surviving

The TalentLMS 2026 Annual L&D Benchmark Report — from talentlms.com
From year-over-year training benchmarks to learner–leader gaps, see the data that defines the new era of learning. To turn insight into action, the report lays out 10 evidence-backed interventions to hardwire development. Plus, lift the lid on Learning Debt: What it is and how to spot it.

Executive summary
The skills economy is being rewritten in real time. AI is reshaping what people need to know, do, and deliver, faster than organizational structures can adapt. The result is a workplace caught between acceleration and inertia. Companies are racing to reskill for an AI-driven future while relying on structures built for yesterday’s world.

This TalentLMS 2026 L&D Benchmark Report captures that inflection point. Based on data collected through 2025, and compared with earlier findings from 2022 to 2024, it explores how learning is evolving and what’s holding it back.

Our research integrates two vantage points: HR leaders overseeing learning initiatives and employees receiving formal training. Together, they offer a dual perspective on how learning is managed and how it’s experienced.

The analysis also draws on insights from external research and leading L&D practitioners, anchoring the report in both evidence and practice.

Combined, the findings point to a structural fault line: Learning is expanding in scope but contracting in space. Organizations are multiplying programs, tools, and ambitions, yet the conditions for learning — time, focus, and cognitive bandwidth — keep shrinking.

The data from this report underscores this critical conflict: According to half of the surveyed employees and learning leaders, high workloads leave little room for training, even when it’s needed.

Employees work inside a permanent sprint, where attention is fragmented and reflection is sidelined. The space for learning is collapsing under the weight of doing. Sixty-five percent of employees say performance expectations have risen this year, yet lack of time remains the biggest barrier to learning.

The numbers confirm what employees and learning leaders both feel: Technology can advance overnight. But people and cultures can’t.

What does journalism education look like when AI is starting to do entry-level work? [Caplan]

On 04/25/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, ethics, faculty/staff, higher education, ideas, journalism, morals/values, staying relevant, surviving, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Jeremy Caplan’s post on LinkedIn:

Or see Jeremy’s post on substack — i.e., from wondertools.substack.com.

More than a quarter of private colleges are at risk of closing, new projection shows [Marcus]

On 04/14/2026, in 21st century, business side of he, change, colleges, faculty/staff, funding / grants, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, parents/guardians, student-related, surviving, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

More than a quarter of private colleges are at risk of closing, new projection shows — from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
As one Vermont college finishes its last semester, an estimated 442 others may be in trouble

A new estimate projects that 442 of the nation’s 1,700 private, nonprofit four-year colleges and universities, with a combined 670,000 students, are at risk of closing or having to merge within the next 10 years.

More than 120 institutions are at the very highest risk, according to the forecast, by Huron Consulting Group, which analyzed enrollment trends, tuition revenue, assets, debt, cash on hand and other measures. Many are, like Sterling, small and rural.

“We have too many seats. We have too many classrooms,” said Peter Stokes, a managing director at Huron. “So over the coming five to 10 years, this shakeout is going to take place.”

The AI-based learning platform of the future will be constantly doing this

On 03/24/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, education technology, emerging technologies, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, personalized/customized learning, platforms, reinvent, skills, society, student-related, surviving, tools, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I have been proposing that the AI-based learning platform of the future will be constantly doing this — every single day. It will know what the in-demand skills are — at any given moment in time. It will then be able to direct you to resources that will help you gain those skills. Though in my vision, the system is querying actual/open job descriptions, not analyzing learning data from enterprise learners. Perhaps I should add that to the vision.

Coursera’s Job Skills Report 2026: Top skills for your students — from coursera.org

The Job Skills Report 2026 analyzes learning data from more than 6 million enterprise learners to identify the future job skills organizations need most. It’s designed for HR and L&D leaders; data, IT, and software & product development leaders; higher education administrators; and government agencies seeking actionable insights on workforce skills trends and AI-driven transformation.
…
Drawing on data from 6 million enterprise learners across nearly 7,000 organizations, the Job Skills Report 2026 guides you through the skills reshaping the global economy. This year’s analysis spans Data, IT, and Software & Product Development—and the Generative AI skills becoming essential for every role.

Faster, thinner: Colleges are swiftly trimming a B.A. degree to three years [Marcus]

On 03/18/2026, in 21st century, change, changing business models, colleges, cost of getting a degree, higher education, learning ecosystem, parents/guardians, reinvent, staying relevant, surviving, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Faster, thinner: Colleges are swiftly trimming a B.A. degree to three years — from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
Needing to fill seats and facing demands for faster routes to jobs, more colleges are shortening degree programs

That’s an option being made available by colleges and universities with astonishing speed — especially in the notoriously slow-moving world of higher education: an entirely new kind of bachelor’s degree muscling into the space between the traditional four-year version and the two-year associate degree. Three-year degrees have existed, but they simply jammed those 120 credits into fewer semesters.

At least one school, Ensign College in Utah, will convert all of its bachelor’s degrees into the new, reduced-credit, three-year kind, it announced in February. Nearly 60 other universities and colleges are planning, considering or have already launched them in some disciplines. States including Indiana have required or are considering requiring their public universities to add reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees. Even graduate and professional schools are being pressed to shorten the duration of degrees.

Even more than employers, consumers have lost patience with the time and expense it takes to get a four-year bachelor’s degree, according to the advocates and politicians pushing schools to offer them. More than half of students who start down the conventional four-year path today take even longer than four years, according to the Department of Education.

Also from Jon Marcus, see:

Behind ideological attacks on higher ed, surprising bipartisan reforms are happening— from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
Long sought by both the right and left, some changes could protect consumers and lower costs

2026 Survey of College and University Presidents — from insidehighered.com, Liaison, & Jenzabar
Download and explore exclusive insights from the 2026 Survey of College and University Presidents to see how these campus leaders are responding to financial volatility, political interference, rapid advances in AI, and where they believe the biggest risks and opportunities lie as they look toward 2030.

In this year’s survey, presidents share perspectives on:

How presidents assess the second Trump administration’s impact on higher education
Which emerging or evolving educational models they plan to add or expand in the coming years
How effective they believe higher education has been in shaping national conversations arout AI
The issues presidents expect will have the greatest impact on higher education by 2030

Here is Brandon’s post out on linkedin:

Something Big is Happening [Shumer] + reflections on it by the BIG Questions Institute

On 02/18/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, corporate / business world, creativity, curriculum, dangers of the status quo, design, disruption, education, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, graphics, health, K-12 related, law schools, leadership, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, lifelong learning, pace of change, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, reinvent, skills, society, sociology, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, teachers, trends, United States, writing, youth, by Daniel Christian

Something Big Is Happening — from shumer.dev by Matt Shumer; see below from the BIG Questions Institute, where I got this article from

I’ve spent six years building an AI startup and investing in the space. I live in this world. And I’m writing this for the people in my life who don’t… my family, my friends, the people I care about who keep asking me “so what’s the deal with AI?” and getting an answer that doesn’t do justice to what’s actually happening. I keep giving them the polite version. The cocktail-party version. Because the honest version sounds like I’ve lost my mind. And for a while, I told myself that was a good enough reason to keep what’s truly happening to myself. But the gap between what I’ve been saying and what is actually happening has gotten far too big. The people I care about deserve to hear what is coming, even if it sounds crazy.

…
They’ve now done it. And they’re moving on to everything else.

The experience that tech workers have had over the past year, of watching AI go from “helpful tool” to “does my job better than I do”, is the experience everyone else is about to have. Law, finance, medicine, accounting, consulting, writing, design, analysis, customer service. Not in ten years. The people building these systems say one to five years. Some say less. And given what I’ve seen in just the last couple of months, I think “less” is more likely.
…

The models available today are unrecognizable from what existed even six months ago. The debate about whether AI is “really getting better” or “hitting a wall” — which has been going on for over a year — is over. It’s done. Anyone still making that argument either hasn’t used the current models, has an incentive to downplay what’s happening, or is evaluating based on an experience from 2024 that is no longer relevant. I don’t say that to be dismissive. I say it because the gap between public perception and current reality is now enormous, and that gap is dangerous… because it’s preventing people from preparing.

What “Something Big Is Happening” Means for Schools — from/by the BIG Questions Institute
Matt Shumer’s newsletter post Something Big is Happening has been read over 80 million times within the week when it was published, on February 9.
…
Still, it’s worth reading Shumer’s post. Given the claims and warnings in Something Big Is Happening (and countless other articles), how would you truly, honestly respond to these questions:

What will the purpose of school be in 5 years?
What are we doing now that we must leave behind right away?
What can we leave behind gradually?
What does rigor look like in this AI-powered world?
Does our strategy look like making adjustments at the margins or are we preparing our students for a fundamental shift?
What is our definition of success? How do the the implications of AI and jobs (and other important forces, from geopolitical shifts and climate change, to mental health needs and shifting generational values) impact the outcomes we prioritize? What is the story of success we want to pass on to our students and wider community?

Axios CEO Jim VandeHei’s note to his kids: Blunt AI talk [VandeHei]

On 02/04/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, game-changing environment, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Jim VandeHei’s note to his kids: Blunt AI talk — from axios.com by CEO Jim VandeHei
Axios CEO Jim VandeHei wrote this note to his wife, Autumn, and their three kids. She suggested sharing it more broadly since so many families are wrestling with how to think and talk about AI. So here it is …

Dear Family:
I want to put to words what I’m hearing, seeing, thinking and writing about AI.

Simply put, I’m now certain it will upend your work and life in ways more profound than the internet or possibly electricity. This will hit in months, not years.
The changes will be fast, wide, radical, disorienting and scary. No one will avoid its reach.

I’m not trying to frighten you. And I know your opinions range from wonderment to worry. That’s natural and OK. Our species isn’t wired for change of this speed or scale.

My conversations with the CEOs and builders of these LLMs, as well as my own deep experimentation with AI, have shaken and stirred me in ways I never imagined.

All of you must figure out how to master AI for any specific job or internship you hold or take. You’d be jeopardizing your future careers by not figuring out how to use AI to amplify and improve your work. You’d be wise to replace social media scrolling with LLM testing.

Be the very best at using AI for your gig.

…more here.

Also see:

Also relevant/see:

FutureFit AI — helping build reskilling, demand-driven, employment, sector-based, and future-fit pathways, powered by AI

On 01/29/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, career development, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, skills, society, staying relevant, surviving, tools, training / L&D, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

FutureFit AI — helping build reskilling, demand-driven, employment, sector-based, and future-fit pathways, powered by AI
.

The above item was from Paul Fain’s recent posting, which includes the following excerpt:

The platform is powered by FutureFit AI, which is contributing the skills-matching infrastructure and navigation layer. Jobseekers get personalized recommendations for best-fit job roles as well as education and training options—including internships—that can help them break into specific careers. The project also includes a focus on providing support students need to complete their training, including scholarships and help with childcare and transportation.

Rebuilding The First Rung Of The Opportunity Ladder [Manno]

On 01/04/2026, in apprenticeships, business, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, internships, student-related, surviving, trends, United States, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Rebuilding The First Rung Of The Opportunity Ladder — from forbes.com by Bruno V. Manno

Two-thirds of employers say most new hires are not fully prepared for their roles, citing “experience,” not technical skill, as the greatest shortfall. At the same time, 61% of companies have raised their experience requirements.

As a result, many so-called entry-level roles now demand two to five years of prior work experience. The first rung of the career ladder has been pulled even farther out of reach for new job seekers. A portfolio—or full-spectrum—model of work-based learning is one promising way to rebuild that rung.

Experience has become what Deloitte calls “the new currency of employability.” But the places where young people once earned that currency are disappearing.

Higher education faces ‘deteriorating’ 2026 outlook, Fitch says — from highereddive.com by Laura Spitalniak
A shrinking pipeline of students, uncertainty about state and federal support, and rising expenses could all hurt college finances, according to analysts.

Dive Brief:

Fitch Ratings on Thursday issued a “deteriorating” outlook for the higher education sector in 2026, continuing the gloomy prediction the agency issued for 2025.
Analysts based their forecast on a shrinking prospective student base, “rising uncertainty related to state and federal support, continued expense escalation and shifting economic conditions.”
With its report, Fitch joins Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings in predicting a grim year for higher ed — Moody’s for the sector overall and S&P for nonprofit colleges specifically.

Yale expects layoffs as leaders brace for $300M in endowment taxes — from highereddive.com by Ben Unglesbee
The Ivy League institution’s tax bill starting next year will be higher than what it spends on student aid, university officials said.

Dive Brief:

Yale University is bracing for layoffs as it prepares to pay the government hundreds of millions of dollars in endowment income taxes.
In a public message, senior leaders at the Ivy League institution said that Yale’s schools plan to take steps such as delaying hiring and reducing travel spending to save money. But they warned workforce cuts were on the horizon.
“Layoffs may be necessary” in some units where cutting open positions and other reductions are insufficient, the university officials said. They expect to complete any downsizing by the end of 2026 barring “additional significant financial changes.”

Education Department adds ‘lower earnings’ warning to FAFSA — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz
The agency will warn students when they’ve indicated interest in a college whose graduates have relatively low incomes.

The U.S. Department of Education has launched a new disclosure feature that warns students who fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid if they’re interested in colleges whose graduates have relatively low earnings, the agency said Monday.

“Families deserve a clearer picture of how postsecondary education connects to real-world earnings, and this new indicator will provide that transparency,” U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a Monday statement. “Not only will this new FAFSA feature make public earnings data more accessible, but it will empower prospective students to make data-driven decisions before they are saddled with debt.”

Also from highereddive.com, see:

College costs grew 3.6% in fiscal 2025, HEPI shows
Faculty salaries rose 4.3%, the highest recorded rate since the Higher Education Price Index began in 1998.
Martin University to ‘pause’ operations at the end of the month
The board of the private Indianapolis university is working to find a path toward economic viability, it said in a Tuesday press release.
Willamette University and Pacific University seek to merge
The two private nonprofits in Oregon said Thursday that they intend to create “the University of the Northwest,” with one state official voicing support.
University of Nebraska regents approve cutting 4 programs at flagship
The university’s governing board voted in favor of the plan despite sustained faculty objections over the eliminations and the process for determining them.

Caring for Patients for 26 Years—and Still Not a Nurse — from workshift.org/ by Colleen Connolly

Arnett’s experience spending decades in a job she intended as a first step is common among CNAs, medical assistants, and other entry-level healthcare workers, many of them women of color from low-income backgrounds. Amid a nationwide nursing shortage, elevating those workers seems like an obvious solution, but the path from CNA to nurse isn’t so much a ladder as it is a huge leap.

And obstacle after obstacle is strewn in the way. The high cost of nursing school, lengthy prerequisite requirements, rigid schedules, and unpaid clinical hours make it difficult for many CNAs to advance in their careers, despite their willingness and ability and the dire need of healthcare facilities.

While there are no national statistics about the number of entry-level healthcare workers who move on to higher-paid positions, a study of federal grants for CNA training showed that only 3% of those who completed the training went on to pursue further education to become an LPN or RN. Only 1% obtained an associate degree or above. A similar study in California showed that 22% of people who completed CNA certificate programs at community colleges went on to get a higher-level educational credential in health, but only 13% became registered nurses within six years.

That reality perpetuates chronic shortages in nursing, and it also keeps hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers locked below a living wage, often for decades.

Celebrating International Day of Persons with Disabilities [Bersin]

On 12/03/2025, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), business, career development, corporate / business world, global / globalization, neurodivergent/special needs, skills, society, sociology, surviving, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Celebrating International Day of Persons with Disabilities — from joshbersin.com by Josh Bersin

Today I want to celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, an important day that recognizes the needs of millions of people. My perspective, as a professional entering my later years, is that many of us are likely to have disabilities over time, so the more we understand the diversity of disabilities the better for everyone.

First, let me point out that this is a massive population. The US Department of Labor and Census estimates that 11-13% of the working age population has some form of disability (more on what that means below), yet only 5-6% of workers. This points out that the employment ratio (percent of people with jobs) is far lower. People with disabilities are one-third as likely to have a job, which is quite a disparity and loss of economic potential.

Second, people with disabilities suffer a 15% lower average wage.

Josh linked to the item below:

Celebrating International Day of persons with disabilities
International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) is a UN day that is celebrated every year on 3 December.

The day is about promoting the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities at every level of society and development, and to raise awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of political, social, economic, and cultural life. WHO joins the UN in observing this day each year, reinforcing the importance of securing the rights of people with disabilities, so they can participate fully, equally and effectively in society with others, and face no barriers in all aspects of their lives.

At its headquarters in Geneva, WHO organizes an annual IDPD event to educate the public, raise awareness, advocate for political will and resources, and celebrate WHO’s achievements. In 2022, the WHO launched the Global Report on health equity for persons with disabilities. This report sets forth the approaches and actions that countries can take to address the health inequities that persons with disabilities experience.

From DSC:
I just want to add that one of our daughters has some special needs. So Josh’s posting caught my eye. He’s right to point out these things. You and I will likely have a period of disability in our lives. It’s not just relevant for “other people.” (And by the way…in the learning world, practicing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is good for everyone!)

People with disabilities face enormous challenges that neurotypical people never have to deal with. They face unfair wage situations and a lack of opportunities. Our family has experienced — and continues to experience — this firsthand.

So thanks Josh for your posting here.

“This isn’t a cheating crisis. It’s an identify crisis [for higher education].” + numerous other items re: AI in our LE’s

On 11/05/2025, in active learning, apprenticeships, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business side of he, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, dangers of the status quo, education technology, emerging technologies, face-to-face, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, liberal arts, pedagogy, reinvent, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, trends, UK, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

…the above posting links to:

Higher Ed Is Sleepwalking Toward Obsolescence— And AI Won’t Be the Cause, Just the Accelerant — from substack.com by Steven Mintz
AI Has Exposed Higher Ed’s Hollow Core — The University Must Reinvent Itself or Fade

It begins with a basic reversal of mindset: Stop treating AI as a threat to be policed. Start treating it as the accelerant that finally forces us to build the education we should have created decades ago.

A serious institutional response would demand — at minimum — six structural commitments:

Make high-intensity human learning the norm. …
Put active learning at the center, not the margins. …
Replace content transmission with a focus on process. …
Mainstream high-impact practices — stop hoarding them for honors students. …
Redesign assessment to make learning undeniable. …

And above all: Instructional design can no longer be a private hobby.

Teaching with AI: From Prohibition to Partnership for Critical Thinking — from facultyfocus.com by Michael Kiener, PhD, CRC

How to Integrate AI Developmentally into Your Courses

Lower-Level Courses: Focus on building foundational skills, which includes guided instruction on how to use AI responsibly. This moves the strategy beyond mere prohibition.
Mid-Level Courses: Use AI as a scaffold where faculty provide specific guidelines on when and how to use the tool, preparing students for greater independence.
Upper-Level/Graduate Courses: Empower students to evaluate AI’s role in their learning. This enables them to become self-regulated learners who make informed decisions about their tools.
Balanced Approach: Make decisions about AI use based on the content being learned and students’ developmental needs.

Now that you have a framework for how to conceptualize including AI into your courses here are a few ideas on scaffolding AI to allow students to practice using technology and develop cognitive skills.

80 per cent of young people in the UK are using AI for their schoolwork — from aipioneers.org by Graham Attwell

What was encouraging, though, is that students aren’t just passively accepting this new reality. They are actively asking for help. Almost half want their teachers to help them figure out what AI-generated content is trustworthy, and over half want clearer guidelines on when it’s appropriate to use AI in their work. This isn’t a story about students trying to cheat the system; it’s a story about a generation grappling with a powerful new technology and looking to their educators for guidance. It echoes a sentiment I heard at the recent AI Pioneers’ Conference – the issue of AI in education is fundamentally pedagogical and ethical, not just technological.

Learning Ecosystems

Faster, thinner: Colleges are swiftly trimming a B.A. degree to three years [Marcus]

Celebrating International Day of Persons with Disabilities [Bersin]

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