“eLearning has a problem, and it’s not AI.” — from linkedin.com by Dr. Heidi Kirby
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Learning as a Learning Professional: Unlock Hidden Opportunities — from learningguild.com by Will Thalheimer
As learning professionals, we help others grow—but how well are we developing ourselves? And does it really matter? Absolutely! In this article, I’ll explore why mastering the art of learning is crucial for our success and share strategies that go beyond traditional professional development.
Why learning matters for us
We need to be strong learners because our work demands broad expertise. We must understand the learning sciences, instructional design, project management, technology, evaluation, organizational dynamics, and business strategy. We also need to navigate a sea of learning frameworks, approaches, and models.
Also from learningguild.com, see:
Microlearning: The Key to Capturing Modern Learners’ Attention — by Sergiy Movchan
This shift in how we consume and process information is challenging traditional learning methods, which are finding it increasingly difficult to keep learners’ attention.
Microlearning is a bridge to the attention of today’s learners, delivering complex topics in short, manageable pieces. Whether it’s a five-minute video, a quick quiz, or a short lesson, microlearning makes it easier for students to stay engaged. Microlearning often holds learners’ attention better and for longer compared to standard learning methods.
Typical low completion rates clearly show the need for innovative approaches to content delivery and student engagement. Microlearning offers the answer to this need.
Cultivating Creativity as an L&D Professional — by Katie Belle (Curry) Nelson
Instructional designers and learning professionals are creative by nature. We are called upon to be creative with technology like Articulate, Camtasia, or Captivate. More often than we would like, organizations, red tape, and clients require us to be creative with timelines and budgets. Being creative is a core qualification and requirement of our work. So, what do we do when we feel like the creative river has run to a trickle or dried up entirely?
Frontline Justice — from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain
Campaign seeks to create training standards and certification for a new type of legal job.
Democratizing Legal Help
Most Americans struggle with a legal problem at some point, whether it’s a dispute with a landlord or a challenge accessing public benefits. Yet low-income people typically can’t afford a lawyer, and more than 90% fail to get enough help with their civil legal problems.
To expand access to high-quality legal assistance, the nonprofit Frontline Justice is leading a campaign to develop a new type of job role—frontline legal helpers. As part of that effort, a recently launched task force is working on standards and credentialing for training these workers.
The Big Idea: Community justice workers won’t be lawyers. In fact, the campaign’s leaders say lawyer-only solutions don’t scale, and that focusing on lawyers can exclude people who are closest to the problems of unmet legal needs.
Also relevant/see:
Market scan: What’s possible in the current skills validation ecosystem? — from eddesignlab.org
Education Design Lab provides an overview of emerging practices + tools in this 2025 Skills Validation Market Scan.
Employers and opportunity seekers are excited about the possibilities of a skills-based ecosystem, but this new process for codifying a person’s experiences and abilities into skills requires one significant, and missing, piece: Trust. Employers need to trust that the credentials they receive from opportunity seekers are valid representations of their skills. Jobseekers need to trust that their digital credentials are safe, accurate, and will lead to employment and advancement.
Our hypothesis
We posit that the trust needed for the validation of skills to be brought into a meaningful reality is established through a network of skills validation methods and opportunities. We also recognize that the routes through which an individual can demonstrate skills are as varied as the individuals themselves. Therefore, in order to equitably create a skills-based employment ecosystem, the routes by which skills are validated must be held together with common standards and language, but flexible enough to accommodate a multitude of validation practices.
“Book Review: Designing Accessible Learning Content” [Bozarth] + other items from The Learning Guild
Book Review: Designing Accessible Learning Content — from learningguild.com by Jane Bozarth
What a great treat to receive a review copy of Susi Miller’s new book! This updated edition of her wonderful Designing Accessible Learning Content: A Practical Guide to Applying Best Practice Accessibility Standards to L&D Resources (2nd edition) is a must-have for anyone trying to make sense of accessibility standards. Updates in this new version include a deep dive into the revised WCAG 2.2 standards, affordances of and concerns about the evolution of AI, and information about the new European Accessibility Act, which puts pressure on commercial endeavors as well as public sector entities to ensure good accessibility practices.
- Not All Learners Love Tech: 4 Ways to Create More Inclusive eLearning — from learningguild.com by Katie Belle (Curry) Nelson
- 5 Reasons to Make Professional Development a Priority. — from learningguild.com by Dr. Barb Lesniak
A Practical Framework for Microlearning Success: A Guide for Learning Leaders — from learningguild.com by Robyn A. Defelice
Gaining insight from the framework
Goals or Measurable Outcomes
- Key question: What business results do you expect from your microlearning strategy?
- Why it’s valuable: Clear, measurable outcomes create a foundation for alignment and accountability.
Purpose
- Key question: Why does this microlearning initiative exist?
- Why it’s valuable: L&D needs to know if they are solving a specific problem, supporting a broader strategy, or providing foundational knowledge.
Potential
- Key question: What opportunities exist if the purpose is actualized?
- Why it’s valuable: This helps to put into focus the measurable outcomes or if it is a true need for L&D to address.
Evaluation
- Key question: How will you measure success?
- Why it’s valuable: Defining metrics that track learner progress and link to business impact ensures that the design of these pieces is part of the overall solution and implementation plan.
…and more
By focusing on short-term wins, auditing for gaps, and planning strategically, L&D leaders can create initiatives that deliver meaningful, sustained results.