Skillsoft, a leading platform for transformative learning experiences, has officially announced the launch of Interactive Skill Benchmarks (ISBs), a first-of-its-kind capability which is designed to provide a hands-on, dynamic approach towards skill assessments. Talk about the whole value proposition on a slightly deeper level, it begins by bringing to the fore a set of interactive virtual environments where learners can simulate skill execution in what is a practice scenario mirroring real-world projects. These practice scenarios can include anything from writing to executing code. Next up, we have in play outcome-oriented assessments that bear the responsibility to emphasize broader learning results, and therefore, ensure learners can grasp core concepts, as well as understand how specific skills are practically utilized in their roles. Moving on to the solution’s commitment towards personalized results and feedback, this feature leverages proficiency scores and AI-generated content recommendations to fulfill the overarching objective, with both the components rooted deeply in learner’s individual assessment performance for more effective guided upskilling. Joining the mix would be intuitive dashboards that help you access a comprehensive view of an organization’s skills. This it does to help leaders identify areas of strength, as well as areas that might need some improvement. Furthermore, you can also bank upon the stated dashboards to track the skill/s growth over time.
“Interactive Skill Benchmarks are a pivotal moment in skill evaluation and development. Our approach enables learners to not just demonstrate their ability to recall learning, but apply it to solve real business problems,” said Debasis Dutta, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Solutions at Skillsoft. “With ISBs, organizations and learners gain a firmer understanding of where they currently are in their skilling journey, where they need to go, and what training is needed to get there.”
The development in question delivers a rather interesting follow-up to one IDC-led research, a research where it concluded that, by 2026, more than 90% of organizations will face skills gaps, This, in turn, is going to cost businesses across the world an estimated $5.5 trillion due to delayed product releases, reduced customer satisfaction, and lost revenue. Another research contextualizing the importance of Skillsoft’s latest move would be the one it conducted on its own. Basically, this study went on to show that one in every five decision makers directly attribute skills gaps to an inability to effectively assess their workforce’s skills. Fortunately enough, Skillsoft’s all-new ISBs address that very problem through a test of the learners’ ability in terms of taking skills from theory to application. Making the whole idea even more attractive would be the fact that it’s all done via one hands-on execution in virtual environments.
Beyond industry-wide trends, the ISBs also build upon Skillsoft’s commitment to meeting modern learning demands through AI-powered, interactive skilling experiences. You see, even before the stated product, the company had already launched stuff like AI Skills Accelerators. Blending hands-on prompt engineering labs, secure GPT-4 sandboxes, video-based courses, AI-powered and human coaching, along with instructor-led events etc.
“Amid widening IT skills shortages, Skillsoft helps enterprise learners gain literacy around generative AI and other important emerging technologies. It has never been more difficult to get the right people with the right skills into the right roles. Skillsoft’s learning solutions and interactive benchmarking can help learners master the skills they need to get their teams and organizations to the next level,” said Gina Smith, Ph.D., Research Director, IDC’s IT Skills for Digital Business Practice.
