Learning Boards Provide Upskilling and Allow L&D Resources to Focus on In-Depth Strategic Ends

Today’s employees need to upskill where and when they can. Learning and development professionals can’t always be there in the moment. They can, however, have the resources available to learners when the time is right through learning boards, sometimes referred to as learning pathways or curriculums.

In “Target Learning With Curation,” Michelle Webb and Jerry M. Kaminski provide L&D professionals a strategic roadmap to create learning boards that provide the targeted resources employees need for the role they aspire to or the skills they’re trying to attain.

How to Create Learning Boards

While it may seem daunting to assemble resources for many roles and skills, start with a single learning board. In fact, you probably already have many of the resources needed to begin.

For example, there are many free materials on the internet that provide job descriptions, along with the skills and abilities required of these roles. Your organization may also subscribe to online resources, such as LinkedIn Learning or training through a third-party provider, often in tandem with your LMS.

When deciding which resources to include, consider what types of training or development employees are open to and in need of. When do employees look for training resources? Maybe when they’re transitioning roles? And how do particular types of employees prefer to access resources—do they like to watch on their mobile devices, read printouts or online guides, or collaborate with teammates?

Curating Content for Learning Boards

Curiosity is a critical trait for L&D professionals and the individuals they solicit to help keep content fresh. Webb and Kaminski use the acronym CURATE to outline how to create a learning board strategy:

• Collect best-in-class content.

• Understand key skills and roles.

• Reveal the relevance and context.

• Act with an Agile development approach.

• Take a targeted mindset.

• Engage others and build communities.

The curation team should understand the content and resources available to the employees and have an understanding of how individuals learn. Limit cognitive load, and highlight organizational context so employees are better equipped to retain knowledge.

Learners should return to a learning board several times. If content is not updated, they will lose interest and stop interacting with it. Because the amount of information we have at our fingertips—both as L&D professionals and as learners—can be overwhelming, it’s up to the curation team to collect the best resources for learners and exclude the rest.

Content Governance Team

One individual cannot (and should not) create and maintain learning boards, and the L&D team shouldn’t shoulder the responsibility alone. Seek out partners—including subject matter experts, champions of learning, and individuals who provide feedback—to help with the curation process. The IT team can identify and retrieve metrics on which resources are popular, whether learners are engaging with the learning board, and when it might be time to swap out newer content.

The roles on a learning board governance team:

• Curator. The individual with the ultimate responsibility for the learning board.

• Contributors. Individuals who understand the role or skill area of the learning board and who can identify relevant content.

• Editor. The duty of this individual—or individuals, as you may opt for more than one—is to apply curation guidelines. Does the content align with business goals? Is it appropriate for the intended audience?

• Maintainer. A member of the IT team or other person on the LMS or learning experience platform team, the maintainer provides usage statistics and feedback.

Learning Board Wins

Learning boards provide content at the moment of need and—if the L&D team has done its homework—in the format most appreciated by the learners. As Webb and Kaminiski point out, learning boards provide the benefit of “freeing up L&D staff to focus on designing learning experiences at deeper knowledge and application levels.” Everyone wins.