Editorial radar, what we’re investigating
These are the questions Learning News is following about workplace learning, skills and workforce capability. We welcome research, data and direct experience that help us investigate them.
Our editorial radar helps us connect evidence and developments over time, identify gaps in our understanding and decide where further reporting could be useful.
We are interested in contributions from employers, researchers, learning and technology providers, industry bodies and others with relevant evidence or experience.
What we're watching
Is AI investment producing workforce capability?
Organisations are investing heavily in AI tools and adoption is increasing. We are interested in what is happening to the skills required to use them effectively, who is getting access to development and whether organisations can demonstrate improvements in capability.
Is L&D's operating model actually changing?
There is no shortage of discussion about a changing role for L&D. We are looking for evidence of what has changed inside organisations, including responsibilities, structures, budgets, teams and relationships with the wider business.
Who creates workplace learning now?
Learning increasingly comes from managers, subject specialists, employees, AI tools and operational teams as well as L&D. We are following how responsibility for creating learning is changing and what that means for quality, governance and the role of learning professionals.
Is learning technology becoming workforce technology?
The boundaries between learning, skills, talent, workforce planning and performance technology are becoming less distinct. We are interested in changes to products, buying decisions and organisational practice that show whether those markets are actually converging.
What is replacing completion as evidence of learning value?
The limitations of completions, participation and learner satisfaction are well established. The more interesting question is what organisations are doing instead. We are looking for evidence of how employers assess application, capability, performance and business outcomes, including where newer approaches are proving difficult or producing unexpected results.
Is learning moving out of the learning platform and into work?
AI assistants, workflow tools, performance support and other technologies can put learning closer to the point of need. We want to understand where this is happening in practice, what remains inside formal learning systems and what organisations are learning from the change.
Can organisations identify and deploy the skills they develop?
Skills strategies increasingly depend on employers knowing what capabilities they have, what they need and where people can apply them. We are following the evidence on skills data, assessment, internal mobility and workforce deployment.
How will the next generation develop expertise?
AI, hybrid work and changes to entry-level roles could alter the work through which people traditionally develop professional expertise. We are looking at junior recruitment, apprenticeships, mentoring, workplace practice and access to experienced colleagues, and at evidence of how early-career development is changing.
Contribute to the radar
If you have information that helps answer one of these questions, we would like to hear from you.
Useful contributions include original research, workforce data, changes that can be measured over time, organisational examples, significant market developments and access to people directly involved.
Evidence that challenges a familiar argument, shows a gap between industry claims and organisational practice or produces unexpected results is particularly useful.
We also welcome expert analysis that helps explain a development or identify an important question. Where possible, share the research, experience or other evidence behind the argument.
Research from learning and technology providers can be valuable. Please include the methodology and sample where available so we can assess what the findings support.
Contributions may inform a current story, prompt further investigation or become useful when combined with other evidence. Sending material does not guarantee coverage.
If you work in-house and would like to give us a broader account of changes in your own L&D team, use What’s changing in your L&D team?