Area9 Lyceum Blog

A focus on quick fixes results in learning and development (L&D) “technical debt” that is too great for companies to bear today, given greater demands to build proficiencies throughout their workforce. By understanding what cutting-edge adaptive learning looks like, companies can take the first step toward paying down technical debt and improving L&D with a truly personalized approach.

To level the playing field of future job opportunities, all workers must be reskilled to meet the ever-increasing demands of the technology-enabled workplace. This requires the “rulebook” for learning to be rewritten, no longer assuming a distribution curve in performance, but rather seeing everyone as capable of achieving proficiency and mastery, provided they are given the targeted support and time they need.

New talent development approaches are driving the thinking around hiring vs. retraining to respond to rapidly evolving technology, a global skills shortage, and the cost of continuously hiring new talent. As employers grapple with their talent demands, a conversation around reskilling must occur among managers, corporate leaders, HR, and chief learning officers (CLOs).

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a bold vision: addressing some of the most pressing challenges in the world today. As each goal is pursued, we must consider the impact of learning and education for all, from workers who need to be retrained to children for whom equality in education is the gateway to a better life.

A pilot in command of a commercial airliner confronts the unexpected, such as a sudden mechanical failure requiring a system override or another aircraft in the same airspace. Immediately, the pilot and co-pilot must make critical decisions and take action.

When CIOs invest in enterprise applications—whether developed in-house or purchased from third parties—they must balance a number of key characteristics: supportability, maintainability, deployability, and cost. Nine years ago, as Area9 developed its adaptive learning platform and related applications, we needed a programming language that would let us optimize those characteristics for ourselves and our clients. The result was Area9 Flow, and today we are releasing it to the open source community.

By Ulrik Juul Christensen, M.D. CEO, Area9 Lyceum

As artificial intelligence and robotics take business and society by storm, the stakes are being raised for the competencies needed to thrive in the 21st century. From retail to manufacturing, financial services to medicine, every industry and business sector faces an urgent need for people who possess the necessary capabilities to adapt to the consequences of the fourth industrial revolution. The World Economic Forum continues to emphasize this issue, including with initiatives to help ensure that the 7 billion people on the planet are developed and allowed to reach their potential.