The document discusses how existing collaboration tools like email, Microsoft Teams, and Slack can function as learning experience platforms (LxPs) when combined with artificial intelligence for content recommendation and curation. It argues that by leveraging the large user bases and engagement on these tools, along with AI to match users to relevant learning content, organizations can create cost-effective LxPs without needing to invest in separate new platforms. A case study is presented showing how adding an AI content recommendation engine to Teams and Slack improved content discovery and was found useful by users. The benefits are said to include eliminating friction for learning and putting content in users' existing workflows.
1. 1
You already have an LxP,
you just don’t know it
Why “AI + Teams (or Slack) = LxP” is a winning formula
2. 2
Filtered: recommendation specialists
1 million+ learners
Content <> Users (matching)
We specialise in connecting content to users via matching algorithms similar to dating sites
Why? Because we’re inundated with content (90% of data produced in last 2 years) and we need
to use tech to help people find what’s relevant for them…. Search is not sufficient when you don’t
know what you don’t know
AI before it was sexy
We’ve been adapting and personalizing training for >10 years
Tech is a means to an end; solve ONE big problem...
3. You already
have an LxP…
...you just
don’t know it.
● The LxP category is one of the most talked
about and fastest-growing in the learning
technologies industry.
● Organisations are looking to invest lots of
money in them, but what if we told you
that you have one staring you right in the
face?
● It’s one that you and your colleagues use
every day, it’s on all your devices, and you
spend around two thirds of your working
day on it. There are three main versions of
it...
4. You already
have an LxP…
...you just
don’t know it.
Firstly, there’s email
which has close to 100%
coverage
5. You already
have an LxP…
...you just
don’t know it.
...And there’s Microsoft Teams,
largely for enterprise, and Slack
for small to medium-sized
businesses
If the purpose of an LxP is to
facilitate learning experiences,
why aren’t we using tools that we
all use to deliver them?
6. 6
Our Argument
Intelligence (AI) + Distribution = LXP
We believe that we should be doing this,
and the fundamental building blocks of
an LxP are some form of artificial
intelligence and a distribution channel.
By the end of this presentation, we hope
you leave more informed, see how this
conception of the LxP can work in
practice, and be inspired to do it yourself.
And in the process, save a lot of money.
+ = LXP
7. The Irrelevance Trap
CEO: ROI - what’s the ROI of your spend?
CFO: Budget - how can you do more with less budget?
CHRO: Talent dev - how are you developing our workforce?
BUs: Team support - how can you support my teams more?
Workforce: Careers - how are you helping me develop my
career, acquire new skills, make work enjoyable?
8. 1. Skills decay
Learned skills are irrelevant
after 5 years - Douglas &
Brown (“A New Culture of
Learning”)
We face a real and near threat - all
of us - from practitioners, to
vendors, analysts, commentators.
So how do we start to address
some of this in a smarter, more
innovative way?
Don’t just go and spend a few
million $ on the latest new trend!
2. Redundant
45% of training is “useless and
boring” - Capgemini & LinkedIn
3. No time
Avg 5 mins / day for formal
learning - Josh Bersin
9. It’s tempting to find a $$$
‘silver bullet’ for all these problems
It’s tempting to compare feature lists
10. ❏ Facilitation and tracking of self-directed learning
❏ Integrates with an LMS to handle compliance training and certifications
❏ Includes social learning capabilities: forums, groups, newsfeeds
❏ Large scale learning content curation
❏ AI-powered learning recommendation
❏ Supports synchronous learning with virtual classrooms
❏ Hosts and searches any type of content, especially new video content
❏ Allows users to author content within it, especially video
❏ Elaborate system of admin levels and permissions
❏ Large announcements and moderate channels
❏ Reports on all activity and integrates with a business information reporting suite
Typical LxP Feature List / RFP
13. 13
The Argument in Detail
Intelligence (AI) + Distribution = LxP
More engagement
than your LMS even
if 90% of emails are
ignored!
More investment
than the most well-
funded LxP
+
14. • Has an elaborate system of admin levels and
permissions that make it acceptable for very
large corporations which must manage
differing levels of permission across multiple
groups and individuals to access content
libraries, make large announcements and
moderate channels
• Reports on all of this activity and integrates
with a business information reporting suite
• Integrations: LMS, third party content libraries,
calendars, HRIS
LxP features
• Large scale learning content curation
• AI-powered learning recommendation
• Facilitation and tracking of self-directed learning
• Includes social learning capabilities: forums, groups,
newsfeeds
• Supports synchronous learning with virtual classrooms
• Hosts and searches any type of content, especially new
video content
• Allows users to author content within it, especially
video
15. Large scale learning content curation
AI-powered learning recommendation
Facilitation and tracking of self-directed learning
Includes social learning capabilities: forums, groups, newsfeeds
Supports synchronous learning with virtual classrooms
Hosts and searches any type of content, especially new video content
Allows users to author content within it, especially video
Has an elaborate system of admin levels and permissions to manage differing levels of
permission across multiple groups and individuals to access content libraries, make
large announcements and moderate channels
Reports on all of this activity and integrates with a business information reporting
suite
Integrates with an LMS to handle compliance training and certifications
Integrates with third party content libraries
Integrates with calendars and human resource information systems
SLACK AND
TEAMS BEST
AT THIS
STUFF
MAGPIE
FOCUSES
HERE
CORE INNOVATIONS
CONTENT & COLLABORATION
ACCESS CONTROL & REPORTING
INTEGRATIONS
I’LL GET
TO THIS
16.
17. Financial Times, January 2019
https://www.ft.com/content/c91a5136-1fa3-11e9-b126-46fc3ad87c65
The largest
installed bases
of users in
workplace tech.
No one invests
more in
knowledge
management
18. Teams vs LXP
CONTENT AND COLLABORATION
Teams hosts any and searches any type of
content, anywhere in your Microsoft stack
Teams includes social learning capabilities:
forums, groups, newsfeeds
Teams supports synchronous learning with
virtual classrooms
Teams allows users to author video content
within it, add interactivity and publish to
MS Stream
19. Teams vs LXP
ACCESS CONTROL &
REPORTING
Each Team and Channel Teams allows
you to manage group, access, apps,
content creation and moderation tools
Built in analytics dashboard for each
Team.
Teams reports on all of this activity to
PowerBI which will also be compatible
with an LRS
20. Existing LMS & content integrations
Slack Teams
AND THEY BOTH INTEGRATE WITH
INBOXES, CALENDARS AND ALL THE
LEADING PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE, CRM
AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS!
21. What does magpie add?
• Large scale learning
content curation
• AI-powered learning
recommendation
• Facilitation and tracking
of self-directed learning
22. Ecosystem
1. Service, UI &
notifications:
Slack/Teams + email
1. Engines: LMS, magpie
and business rules
1. Content: internal /
external libraries, user-
gen
1. Reporting: xAPI/JSON
databases & analytics
tools
lxAPI,
JSON or
flat file
transfer
APIs
and
URL
links
Service and notifications
Engines
Content
Reporting
23.
24.
25. What we learned
64%
Of users surveyed felt
magpie made
discovery easier
85%
Of users surveyed
found the resources
on magpie useful
75%
Recommendations
marked relevant
“I appreciate using AI to find appropriate L&D opportunities. At the moment it
seems, that the number of tools will increase and that makes it a little hard to
follow-up. I find L&D bites are really useful as it has different sources.” magpie
user
We found that there was an appetite intelligent recommendations to support learning in the
flow of work, and a noticeable impact:
26. Benefits of this approach
• Eliminates friction
between people and
relevant learning
• Puts content in the
workflow, in response to
the challenges that
motivate learning
• Encourages adoption
• Massive cost savings
Learning and Development have had a 10-year long run in the post-recession boom, but there’s people in every organisation asking very serious questions now about the relevance of what we do
We think this is a fallacy because in a lot of cases, this will just recreate functionality that already exists within your business, and we have a perfect example of why this is an issue.
Based on our polling and research of the market, there are three core innovations of the LxP. These are large scale learning content curation, AI-powered learning recommendations and the ability to facilitate and track self-directed learning
This is a good point to look at why we think MS Teams and Slack are such powerful learning tools. They aren’t marketed as learning tools, but they are because it’s where people spend a significant portion of their time at work.
So, of course, part of learning is solitary. You need to read a book, or absorb some knowledge. But when you’re practicing a skill and learning in the flow of work, you’re going to be working inside email or collaboration platforms.
So why aren’t we using the tools where people spend most of their time to help the learning process?
It seems like a logical step, but a lot of marketing and products are in opposition to this. They think you need to exit the flow of work and access a different system entirely to learn
So, it looks like Teams is the overall winner. You’re not alone. Teams is rapidly growing, and it’s already pulled ahead of Slack in terms of adoption.
And the key point to raise here is the fact that nobody invests more in communication and knowledge management than Microsoft, Slack and Google. An LxP might have a lot of investment behind it, but trying to emulate social collaboration and knowledge management features elsewhere probably isn’t a great idea - they’re probably not going to be able to do it as well, and you’ll have to get these users to adopt a separate platform.
So let’s match Teams up against an LxP in terms of features
Teams will allow you to host and search ANY content, anywhere in the Microsoft stack
In many organisations, the most highly adopted and used learning platform is SharePoint. People know how to use it, it’s familiar, so it gets used widely
Teams is all about sharing content, ideas, and has powerful video capabilities too
Access control and reporting is often the biggest hurdle for any LxP project
You need to limit who sees certain content, and this kind of framework is difficult to put in place. Teams already has it because Microsoft has done it. It has been and continues to be ‘the’ core enterprise business software
It’s really granular. Administrators can control who sees what, and in what contexts
magpie solves one big problem - connecting learners with relevant resources continuously
We’re doing sophisticated direct integrations. Say hello to the magpie bot in Slack
You can do all of the same functions you’d get on a web-based deployment of magpie, but within a conversational interface
Learning recommendations can be dropped into channels, and a notification system can be applied to give people nudges when they need assistance most
We’ve also put learning into the flow of work with MCI Group. We’re seeing whether if it works within the general channels people use. What if we put something in there - can we use AI-driven curation to reduce friction and help them with the challenges they might face on a particular engagement?
We found that there was an appetite for intelligent learning recommendations to support learning in the flow of work, and a noticeable impact