The 2 key elements of the changing educational landscape — and why one often gets missed

Being in the adult education field for more than two decades has certain benefits. You gain exposure to a broad variety of education tools, settings, styles, theories, modes, technologies, learners, and more. In my career, I have worked with 14 organisations so far, each with unique learners and needs. I have seen technologies evolve from Yahoo mail to Claude Opus 4.6 AI.

But there are disadvantages as well. You spend time learning and testing tools and techniques, and once you finally become comfortable with them, things change. Not just shifting from one LMS to another, or a new version of Articulate. The world changes. What worked then stops being effective, even though it was previously effective.

Probably the most dramatic change I have seen was after Covid. Everything force-shifted to online, followed quickly by the massive progress of LLMs and AI technologies. Before Covid, progress in educational technologies was slow and steady. New technologies were like toys to play with - no rush, just fun. Learners varied in their computer skills, but there were workarounds for those less tech-literate. Learning designers could rely on the steady pace and build upon it, and the audience generally learned with the same accesses and technologies (with some exceptions of course).

But now, and here’s the difficult part, the rise of AI, portable devices, and social media affects TWO groups: the trainer/teachers and the learners. How the trainers and organisations interact with AI to structure the learning is changing - and so is how the learners interact with technologies across the daily lives (including at work, school and home).

Many organisations test new technologies to enhance teaching. A new genAI GPT that designs modules and gamified lessons. An integration of an agent into document groups. Testing out adaptive learning on a cohort or group. That’s interesting and fun. But it’s one-sided.

The key is in seeing the other side as well: How learners interact with the learning process itself is changing. This is a huge topic, and my attempt to summarise it almost feels pointless. But if we don’t consider the emerging generation of learners, and their preferences, we will reduce our chances of success as educators.

Here are a few quick questions, fresh in my thoughts, each of which are worthy for consideration:

Do the current learners actually want to learn, or just do the bare minimum and get-by? I have seen plenty of adult learners in fields they chose for themselves and are passionate about, yet trying to avoid learning things that are fundamental to the job. If they don’t want to learn what they are passionate about, are they even passionate about it?

How long is the attention span of current learners, in light of our Tik-Tok, YT shorts and IG reels era?

If the current learners greatly value conscious flexibility and emotional awareness, how does this affect the way they perceive traditional learning methods? Think of the authority, that “Knowledgeable other”, that keeper of the key information that needs to be imparted, regardless of the technology tools used. Does that top-down approach work anymore, if the learners grow up expecting co-creation of personalised learning settings and objectives that are fluid and fully accessible to diverse needs? Of course, in workplaces there are compliance requirements, employee trainings to actually do the job, and other non-negotiable training requirements. But how those trainings are delivered most effectively is rapidly changing.

Thus, learning design is facing an unprecedented double challenge: keeping up with technology changes that are so coming so fast that literally nobody can learn, test, implement, evaluate, and adapt every one of them, in time, before the next wave arrives; AND modifying educational strategies to meet the needs of younger generations who are highly technology savvy and have long-practised choosing what exact cognitive load they wish to engage with, what keeps their attention, and what knowledge they can offload when they literally walk around with the entire world of knowledge in a device in their hands.

My main point is that integrating new technologies into training workflows is only half the work. We must also consider how learners interact with these same technologies in their overall lives, and find strategies to reach them when their ways no longer fit within our educational schema.

We’ll do our best eh.