Overview of All Approaches

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More details on why each reskilling approach is Innovative, Interesting and Impactful

MOTIF

Theoretical approaches implemented: Blended Learning, Industry Courses, MOOC

MOTIF is a Hong Kong based skilling startup that focuses on the fashion industry. MOTIF provides online courses that are aimed at professionals and businesses that are either already in the apparel industry or want to establish themselves in it. The courses range from sustainability, women’s fashion and fitting, 3D modelling, etc.  The aim is to equip the participants with the most relevant and uptodate knowledge in emerging trends in fashion and apparel or to teach the participants to use new technologies that can provide them an advantage in the age of digital transformation (e.g. model clothing items using 3D modeling and simulation). The courses are held by industry experts that have practical experience in a particular topic and provide either practical exercise or theoretical explanations, usually through video recordings, animation and live seminars.

1. What is innovative about the approach?

In addition to individual courses, MOTIF offers course bundles, subscriptions and programs. Some of these programs are “Hybrid Programs'' which combine several methods of education. Namely, they combine on-demand courses with live sessions with the instructors. The on-demand courses are usually a bundle that includes pre-recorded video lessons and exercises that participants can complete at their own pace. These courses, however, are often too generic and lack the individual attention of a face-to-face interaction. The intention of these courses is to fit the needs of as many people as possible, and therefore any questions or inquiries that the participants have are left unaddressed. The way that MOTIF compensated for these shortcomings is by supplementing the program with live (in-person or online) webinars, which provide learners individual attention from the instructor and a platform on which questions can be addressed. This mixed approach lowers the costs of such programs as well, as instructor-led courses tend to be more expensive. The result is a reskilling solution that allows participants to learn parallel to work thanks to the flexibility of the on-demand courses, but can also be customized to the needs of the learner thanks to live webinars.

2. How is it impactful? What skill gaps does it address?

• Technical skills
• Skills related to Industry 4.0
• Working with Excel
• Remote working

3. What is interesting about the approach? What are the advantages?

• Completely remote - all of the courses and programs offered by MOTIF are available online, this includes the webinars and events hosted by them. This is a distinct advantage in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and for companies that have a multinational staff
• Easily scalable - the online on-demand courses are not limited to a number of participants and the quality is consistent regardless of the scale. This makes the solution applicable to large scale firms as well as small start-ups.
• Cost effective - the hybrid courses reduce the costs of reskilling by reducing the amount of instructor-led course hours.

Hitch

Theoretical approaches: Skill management tool

Hitch offers various talent management solutions that implement AI and Machine Learning to help companies identify skill gaps and bridge them with talent from outside the company, but also with existing talent pool through reskilling.

1. What is innovative about the approach?

The software that Hitch offers allows companies to create an internal database, or internal market place as they call it, in which employees can create their profiles and store their current skills, as well as their development goals.  The software then creates a comprehensive overview of what the skill capacities of the company are and where the gaps lay. It can then compare the existing talent to available positions and create a development path for the employee based on their stated goals and suggest reskilling programs if they are needed. Hitch can also be integrated with platforms like LinkedIn to search a large number of candidates and find the most suitable ones.

2. How is it impactful? What skill gaps does it address?

Hitch doesn’t offer any courses or training programs, instead it automates the reskilling process. By having an overview of the skill that each employee possesses, the company can find the right reskilling programs that align with the needs of the company and the goals of the individual worker.

3. What is interesting about the approach? What are the advantages?

• Reduced spending -  Hitch enables companies to reduce the amount of new hires by tapping into the hidden potential of its workforce. The reduced hiring leads to lower hiring cost and onboarding costs.
• Increased employee satisfaction - Hitch creates a development plan that is aligned with the goals the employees set. This increases the feeling of being challenged by one’s work. Likewise, the employees feel that they are moving in their desired career path, and are less likely to look for a different job. Subsequently, employee turnover is reduced.
• Identification of skill gaps - companies have a hard time realizing what the skills they need to be successful are, as well as determining what the current skill status in the company is. Hitche’s AI can be a convenient solution to both these problems by having a database of all the employee skill profiles.
• Automated reskilling planning - Hitch provides a scalable solution, as the software can find the best development path for each employee and suggest any reskilling programs that might be needed. This is particularly advantageous for large companies, for which generating large amounts of personalized programs can be difficult or costly.
• Better hiring - By having an internal database, the employees of the company become potential candidates. Thus, hiring teams have a large pool of candidates they can pick from. Starting a new position for such internal candidates is likewise easier, as they are already familiar with ins and outs of the company and need less time to settle in.

Codecademy

Theoretical approaches:  Immersive Learning, MOOC

Codecademy is an online platform where individuals can take interactive courses meant to teach programming languages, data science and computer science.

1. What is innovative about the approach?

Codeacademy’s courses are built to be self-paced and self-taught. Meaning that the learning material is entirely on demand in forms of pre-recorded lectures and exercises. What sets Codecademy apart from other MOOCs is it’s truly interactive nature. The learners interact with the course through a portal that contains instruction videos that explain a concept or a tool. However, this is not the bulk of the material. The courses consist mostly of coding exercises that call for the learners to write code to test their understanding of the taught material. This code is checked, executed and evaluated by an algorithm that shows errors and gives corresponding feedback. This way, learners get to practice what they learned immediately after they learned it and get immediate feedback.

2. How is it impactful? What skill gaps does it address?

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning
• Comprehension of programming languages

3. What is interesting about the approach? What are the advantages?

• Reduced onboarding time - new hires can acquire the skills necessary for their position without the need for a mentor to teach them.
• Improved communication with developers - non IT employees can improve the mutual language with the IT personnel, by learning the fundamentals of coding and computer science.
• Interactive and engaging - the courses by Codecadamy are more engaging for the learner than a regular pre-recorded lecture, because they are built to give learners more frequent feedback through coding exercises and quizzes. Thus, the learning experience is more engaging and enjoyable.

Coursera for Business

Theoretical approaches: MOOC, Industry Courses and Certificates

Coursera is a MOOC that works with universities and other organizations to offer online courses, certifications, and degrees in a variety of subjects. Coursera for business is the branch that focuses on providing services for businesses. Coursera for business is meant for large corporations that seek to reskill their employees without having to build internal reskilling programs and courses.

1. What is innovative about the approach?

Coursera for business grants access to more than 4500 courses from Coursera’s catalog. The courses are either university courses from top universities around the world (e.g. Yale, UC San Diego) or certificated courses that are provided by well-known companies (e.g. IBM, Google), aimed to generate more workforce in sectors they have an interest in. The courses are held completely online and in several languages, meaning companies from all around the world can use the Coursera for Business to reskill their personnel at any time. Included in Coursera for Business are consulting services that help companies that work with Coursera to determine what skills are needed for them to meet their goals, as well as what courses can be taken from the catalogue to learn them.  Companies can also monitor the progress of the learning employees with tools provided by Coursera for Business such as the Skills Dashboards that provides employers with an overview of the courses taken and the progress of each participant, as well as statistics such as time until mastery.

2. How is it impactful? What skill gaps does it address?

Coursera addresses all of the skills mentioned in section II. This includes hard-skills and soft skills. It is the widest source of reskilling courses we found.

3. What is interesting about the approach? What are the advantages?

• Scalable There is no limitation on the number of participants in the courses. Most courses are not supplemented by live sessions and are mostly based on pre-recorded lectures and exercises. This means that the approach can be implemented in both small and large scale companies.
• High quality education - Coursera collaborates with prestigious universities from around the world. The quality of the courses on Coursera are at par with courses offered on university campuses. A large part of the courses have the same material as provided in the university itself.
• Fast delivery - The Coursera skill management tools and APIs are easily integratable with companies’ IT infrastructure.

Festo Didactic

Implemented approaches: Contextual Learning, Blended Learning, Instructor-led Training

The Festo group manufactures production machines and parts in the fields of pneumatics, hydraulics, electronics, electrical engineering, mechatronics, etc. Festo Didactics, along with Festo Training and consulting,  is a provider of technical training in these fields. They provide training solutions in the forms of instructor-led training, e-learning and training systems (laboratories and training centers).

1. What is innovative about the approach?

Festo Didactics provides the opportunity for employees to gain hands-on experience with new technologies, mostly related to automation and Industry 4.0, with training stations that are meant to simulate production lines and real working environments. These training stations are manufactured by Festo and can be combined to create laboratories or learning centers where employees can learn and get experience with new technologies before implementing that knowledge on the production line. The training solutions are also highly customizable and can be tailored to a company's production process and work methods.

In addition to technical training, Festo Didactics also provides a consultancy and training service: Festo Training and Consulting. With this service companies can work with Festo to create a holistic training program that spans from top management consulting and strategy to middle management training and production line technical training.

First, Festo’s consultants set goals with the company’s management. E.g. increased machine availability, reduction of waste, process optimization, reduced throughput time, etc. Then, an analysis of competencies is conducted to determine which skills need to be developed and which training, in the form of practice stations or instructor training, is necessary.

Finally, the training doesn’t focus exclusively on increasing proficiency with the new production method or technology, but also on soft skills such as organizational skills, team-work, customer relations, etc. These soft skill courses are not targeted at management only, but also at production line employees.

Training eventually extends outside the simulated work environments and training centers and onto the production line. There, trainees can practice what they learned while still receiving the help and guidance of Festo’s instructors.

2. How is it impactful? What skill gaps does it address?

• Skills related to Industry 4.0
• Project management
• Cognitive thinking
• Communication skills and interpersonal skills

3. What is interesting about the approach? What are the advantages?

• On-site training training is held on the factory floor or at the customer’s preferred location. This means that there is no travel time or travel expenses incurred on the side of the customer. Moreover, the training tables manufactured by Festo can be deployed in the factory, thus, making the transition from the learning environment to the practice more seamless.
• Holistic training program (involves management) - the reskilling programs include training of top and middle management, as well as factory-line workers. Such a program makes sure that knowledge of the new technology is imbued across all levels of the company and the benefits that it offers can be taken advantage of to the fullest.
• Tailored to company goals - the training program is goals oriented. Meaning the training objectives and content depend on what the company seeks to implement with the new technology, its strategic goals and current processes. This means no two training programs will be the same, and each one is tailored to the needs of the individual company.

iSpring

Theoretical approaches: Skill Management Tool

iSpring provides tools for companies to create and manage e-Learning courses.

1. What is innovative about the approach?

iSpring offers two products that can be used by companies for the purposes of reskilling. The first is “iSpring suite'' which is a software that integrates with Microsoft Powerpoint and enables users to create interactive learning modules. This software includes a video and audio editor, various templates for interactive quizzes, a large library of icons, backgrounds and stock images among others. These enable anyone to create interactive and immersive courses without any previous knowledge in video editing or design. Users can create interactive quizzes with games to test the participants knowledge and branching roleplay scenarios to simulate conversations with clients to practice communication skills.Additionally, users of “iSpring suite” can work on projects collaboratively through an add-on called “iSpring space”. This add-on stores projects on a cloud server and allows several users to make changes and edit the project in a similar way to “Google Docs”.The second product provided by iSpring  is “iSpring learn”. It is a LMS (Learning Management System) which can be used to store and manage training of employees in a company. “iSpace learn” allows administrators to assign and schedule training, as well as to monitor the progress of each learner on his respective course in the form of learning statistics.

2. How is it impactful? What skill gaps does it address?

iSpring doesn’t address any of the skills mentioned in section II, instead it allows companies to create high quality inhouse reskilling programs.

3. What is intresting about the approach? What are the advantages?

• No new software required- There are virtually no IT related obstacles to using iSprints products, as “iSpring suite” can be integrated into Microsoft PowerPoint, a software that is used by the vast majority of companies, and “iSpring learn” is a cloud server that can be accessed through an internet browser.
• 24/7 customer support- iSpring promises 24/7 around the clock IT support, thus removing the need for in-house IT administrators.
• Compatible with all platforms- iSpring removed technological barriers for learners. Courses created using iSpring can be taken on a variety of devices including PCs, Macs, tablets and smartphones.

Spearhead Training

Theoretical approaches: Instructor-led Training, Coaching and Consulting

Spearhead Training is a training and consultancy group that provides instructor-led (online and face-to-face) courses for UK and Gulf Region based companies. They mostly focus on management training, in particular on the development of soft-skills and general business administration topics such as, sales, HR and marketing.

1. What is innovative about the approach?

Spearhead Training focuses on providing high quality training for a premium rate. They strive to achieve this by recruiting experienced instructors and limiting the number of participants to maintain an optimal trainer to learner ratio. Spearhead Training employees only experienced and qualified trainers that are familiar with the business environments in which they offer their training, namely the UK and the Gulf Region. All of the trainers have more than a decade of experience in education or a business administration related topic and most have a Bachelor’s or a Master’s degree in their respective field. Nearly all speak English and Arabic, a few are former CEOs.

Spearhead Training offers both virtual and face-to-face courses. Both types are held by one of the instructors and there is a hard restriction on the number of to either 12 for face-to-face courses or 8  for online courses. The restriction is intended to prevent overcrowding and allow trainers to have the attention for each individual learner and their needs.Additionally, Spearhead Training offers so-called “In-Company” courses. These courses start with a pre-course analysis and consultancy to get to know the business structure, business goals, challenges  and training needs of the client. Then, a customized training program is created. All of these factors, the qualified personnel, the small number of participants and the customized program drive the price of courses up, but help provide a truly high quality skilling program.

2. How is it impactful? What skill gaps does it address?

• Project management
• Working with excel
• Cognitive thinking
• Communication skills and interpersonal skills
• Creativity
• Leadership

3. What is interesting about the approach? What are the advantages?

• High quality - this quality focused approach is meant to offer the most premium and tailored approach for companies to reskill.
• Insider knowledge - learners can draw valuable insider knowledge from the decades of experience the trainers bring to the table.
• Agile - person to person teaching offers the advantage of enabling learners to give direct feedback to the trainer during the learning program. Thus, changes can be made and programs can easily be adjusted to accommodate the individual learner.

GeekBrains

Theoretical approaches:  Instructor-led Training, Blended Learning

GeekBrains is an online education platform that focuses mostly on the Russian and Eastern-European markets. GeekBrains was originally founded as an online school for programming but has since expanded it’s portfolio of courses and now hosts courses and webinars on information technology, marketing, management, design, analytics and other professions.

1. What is innovative about the approach?

GeekBrains offers courses that span between 3 to 16 months. They strive to offer a valid alternative to university education, but one that is focused on preparing the learner for a specific profession rather than a broad area of application. Most courses are structured in a manner similar to a typical week for a university student, with a combination of lectures, exercises, homework and group projects. For most courses there are no prerequisites and the material is taught from scratch by instructors that have working experience in the field they teach. Most courses require 10 hours of active study per week with the live online courses and webinars taking place in the evenings, thus, making it possible for full time workers to take part. At the end of the course, Russian learners can receive a certificate from the Russian Ministry of Education that testifies to them completing an educational program.

2. How is it impactful? What skill gaps does it address?

• User Experience (UX) Design
• Audio and Video production
• Comprehension of programming languages
• Project Management
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

3. What is interesting about the approach? What are the advantages?

• Extensive and thorough - The approach takes enough time to give the learner a deep understanding of a domain. This is in particular beneficial for more complicated jobs such as software development and other engineering domains, that require substantial background knowledge to gain mastery.
• Combines several teaching methods - learners engage with the taught material in several ways, which makes the learning process more interesting and increases retention. In addition to that, the combination of instructor-led lectures and self study material enable the learners to learn at their own pace while still getting individual attention from the instructors.
• Insider knowledge -  Learners can draw valuable insider knowledge from the decades of experience the instructors bring to the table.

Educative

Theoretical approaches: MOOC

Educative.io is an online platform with programming courses aimed at beginner and experienced software developers. Educative distinguishes itself from other MOOCs by specializing on courses in a specific domain, namely software development, instead of touching upon a broad range of topics.   Software developers need more frequent reskilling than most other professions, hence Education aims to frequently publish courses on the latest technologies in the domain of software development.

1. What is innovative about the approach?

In contrast to other MOOCs, the courses on Educative don’t use video clips to explain the material, instead, they rely on written scripts, graphics and exercises. The reason for this is simple. People can read faster than watch videos and, therefore, can absorb more material in a shorter period of time. Educative claims that on it’s courses students learn twice as fast, as a result of this. Another advantage of reading over watching videos is making notes and going back over material is more convenient, hence, Educative provides built-in tools that allow learners to take notes, highlight text and backtrack to them easily. Additionally, because no time is spent on recording and editing videos, creating an Educative course is faster, which allows new courses to be created more frequently. This is crucially important, because technologies and skills become outdated faster in the software industry than in others.

2. How is it impactful? What skill gaps does it address?

• Comprehension of programming languages
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

3. What is interesting about the approach? What are the advantages?

• Faster than video recorded courses - learners can cover more material in a shorter amount of time, because the courses rely on reading and practicing, rather than watching videos.
• Up-to-date courses - courses are uploaded frequently and touch upon news technologies and methods in the tech industry.
• Specialized topics - unlike other MOOCs, the courses provided are suitable not only for beginner programmers just getting into the field but also for experienced programmers, who look to deepen their knowledge on a topic or get familiar with new ways of doing things.

Strivr

Theoretical approaches: Immersive Learning

Strivr is a US based company that provides VR immersive learning services. The company started as an initiative by Standord university’s football team coach to train his players with VR. He later on founded Strivr with the aim of training employees after collaborating with large American corporations (such as Walmart and Verizon).

1. What is innovative about the approach?

Strivr creates custom end-to-end immersive learning solutions with VR, primarily for large corporations with many employees. Strivr starts by conducting strategy consulting with its customers. During these strategy sessions Strivr’s advisors translate the client’s business goals into learning objectives. These learning objectives are subsequently used for curriculum design. The curriculum is built by immersive learning and L&D experts, who derive critical use cases and success metrics. The next step is the creation of the actual learning content. Strivr employs professional filmmakers and UX designers to produce the learning material. The material is aligned with the requirements of the client and the environment the trainees will find themselves in. For example, for the training of Verizon's department store workers in stressful situations Strivr’s production teams shot scenes in a department store with actors that played the roles of customers, shoplifters and police officers to simulate a robbery scenario. The learning material is produced using 360 degree cameras and other equipment, which allow the trainee to observe the environment with a VR headset and move around and interact with it using a remote. The user interface is also customized to fit the needs of the training. For instance, the trainee may be asked to pick a reaction from a list of multiple choices, as in the case of Verizon, or to interact with objects in the environment by pointing at them or manipulating them. After the training content has been produced and the software developed, the hardware, namely the VR headset and remote, is configured and shipped to the client. Following this, Strivr supports the rollout and implementation at the client’s site, by guiding the trainees on the use of the hardware and the software and solving any technical issues that arise. Lastly, data, such as the movement of the eyeballs, is collected and the progress of the trainees is monitored. Strivr can provide the customer with feedback on the performance of the employees, as well as create predictive models that evaluate who will be the most successful on the job and who requires more training and attention. The data collected can also be used to modify the training. For example, if a large number of trainees make the same mistake, more emphasis can be put in the training to address that pitfall.

2. How is it impactful? What skill gaps does it address?

• Technological skills
• Hard skills for Industry 4.0

3. What is interesting about the approach? What are the advantages?

• Dramatic reduction in overall training time - According to case studies published by the company, the time it takes to teach something in VR is substantially lower than by using traditional methods of education. The reason for this is two-fold. First, functional tasks, i.e. ones that involve doing things with the hands, are easier to learn by doing, rather than by explaining via video or presentation. Second, more learners can be taught in parallel. Thus, training duration is reduced.
• Better retention - trainees retain the information they learn better. The training triggers an emotional response from the trainee. This emotional response strengthens the connection to the taught material and makes it easier to remember.
• Exciting - most trainees find interacting with the new technology intriguing and are excited to participate in the training just for the sake of experiencing VR.
• Better evaluation of learners - employers get better insight about their employees from the data collected in the course of the training. Such data can be used to identify the employees that require more training, as well as to recommend additional training programs based on the weaknesses that were exposed during the training.

Talespin

Theoretical approaches:  Immersive Learning

Talespin is an immersive learning platform that enables training of soft skills with the help of VR and speech recognition. The company offers off-the-shelf courses, as well as creation tools that allow content creators to make their own VR courses.

1. What is innovative about the approach?

Talespin uses a combination of virtual reality and speech recognition to simulate a virtual one-on-one coaching session. This is done by rendering 3D animated environments with virtual human characters that talk to the learner and with whom he can interact. The courses can be completed with a VR set, consisting of VR glasses and remotes, or without one. The latter variant does require a microphone in order to record the speech of the learner.

Most currently available off-the-shelf material starts with a conversation with a virtual human coach and a one-on-one lesson. The coach talks directly to the learner and explains the content of the course the same way a real life human coach would. The topics range from public speaking, active listening and conflict resolution to diversity in the workforce. During the dialog, slides and figures can appear on the screen or in the VR environment (if the learner is using a VR headset) to help convey what the coach is explaining. The learner can interact with the coach by either selecting from a list of questions with the mouse/ VR pointer or by speaking the questions to the microphone.  After the lesson, the learner is put in a simulated scenario with one or more virtual humans and they need to apply the skills the coach taught them. The learner interacts with the characters by speaking to the microphone and the characters react based on the responses the learner gives. At the end of the simulation, the learner’s responses are analysed and evaluated both on how appropriate they were in the situation and on other factors such as clearness of speech. Thereafter, the learner gets a feedback report that highlights how they did on each topic that was covered in the initial training, as well as a numeric score.

2. How is it impactful? What skill gaps does it address?

• Remote working skills
• Emotional intelligence
• Cognitive skills
• Communication and interpersonal skills

3. What is interesting about the approach? What are the advantages?

• Safe space to make mistakes - the technology provides a unique opportunity for learners to make mistakes, that would have dire consequences in the real world, without putting themselves or others at risk. This enables them to gain valuable experience at no external cost.
• Better retention - trainees retain the information they learn better. The training triggers an emotional response from the trainee. This emotional response strengthens the connection to the material and makes it easier to remember.
• Exciting - most trainees find interacting with the new technology intriguing and are excited to participate in the training, just for the sake of experiencing VR.
• Content creation - in addition to the off-the-shelf content, companies can use software provided by the Talespin to create their own training via a user-friendly editor that doesn’t require any programming knowledge.

Better Up

Theoretical approaches: Coaching and Consulting

Better Up is a coaching and mental health platform that helps managers cultivate leadership skills and increase performance.

1. What is innovative about the approach?

Better Up makes coaching affordable and on demand by visualizing the coaching experience. With Better Up members can choose from a wide selection of coaches to help them with challenges at work and in their personal lives.

The coaching process starts by the trainee completing an personality evaluation that determines their strengths, weaknesses and their leadership style. Better Up offers a large pool of coaches, therefore, the trainee gets help from an AI to determine which ones will likely be a good match for them based on the results of the personality test and the coach’s experience. After selecting a coach, the coach and the trainee meet in weekly one-on-one or group video call sessions and communicate via messages in between sessions. During sessions the trainee and the coach touch upon experiences that are work related, but also discuss the trainee’s personal life. This follows Better Up’s belief that work and private life are highly intertwined and that the one affects the other. Thus, managers are taught about nutrition, sleep and parenting to help them cope with problems at home and thus become more effective leaders in the workplace.

The progress of the trainee is then tracked by Better Up using several quantitative metrics, such as effectiveness and engagement at work, to determine the effectiveness of the coaching and the impact it has on the employee and the company. Additionally, in Better Up’s corporate solution, an AI is used to determine which employees in the organization require coaching the most. This is determined both by the needs of the individual and by taking into account the effect on the company, i.e. it picks the employees whose improvement will contribute the most to the success of the company.

2. How is it impactful? What skill gaps does it address?

This approach is highly personalized, and can address any soft skill gaps the individual learner has.

3. What is interesting about the approach? What are the advantages?

• Personal - The approach is tailored to the individual and their needs.
• Large pool of coaches - Due to the virtual nature of the approach, trainees are not restricted to a geographic location and are ,therefore, more likely to find the right coach for them.
• Visualizes impact of coaching - Using quantitative measures, Better Up is able to calculate the ROI of the coaching, as well as effects on other performance measures.