Learning and development

See The Courses Learning and Development Pros Watch the Most

In 2004, journalist James Surowiecki released the book The Wisdom of Crowds. In it, he argued the aggregation of information in groups results in decisions that are often better than could have been made by any single member of that group.

This concept is a vital part of some of the most used products in the world. Google, for example, uses the wisdom of crowds to determine what to rank highest in its search results. Netflix uses it when deciding what shows to recommend to you.

In that vein, we wanted to share with you the most popular LinkedIn Learning courses among learning and development (L&D) professionals, i.e. the wisdom of the crowd. This list represents a testament to the need for that skill among L&D pros, along with the effectiveness of the course.

The 10 most popular LinkedIn Learning courses among L&D pros are:

1. Coaching and Developing Employees

Instructor: Lisa Gates

Course Description: In this course, Gates teaches managers to harness the power of coaching in the workplace. Learn the benefits of developing your team and helping employees build their skills in ways that transform and empower them to do more productive and engaging work. Then discover how to build your own leadership and coaching skills and equip yourself with tools that encourage insight and growth.

2. Organizational Learning and Development

Instructor: Britt Andreatta

Course Description: In this course, Andreatta shares how to build an L&D program for your organization to attract and retain talent as well as develop the skills that keep your organization competitive. She shares how to adapt your program over time. She helps you assess your organization's level of maturity and then walks you through the best practices of designing a learning program that maps to your organization's maturity level. She covers adult learning theory and methods, outlines the basics of instructional design and explains the different kind of learning programs available to you.

3. The Neuroscience of Learning

Instructor: Britt Andreatta

Course Description: In this course, Andreatta uses the latest research from Harvard, Stanford and other leading research institutions to explain how the brain processes and stores new information. She introduces the three-phase model of learning and the secrets to developing neural pathways so that learning sticks. Intended for both those who teach or train and those who learn, this course is a fun and enlightening journey through the learning process.

4. New Manager Foundations

Instructor: Todd Dewett

Course Description: In this course, Dewett provides practical advice to help you establish your identity as a leader, connect with your team, and become a successful first-time manager. Learn how to survive your first 30 days, build trust, facilitate efficient meetings and develop authority. This course is designed to prepare you to confidently tackle your responsibilities at work and increase your value to the organization while improving operational effectiveness.

5. Human Resources Foundations

Instructor: Wayne Cascio

Course Description: In this course, Cascio provides a comprehensive guide to the field of human resources. Cascio ensures new HR professionals are well versed in their core responsibilities: from attracting, interviewing and hiring candidates to establishing a pay strategy and creating systems for internal training and development. Cascio also discusses the role that HR plays in career development, performance management and managing an international workforce.

6. Project Management Foundations

Instructor: Bonnie Biafore

Course Description: In this course, Biafore explains the fundamentals of project management, from defining the problem, establishing project goals and objectives and building a project plan to managing team resources, meeting deadlines and closing the project. Along the way, she provides tips for reporting on project performance, keeping a project on track and gaining customer acceptance.

7. Leadership Foundations

Instructor: Britt Andreatta

Course Description: In this course, Andreatta explains what real leadership is, how to assess your strengths and ways to cultivate the traits the best leaders employ to make their organizations strong and innovative. The course includes information on developing and mentoring your team, creating an engaging workplace, developing political savvy, analyzing your industry and honing your emotional intelligence.

8. Strategic Human Resources

Instructor: Catherine Mattice Zundel

Course Description: Mattice defines the components of strategic HR planning, including assessing current needs, forecasting the future and supporting the overall organizational strategy and vision. She helps you define your talent needs, and provide guidance on how to recruit, onboard, train, compensate, manage and engage employees. She also helps you tie training and other HR activities to business results and ROI – to show your leaders the true value of your HR programs.

9. Measuring Learning Effectiveness

Instructor: Jeff Toister

Course Description: In this course, Toister explores several popular models for determining the effectiveness of a class or training course and provides a framework for applying these models. This includes creating an evaluation strategy, collecting assessment data and making recommendations for improvements. The Kirkpatrick Model, the Phillips ROI Methodology and Brinkerhoff's Success Case Method are discussed in depth, as well as alternative approaches such as predictive analytics. These tools will give you the data to validate your current training strategy or recommend data-driven improvements that are tailored to the way your participants are actually learning.

10. Instructional Design: Models of ID

Instructor: Shea Hanson

Course Description: In this course, Hanson explores some of the most salient models of instructional design: ADDIE, SAM, Rapid Prototyping and Gradual Release. Watch scenarios that show how each model performs in action in the workplace, which Hanson follows with an examination of its pros and cons. She also provides some helpful resources that will lead to your next step.

A few takeaways from the list

A few takeaways jump from this list are:

  • Coaching is top-of-mind for L&D pros.

As part of our Workforce Learning Report, we surveyed 500 L&D leaders, asking the skill they were looking to improve the most in managers at their organization. Their answer: coaching.

Hence, it’s no surprise a course on coaching is the most popular among L&D pros. Not only do L&D pros want their managers to adopt coaching principles, they themselves are eager to learn those skills themselves as well.

This list features three courses by Andreatta, including the second- and third-most popular courses. No other instructor has more than one course on the list.

Andreatta, the former head of L&D at Lynda.com who has more than 25 years experience in the industry, is clearly speaking to the needs many L&D professionals face. You can see all of her courses here.

  • A big part of L&D is project management.

The sixth-most popular course on the list – Project Management Foundations – is one of the most popular courses across all of LinkedIn Learning. And it’s popular among L&D for the same reason it’s popular among many professionals: successful project management is a cornerstone part of their jobs.

That’s because even if you have the best L&D ideas in the world, they are useless unless they are effectively executed. Project management courses speak to exactly that – they touch upon how to bring people together to ensure a great solution is reached.

You can see all of our project management courses on LinkedIn Learning here.

Want to watch all of these courses yourself? Start your free trial with LinkedIn Learning today.

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