The demand and need for corporate training has been on a steady rise in recent years. With organizations spending nearly $90.6 billion in the U.S. last year alone, learning and development in 2018 will most likely meet and possibly surpass these numbers.
Even though the need for L&D is continuing to grow, companies and training professionals are beginning to fear that they will soon become obsolete in this expanding market due to growing technologies. According to Fast Company, Google and YouTube are becoming the main training departments for many employees due to that fact that they are everywhere, free and full of limitless content. This is eliminating the need for traditional L&D professionals and instructors.
Other intelligent technology in the L&D market is continuing to rise as well. Fast Company claims that artificial intelligence now has the sophistication to "determine what someone needs to learn based on their performance data and career stage, then push content to them as they need it." Due to this fast growing technology in L&D, professionals are bracing themselves for the day that robots and algorithms are in charge of training the world's working class.
Although many companies are racing to keep up with the growing technology in L&D, there are still many studies that show that technology cannot makeup for the learning-doing gap. Fast Company has provided tips for learning professionals to help them compete with the growing technology in L&D and become better equipped to train employees. (Source: Fast Company)
What does this mean for professional development?
Even though technology in the L&D sector is continuing to rise, science is showing that learning from technology and algorithms will not be enough. Intelligent technology does have its benefits, but in the end robo-instructors will not be able to replace human instructors in the world of professional development.
