How Can AI Improve the Learning Experience?

My corporate training career started with managing a group of trainers that would develop manuals and facilitate in-person training. What worked with the in-person facilitation is the ability for the students to ask questions as they came up. We did mostly software training, so we trained in computer labs where students practiced and followed the instructors. It was hands on, and students focused on what they needed to learn. Students left the classroom knowing how to apply their new knowledge in their job. If they had questions, they reached out to the instructor or asked other students or more experienced users.

Once organizations started to move away from in-person facilitation to web presentations, and then to asynchronous eLearning, we took away the opportunity for students to ask questions during their training. This is especially detrimental for learners that learn through interactions.

We attempt to make eLearning engaging by adding interactions and questions to assess whether the learner retained the information presented. Despite Instructional Designers’ creativity in presenting the information in a palatable manner, our learners mostly dislike this format. They often scroll through slides mindlessly to complete the requirement.

But now, we have AI. I believe that AI can bring back what we left out of the learning experience when we went from in-person facilitation to eLearning. It brings back the option of asking questions as the learner thinks of them, using AI Chatboxes.

What a breakthrough for eLearning! You can use tools like Cluelabs to build a custom chat box and integrate it with Storyline. A learner enters a question or prompt into a chatbox and it will pull information from your organization-specific documents to give specific and tailored answers.  

Learning becomes more personalized, and more relevant to learners.

Other tools like n8n allow you to develop a process where you can create training scenarios with an avatar. Imagine practicing your interviewing skills, or troubleshooting a machine repair, or simulating a performance conversation. A person can “talk” to an avatar, ask questions or start an interview and the avatar will remember your answers and build on the history.

With AI, corporations can improve their training effectiveness which means that they have a better-informed workforce. A workforce that learns how to use organization tools better, learns policies and procedures more accurately and develops soft skills to improve their success with the organization.

Let’s embrace a better learning experience for all.