Emerging Technologies
Breakthrough technologies impacting how people work, shop, entertain, and live that can ultimately affect how people learn.
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Learning Leaders as AI Change Agents
Michelle Lentz didn’t open her session with a demo or a prompt. Instead, she started with a question about emotion. At The Learning Guild’s 2026 Trends & Strategies Online Conference (Dec. 3–4, 2025), Lentz—founder of Innovate & Elevate Strategies—asked attendees to name the feeling AI most often triggers for them. The responses came fast and varied: “wow,” “hesitant,” “suspicious,” “stress,” “skeptical but enthusiastic,” “inappropriate expectations.” The point wasn’t to take the room’s temperature for novelty. It was to establish what Lentz sees as the real starting point for AI transformation: the human experience of change. Overwhelmed by the Pace of Change For learning leaders, she…
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AI As a Teammate
The future isn’t us versus the machine, it’s us with the machine. AI will be woven into every part of the learning journey, from design to facilitation to evaluation.
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Aha Moments from DevLearn 2025: How AI Is Reshaping the Future of L&D
We asked influential voices in the community to reflect on their biggest “aha” moments from DevLearn 2025, and the focus is no longer on just what technology can do. It’s about what is forcing organizations and L&D to rethink. Here’s a look at what stuck out the most to last year’s influencers. AI is a workforce shift, not just a tech trend One of the most important takeaways from DevLearn is that AI cannot be treated as a standalone technology initiative. Its real impact is systemic. As organizations integrate AI into workflows, they are simultaneously redefining roles, expectations, and ways of working. That puts L&D in the middle of…
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The Future of Learning Technology: Staying Curious Without Losing Your Mind
The evolution that’s got me genuinely excited keeps us grounded in the real world and gives us our hands back. That’s the winning combination.
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The End of the Essay & the Future of Evaluation
Professional educators understand that knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are developed through different learning methods and have to be assessed through different methods as well.
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What Excites Attendees About Being at DevLearn
We asked our DevLearn 2025 influencers what excites them most about being at the event, and while their answers vary, there is a consistent theme throughout. What brings them to the event year after year isn’t just the sessions and technologies, it’s the feeling of being a part of something shared. It starts with the people It is no surprise that a common theme is the excitement of reconnecting with longtime colleagues, finally meeting online connections in person, and forming entirely new relationships. At DevLearn there is a deep sense of belonging that happens when surrounded by like-minded, passionate professionals who genuinely care about each other and the work. DevLearn is relational. It’s where digital relationships…
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Agentic AI at Work: What L&D Must Be Ready for in 2026
Everyone’s waiting for AI to get “better.” For hallucinations to disappear. For the system to finally be perfect. Spoiler: it won’t. GenAI is probabilistic, which means it will always make mistakes. And agentic AI? That just means we’re giving those mistakes legs. It’s error on the move. Which, let’s be honest, makes AI less like a tool and more like… us. By 2026, that’s the workplace: every leader suddenly a leader of leaders, every IC managing a squad of AI ICs, and error baked into every layer. It’s messy. It’s unpredictable. And if L&D thinks the answer is “more content,…
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Igniting Critical Thinking, Curiosity & Creativity in the Workplace
It is time for a revolution in L&D! In an age where innovation and adaptability determine the survival of organizations, superficial skill-building is no longer enough. Organizations must shift toward understanding how to encourage employees to challenge outdated paradigms, embrace curiosity, and use critical thinking and collaboration as the foundation of every project. In this session, you will explore AI-enhanced learning tools, curriculum design, and change management techniques to drive meaningful workplace transformation. This session is more than a workshop, it’s a movement. It’s a call to action for learning leaders to invest in thinking beyond tasks and empower the…
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Learning Leaders as AI Change Agents: Leading Transformation
AI is transforming organizations, and learning leaders have a unique opportunity to lead the way. But AI adoption brings challenges like resistance, fear of job displacement, and skill gaps that can derail success. This session equips you with targeted change management strategies designed to address these challenges and measure AI’s impact effectively. You’ll learn how to adapt proven change management models, such as Kotter’s and ADKAR, to support AI adoption while addressing resistance. We’ll explore how to foster cross-departmental collaboration, identify AI champions, and most critically establish key metrics to measure success. These metrics will balance technological adoption with human…
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From DevLearn 2025 to DevLearn 2026: What the Community is Asking For Next
DevLearn Conference & Expo has always been the place to explore where the industry is headed, but it is also where we uncover where learning professionals want to go next. We took the time at DevLearn 2025 to talk with influential voices in the space to ask “What do you hope to see at next year’s event?” and their answers pointed towards even more meaningful moments, practical applications, going beyond the hype of AI, talking about failure, and more. Here’s a closer look at what 2025 Influencers told us, and what it might mean for DevLearn 2026. The moments between sessions Again and again, conversations came back to the same idea: DevLearn is one of the few moments when learning…