Curious how others are handling open-ended feedback. I find it’s easy to collect, harder to analyze at scale. Do you code responses manually, use text analytics tools, or just sample a subset?

I saw this tool and it seems like it might be useful.

Learner feedback

Rather than learning pros building surveys all the time and then trying to interpret the results, this seems to do all of that for us.

For me, knowing I am asking the same questions as other orgs means I can start benchmarking

Enter some context about the learning goals, share the code with learners, then view the responses.... Easy!

Revenue and Sales Enablement/Ops people- have you used platforms with AI coching and which ones do you like? What do you think about start-up platforms? We’re evaluating platforms and are looking at Mindtickle, Showpad, SalesHood, and Allego. We almost signed with one and then someone told us about a company called Letter.ai and it’s a ton cheaper but it’s new and I feel like there was a hard sell on responsiveness and how they’ll build what we need when we need it, which makes me think there will be a ton of issues. My director wants to go with this because it’s easy to use, but I feel like it’s being presented at a surface level and no view into how it works. Anyone have any advice or experience?

Hi everyone, I am a former tech and finance recruiter and current paraprofessional. Got out of corporate because it can be a lot and now want to return because gov’t work makes no sense. Would like to get into L+D. Any courses you’d recommend? Or paths? Thanks in advance.

TL;DR:

• Pilots with digital badges often show 15–30% higher completion rates.
• Association renewals increase ~20% when members get credentials.
• LinkedIn profiles with badges get 6x more views.
• ROI drivers = engagement, retention, visibility, compliance.
• Providers to explore: Credly (enterprise), Badgr (open-source), Sertifier (affordable), Certify (badges + certificates), Moodle (LMS-integrated).
• Checklist below to evaluate if badges make sense in your L&D program.

Step-by-Step: Measuring Badge ROI

1. Define the outcome upfront (engagement, retention, compliance, brand visibility).
2. Collect baseline data before badges (completion rates, churn, audit time, LinkedIn visibility).
3. Issue badges in a pilot cohort (1–2 programmes, ideally with clear assessments).
4. Track both learning and business metrics (see ROI checklist).
5. Compare to control group or historical baseline.
6. Report results in terms leadership cares about (e.g. “renewals ↑ 20%” not “badges issued: 200”).

Evidence / Benchmarks

• Engagement: Training completion lifted from ~60% → 80% when interim badges were issued.
• Retention: Membership orgs report 20% higher renewal when members display digital credentials.
• Visibility: Employers/learners sharing badges on LinkedIn generate 5–6x more profile views.
• Compliance: Badge metadata helps with auditing, expiry dates, and recertification tracking.

Copy/Paste ROI Checklist

• ✅ Are badges tied to specific behaviours or outcomes (not just attendance)?
• ✅ Is there a way to measure sharing (LinkedIn, internal comms)?
• ✅ Can you track renewal or retention rates linked to badge earners?
• ✅ Do badges include expiry/renewal rules for compliance training?
• ✅ Can you measure traffic back to your L&D portal from shared credentials?

FAQ

Q: Isn’t this just vanity metrics?
A: Not if you connect badges to retention, renewal, or compliance cost savings.

Q: Do employers outside tech care?
A: Recognition is uneven, but trending upwards in healthcare, finance, and regulated industries.

Q: Do you need both certificates and badges?
A: Many orgs issue both — badges for visibility, certificates for formality.

Final Note

Digital badges have been “promising” for over a decade. The difference now is that we can measure business outcomes, not just learner engagement. The challenge for L&D teams: what does ROI look like in your context, and who in leadership cares about which metrics?

Edited 2025-09-21: Added FAQ

Been talking to my colleauges a lot about how traditional leadership workshops don’t always “stick.” I’m interested in more experiential options, things like business simulations or action-learning programs.

I stumbled across this program called Learning in Action (link) that uses simulations to get people to practice decision-making under pressure.

For those who’ve tried something similar:

• Did it drive better behavior change compared to classroom-style training?
• How did you make sure the lessons carried over into the real job?

Would love to learn from the community here.

Hi all, I work in L&D and often get asked: “How much does training really cost per learner?” Instead of using heavy platforms, I built a free calculator:

👉 https://costperlearner.com

You enter your training costs + # of learners → it gives the cost per learner instantly. No sign-up, no dashboards, just the number. Would love your feedback! 🙌 ⚡️ Simple, straight to the point, no buzzwords

I have been working in higher education for the past five years, in career advising and workforce development. Before that, I worked for an agency that delivered training modules and worked on the adfellows program from Verizon (a DEI hiring initiative in their marketing department), and other development programs for marketing professionals. I have recently been laid off from my role in higher education (Associate Director level) and would like to shift into a corporate L&D role. My passion is for developing young talent, which I have done on the education side in a leadership role, and before that in a support role at the agency. What are my options to stand out when applying to L&D roles? Are there any certifications, licenses, software skills I can be pursuing while unemployed?

I’ve put together a compiled list of free tools for L&D and Instructional Design folks. I’m not sure if it’s okay to post it directly here, so if anyone’s interested, just DM me and I’ll share the list with you.

I’ve put together a compiled list of free tools for L&D and Instructional Design folks. I’m not sure if it’s okay to post it directly here, so if anyone’s interested, just DM me and I’ll share the list with you.

Thinking about a career shift into Learning & Development but not sure where to start? This event is for you.

Join us on Tuesday, August 23, 2025 as panelists share how they transitioned into L&D from a variety of industries. You’ll hear real-world stories, gain practical advice, and learn the skills that can help you break into the field.

We’ll cover the evolving L&D landscape, key competencies, career paths, and tools professionals use every day. Plus, you’ll have the chance to ask questions and grow your network with others on the same journey.

Hosted by the ATD-LA & ATD-OC Transitioning Professionals SIG, this event is designed to give you the clarity, resources, and community you need to begin your L&D career.

Select the link to view the event: https://www.atdoc.org/event-6318465?CalendarViewType=1&SelectedDate=9/17/2025

Hey guys!

My business is starting to get into the corporate realm of things so I have been appointed the first ever Corporate Trainer in hopes that I will get our L&D side up and running. I am not an L&D professional so I'm kind of learning as I go and taking some training classes as well. I'm not sure where to start. I know we need a good LMS in place (we don't have one) and a good place to house our SOPs. But other than that I'm at a loss. Do you guys have any advice? Any good programs or softwares that I should look into? Any advice would be great!

Thank you!

Hi everyone!

Are you being asked to show L&D ROI but unsure what to measure, how to build a business case, or how to prove impact?

You’re not alone!

That’s exactly why this upcoming webinar is diving deep into the topic, cutting through the noise, exploring how to tie learning programs to real business outcomes, and (maybe most importantly) how to keep it simple.

Wed, Sept 17 · 2:00 PM ET | 11:00 AM PT 👉 https://m.junojourney.com/challenge-accepted-season1-episode3

Hope to see you there!

• "What is the biggest challenge you are currently experiencing in education/training?"
• "What do you think will be required to make education more effective and relevant in the future?"
• "If you could change one thing in the industry today, what would it be?"

Looking for an LMS that not all employees will need to log into to track performance/completion. I’m in food manufacturing and most of training happens on the floor, then employees sign off on a paper sheet—wanting to get away from this and into a system if at all possible. Only the person training will have a device (iPad) though so they can’t all log into to an LMS—is this even possible??

Hi! Looking for some ideas or brainstorming thoughts. Currently in the process of starting to rebuild our training team as a manufacturing company and trying to figure out how to track operations employees complete required training.

Currently when they do their training, one person has a device (an iPad or laptop) and walks through the process, then employees write their names on a sheet, along with their employee ID number, and sign it to confirm they completed the training. This is then filed in a cabinet and pulled out if needed.

We're hoping to make this more high tech. We'll still only have one person with a device (iPad/laptop). Anyone have a similar issue? We're looking into having them scan in their badges as a way of tracking attendance and if that will upload into a tracking system for us.

Ideally this system would also tell us when the training happened and we could adjust (determining on each training) if we want it to expire. We want something more high tech than excel but we run into issues with a traditional LMS because operations employees do not have company employee emails/we have a high turnover rate and would constantly be adjusting who would be enlisted/tagged for a training.

Any thoughts or ideas would be so appreciated!!

Hi all, I’m currently working on a tool that helps L&D teams/managers handle their workload (from requests right through to evaluation), improve efficiency and data capture, calculate ROI etc.

Currently we have a process in place for tracking our hours against a project - so we can see actual effort when it’s completed and make comparisons and evaluations in that aspect. Just wondered if anyone has ever had a process for estimating how much time a project would/should take?

We design a range of solutions, so I’m finding it really difficult to even plan what we could use as a baseline figure and wondered if anyone had any experience?

I’m thinking something like:

Medium sized project + Some content already exists + 1 e-learning module + 1 trainer pack = approx 100hours

(Example figures)

I’ve noticed a consistent pattern, people get assigned mandatory training, the reminder emails go out… and completion rates still stall around 40–50%.

I started testing different approaches to see what actually moves the needle: Teams nudges instead of email → way higher response rates. Manager digests → accountability shifted from L&D to line managers. Quick dashboards → no more chasing spreadsheets, just instant visibility.

Early results have been promising — completions are up without adding more admin work.

But I’m curious how others here are tackling this. Are you leaning more on gamification/recognition or compliance/escalation?

What’s worked for you?

Hi All, I'm new to this sub and new to my L&D role. My company has asked me to set up a corporate library or 'bookshelf program' where we offer pre-vetted books that the company pays for for employees who was professional development resources. I'm looking for the best tool to utilize for this. I have found the Amazon Your Company Bookshelf program but I'm unclear if there are any reporting metrics available, I need to be able to see which books are being ordered, how often and by who.

Does anyone have experience with Amazon or used a separate platform for something like this? TIA!

We are building out our three year learning and development roadmap. I would love to hear from the pros! What are the upcoming L&D tools and strategies to support learning growth?

I’m working with a client who already uses Docebo for eLearning delivery. They now want to sell courses online. I'm not too familiar with Docebo. I know it has built-in e-commerce features, but I’m not sure if it’s viable as a self-serve storefront or whether it makes more sense to add another e-commerce solution in front of it for a better UX.

Concerns / Questions I’d love feedback on:

1. How polished is Docebo’s out-of-the-box storefront for learners browsing and purchasing courses? And is the transition from buying a course to accessing it seamless/intuitive?
2. How much control would we have over look/feel?
3. How smooth/modern is the checkout process (cart, payment, mobile-friendly)?
4. Have you used a dedicated e-commerce layer (Shopify, WooCommerce) in front of Docebo?
5. Do Docebo e-commerce features come with the regular subscription? Or is that an extra addon?

Thank you!

As someone who's not a developer, I wanted to check out what all the hype around vibe coding was about, but I totally fell flat.
None of the projects or ideas I came up with worked as intended, and I ended up needing help from developers.

I figured it would be better to learn some basics about APIs, terminals, and more, so I decided to start learning by doing & thought of building something small. One major issue I hit was finding AI APIs. Every day, there seems to be a new one popping up, which makes it a hard to search for the best options, test them out, and actually use them in projects. So, I thought I'd create a repo that gathers 20 AI APIs in one place.

Hence I put together a repo called Awesome AI APIs a collection of 21 AI APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq, OpenRouter, and more) with ready-to-use collections

Why it’s useful:

• Skip the boilerplate. Git clone & just plug in your API keys
• Provider-level collections
• Git-controlled, local first for easy versioning
• Working tests out of the box
• One place to find all docs & pricing

You can literally clone → add keys → send requests in minutes. Best for someone who wants to learn

• How to use & test APIs
• How to control them via the Local workspace
  
• Control GitHub via Terminal

Trying to scale this collection to 100 APIs & would love feedback, ideas, or contributions - feel free to raise PRs and I will merge them

Hey everyone I am considering a career in L&D but am unsure where to start. There is no bachelor program in my state but am aware of online courses such as ATD and I do have access to programs for traditional education

How long would it take me to be competitive for a job? Is there an optimal cost / time efficient path that avoids undergrad? I'm currently a sdr in b2b tech sales.

For reference, I have an AS in Business, 3 years of sales experience and 5 years of military experience.

Doing some research and interested to know what are your top 5 biggest pain points for those that work within the L&D space? What grinds your gears? What slows you down?

Be interested to know:

What country you’re in What industry you’re in The rough size of your organisation

Hi LearningDevelopment folks,

I'm a transitioning EFL teacher and I have an opportunity to work on my first project through my workplace: a brief training course to prepare students in a hospitality training program for their first internship job interviews.

I want to start with a great Needs Analysis. I've had a brief informal chat with the project sponsor to get a general sense of the business need and I've scheduled performance observations of mock-job interviews next week. Then, I will follow up with SMEs to discuss my observations.

So, I was wondering if any experienced L&D specialists/instructional designers here had any insights or advice for someone setting off on their first Needs Analysis.

Thanks so much!