Area9 Lyceum Blog

There is a lot of discussion these days about upskilling and reskilling to close competency gaps and help people be more prepared for the workforce of the future. In this way, upskilling and reskilling are at the heart of intentional career development, as organizations align the development of their people to specific knowledge and skills needed to pursue and accomplish business objectives.

Area9 Lyceum to Offer Complimentary Education for Healthcare Professionals

Area9 Lyceum is now offering complimentary access to the AACC Learning Lab: an adaptive learning program housed on the NEJM Knowledge+ platform.  

The goal is to expand and enhance the knowledge of laboratory medicine experts and promote their problem-solving abilities. Now, the cost of the Learning Lab is being eliminated for healthcare workers, allowing laboratory professionals around the world to access this advanced learning resource for free.

As the Covid-19 pandemic caused widespread disruption in every industry, none felt the pressures of sweeping change and the critical need for frontline response more than healthcare. As healthcare professionals worldwide cared for escalating numbers of patients, the life sciences industry rose to the challenge with vaccine research that compressed into months what normally would take years to accomplish. As McKinsey observed, “The search for vaccines and therapies has been the most urgent and widespread the world has ever seen.”

How long does it take to learn a programming language? Obviously it depends, but estimates range from three to six months. How, then, do Area9 programmers become productive in as little as two to four weeks? The secret, as we’ve often said, is personalization.

Retraining Will Be Crucial in Aviation’s ‘New Normal’ 

As the global airline industry comes back from the pandemic, staffing could become a challenge—particularly if the ramp-up in flight capacity happens quickly. The goal across every airline will be to align rehiring with the pace of the rebound, so as people are rehired, they are also retrained quickly. Reassigning and reskilling, as well as training in new safety and operational protocols, will require adaptive learning to get people up to speed efficiently and effectively.

Innovations in pharmaceutical and medical technology—gene therapies, stem-cell treatments, and other cutting-edge therapeutic approaches—demand intensive training, both inside and outside the company. Adaptive learning offers a proven approach.

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).