AI is transforming how learning happens. How can you get started?

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Libby Cross, Senior Marketing Executive

On the 24 April, e-learning guru Donald Clark and AI product specialist Callum Gilbanks spent an hour exploring seven ways in which artificial intelligence will transform learning – and demonstrated Wildfire, a revolutionary AI tool which enables the creation of multi-faceted e-learning in minutes rather than months.

They were joined by participants from across the UK and around the globe, who spent an hour examining how AI tools have changed – and will further change – the landscape of learning.We started the event by asking if attendees had ever used artificial intelligence for their personal learning – or whether they were convinced it hadn’t yet had an impact on their learning journey.That is an interesting spread of responses – most online tools don’t explicitly reference the role of AI in how they respond to human interaction, whether that is entering a search term or browsing recommendations in one’s chosen online subscription service.

Donald Clark’s contention was that, in reality, the distribution of answers should be very skewed – namely that we’ve all used AI to learn things in both our professional and personal lives.Google’s index and the presentation of links and recommendations you see are informed by AI.Such recommendations are – at least partially – AI-powered.AI sequences your next suggested piece of content using vast swathes of data to determine what you might consume next.Social networks – both personal and professional – use AI to recommend new contacts and groups to you.But what does this mean for learning within institutions – across companies, government, the third sector, throughout all stages of formal education and informal learning? Donald Clark has a simple take from his 33 years’ experience of involvement in learning:

Donald then explored the seven areas which AI will have an impact on – and demonstrated how a tool like Wildfire can support learning in each of these areas:AI’s ability to interpret learners’ responses and support the process of retention presents an opportunity to transform the effectiveness of online learning. Spaced practice to combat the ‘forgetting curve’ – informed by the psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus’s experimental studies of memory – has the potential to significantly improve knowledge retention.  With that in mind, we asked participants in the webinar:

Does your organisation use spaced practice in its online learning delivery model?With AI offering what could seem like a Swiss army knife of potential tools to support and enhance an organisation’s learning strategy, it could be hard for those of us directing learning and development to choose which tools to use – and which to start with. With that in mind, we asked participants in the webinar:

In which areas of learning can you see your organisation using AI  in the next three years?In many ways AI represents a challenge to L&D professionals like no other – its potentially game-changing, paradigm-shifting, cliché-generating impact may cause a more tangible change than the Robots are coming for your jobs! headlines beloved of click-chasing media and governments struggling to understand AI’s impact.

This change will give rise to questions about AI’s impact on organisational culture and learning strategies – and how those organisations can respond to a changing workforce, particularly one whose ability to pursue its own personal and professional learning outside of the workplace has never been greater.

These bigger questions need answering on a strategic level – but in reality, many of the first questions around AI will be application-specific: What can this tool do? How does it work? How is it being used? to get a better understanding of AI’s potential.

Here are some of those questions about Wildfire, posed to Donald and Callum during the webinar:To hear Donald and Callum’s answers to these and other questions, explore the developing world of artificial intelligence and start to think about how it can – and will – impact your personal learning, along with learning and development across your organisation, simply complete the form below for instant access to the webinar recording