Optimising learning experience for all learners

Published in February 2025, the Fosway 9-Grid™ for Learning Systems looks at the market for Suites and Specialist platforms in the learning technology space. Here, Fosway analysts ask what a truly effective learning experience looks like – as well as asking more questions about AI.

Despite all the noise about the importance of the learning experience, real insight into what drives effective learning outcomes is still low. There is still an artificial expectation that an ‘LXP’ will solve all the experience problems without an understanding of the real issues for learners. A key question is, who is the ‘experience’ for? The assumption that all learners are desk-based knowledge workers with time on their hands for discovering new opportunities is patently false – and yet the LXP was largely calibrated for that use case. We have highlighted the continued importance of frontline workers too.

In general, their view of learning experience is much more aligned to the easiest path to complete their mandatory learning needed to be fit for work. And if they have time to explore, it is likely to be very directly related to finding answers to immediate problems impacting their day job. Learning experience is about making the most relevant learning easily available to learners at the right point in time with the least effort, and with a good experience, resulting in an effective outcome. Whilst some learners will be besotted by personal growth and building a long-term skills journey, they are rarer than we imagine. 

It’s hard to see beyond the wall of noise about AI

It is not a shock to anyone that the biggest noise in the learning systems market, like many others, is about AI. Whilst it has been a factor for vendor roadmaps for a couple of years, for many, it is now all-consuming. Some of this is well justified – AI has a huge potential to transform clunky and often ineffective learning plans and processes into highly targeted, personalised solutions. It also has the potential to finally break the just-in-case, course-centric delivery culture that dominates L&D teams. But AI in vendor roadmaps is not the same as AI for the customer.

Much of the promise of AI is still in the pipeline, not yet in the product. And in many cases, even if it is, customers have yet to turn it on. Whilst corporate buyers have an expectation that AI will be important, most have yet to work out what for, and even if they will be allowed to turn it on. The wall of noise about AI will lead to change, but don’t underestimate the barriers too. In the real world, governance and controls often follow adoption rather than leading it. For AI that is likely to be true too, despite the concerns and risks.

This is an excerpt from the Fosway 9-Grid™ for Learning Systems. Get the full insight and discover all the latest market and solution trends by reading the whole report here.

What should you do next?

• Sign up to be part of Digital Learning Realities 2025 – ignore the hype and be part of the reality of modern digital learning. Share your experiences in this year’s research cycle here.
• How will AI affect the next generation of learning systems? Take part in Fosway’s strategic AI project for 2025: ‘AI in Learning’.

Other recommended reading

• Browse everything related to learning experience in the Fosway Group Knowledge Centre. Find out more here.
• The 2025 Fosway 9-Grid^TM for Digital Learning– full report. Just released: the latest look at the market and solution trends in learning content providers – get the full analysis today.
• Evolving the Modern Learning Experience – this is how L&D teams are rising to the challenge of a fast-changing tech landscape.

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