Knowledge Sharing: KGL's Kelly Lake Offers Learning Insights for Scholarly Publishers
/by Mike Groth
As the research community evolves beyond mere PDFs of journal articles and book chapters, and publishers increasingly use their digital platforms to meet the demand for new, more engaging types of content, one area that shows strong potential is delivery of learning services. Whether it’s professional development courses for practitioners, continuing education credits, or Learning Management System (LMS) integration, publishers can now offer this content in interactive formats to their users. And publishers themselves may want to up their game when it comes to training their own workforce on issues of compliance, technology, and performance. To better help our industry understand the current landscape for eLearning strategy and solutions, I asked the head of KnowledgeWorks Global Learning, Kelly Lake, to explain the methodology, technology applications, and benefits of the L&D solutions her group provides to organizations of all types.
MG: Please tell us a little bit about KnowledgeWorks Global Learning and why KGL, as a publishing services provider, has launched a subsidiary learning division.
KL: KGL is a leader in global content solutions, so it was natural to expand the workforce learning side of its consulting and digital solutions business. This positions KGL as an inclusive content provider for all its strategic partners. KnowledgeWorks Global Learning assists publishers by improving their employee performance through end-to-end support of their learning development and business goals. We collaborate with publishers, providing strategic consulting and learning design and development focusing on compliance, new hire orientation, virtual onboarding, leadership, sales, safety, IT, products, systems, team skills and many other areas for employee development. Additionally, KGL creates professional development to address your user needs from improving your educational strategy to enhancing your current learning courses or developing new ones.
MG: How does KGL support holistic learning and content strategies?
KL: We design our solutions to address adult learner and their specific needs. Continuous learning is an extremely important key component for increasing retention and improving performance. Throughout our partnerships with publishers, KGL provides industry insights, proven learning methodologies, and continual consulting to enhance their learning strategies, which produces a roadmap for successful and measurable results.
MG: What types of custom eLearning solutions does KGL develop that publishers should know for delivering training content to their organizations or their users?
KL: We specialize in immersive experiences that provide learners the opportunity to interact with the content. Our solutions include scenario-based learning, simulations, interactive video-based learning, microlearning, mobile learning, gamification, and augmented and virtual reality. Our custom eLearning solutions are cost-effective, target business goals, and deliver learning in appealing formats that promote learner and client engagement. We understand adult learners and professional development, so our eLearning solutions are aligned and incorporate best practices for learning success.
MG: What are the latest trends in learning and development?
KL: In 2021, we saw the increased need for more relevant and engaging content. Learners are looking for modern ways to interact with learning, resulting in quicker knowledge transfer and retention. Adapting to a more virtual approach provides publishers the opportunity to adjust their learning and content strategies. This is key to engagement and ensuring business growth. Additionally, we have seen the need for upskilling and reskilling for employees, including leadership development. Upskilling is necessary for employees to adjust and stay current in the new digital workplace. Virtual onboarding for employees is also a top priority, ensuring knowledge is presented in an innovative setting to expedite the learning process. The focus on learners’ experiences has provided the foundation for publishers and organizations to enhance learning design to meet the skill gaps and improve the bottom line. Learning Experience Platforms, which feature an intuitive, self-directed interface, have also begun to emerge as organizations strive to improve visibility into predictive performance improvement.
MG: What are you looking forward to for 2022?
KL: For the next year, and as part of our strategic planning services, we are expanding our service offerings to provide organizations a more robust approach to learning and development.
KGL will offer a free learning analysis for publishers to help develop a strategic approach to increasing engagement and measurable outcomes. We are also enhancing our virtual onboarding product called VIBE to include augmented reality components that align with the continued needs of the modern workforce. 2022 is going to be an exciting year as KGL partners with publishers to provide sustainable learning strategies, bringing fresh insights into what is working well, and help them reach their business, learning, and content delivery goals.
Kelly Lake leads KnowledgeWorks Global Learning, provider of innovative workforce learning and professional development solutions. For over 30 years, she has partnered with hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies, providing expertise in designing effective learning ecosystems and ROI. She can be reached at Kelly.Lake@kwglobal.com.
