I must start with this; I just asked Bard if I had a good headline here.

Thank you kindly, Bard. Here we go…

Keyboard-tapping professionals across all walks of business now call on robots to help pump up productivity for an ever-expanding array of tasks.

Are learning and development specialists joining the party? (The cork pops.) Oh… yeah.

In years past, AI began to make some ripples in customer education. But now,
with multi-purpose generative AI solutions like ChatGPT and Bard becoming mainstream and artificial intelligence tools created specifically for L&D pouring forth, it looks to be making waves in the field of customer education.

Still, the power of AI still scares the willies out of some enterprises. And its potential to automate and accelerate workflows with a crafty little prompt here and there has invoked a deafening chorus of “it’s coming to take my job” outcries and a host of potentially critical legal and infosec concerns.

Our advice: fear not.

Just as computers, the internet, and search engines accelerated your ability to gather, process, and produce information, so too will AI tools. When you learn where, when, and how to use them, they shall become your virtual best buddies and perhaps, the most effective propellers of productivity you’ll ever deploy.

So, let’s look at 12 ways we CE pros can tap the power of generative AI.

1. Plan course content

You might begin to unleash the power of generative AI by giving it a seat, so to speak, at your course planning meetings. A practical way to begin is by informing your tool of choice with course objectives, students’ learning needs, and desired outcomes.

As with many generative AI tasks, the tool may not hit one out of the park, but it’s likely to give you a plausible outline that you can mold into a structured curriculum.

2. Create course content

Generative AI can also lend a hand in creating lesson content with great speed and efficiency. An informative blog post from Skilljar presents the following collection of content types that learning professionals can leverage in their courses and training materials.

• Lesson content
  Use generative AI to create portions of course content, such as quizzes and knowledge checks, and expedite administrative processes to save time and resources. Tools such as Learn Expert AI (LEAi) help instructional designers transform content by subject matter experts into lessons.
• Slide content
  A variety of generative AI tools now automatically create and format presentations. Of course, you can tap mainstream text tools such as ChatGPT to generate and edit your speaker notes.
• Video content
  Tools such as Runway and Synthesia enable users to develop videos solely from text input. Descript helps creators write, record, transcribe, edit, collaborate, and share videos and podcasts. Videate is a platform specifically for software providers that revises training videos whenever product updates are released.

Yes, if your job involves content creation, it’s time to give a nice warm welcome to your automated right hand.

3. Personalize content and learning paths

Generative AI will prove indispensable for helping training departments personalize content to match the needs and preferences of individuals. Learners might be segregated based on roles, goals, skills, geography, recent activities, and of course, knowledge. Predictive AI-based recommendation engines can be put in place to create a digital concierge to guide the learner down effective learning paths.

4. Gamify learning

Gamification is the practice of using game elements and game design in non-game contexts. It can motivate learners to progress through their courses and achieve new performance levels. AI can incorporate gamification elements into training programs with the use of leaderboards, scorecards, badges, and rewards to make the learning experience more enjoyable

AI can enhance gamification by personalizing the learning experience and providing adaptive and intelligent feedback tailored to the learner’s needs and goals. What’s more, AI can collect and analyze data from the gamified activities to deliver recommendations for improvement.

5. Streamline multiple forms of assessment

“In some cases, we pre-test, to properly place students in the curriculum,” writes Kristine Kukich from Thought Industries in an article published by Learning Outcomes. “In some cases, we evaluate as we go in the hopes of recording comprehension of the material.

She continues, “And then we close out an item via post-learning assessments, with the hope the numbers increase in the post-assessment from the pre-test. Many programs will choose to do all three.”

Kukich goes on to explain AI-based text analysis presents opportunities to streamline each of these assessment processes. She adds that customer education professionals can advance beyond the multiple-choice questions they’ve historically relied on to better gauge comprehension. And they can do so at scale.

6. Create relevant quizzes

The questions you put forth to assess the learner’s command of the material can easily be handed over to generative AI tools. This type of functionality is available via ChatGPT and other free tools, it’s built into some platforms, such as 360Learning, and a search for “AI question generator” reveals specialty applications including Quizbot and Testportal.

7. Analyze feedback

You can—and should—capitalize on AI to analyze the feedback that comes from those you’re working to educate. Analyzing customer behavior, feedback, and learning patterns will generate insights into what customers need to know, how they prefer to learn, and where they may struggle.

If you’re not already, put systems in place to collect customer feedback during and after course completion via the learning platform, emails, forums, and/or social media platforms. Put your AI tool to work to analyze feedback and sentiment.

8. Deliver relevant content with federated search

Federated search is the practice of using a single interface to enable users to call for information from distributed search engines and databases. Users get access to a one-stop shop to search data from various sources such as knowledge base articles, learning catalogs, support tickets, community discussions and more.

When federated search is combined with a digital adoption program (DAP) you can help meet learners where they are and present learning pathways in multiple modalities, dependent on the starting point of that particular journey.

9. Transcribe and summarize audio and video content

AI transcription tools such as Rev and Temi—and those built into webinar platforms—are invaluable for making content accessible. What’s more, transcripts can be made to be even more useful when using a generative AI tool to create content summaries, which might be used in different ways. Tools such as Notion can produce summaries nearly instantly to and guide users to the content they require.

10. Translate content for global audiences

Training organizations that serve a global audience can leverage generative AI tools such as Sonix to automatically translate text and video from one language to another.

11. Generate coding exercises

Can your customers get more from your technology when they write code for using it? If so, you need to try generating coding lab exercises with the help of AI. Content creators can input specific programming concepts or objectives to produce coding challenges and scenarios to enhance hands-on learning in a realistic, practical setting.

GitHub Copilot is trained to turn natural language prompts into coding suggestions. You might also use ChatGPT to create or refine code used in training courses by inputting it and asking the tool to make corrections.

12. Analyze and optimize

A superpower of generative AI lies in assimilating and analyzing data to inform decision-making and optimize the delivery of content. AI can analyze training data to identify patterns and trends, helping trainers and organizations gain insights into the effectiveness of their training programs and make data-driven improvements.

The data may reveal trainee performance indicators such as competencies, accuracy, skill gaps, and more. AI can also be used to track users’ progress and highlight areas where they struggle, which can obviously help software trainers refine materials and identify where additional support may be needed.

It’s time to get your AI on

There you have it: 12 ways. We reserve the right to expand the list (and you know we will).

Generative AI could grow at a CAGR of 42% over the next ten years.

Rising demand for generative AI products could add about $280 billion of new software revenue, driven by specialized assistants, new infrastructure products, and business copilots that accelerate coding.

Source: Bloomberg

AI’s emergence in L&D space will redefine how software companies optimize customer training to drive product adoption and enjoy far greater efficiency in doing so.

New tools are everywhere, easy to find, and generally, easy to use. Go get ‘em.

The writer is Annie Reiss, CloudShare’s Chief Marketing Officer

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