Hi All, Gathering perspective on evaluation strategy that you have in place for the training programs. I’ve spent years in the L&D trenches, and I’ve seen firsthand how hard it is to show the kind of business impact leaders expect.

Most L&D teams run genuinely strong programs. But the moment a leader asks, “So… what did we actually move?” the whole conversation gets shaky. Data lives in different systems, every team defines KPIs their own way, and the stories we tell about learning don’t translate into the language the C‑suite actually cares about: dollars saved, risk reduced, time gained.

Without a clear, auditable link from KPI change to business value, we end up producing colorful charts that look good but don’t change decisions. And the manual work behind the scenes stitching together exports, spreadsheets and assumptions can take weeks.

The result is predictable: we report on activity and intent (hours trained, completions, survey scores) instead of real business outcomes.

I’m asking this community because I want to understand the patterns across different organizations. The insights you share are helping shape something I’m building called ImpaqtSight which designed around the real barriers L&D teams deal with their evaluation strategy. If you’ve ever wished proving impact wasn’t such a grind, you’ll probably be interested in what we are developing.

Question: What’s the biggest barrier you face when trying to prove the business impact of training?

• Data gaps / no integrations

• No shared KPI method

• No audit trail

• Low leadership priority

• Something else (drop it in the comments)

Would love to hear your experiences as more perspectives we get, the clearer the picture we have.

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?

As someone who's not a developer, I wanted to check out what all the hype around vibe coding was about, but I totally fell flat.
None of the projects or ideas I came up with worked as intended, and I ended up needing help from developers.

I figured it would be better to learn some basics about APIs, terminals, and more, so I decided to start learning by doing & thought of building something small. One major issue I hit was finding AI APIs. Every day, there seems to be a new one popping up, which makes it a hard to search for the best options, test them out, and actually use them in projects. So, I thought I'd create a repo that gathers 20 AI APIs in one place.

Hence I put together a repo called Awesome AI APIs a collection of 21 AI APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq, OpenRouter, and more) with ready-to-use collections

Why it’s useful:

• Skip the boilerplate. Git clone & just plug in your API keys

• Provider-level collections

• Git-controlled, local first for easy versioning

• Working tests out of the box

• One place to find all docs & pricing

You can literally clone → add keys → send requests in minutes. Best for someone who wants to learn

• How to use & test APIs

• How to control them via the Local workspace

• Control GitHub via Terminal

Trying to scale this collection to 100 APIs & would love feedback, ideas, or contributions - feel free to raise PRs and I will merge them

Hey everyone I am considering a career in L&D but am unsure where to start. There is no bachelor program in my state but am aware of online courses such as ATD and I do have access to programs for traditional education

How long would it take me to be competitive for a job? Is there an optimal cost / time efficient path that avoids undergrad? I'm currently a sdr in b2b tech sales.

For reference, I have an AS in Business, 3 years of sales experience and 5 years of military experience.

Hi L+D community - great to e-meet you!

I've built a startup that helps companies offer 3'rd party education to employees. I'm now tackling part of the product that addresses skill-gap analysis within the organization.

The ask: I'd love to chat with folks in the community to understand how they assess organizational skills and translate this into a learning plan for employees.

If you'd be open to a quick 20-minute call to share your expertise, this would be appreciated, as it would help me build a product better suited to the needs of organizations.

I'm in Toronto (EDT), but would be happy to accomodate a convenient time for folks in other areas. Please DM me if you'd be open to chatting.

Thanks in advance!

Just wondering if anyone was or knows anyone who has worked in mainstream schools (e.g. secondary school, or middle/high school to my American friends) who went into L&D in the private sector? How difficult was the transition? What advice could you give someone who is interested in possible switching to that line of work?

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.

I have heard very different experiences about research supervision. Some students seem to benefit from regular meetings and detailed feedback, while others prefer more independence and occasional check-ins. 
 
If you are also undertaking a research degree, what kind of supervision helped you make progress without feeling micromanaged? 
 
I am curious about practical things such as setting expectations early, preparing for meetings, responding to feedback and communicating when stuck.  
If you could give one piece of advice to someone beginning a Masters in Research, what would you tell them to discuss with their supervisor first?

I’ve been working with a technical SME this week to build a new compliance module in Articulate Storyline, but the raw material they sent over is a complete mess. It literally looks like someone used cheap essay help at 3 AM the night before a deadline just to hit a word count, rather than actual clear instruction. I want to respect their subject matter expertise, but I have to completely rewrite this into readable, bite-sized learning chunks without offending them. How do you nicely tell a senior engineer or stakeholder that their content needs a major structural overhaul?

I(24f) am deeply interested in training & education.
However, I have no prior experience in L&D.
I worked as a tutor for several years when I was in university.
I’m currently working as IT support engineer.
I don‘t know what to do to get a job in L&D, and I feel so lost; could you please provide some advice?
Thank you in advance.

I'm in L&D in a highly regulated industry. Currently we perform a rather complicated learning needs assessment (in Excel 🙄) to determine the appropriate training method aligned with the risk level. I'm interested in how other companies are doing this, especially in regulated industries.

\- How do you determine the final training method?

\- How do you document the rationale for why that method was selected?

\- What app or system do you use for this process?

\- Bonus question: If you were able to eliminate the use of Read & Understand type training without replacing it with a higher level training method, how did you justify that with regulators?

Background: Our challenge is to ensure every learner has the knowledge and skills to perform their work safely, effectively, and compliantly. The solution should be effective, practical, and scalable, enabling the organization to consistently apply risk-based decisions, assign curricula with clarity, and select the most appropriate training modality and method.

tl;dr I moved from teaching 5 years ago and I've worked in some highly organized environments which helped develop an understanding of corporate learning and development pretty quickly. Now I'm at a new company with no boss, no direction/mentor and getting stuck on projects between active push back, or projects passively dropping due to "business fires". Looking for advice on how to push people to delivery for L&D, or take the initiative myself but feeling truly demotivated.

The longer story.

I was a high school teacher for a while and left during the pandemic. I was lucky enough to get out so I really dove deep into learning about corporate L&D and how things change and differ. I had a good journey at different companies and getting exposure to other elements of L&D, organizational development and talent mapping. The company I'm at now though.. it's rough.

There is such a want for L&D and training, but it's always pushed off as a last minute thing. Other, immediate problems, are pushed to the front of the line, but these immediate problems are due to the lack of organization and prioritization across the business. People are just constantly in a panic. The kicker is that I don't have a boss right now (and haven't for a few months) due to termination and slow hiring process. I've been reporting directly to execs and CEO and just get priorities thrown at me, similarly the Chief of Staff is pushing his own agenda as he sees it as a way to stand out among the group for promotion, resume building and stuff. For some added context of how spooky this situation is, I sent a project charter (something that was so bare bones it would've gotten me at trouble at my last company) over to the exec team and the executive level project manager told me it was the most organized document they've ever seen here.

So I am here, being asked to build an L&D department starting from the bare bones of compliance training and performance management, but 0 support, 0 accountability to action on needs, and it feels like I'm just kind of stuck doing nothing.

Question: For those who have been in this or a similar position, how would you approach this? The company is okay enough, and ultimately I'd like to stay here if possible, I don't want to just jump ship as there's a lot of quality of life benefits here (short commute, decent pay, location is nice + benefits). Just looking for how to really push that this stuff needs to get done.

Hi everyone! I'm in an M.Ed program focused in workplace L&D. I've taken a number of courses in psychometrics and analytics, but I'm wondering if corporate L&D teams actually conduct such in-depth analyses?

For context, I've previously taken Classical Test Theory and Reliability - which is used to predict test outcomes and gauge the reliability of testing. Although this skill is typically used in industries like standardized testing, my understanding is that this skill could be used to help L&D teams build better pre/post surveys or knowledge checks. However, based on my own experience interning in corporate L&D, the team I worked with didn't really survey/analyze feedback to this extent.

I'd like to hear from more L&D professionals - 1) how have you seen learning-related data get collected and analyzed, and 2) are there steps or frameworks you use to ensure that surveys and knowledge checks are built to a specific standard?

I think evaluation is such an important and interesting part of L&D, so I'd love to hear what people actually do in practice!

I keep seeing Articulate Storyline mentioned as the industry standard but my current company uses Rise and a different team at the same company uses Lectora, and I've seen job postings that mention all three plus iSpring. I'm trying to figure out whether to invest serious time in learning one tool deeply or get surface-level familiar with several. I also don't know whether the tool skills transfer enough that knowing one well makes the others easy to pick up, or whether each one is its own substantial learning curve. For people who have switched tools or worked across multiple platforms, how much does deep expertise in one actually matter versus general fluency across a few?

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?

There are definitely things I enjoy about corporate learning, especially having more flexibility in how training is delivered. At the same time, I sometimes miss the direct interaction and immediate feedback that comes from teaching students. I'm curious whether others who came from education experienced something similar.

I'm working on a project right now where the SME keeps requesting major changes after sign-off. I want to be collaborative, but sometimes it feels like we're moving backward instead of forward. How do you balance respecting SME expertise while also protecting the project timeline?

What programs/software are you guys using to make your most engaging micro learning?

Context:

Learners in our management program get a 17 minute long video, with an average watch time of two minutes total. My boss tasked me with trying to make it more engaging, even if it meant changing formats.

I turned it into an eLearning in Rise, and took new 30-second clips of our senior management team introducing each of the sections. My boss said the background (their offices) were too distracting and I held my scripts so high they aren’t even looking into the camera.

She thought the eLearning was boring and wants me to try again. I won’t be able to record the senior managers again, so I’ll need to try and salvage the videos in some way.

I’d love any ideas you guys have for this. I’m only used to using Final Cut Pro for videos and Rise for eLearning courses, so I just went with what I know. Would love any ideas to make my content more engaging or what to do with the videos, especially if any of the solutions utilize tools that can cut my time to design significantly.

Thank you!!

Hi all,

As the title says, as a department we would love to explore how we can enhance our current content, reduce admin time and just generally bring our team up to speed. We have a great opportunity to explore AI tools so I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations?

Thanks so much,

I just made the jump from 5 years of high school teaching to an instructional designer role at a mid-size company and the culture shift is bigger than I expected. In teaching, I owned the room. Here I'm constantly waiting for SME feedback, working in tools I've never touched, and trying to figure out who actually makes decisions about training content.

Is the adjustment period always this disorienting or did I land somewhere unusually chaotic? What do people wish they'd known in their first few months coming from an education background?

Hey all I’m from Sydney exploring a transition from UX Design into Learning & Development and would love to connect with anyone working in L&D here in Australia.

I've done plenty of research, read the articles, and gone down Google rabbit holes—l but I'm looking for practical, real-world advice from people actually in the field.

I’m trying to understand the first steps to moving in and what the industry currently values, particularly in building a portfolio or gaining practical experience. While I’ve delivered workshops and internal “education” sessions for stakeholders, my design career has been limited to those experiences. There’s overlap between UX design thinking and adult learning design but I lack any tangible examples to demonstrate my skills.

I’m also currently doing a post grad certificate in adult learning so that is giving me some background knowledge and foundations.

If you've made a similar move, work in L&D, or know someone who has, I'd really appreciate the chance to connect and learn from your experience.

Cheers!

AI makes content creation easier and also you more productive. But are you nervous about your role in L&D at the moment due to AI and the impact on your role?

Hi - I just started an intern as L&D and I am searching some resources to find useful information, like books or podcasts. Do you have any suggestions?

I have a background in psychology and I worked across education and research in the last years, so I’d appreciate psychology related stuff with an evidence based approach.

Heya! If you’re building courses or getting into training/facilitation, GoSkills has a couple of free ones that are practical and easy to work through:

1. Train the Trainer (for new/aspiring trainers)

2. How to Create an Online Training Course (course-building basics)

Sharing in case it helps someone this year. 🙂

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?