About Guild Articles
Find practical, solution-oriented information—on design, development, management, technology, and executive matters—that you can use to make well-informed business decisions to ensure your organization’s success with learning.
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Trust in the AI Rollout
By Megan Torrance and Lauren Milstid Visit the website of any major technology consultancy firm and search for “trust in AI.” You’ll get articles full of essential and valid topics, such as explainability, security, data privacy, reliability. These are the cornerstones of technical trust, and they’re critically important. We want to know the AI models are sound, the data is safe, and the output isn’t unintentionally biased. But there’s a big hole in that conversation—and it’s a human-sized one. As learning & development (L&D) professionals, we often sit in the space between systems and people. And while IT teams can…
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The Illusion of Engagement: Why Some Virtual Classrooms Fall Short
In today’s digital learning landscape, where virtual sessions dominate, there’s a pervasive problem often masked by good intentions: the illusion of engagement. While facilitators and instructional designers strive to make learning “interactive” with quick polls, chat prompts, and icebreakers, these superficial tactics frequently miss the mark, leading to a significant disconnect between activity and actual learning. Even the most highly motivated learners begin to lose focus within a mere 10 to 15 minutes of a virtual session. This isn’t a sign of disinterest from the learner; rather, it’s a critical indicator that attention must be sustained with a deliberate, intentional…
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Will AI Change the Work of Instructional Designers? Maybe It Already Has
By Saul Carliner, Giuliana Cucinelli, and Samira Karim On the one hand, it seems that ever since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, professionals in learning and development (L&D)—including instructional design—have tried to figure out how this technology might affect the work of instructional designers. After all, some early examples of generative AI (the class of artificial intelligence tool represented by ChatGPT) include entire courses and tutoring services prepared by the software. Some writers focus on using AI; others speculate about how AI might change our jobs. On the other hand, despite the sudden appearance of ChatGPT, AI technologies…
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Undervalued & Overlooked? AI-Powered Communities Help Reclaim Visibility
By Iuliia Algasova Imagine having a wealth of knowledge and innovation inside your organization, but it’s hidden, siloed, or simply goes unnoticed. In talent development, you most probably work with incredible people from diverse backgrounds: former teachers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and technologists. Many of them push boundaries daily, experiment, and invent things. They have true and tested practices, inspiring stories, and powerful insights we all wish more people knew about. Instead, what we often get is duplication. Silos. Teams reinventing the wheel. Everyone celebrating small wins in isolation while collective progress stalls. It’s not that people don’t want to share; they…
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The Coolest L&D Tech Trends: From Learning Design to AI
Curious about what tech trends learning and performance improvement professionals think are the coolest? So were we. That’s why we asked attendees at DevLearn Conference & Expo 2024 to tell us about the tech trends they learned about at the event that they thought were the coolest. Here’s what they said: New strides in video Multiple attendees were struck by the new video capabilities that they learned about at DevLearn. One was particularly excited about the ability to make avatars that can be used in training videos instead of having to “worry about getting all done up every time you…
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Leveraging Rubrics in Instructional Design
Using rubrics can help you boost the effectiveness and quality of your training materials.
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Thinking Machines That Don’t: Confronting AI’s Biases & Systemic Flaws
Ever-agreeable and positive, LLMs reflect subtle biases that reduce friction—and can result in treating all information and knowledge as functionally equivalent.
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The Final Reveal: 10 Up-and-Coming L&D Leaders
The Learning Leadership Conference has selected the 30 rising stars who will participate in this year’s Thirty Under 30 program! If you missed the previous reveals, you can still see the first 10 profiles and the second group of 10 profiles. Our final group of 10 Thirty Under 30 honorees have a wide variety of accomplishments, from creating patient care training to implementing an organization-wide goal-setting framework and everything in between: Faith Beatty, MBA, Learning Program Manager, Progress Residential Faith has a background in business entrepreneurship and an MBA from Grand Canyon University. Faith brings a unique blend of strategic…
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Leading with EQ: Why Relationship-Centric Workplaces Win in 2025
By Dr. Sheri Duchock & Dr. Maggie Sass Everyone needs a win, and the win for 2025 is relationship-centric workplaces. How do we know? A recent report surveyed leadership, HR, and L&D professionals to better understand their priorities, challenges, and opportunities for the upcoming year. Findings in The 2025 State of EQ Report reveal a disconcerting paradox. While collaboration, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction are top priorities for these survey participants, 69% of their organizations struggle with team collaboration. Sixty-nine percent is an enormous number! This paradox highlights that as organizations navigate increasing complexity, relationship-centric workplaces drive success: The report…
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The Role of L&D in Navigating Organizational Transformation
By Lucas Stidham As someone who has been deeply involved in the field of learning and development (L&D), I’ve witnessed firsthand the pivotal role it plays in driving organizational transformation. It’s a complex and multifaceted process that requires strategic planning, effective communication, and a deep understanding of the company’s culture and goals. L&D plays a key role in enabling this change, though it also comes with its own unique set of challenges. Understanding the scope of transformation The first challenge in assisting organizational transformation is understanding the scope and scale of the change. Transformation can range from minor adjustments in…