360Learning

360Learning is a learning management system that acts as the backbone for learning at companies. Rather than providing content, the platform helps Learning & Development teams orchestrate training - from automating and distributing courses to driving and tracking engagement. CEO and co-founder Nick Hernandez spoke to us about why 360Learning champions collaborative learning and how the company is using generative AI to improve its offer.

What makes you stand out in the crowded world of EdTech?

Most other platforms are top down. On the contrary, we believe that people will engage more when the learning experience is collaborative and peer driven. For example, when you're learning a new language and only practicing in the classroom, it doesn't stick. But if you go to the country and talk to people, you'll learn - and remember - much better. The insight is that people learn best when they're learning from and with other people. That's why we've built a platform that's driven by collaborative learning.

What evidence do you have to prove that your insight is correct?

Usually, learning platforms see a 20-30% completion rate, which is low. Of those who start a course, only one in three will finish. So, for us, the key metric - and the North Star for our product team - is the completion rate. On our platform, our customers are consistently achieving a completion rate of 91% and above.

What do you mean by “collaborative learning”?

It starts with employees identifying what they need to learn to increase their performance. This generates a list of learning needs that can be sorted and prioritized based on business impact. A learning team will then assign subject matter experts to create courses on their platform. That's another big difference with 360Learning: we make it easy for subject matter experts to create courses. These courses are then delivered to the people who requested them. They can ask questions and even contribute to the content to help improve the courses.

One big challenge is keeping the content up to date. We have a feature that enables learners to signal when they see something that's outdated. They can even fix it or flag it for the learning team or subject matter expert.

There's a whole set of features and workflows that we've engineered over 10 years to drive the most value out of collective intelligence and foster the learning experience through groups and communities.

How do you make it easy for subject matter experts to create courses? Does AI have a role to play here?

Yes, generative AI has revolutionized course creation. You can feed the model existing PDFs, documents, and emails and it will create the first version of the course for you. It's great for generating engaging course content, multiple-choice questions, challenges, and collaborative activities. It doesn't replace the need for authors to refine the content; it's more about empowering them to produce and perfect courses. Creators can also use prompt management to customize content and factor in cultural and market nuances. They've been loving that to learn, control, and experiment with the model. Around 30,000 courses are created per month on our platform. 30% of these are created using our generative AI feature, which we introduced around six months ago. I foresee that figure rising to 100% in the future.

Many companies struggle to identify and close their skills gap. Is this an area you're focused on - and how can AI help?

Yes, skills mapping is something that companies have been struggling with for years. The problem is that as the economy changes, the skills map keeps changing too - and by the time it's ready, it's also outdated. For that reason, we'd always refused to invest in this use case - until now. By combining strong mapping capabilities - through our recent acquisition of eLamp - with our generative AI, we have solved this problem and are helping Learning & Development teams keep their skills inventories current and focused.

Generative AI is a game changer here. For example, it continuously analyzes industry job descriptions to detect emerging skills and trends. This dynamic approach allows HR teams to incrementally update their skills maps in real time, which is crucial for businesses with large workforces facing constantly evolving job requirements. This is how we're empowering companies to navigate changes in the economy and stay competitive.

Does skills mapping feed into the collaborative learning platform to identify gaps in training?

Yes. Once a company has mapped the skills of its workforce, it can determine the skills gap by assessing its employees' skills against those required for their jobs. When you integrate that with our learning platform it can then start recommending and distributing courses to close that skills gap. That's the upskilling use case. The reskilling use case is almost the same, but instead of comparing people's skills with those required for their current job, you're comparing their skills with the skills they would need for their next job.

What do you think AI, when applied to education and learning, can help us to achieve as a society?

AI in education prompts us to actively define our future. I hope that as the technology develops further people will see that anything can be built. The real question is: what do we want to build? We are the architects of our destiny. So, we should focus on deciding what we want the world to be: our goals, our vision, and where we want to go. And our education systems should support this kind of thinking.