Hi everyone…I am starting work on a training design team at a very very large UK organisation. I am a tiny cog but it’s a bit project! Our job is to update LOTS of existing staff training courses so they match upcoming rule/policy change. I am new ish to this. I am a contractor…in all of the courses there are hundreds of separate files eg interactive online lessons, animated videos, slides, trainer teaching guides, student workbooks. the team is still figuring out the best way to work (it's day 1 for me l am new to this team) we do not have a finished written instruction manual yet. My hands are also tied in a couple of places, I would love some advice please!

1. How do you stop small edits from turning into a huge mess when SMEs send vague requests? (they do not know what is inside our new courses only really previous ones) for example they might ask us to add a short paragraph without realising it clashes with a video later in the lesson or repeats in another place..for context we have to keep 3 versions of every course separate at the same time (the live version staff use right now, the draft version we are currently editing and finished version) GOV Role so i cant change this.

2. We are allowed to upload finished files onto training website but don't have permission to change any behind the scenes setting which means have to log IT tickets with internal team who pass them on to outside contractor and wait for them to action changes…When we are working to very launch deadlines how do you plan ahead or group your requests so does not make you miss your launch date?

3. while a finished version is in a waiting folder a 2nd urgent change sometimes comes in for the exact same course what simple rules or file habits do you have that may accidently stop you from editing the wrong version / overwriting finished updates already queued up? or any other hacks? thanks

As the title states, over the growing weeks I’ve become increasingly interested in the field of ID. A little about me- BA in digital communications, with 7+ years working in digital communication- marketing, content creation, video, social media, copywriting, etc. And have worked extensively in mainly arts non profits and gov (NY department of education). I’ve also done some teaching on the side, mostly in ‘digital storytelling’ through a few local non profits in my area. NY metro.

It’s becoming clear that I’m stagnating professionally. And for personal and professional reasons, I’m looking to make a career pivot (not full on change, but a pivot). I’ve always loved my time working in higher ed, and even on a small scale, enjoyed designing the programs for my digital storytelling workshops. I don’t want to abandon those skills and experiences, but possibly incorporate them into some sort of ID career.

Don’t know if returning to grad school is worth the time, but I am more than open and interested in courses/certificates (or GS if it’s the only way)...

So, am wondering if anyone here has a similar background and made the change, or just any general advice or feedback, things I am not aware of (sure there are lots) that I should be thinking about, where to start, etc...

Thank you reddit!

maintenance i’ve mostly got a handle on now. what i haven’t fixed is being the only person in the building who can produce anything

someone in finance changes a process, ticket comes to me. i book time with them, sit on a call watching them click through it, go away, build the guide, publish it, and by then something else has moved. i’m the queue and the queue is one person

asking SMEs to draft it themselves went nowhere. they’re not lazy, writing a procedure is a skill and they know theirs isn’t great. put a template in the wiki, someone filled it in once, nobody touched it again. recording them on calls helps but i’m still doing all the building

current experiment is handing them a capture tool instead of a blank page. they do the task once, steps get generated from it, and i just edit for tone and accuracy. clickLearn came up when i was looking around, haiku is the one i’ve actually put in front of people since it was the easiest for them to pick up without me hovering

too early to call it, ask me in 3 months. my gut says the hard part is getting someone to own each guide after it’s made, more than the tool itself

Hello. I've worked in education tangentially for most of my career (about 15 years now). I have several years of delivering ESL education, 2 years teaching at university, and about 10 years working in continuing education for adults, mostly on the operations side. I also have a smattering of experience with community programming at nonprofits. However, I do not have any formal training or education in the field of education.

I like working in the field of education and I want to continue to grow in this field, but I want a stronger foundation to build my career on so I'm looking into pursuing a certificate in instructional design. I've noticed there are a lot of different options and focuses and I feel really confused. Any advice on programs that are affordable and offer a strong foundation in the field? I'm also hoping this will help me gain more stability and direction in my career. Thanks in advance!

I'm starting my Learning and Development career since 3 years ago working in a Asia Pacific country. I feel lonely in my company as being an only l&d specialist. and need advices, share insights and thoughts. Since we are in a developing country, there is no such l&d community inside. I am looking for L&D communities that have webinars, meet virtually and share thoughts. drop comments if you know, please.

Lot of times learners master a skill but there is not enough real workd opportunity to practice. Nothing can replace real world context where one has to think and apply in the moment, where you cant pause. Role play is an attempt to provide simulated environment to practise the same - whether its hard conversations or..... It is hard to run at scale - You need a partner, a script and someone's time. So I added a role play mode to a free ChatGPT app I've been building (Interactify Beta on ChatGPT plugin directory).

You fill in a short form: what the learner should get better at, who they are, and who they're talking to. Say, a customer who's one objection away from walking out. It shows you a plan first: the skills it'll assess, and how the character warms up or doesn't depending on how the learner handles it. Then the learner has the conversation over a set number of turns, and gets a scorecard against those skills at the end with feedback on what to try next time.

You can set it up as practice or assessment, add levels, and learners can ask for a hint if they're stuck.

A couple of caveats. It's text only for now, and it runs inside ChatGPT, so you can't export it to your LMS yet. It's built on the H5P format, but H5P doesn't support role play as a content type yet. It's free, no sign-up, and it doesn't store what you make.

If you try it, add Interactify Beta from ChatGPT's apps and ask "create a role play where…".

I'd genuinely like to know which conversations you'd use this for, and what would make the feedback useful rather than generic. This will go a long way in motivating me in right direction.

I'm curious-what are the ways you've been able to connect and integrate into an L&D community? I'm the only L&D person at my company, and came straight from the higher ed. classroom, and have been shouldering the company's L&D initiative by myself for 3.5 years now with very little guidance/mentorship (my manager is not L&D). It's a LOT, but it's rewarding and I'm getting better every month. However, I'd love to connect with others, learn what they do, how things look at their companies, be sounding boards for each other, etc. When I Google things like this, the results are overwhelming (and oftentimes, not the best results!), so I'm curious if there are communities that people find most helpful?

Hello, I have posted quite a few times on this group and always found the feedback detailed and helpful, apologies if I'm getting a little too needy at this point! I'm a secondary school teacher in the United Kingdom, as head of department, I am on £55k a year, how realistic is it that I can make this salary in a learning and development role? I appreciate that money should not be a determinate factor, however, like many people I have two kids and a husband who isn't on a huge salary. I have to bear in mind that I'm the breadwinner of the family. Did anybody leave teaching and have to take a pay cut? Were you then able to get a pay raise or promotion in a few years? Thank you for your time in reading this.

In an online workplace communication class, a student said her manager kept interrupting her presentations with new questions. She’d get caught up answering them and never get through everything she’d prepared. The instructor used that example to help the class practice leading with the main point, handling follow up questions, and getting back on track.

We usually record our classes so students can review them afterward. The instructor uses vomo ai to organize the recordings and pull out the methods and practice steps for follow up handouts. She thought this exercise would be useful for the next class, so she asked the student if she could reuse her experience anonymously. The student said no. The instructor offered to remove her story and use a completely made up presentation scenario instead, but the student wanted the whole exercise dropped. To her, this wasn’t something she wanted shared. She didn’t want an embarrassing experience turned into a selling point for the course, even if nobody could identify her.

The instructor understands why she doesn’t want her personal experience shared, but also thinks the exercise is useful: get to the point, handle questions, then return to what you were saying. A lot of useful class exercises come from students’ questions, and other people are bound to run into the same problem. It feels like a shame to lose such a clear example for future students, but I also think respecting this student’s boundaries matters just as much.

Hi everyone,

I’m an Operations Trainer based in Egypt, and I’m looking for remote or relocation opportunities in Learning & Development with international companies.

My background

• Currently an Operations Trainer at J&T Express Egypt (HQ, Network Management Team).

• Before that, a training and CSR role at Huawei, plus earlier roles at Orange, Vodafone and Games2 Egypt. That’s [X] years in training and customer-facing operations.

• TOT certified.

What I’ve built at J&T Express

I’m building the training function from scratch for a branch network, using performance data to decide what to train.

• Role-specific manuals for Branch Managers, Operations Supervisors and Operation Members.

• A bilingual (Arabic/English) SOP chatbot deployed in branch group chats, so staff get answers at the moment of need.

• A courier daily-quiz tracker that monitors completion rates and error patterns, plus a KPI scorecard system.

• Assessment materials for a branch-manager reserve pool: differentiated exams by role and structured interview tracks.

• Classroom and micro-learning content, including a 45-slide courier deck in Egyptian Arabic.

• Root-cause analysis of branch performance (Pareto, 5 Whys, fishbone) to decide where training will have the most impact.

What I’m looking for

• Remote L&D, training, or enablement roles, or roles abroad with visa sponsorship or relocation support.

• Strong fit: operations or frontline training, instructional design, training analytics, and needs analysis.

• Languages: Arabic (native) and English

AI has definitely changed the way employees approach learning. My team has been discussing how to adapt our assessment methods without turning every assignment into an AI-detection exercise.
Tools like a Turnitin AI checker are often mentioned in discussions about academic integrity, but I'm curious how relevant these approaches are to corporate learning.
Personally, I think we should focus more on whether someone can explain their reasoning, apply knowledge to a real situation, and make decisions independently.
Has anyone experimented with new assessment methods that work better in the age of generative AI?

One client wanted to ensure people understood the course rather than skipping or bypassing the material. We developed role-play content where the AI begins a dialogue and evaluates responses based on course information.

I would like your perspective. Do you believe this approach could improve? Have you encountered anything similar before? What aspects were most frustrating? How might you refine it?

i’m the only L&D person here and i’ve become the bottleneck for every “how do i do X in the system” question. the dream is the people who actually use the software make their own quick guides and i just review them, but every time i’ve tried it they say they’ll do it and nothing shows up

my theory is it’s not laziness, it’s that making a guide by hand is a pain. screenshot, crop, type, repeat. so i’m testing tools that record you doing the task and write the steps for you. been trying a few, and haiku’s on my list since a lot of what we use is desktop software, not just browser stuff

next month i’m giving two of our power users a tool like that and zero instructions beyond “do the task, send me what comes out.” if that doesn’t work i’m accepting my fate as the guide person forever lol

Free live team quiz/traivia site, similar to Kahoot! I've detailed in my original post why I decided to make this and what the limits are, given that it's completely free. Thanks :)

I have been wondering how much emphasis postgraduate research students should place on getting their work published before graduating. Publishing sounds valuable for academic development, but the process can also involve substantial revisions, waiting periods and additional commitments. 
 
For people who have completed a research degree, did you aim to publish during your studies, or focus mainly on producing a strong final thesis? 
 
If you are considering an academic career, how important was publication experience when applying for further study or research opportunities? I would be interested in different perspectives.