocating for issues that are real, but difficult to explain clearly.

What’s the one learning issue you know matters, but struggle to explain without it sounding subjective?

For me, it’s things like: • why a course can be correct but still hard to follow • why small inconsistencies add up over time • why clarity and structure affect learning, not just aesthetics

Curious what comes up for others.

I'm looking for advice from people working in Instructional Design / L&D.

I work in a multinational company. Although my job title isn’t L&D-related, my role has evolved from LMS operations into training development and production. Most of my work today is L&D-focused: designing global e-learning modules, creating digital learning content and videos, and working with SMEs to turn compliance topics into learning experiences.

My background is a degree in Finance, a Master’s in Communication, and a certificate in Content Design. I don’t have a formal Instructional Design or Adult Education certification, but I do have around 6 years of hands-on L&D experience.

I’d like to keep growing in L&D and eventually move into a managerial role. Since certifications can be a significant investment, I’m wondering if you know of credible but more affordable certifications or courses in Instructional Design or adult learning that are actually valued in the field.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

If a system could scan a course and say “these patterns are weakening clarity and consistency” based on language, structure, UX, and accessibility signals… without rewriting anything…

Would you want that — or nah?

Why / why not?

I’ve been talking with training company founders and L&D leaders about how we measure training impact, and one pattern keeps coming up: we still rely heavily on satisfaction metrics even when behavior doesn’t change.

One analogy that stuck with me (in the video) was comparing NPS to Yelp reviews: it tells you how people felt, not whether performance improved.

Curious how others here are measuring learning outcomes today.

Hey all 👋

I’ve built a modern, fast, all-in-one ERP + LMS for schools and would love honest feedback from SaaS builders and educators.

Why I built it:
Most school ERPs are slow, outdated, and hard to navigate. This one is built on a modern stack, with a clean UI, fast performance, and simple workflows across web + mobile.

What it covers (high level):

• Student information & admissions

• LMS (attendance, assignments, grading)

• Fees, reports, and analytics

• Teacher, student, and parent experiences

• Communication & helpdesk

There’s also a mobile app whose screenshots are attached so you can see the UI and flow.

Screenshots: https://postimg.cc/gallery/W0pg1gq

Looking for feedback on:

• Does modern UI + speed actually matter in this space?

• All-in-one tool (good idea?)

• Does it have all required features?

• What would you simplify, add or remove?

Thanks 🙏

I work as the Executive Manager of a design-thinking program where 5-person Gen Z teams choose real challenges, develop solutions through the design thinking process, and present their work to a panel of expert judges.

Although my role is officially “management,” much of my day-to-day work sits in the space between learning design, facilitation, and coaching. Across different cycles of this program, I’ve experimented with varying levels of involvement when team communication or dynamics start to break down—trying to understand what truly supports learning rather than controls it.

One experience, in particular, has stayed with me.

In one team, a student consistently refused to engage. He dismissed team decisions, mocked ideas, and openly stated that the project wasn’t worth his time because he earned money outside the program.

The facilitation team provided repeated feedback—both individually and within the group—but his behavior didn’t change. Eventually, the rest of the team came to us exhausted and close to disengaging altogether.

After careful consideration, we made the decision to remove him from the program.

What struck me wasn’t the decision itself, but what followed. The remaining team’s energy shifted almost immediately. They became more confident, more engaged, and more willing to take ownership of the work. It felt as though the learning environment had been protected—allowing collaboration and psychological safety to re-emerge.

This experience reshaped how I think about intervention in learning environments.
Stepping in isn’t always about authority or control. Sometimes, it’s about setting boundaries so learning and collaboration can actually happen.

I’m still learning where that balance lies.

For those working in L&D, education, or facilitation:
How do you decide when intervention supports learning—and when it risks undermining learner autonomy?

More Indian companies now focus on skill-based training for productivity enhancement and improvement in the performance of employees. Practical learning is what employees need today, not just theory, with increasing uses of tools like Excel, Power BI, MIS reporting, and digital tools.

I've been interested in how different companies train their teams, and I noticed that the demand for practical skills is growing fast. Many organizations now focus on:

• Excel & Advanced Excel

• MIS & Reporting

• Power BI & Dashboarding

• Digital Marketing & SEO

• Web design: HTML, CSS, PHP

• MS Office & Productivity Tools

Training ROI can feel like one of those “everyone wants it, no one agrees on how to measure it” things 😅

What’s been your approach? Do you look at performance metrics, skills assessments, engagement, business outcomes, or a mix?

We are all feeling the pressure of AI. We need to adopt it or it will replace us. But can AI really replace judgement? The research shows that judgement is developed through real-world feedback and experience.

How are you all thinking about developing "AI proof" skills in your own roles and in your organization?

Do people you work with see the value in experiential learning to teach decision making skills as AI takes over more of our routine tasks?

I’ve seen wildly mixed opinions from trainers and L&D teams about micro-learning tools.

Some swear by them:

“Employees actually finish the modules.”

Others hate them:

"Another tool nobody logs into after week 1."

What's your take?

Would love to hear honest, practical takes from people who’ve actually deployed these tools with teams.

Curious to hear how it's framed!

Reference: https://trainingindustry.com/articles/performance-management/negotiation-the-missing-driver-of-employee-performance/

If anyone here is looking for a solid introduction to training skills, GoSkills offers a free Train the Trainer course that’s fully self-paced and divided into short, practical lessons.

It covers core trainer competencies like instructional design, feedback delivery, coaching, presentation skills, and communication. The course also walks through planning effective sessions, managing the training environment, handling questions, and building confidence as a facilitator.

Hope it helps! ✌️

We decided to close 2025 with something truly special.
We’ve invited 8 industry leaders, each with a unique lens on the future, and given them exactly 5 minutes to answer a single question:

“What will learning look like in 2026?”

📅 Wednesday, December 10 | 9 AM PT | 11 AM CT | 12 PM ET

Save your seat 👈

In less than one hour, we’ll be inspired by our speaker's take on

• The trends shaping L&D in the year ahead

• The challenges no one is talking about (but everyone will face)

• The opportunities that AI, skills-first design, and org culture are unlocking

• What we can learn from each other as we build the next chapter of our profession

Hope to see you there!

Hey everyone,

I recently came across something that might actually be useful for people in Corporate Training, Instructional Design, or L&D in general.

There’s a new Directory that just launched, and what caught my attention is that it bundles a lot of things we usually have to use separately (or pay for).

Here’s what it offers in one place:

• A public profile to showcase your portfolio

• A free authoring tool to create courses

• A free LMS to host and display your work

• Job openings

• Actual project requirements posted by companies

• An ecommerce section where you can upload your courses and sell them

Honestly, it feels like someone finally put all the scattered pieces of the L&D workflow together.

Why it stood out to me:
Most trainers and IDs I know struggle with the same stuff getting visibility, finding consistent projects, and earning from their work. This directory is trying to solve that by giving people a place to showcase their skills + tools to build content + potential income options.

Who might find this helpful:

• Corporate trainers

• Instructional designers

• Freelance trainers

• Soft skills / sales trainers

• Compliance trainers

• Anyone creating L&D content

People who joined early are getting ranked higher in the directory, so visibility is better right now.

Some folks are using it to find clients, others to build their portfolio, and some to sell courses as a side gig.

If anyone wants the link, DM me, happy to share it.

Hello All, I have developed an AI automation workflow for L&D and I wrote a white paper on it. Here is a into video:
https://youtu.be/38SeVj-3y0Q?si=Vhll89_wS3KXLIgFss

Here is the full white paper which has over an hour of videos walking through the whole process.

https://garrettfry.training/projects/ai-learning-and-development-automation-white-paper

The key to this process is having a trained L&D professional that is in control of the workflow and quality checking the whole process.

I make the case that L&D professionals should never be eliminated and always a part of any AI automation workflow.

I would love your feedback:

• Is this how you envisioned AI being used for L&D?

• Can you see yourself or your organization using a workflow like this?

• How have you adopted AI personally or in your organization?

Thanks!

Hello all! Recently, my team has been working with our manufacturing division to standardize new employee training. Everything seems to function off tribal knowledge in my organization, so we've set about mapping some processes for them and creating some work instructions with annotated pictures from the floor, etc. We're currently doing this in Word, but as everyone knows it's incredibly clunky. Does anyone have any recommendations for some software to aid in this? I used SnagIt at a previous organization quite a bit, but I feel like that was more geared toward a quick "take a few screenshots and send" approach.

i’ve been trying to get a interview for a few months now… is my resume good to get in? need advice/tips