What Learning Should Be: Skillsbuild Creates a Path for Lifelong Learning Journey

Change is the one constant. Our learning tools must keep up with, even anticipate what learners need. Consider, “By 2030, as many as 375 million workers globally will have to master fresh skills as their current jobs evolve alongside the rise of automation and AI-capable machines.”

A new IBM Corporate Social Responsibility white paper, What Learning Should Be, explores the current skills challenge, non-traditional multimodal learning as a solution, and highlights how IBM is defining a new model for learning with the creation of the SkillsBuild platform.

SkillsBuild is a digital platform providing jobseekers—including those with long-term unemployment, refugees, asylum seekers and veterans—a multimodal journey. Digital, live-virtual and face-to-face, the SkillsBuild experience includes career fit assessments, training, personalized coaching and the experiential learning users need to re-enter the workforce.

The comprehensive ecosystem of support, coaching and other learning experiences designed to empower learners, is what differentiates SkillsBuild. This ecosystem includes experts who understand the challenges users face outside of learning and these experts are also given an opportunity to upskill so that they can be successful in their role.

SkillsBuild was developed by IBM in collaboration with key learning partners selected for their pedagogy expertise and innovative technology: CodeDoor, Coorpacademy, Credly, MyInnerGenius, SkillSoft. This took the learning experience to a new level, by providing the best content and a single entry point for users.

A final differentiator for success was connecting users with job opportunities once they are ready. We’re delivering relevant content to drive lifelong learning and connecting users to what they need most — employment opportunity.

Creating SkillsBuild offered its own learning experience for our IBM team. We took product and solution design thinking and applied it to learning. This played an important role in providing a set of principles to guide the way to a better learning solution. Principles include being focused on the learner at the center, learners being able to apply what they learn, accessible content, an open platform, portable content, and privacy of a learner’s information.

IBM’s SkillsBuild is gaining traction and adoption. Available first in France, UK and Germany, this month, SkillsBuild launches in Turkey, marking the seventh country in six months. To date, SkillsBuild has been adopted by 18 not-for-profits. And we’ve only just begun.

Learn more about SkillsBuild: www.skillsbuild.org