The Internet of Things (IoT) technology revolution is about to explode in L&D. While still not commonplace, it has the potential to resemble the stunning uptake of the smartphone—technology that went from new to everywhere in just 10 years. It also has the capability to redefine the learning landscape. In the age of IoT, learning will no longer be about ownership of information; it will be about presence, context, and experience.

Today’s learners are faced with an ever-growing surplus of content to learn, process, and employ in their careers. Companies have terabytes of knowledge, skills, behaviors, and standard work required for successful day-to-day operations. They need to empower their employees with a system for efficiently building on or augmenting the capabilities each person brings to the organization. Intelligence augmentation is one possible solution.

Workplace learning is a two-way relationship between a company’s desire to stay competitive and employees’ need for information to engage job functions. With the struggle for competitive advantage expected to only accelerate, it pays dividends to create a flexible and technology-enabled learning ecosystem that can foster the future generations in the workforce.

Back by popular demand, Hyperdrive returns to DevLearn this fall. This year’s Hyperdrive competition focuses on innovation, showcasing projects that are using technology and solutions to create new and exciting opportunities for learning and performance support.

The value of virtual reality and 360-degree video content for L&D is quite promising, as the immersive nature of these technologies has the potential to make a major impact on learning and retention when used strategically. However, the actual development of VR and 360-degree video content can at first glance seem daunting, complicated, costly, and even out of reach to most learning organizations. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Virtual reality has been a hot topic in the L&D space recently. Its use in the field is growing, and you can now move past talking about it in theory and explore real examples of VR for training projects. You can see the real-world experience of a learning solution that incorporates VR, and find out what exactly you need to do to create a meaningful learning experience with it.

As the workplace becomes more virtual and distributed, soft skills training is more important than ever. Also, as artificial intelligence automates basic technical skills and work processes, many occupations increasingly require strong interpersonal skills for new roles and responsibilities. However, when it comes to soft skills, traditional online learning programs may do a good job teaching what to do, but they don’t always give opportunities for learners to apply how to do it, especially in “true to life” situations.

Technology continues to advance rapidly, changing how we live and interact with the world around us. Today’s learning professionals face the challenge of staying ahead of this curve and tracking the technologies that are shaping the future of organizational learning, while at the same time recognizing technologies that may be more of a passing fad.

Companies are always looking for innovative methods to convey training content. Particularly in professional roles where training is costly, complicated, or even dangerous, there is a strong need for technology-enabled training that’s easily repeatable and cost-effective. Scalability is just part of the puzzle—content also needs to be designed for accuracy, immersion, and efficacy so that trainers can provide impactful training experiences with high fidelity to the actual task.

Virtual reality has matured into a technology that you can incorporate into eLearning components. As with any newly developed technology or process, eLearning developers may have difficulty identifying the hardware, software, and other resources they need to create eLearning in a virtual environment.

Imagine that you could simulate a customer call where your learner participates in a verbal conversation with a (pre-recorded) customer, rather than typing a response. Or that your learners could speak their responses to mobile devices rather than slowly tapping on a small software keyboard. You could then listen to and evaluate spoken responses, convert speech to text, and search for keywords and react to them.

For the past 30 years, L&D professionals have done everything they can to stuff the entire world into a computer screen. Building the perfect virtual environment for learners has been the “holy grail” for years and is still elusive. One wrong turn, and you’re leaving the Matrix and running straight into the uncanny valley! So why not use the real world already all around you?