From the growth of AI, to new ways to customize, scale and monetize training content — there was no shortage of talking points in the learning industry this year!
As we say goodbye to 2023 and look ahead to 2024, let’s take a trip down memory lane and share the top 10 Thought Industries blog posts that caught the attention of the most readers over the past 12 months:
10. 9 Ways to Promote Your Training & Turn Customers Into Advocates
Education is a known route to turning customers into brand champions, but that can’t happen if your training content doesn’t attract and engage to begin with. This article looks at nine sure-fire ways to get eyes on your content, from creating blended and customized learning experiences, to building a certification program that can really show value. It also includes a supportive tech checklist to make sure you can support your goals for customer education and external training in 2024.
9. Reimagine Your Customer Academy with a Customizable LMS
We’re firm believers in the idea of “drinking your own champagne” here at Thought Industries, so when our own Academy was launched earlier in 2023 — of course we built it with the help of our Headless LMS, Helium. In this interview, our Senior Director of Customer Education spills the tea on how Helium reduced time to launch, supported ease of access and great design, and truly allowed imagination to be translated onto the page, without limits. If 2024 is the year you’re planning to build your own academy, see what a customizable LMS could do for you.
8. The Headless LMS: Why Your Learning Platform Shouldn’t Hold You Back
As our CPO Todd Boes comments in his explanation of a Headless LMS, “Today, nothing about the way we learn is one-size-fits-all.” We all know that to be true — so why are so many of us still accepting a cookie cutter Learning Management System? In this article, Boes shares the nuts and bolts of Headless LMS technology, diving into the tech stack behind the scenes, and sharing a little about our Helium Partners who can offer strategic support. You’ll learn how a Headless LMS can help you meet and exceed branding needs, deliver dynamic and personalized learning, and reach learners in context, all without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
7. LXP or LMS? You’re Asking the Wrong Question
It seems you can’t get through a week in the learning industry without a new acronym to learn and understand. In 2023, the conversation often turned to the idea of Learning eXperience Platform (LXP) vs Learning Management System (LMS). We say, let’s call the whole thing off. The real question you need to be asking yourself is, what do your learners need? A modern LMS platform should be able to check all the boxes for an awesome front-end learner experience, as well as offering robust reporting, seamless integrations, and support for limitless scale. By starting with your specific business objectives, this article helps you to navigate to the right technology choice.
6. 5 Elements of a Profitable Professional Training Business
What separates a profitable training business from one that’s a cost-center, or merely breaking even? That’s exactly what our CEO, Barry Kelly discusses in this practical guide to building a business strategy for training. He walks readers through how to identify the right opportunity in the market, smart approaches to scaling delivery, leveraging your expertise in content creation, and maximizing impact with the right technology and monetization model.
5. Ready for the AI Explosion? 15 Terms You Should Know
It’s almost impossible to keep up with the growth and the potential of AI, but don’t worry — we’re here to help! This article shares 15 key terms for learning professionals, and will help you brush up on what you need to know to stay current and relevant in the next AI conversation around the water cooler. Heard people discussing Federated Search, Dependency Parsing or Natural Language Processing — and feeling a bit out of your depth? Not anymore!
4. How to Demonstrate ROI of Customer Education to Secure (or Increase) Buy-In
Do you know the difference between Return on Investment (ROI) and Value of Investment (VOI)? Simply put — value to the learners means value to the business, and this webinar recap provides your blueprint for maximizing that value. Read the recap (and watch the webinar itself) to hear all about how to measure the right metrics, improve performance across the customer lifecycle, and build relationships with Sales, Customer Success and Technical Support teams to extend ROI for customer learning.
3. How to Develop and Execute a Modular Content Strategy That Scales
A modular content strategy is now a critical part of a scalable learning business, allowing for content to be redistributed, reused, and reworked to support a wide range of use cases. Curating content in the form of building blocks makes it easier to support a modular content model, and makes it simple to iterate according to feedback, and provide more manageable chunks of education to the learner. In this article, opening up the top three most-read content pieces this year, we share a sample outline of a lesson that uses this approach to work for both B2B and B2C, as well as some top tips for succeeding with a modular content strategy.
2. A New Approach to AI Integration in Learning Technology
At Thought Industries, our approach to AI is to collaborate with tried and trusted partners to ensure we’re providing secure solutions that solve real problems. We’re not interested in buzzwords or bells and whistles, we’re intentional about how we use these strategic partnerships and the latest innovations to truly support both individual learners and wider business outcomes. With that in mind, when it comes to Artificial Intelligence, this article shares our four key strategies for adopting AI into our technology. Our #2 blog describes how Thought Industries AI-powered features all work towards:
- Accelerating content creation and production timelines
- Decreasing operational friction by streamlining across teams
- Personalizing feedback at scale, without losing quality
- Serving highly relevant content to learners’ needs and interests
1. 5 Ways AI Supercharges Learning Experiences
Finally, our most popular article of 2023 is a look at how AI can boost learning experiences to the next level. From personalized learning such as recommendation engines and adaptive learning paths, to gamification such as badging, leaderboards and engagement tools, AI is going to touch everything in the learner experience. Behind the scenes, AI will also allow for deeper and more impactful reporting and analytics, the lifeblood of any learning program. This blog checks out 5 key advancements, and how to make the most of them as a trailblazer in the world of AI and professional education.
