: Center for Education and Workforce

Companies, like those last night at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation reception on Building the Workforce of the Future, understand that within their walls lies a tremendous amount of institutional knowledge and human life experience. Last night we saw two companies, Honeywell and Toyota, who aren’t afraid to dip a toe in the water of the future of training. They are transforming the learning experience for their workforce by leveraging a combination of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

The co-owner of the Wyoming Machine sheet metal company in Stacy, Minnesota that makes armored Humvees, steel spokes and other manufactured parts, Tapani posted an ad to fill a production job at their plant. Two months later she didn’t get a single applicant. Hiring skilled welders and laser operators was already tough. And in the manufacturing space winning the heated competition for good workers could mean the difference between profitability and closing the door. The American Welding Society anticipates a shortage of about 400,000 operators by 2024. But Tapani and Wyoming didn’t take the bad news laying down.

Learning and development (L&D) leaders need to shift how they’ve traditionally approached their jobs—from being the gatekeepers of knowledge to being facilitators of learning. It’s time to put employees in the driver’s seat with self-service learning resources that satisfy both immediate hard-skill needs as well as the soft skills they’ll use and refine over the course of their entire careers. Though no one has a crystal ball to tell you exactly where to focus, here are some core principles to follow as you set up a learning culture where employees are free to learn and upskill on their own terms.

In honor of National Teacher Appreciation Week, we want to shine a light on VITs (Very Important Teachers) that use digital education as a catalyst for innovation in education. Today we highlight Walda Walker, V.I.T. at Karns Middle School in Knoxville, TN.