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Most of the time when discussing EdTech, my discussions and the discussions I am around are about functionality, user experience etc or what the tool does and how it works.

Sometimes though, we have clients or partners who want to talk about the industry - trends, investments, growth, big players, future etc.

This article is a good example of how McKinsey can help inform us and spark such discussions. They use numbers, stats, graphs and real research.

Worth a read or a bookmark!

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This is an executive summary of a report that discusses EdTech market value and dynamics eg Drivers, Opportunities etc.

This is another one of those articles that provides fuel for conversations with clients / contacts / partners who like big picture discussions.

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Part 2 of Christopher Lind's trends and predictions for our industry for 2023.

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Christopher Lind shares some trends and predictions for our industry for 2023.

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Hey ChatGPT, write me a poem about online learning in the 2020s

In the year 2020, the world did change,

A new way of learning, strange and strange,

With screens as our classrooms, and Wi-Fi our guide,

We learn from afar, side by side.

No more pencils, no more books,

Just laptops and webcams, no second looks,

We join Zoom calls, and Google Meets,

Our teachers' voices, a soothing treat.

We study from home, with our family near,

And yet, we feel the absence of our peers,

But we learn to adapt, to make new friends,

In this digital world, that never ends.

Online learning, a new norm,

A way to educate, during a storm,

It's not perfect, but it's what we know,

And so, we make it flow.

As we look ahead, to the future years,

May technology bring us closer, and not tears,

And may we learn to balance screen time,

With real-life connections, that are truly sublime.

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SO there's no pint just buying an LMS or other bit of tech when you don't know what you're doing. Using a learning consultant or consultancy to develop and deliver the strategy can be the difference between success and failure.

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Another oldie but goodie that people still don't do as a habit.

Tagging content in your LMS, LXP, SharePoint etc is a fundamental requirement if you want it to be found.

I am surprised, but shouldn't be, to find that so many people simply don't bother with basics like Tags, Descriptions and appropriate thumbnail imagery.

It really makes a big difference.

Discoverability is my new favourite word and I'm not even sure if everone agrees that it is a word.

Why create the content if you are just going to hide it in an un-indexed mass of other content?

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WhatFix helps organisations to build in-app, user centric support material that is accessible in the flow of work.

I first looked into WhatFix because we were considering WalkMe, but found the people (sales people mostly) that we had dealt with gave us a bad feeling about how WalkMe would be to work with.

Incidentally, the WalkMe tool was and is great.

The WhatFix tool is also a really feature rich and easy to use SaaS platform that does what it says on the box.

What stood out was the people. Such a great team and they listen and try to solve your problem rather than simply turning up and talking about how good their tool is.

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Tagging, because you can't emphasise the importance of discoverability enough.

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This video is just an ad, but I have to say I was pretty excited to hear that Totara now have an LXP that essentially uses the same (Moodle-ish) back-end as their LMS.

I can't wait to try it out!

It wasn't ready (in Australia) to be included in our selection process in 2020.

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his is an old article and you'd think that most people were already doing all of this for new starters, but I still don't see it in the big organisations where it would make the biggest impact.

As a contractor I get to see a lot of new hire programs. Some are still heavy on the face-to-face stuff, which is fraught with issues, and others are so light touch that you could miss them.

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Valamis is another LXP we have reviewed during our LXP selection process. It has a lot going for it and many organisations could safely replace their LMS with Valamis and not feel any lack of functionality. However, you'll want a robust support and admin team, as unlike a lot of LXPs, the authoring feels very "back end" and technical, and the curation source options are lacking without a bit of work and negotiation with Valamis.

Pros for me, LMS replacement, really nice end user experience.

Cons, a bit of an admin pain, not as user friendly for curators and non technical people, and the Valamis team are very protective of their vision of what they will allow you to do in the system, not just config, but sources too.

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OK, so I'm obsessed with LXPs with good reason! My latest project is all about selecting and rolling out an LXP for a financial institution. EdCast is one that we've been evaluating.

In short, pros for me - good UI, admin usability much better than others, mobile experience is good, plenty on the roadmap etc.

Cons, plenty on the roadmap (can be a pro and a con), not as fully functional as some (ie not LMS-y enough).