What skills are essential for digital learning professionals to be adaptable?

As a Digital Learning professional, you are only as good as your current skillset. Be curious; when new technologies are released be one of the first to try it out - you may find it offers you no benefit, but it's your exposure to it and your curiosity that can spark a moment of inspiration in your Learners. Also remember that your effectiveness as a Digital Skills Professional isn't just related to Digital skills. To be truly effective you need to help Learners to relate their new knowledge and skills to their life - Knowing about how your organisation works, a little about business and project management go a long way!

Our ability to communicate with stakeholders, the wider business, and our users remains the single most important skill we possess. Without it, nothing else really matters. Key amongst this is our ability to communicate L&D activity as it relates to business objectives. In a time when organisations are rightly challenging L&D to demonstrate their value, we must be speaking the same financial and operational language as the wider organisation. Ensure you can explain the links between your activity and the business's goals and objectives. Draw a line from your activity to company finances, don't rely on L&D terminology or hide behind vanity metrics. Instead maintain an ongoing, open communication with the business to foster trust.

1) Learning how to learn, unlearn, and relearn. With the shortening half-life of skills, what we know today may be obsolete in a few years' time. The "modern technologies" I learnt in university were outdated less than 5 years after I graduated. 2) Go for curated learning from reputable sources. Other than timeless information, anything published more than 3 years ago may be outdated, e.g. software version. It is recommended to stay up-to-date with information published within the last 365 days or less. 3) Read and learn extensively on different topics to build on our unique experiences for t-shaped or v-shaped skills. Synthesize information from different sources, and we may find some new insights from our hobbies in the work context.

Digital learning pros need to keep an eye out for the next big thing in tech, figuring out how it might be useful down the line. This way, they can dodge wasting cash on flashy gadgets that don't really add much value. Being known as the go-to tech whiz builds trust in the organisation. Plus, it keeps them in the loop with the wider industry, making sure they're not just stuck using the same old tools.

Patience and grace… Patience to understand that the digital landscape will continue to move at a fast pace. We need the mental mindset (patience) to stay with the flow of these changes. We also need to give ourselves and each other grace to learn and adapt at our own pace. Help your team, your colleagues, and those in your sphere of influence progress along with you. We all must be willing to work, adapt and change together for our greater good.

The most crucial part for digital learning professionals is an understanding of didactics in an experiential learning space. Didactics in a digital learning space are entirely different from an analogue learning space. While the learning professional surely needs to stay attuned with different learning technologies, it is of great importance to create spaces for learners to create, reflect, collaborate, and negotiate on their own. Learning to let go of the control and let things flow while at the same time remaining observant, participating, and responsible is a key task for digital learning professionals.