10 Binge-worthy, Must-watch Learning Trends this Fall
Key Takeaways:
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In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s almost fall, which means that our favorite TV shows are back! Cliffhangers, romance, laughs, drama: fall TV is all about giving you stories to enjoy from your couch while the weather gets cooler and the days get shorter.
Well, guess what? Remote learning can do that for you, too. That’s right — all the learning you need from the comfort of your couch.
Top 10 Learning Trends for Fall 2025
What must-watch trends are happening in the learning world this fall? There’s a lot to see, as usual. So curl up on the couch with a snack and a beverage, grab your favorite blanket, and tune in for the most hotly-anticipated learning trends this season.
1. Star Tech: Strange New AI
Learning: the final frontier. These are the voyages of your L&D department. It’s continuing mission: to explore strange new content; to seek out new technology and new modalities; to boldly learn what no one has learned before!
Part of your mission? To explore new technologies, and make first contact with the tech that’s ready and able to help you and your crew. Agentic Artificial Intelligence, for example. Unlike its cousin, Generative AI (already a member of your learning federation), Agentic AI is autonomous. This means it can take independent actions to achieve goals, like a virtual assistant, a self-driving car, or a ship’s computer.
While the possibilities of decision-oriented AI for learning are exciting, they also bring ethical dilemmas. Just because AI makes something possible, should you do it? Your crew will grapple with some of these considerations as you incorporate agentic AI and develop policies around its use. As challenging as it sounds, L&D can act as a guide for these conversations, even as it keeps your learners ahead of the curve. Fascinating.
2. A.I. Concierge
You’re just a simple animated type-A learning professional, starting your first day at a resort specializing in adorable creatures with special powers. Some of them are magical. Some are fighters. How can you help them all? It’s your job to meet their very specific learning needs. But there are so many of them! How can you help them all?
Enter your companion: AI! When there’s too much data for a person to consume, AI can analyze data, so that you have a better idea of which learning everyone needs. (After all, you wouldn’t want to serve a combat course to a creature that just likes to sleep.) AI may also be able to help you make predictions about what learning you’ll need to provide in the future, so that everyone stays happy and well-trained.
3. The Walking Dead: The Book of Burnout
You remember when they were full of life. They were creative. They came to work on time and happily added to meetings and projects. But now, something has changed. They shuffle around the office, going through the motions, but not as much is getting done. You’ve tried to talk to them, but they’re not really there. (You’re kind of nervous to see what exactly they brought with them for lunch.) Are they… dead? Or are they burned out? Burnout was recently described as an epidemic. (Is it spreading?) More than 8 out of 10 employees are at risk of burning out this year, and 77% say they’re already experiencing it. (Will we all burn out?) Engagement in the workplace is slipping for the first time in years, especially among managers. (ARE WE DOOMED?)
But there’s hope. Burnout is not inevitable. You can fight back. Armed with learning, mentoring and job coaching, you and your ragtag group of survivors can turn the tides. Research shows that offering development boosts motivation among learners. You can boost engagement by offering learning that helps them grow in their careers.There may not be a cure for the zombie virus, but there’s a cure for disengagement. The right learning should turn your walkers back into their old selves.
4. Managers in Borderland
Meet our hero, a bored young middle manager who is just going about his day when he’s dropped into an empty but dangerous world. He and his fellow managers are being gradually eliminated as the workplace flattens. How can they survive in a world where traditional work hierarchies are being rearranged? Must they compete against one another for the dwindling number of available managerial roles?
The “Great Flattening” has seen the elimination of thousands of management roles, with entire tiers of middle management vanishing into the borderlands. What does this mean? For managers, it means reintegrating back into a non-management role, and learning the skills they need to be successful. But for everyone in a flat organization, it means adjusting to learning in a bossless world. Everyone — from entry-level employees to executives — is responsible for their own learning. L&D departments can facilitate this by building ecosystems that enable knowledge sharing, helping everyone to work as a team instead of working against one another.
5. Only Mobiles In the Building
Think the fact that your learning management system is available on desktops is enough? Think again. Like your favorite true crime podcasts, your learning should be available on your phone too. Most learners have their phones on them at all times, and most people have smartphones — there are 5.8 billion unique mobile connections globally, which equates to 76% of the population. (And remember, like the triplets in Death Rattle, many members of the population are way too young to have their own phones.)
Despite the prevalence of mobile phones on planet Earth, mobile learning has lagged behind. A pulse survey from Brandon Hall Group found that only about 50% of companies have learning content that is optimized for mobile learning, either through a mobile browser or a native app. In this mobile era, that can be a deadly error. Many people choose to go online using their phones rather than use a personal computer. Keep them from getting stabby by delivering learning to them wherever they are… whether they are in the building or not.
6. Stranger (Job) Swings
Feel like you’re in the Upside Down? You’re not alone. With the major changes in the job market (the Great Resignation, The Great Stay, the Great Flattening) and the fact that the half-life of a skill is incredibly short these days, it can feel like you’re running up that hill when it comes to keeping skills current.
But guys! Guys! There’s good news. Reskilling initiatives are a way to keep your workforce up to date on the skills they need for a rapidly changing workplace. Recently LinkedIn found that some workplaces are finding success with a different approach to reskilling: career development champions. Organizations that promote career development for learners are reporting better retention, a higher rate of promotions, and being better able to take advantage of new technology trends.
By developing your learners’ careers, you can reap the rewards of happy upskilled learners — and keep the Demogorgon from eating away at their skillsets.
7. The Great British Skill-Off
Hello, lovely learners, and welcome to the tent. For this week’s technical challenge, the judges would like you to make 16 identical æbelskiver. What’s that? You don’t know what æbelskiver is? Some of the directions aren’t in the recipe? You’re not allowed to do some quick googling? Oh dear.
Sometimes we just don’t know how to do something at work. We might not remember something we were taught in a previous training. We might be encountering something for the first time. We might be a famous baker who doesn’t know how to make s’mores. Whatever the challenge, microlearning can bridge those gaps. By offering microlearning, you can provide those skills exactly when your learners need them, in lovely little bite-sized chunks.
Now, on your marks. Ready, set, learn.
8. Laws and Order: Regulatory Compliance
In the legal system, the people are protected by two separate yet equally important groups of standards: laws, which your company must obey, and regulations, which govern your industry. For your company to remain in compliance, your employees must know their stories.
Compliance training — is it your favorite topic? Probably not, but learners don’t mind it — as long as it’s delivered in a preferred modality. According to Training Industry’s Learner Preference Report, many learners prefer to take compliance courses online.
DUN-DUN.
9. The Real Housewives of Wherever Your Learners Live
The drama! The spilled tea! The couch confessionals! (“Oh my GOD, did you see on the Zoom that she was wearing the same sweats as our manager?” *gasp*) Who doesn’t love remote and hybrid work? The real housewives (as well as the house-husbands, house-spouses and house-singles) certainly do. Flexible work arrangements make for happier, more productive employees. The love for hybrid work is good, because it’s here to stay. This means training for remote employees needs to be on par with the training your on-site workers are getting. If not, someone might just flip a table.
10. Wednesday
(There’s no pun for this one. Plays on words are for the weak.)
Want people skills? They’re made with real people.
Some of us are born with natural talents. We might be psychic, excellent writers, or able to control bugs with our minds. However, not everyone comes to work with great social skills. (Or soft skills, as they are called by soft people.) These skills include good communication, tech skills, and the ability to make choices that don’t put you in mortal peril.
You might not feel like you need good people skills, but other people seem to appreciate them. And while you might not be born with them, soft skills like critical thinking can be taught — much like playing a cello. It’s important to realize that these skills can be taught. (Like learning how to play a cello.) Not all of us can handle the chaos of spending every day in a place like Nevermore Academy. Those of you who would prefer a pleasant workplace environment (to each their own) should consider teaching soft skills.
*snap snap*
Ready for the Main Event?
You’ve just seen the trailer for this fall’s biggest L&D trends, from the final frontier of Agentic AI to the fight against the walking dead of burnout. But this is just the season premiere!
To get the full story and learn how to apply these trends to your own organization, join our expert panel for a live webinar. We’ll dive deeper into the plot twists of AI, the drama of employee engagement, and the skills you need to be the hero of your learning department.
Don’t get left on a cliffhanger. Register for our “New Season of L&D: Training Trends for Fall 2025” webinar to save your seat!
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