In a recent OpenSesame webinar David Wentworth, Principal Learning Analyst at Brandon Hall Group, and Diane Haines, VP of Marketing for OpenSesame, revealed best practices on how to get started with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to curate courses for your learners. The biggest challenge with curation is that it is still an overwhelming and time consuming process. There’s no blueprint on best (or worst) practices for curating data in the best and most meaningful manner.
Common challenges
Wentworth shares some interesting statistics to further the point on how content curation is impacting L&D:
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- 35% of companies from Brandon Hall Group say they have effectively defined the learning content required to satisfy each of their critical competencies (able to map the content they need in their organization for specific training).
- 52% of companies say their catalog of elearning courses need significant or total improvements to become easy to navigate and work on multiple devices.
- In a recent survey conducted by Brandon Hall Group, they had these findings: 50% say not enough content, 36.9% say too much old content, 35.1% say too difficult to integrate/incorporate, 31.3% say low-quality content, 29.1% say no curation, 27.6% say difficult to search, 20.1% say not enough content overall.
Remedying the situation
Haines discusses several suggestions on how to get started using data about your learners to curate. Start by organizing content libraries and look at them from different perspectives; provider, user and department. By doing this, it helps break down the process and naturally organizes the curation process. Along with that, it is critical to survey your user population to see what they think about the courses, what platform they prefer to take them on (i.e laptop, mobile, desktop) and encourage an ongoing dialogue with your learners. Open discussion allows your employees to give feedback you may not hear in surveys or other more formal channels.
AI in elearning
First off, we should probably give a brief definition of what AI is. Simply put, it’s computers taking on human behavior. Uber is a great example of this, where they use historical data to compute ETA’s, optimal pickup spots and fares. With this example it’s easy to see how AI can be leveraged for elearning. Here are a few more examples:
- Air Methods, a medivac helicopter company, uses AI to adapt employee training in real time based on employees pace and answering accuracy.
- IBM uses AI internally for new employees and Just-in-Time (JIT) training. Say a new employee at IBM is hosting their first meeting with a team after being there just a few weeks. Their JIT training will send the employee an email asking if they would like a quick course on how to run a meeting at IBM a day before the set meeting.
How OpenSesame Uses AI
OpenSesame Smart Lists leverage machine learning for content curation. It’s built specifically to help you create lists of courses on one or multiple training topics specific to your organization. Smart Lists use a powerful algorithm that takes into account your prior course selections, course completions, and learner ratings, combined with an intuitive list builder to recommend courses that fit your training needs. For more information on how OpenSesame can save you time and money by curating the right courses for your organization, contact us at info@opensesame.com today.
You can watch the full webinar “Machines as Curators” on-demand here
We hope you find this information useful and valuable to your organization.
About the author: Parker Abena, a summer marketing intern at OpenSesame, is a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He looks forward to moving out to PNW after school.