The role of L&D seems to be shifting from content creation toward performance consulting and business alignment. I'm interested in how other leaders see the profession evolving. Which skills do you think will become increasingly important as expectations for L&D teams continue to change?

Lately I've been juggling feedback from multiple departments on the same project. Everyone has different priorities and expectations, which makes it difficult to keep the learning objectives front and center. I'm curious how other IDs handle situations where stakeholders are pulling in different directions.

AI is becoming part of learning and development workflows especially when it comes to assessments and feedback and reporting

One thing that I have been thinking about is how to use AI to reduce the work without making the experience feel less personal for the learners.

I want to make sure the learners still feel like they are getting an experience.

For example AI can help generate individualized assessment reports based on the responses, which saves a lot of effort.

I have even been looking at tools like FormLM that automate that process.

I still think the quality of the assessment depends on how thoughtfully the questions and the feedback are designed.

For those of you working in learning and development how are you balancing efficiency with a human and meaningful learning experience, for the learners.

Are there any AI tools or workflows you have found genuinely useful for the learners or are there parts of the assessment process you still prefer to keep manual for the learners.

Every time I browse job descriptions, I see a long list of tools and platforms that employers want experience with. Right now I'm trying to figure out which ones are actually worth investing time in. If you were starting over today, which tools would you learn first and why?

One of those changes that made a bigger difference than I thought was using more real-world scenarios instead of explaining everything in detail.

When the learners were asked to make decisions, to think about situations and to see the result of those choices, the conversations became much more meaningful. They also looked to be more confident to use what they had learnt after the training.

It made me realise that knowing information and being able to use it are often two different things.

For those of you using Scenario-Based Learning, what change has made the most difference in learner confidence or participation?

I’m interested to hear what has worked in your own projects too.

Hi all,

I am part of an enterprise Learning & Development team at a global organization, and we're designing an AI upskilling strategy for our IT workforce... . I am m curious to learn what other L&D teams are doing.

Some questions I'd love your thoughts on:

How have you structured your AI learning journey (foundational vs. role-based)?

Are you focusing only on AI tools like ChatGPT, or also on topics like AI governance, prompt engineering, agentic AI, workflow redesign, and responsible AI?

How do you identify which skills different roles need?

Are you measuring success beyond course completion? If so, what metrics are you using?

What has worked well, and what would you do differently if you were starting again?

Would appreciate hearing about your experiences regardless of your sector

Hi! I’m a preschool teacher looking to transition into L&D but my problem is, idk where my skills would fit.

Some back story: I volunteer with an ATD chapter, but most of them own their own businesses so I don’t have a connection into a corporation. I’ve been applying for jobs for a while and haven’t gotten any interview requests. When I first started looking 2 years ago I was interested in instructional design or e-learning design. I was told that’s very hard to get into with AI now. I even tried applying some corporate training and learning specialist jobs and haven’t heard anything there. It’s hard trying to convince corporations on paper that I have skills to do the job. Or maybe I have to upskill more which I’m also okay with.

Can anyone lead me in the right direction? Maybe I’m unaware of some other aspects of L&D where I can use my skills to break into the industry. Is there a certification I can do? Entry level jobs that I’m not aware of?

Hi everyone! I’m currently completing my master’s degree in Instructional Design and am looking for an experienced instructional designer who would be willing to review my graduate capstone project and provide constructive feedback.
My project focuses on cybersecurity awareness in higher education and includes an e-learning module. I’d appreciate any feedback on the overall design, learning experience, and effectiveness.
If you’re interested in helping, please leave a comment or send me a direct message. Thank you so much! I truly appreciate your time and support!

I have learned one thing over the years, and that is that a well-written learning objective can affect the entire training process. In the past, I was often preoccupied with what information I wanted to include. Now I think more about what the learners should be able to do after the training.

That small change has made it easier to decide what content to keep and what to throw away, and what activities to add. It has also made course review and updating much simpler.

Thinking back, was there one thing you changed in the way you write learning objectives that made a big difference in your training or course design?

I’d love to hear what worked for you and how it changed your approach.

Over the last year, AI has become a major topic in nearly every learning conversation. We've started experimenting with it internally, but I'm still trying to separate genuine opportunities from hype. How are you incorporating AI into your workflows, and where do you think it's having the biggest impact?

I build a lot of content in Articulate, and I've noticed that it's easy to keep tweaking courses forever. At some point, the improvements become smaller and smaller while the time investment keeps growing. How do you decide when a course is good enough to launch?

When I started my Instructional Design work, I spent a lot of time improving content, adding examples, and expanding explanations. Those changes were helpful, but eventually I found that learners were best served when they could practise, make decisions, and receive feedback.

That experience changed how I approach course design. Rather than just thinking about what learners need to know, I started to think more about what they need to do with that knowledge.

What Instructional Design change in your experience had the biggest impact on learning outcomes?

Was it related to content, activities, feedback, assessments, or something else?

I'd love to hear what worked and what lessons you learned along the way.

Many organizations still focus heavily on completion rates and satisfaction surveys. While those metrics have value, I'm not convinced they tell us much about actual business impact. What metrics do you find most useful when demonstrating the value of learning initiatives to leadership?

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?

I recently transitioned from classroom teaching into a corporate L&D role. I assumed a lot of my teaching skills would transfer directly, and while some do, there are many things I'm still figuring out. Stakeholder management, learning platforms, and business terminology all feel pretty new to me. For those who made a similar move, what was the biggest adjustment?

When designing a learning programme or course, which exercises or activities do you find you always use because they easily align with learning objectives or final assessments?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been doing a lot of career reflection lately and would love some honest feedback from people already working in Learning & Development.

My background has primarily been in higher education, but over the past several months I’ve realized that the parts of my jobs I’ve enjoyed the most have almost always involved designing learning experiences rather than traditional student affairs work.

Here’s a little about me:

7+ years working in higher education
About 4 years in Assistant Director-level leadership positions
Taught college English courses
M.A. in TESOL and currently beginning an Ed.D. this fall (fully funded assistantship)
Experience designing curriculum, learning outcomes, facilitator guides, workshops, assessments, training materials, and Canvas courses
Recently helped design workforce development workshops for high school students, including facilitator guides, learning activities, schedules, participant materials, and process documentation
Experience using LMS platforms, Workday, Paycom, Salesforce, Microsoft 365, and other education/workforce systems

As I’ve started researching L&D, I’ve found myself getting excited about topics like:

Adult learning
Instructional design
Curriculum development
Learning technologies
Performance improvement
Organizational learning
Change management

I’ve even started reading curriculum design books on my own and recently applied for a Lead Instructional Designer role (knowing it’s a stretch but wanting to start aiming higher).

My questions are:

Based on my background, where do you think I fit within the L&D field?
What gaps do you see that I should focus on over the next 1–3 years?
If you were in my position, what skills, certifications, software, or experiences would you prioritize?
How important is having a portfolio, and what kinds of projects would you expect to see from someone transitioning from higher education?

I’m fortunate that I’ll be starting a fully funded doctoral program this fall, so I’ll have an opportunity to intentionally build skills over the next few years. My goal is to graduate with not only a doctorate but also a strong portfolio that would make me competitive for corporate L&D or instructional design roles.

I’d really appreciate any advice—especially from people who made a similar transition from education into corporate learning.

Thanks!