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Measure Mastery: How Interactivity Showcases Earned Skills

May 1, 2024 | Activate Learning | 5 min read

The only thing worse than a learning program failing is not knowing how it's performed at all. 

Being in the dark about the results of your learning program makes it difficult to prove its value and efficacy. It also makes it challenging to know what learners have gained.

Every program, course, challenge, and minute spent learning should build on one another. All of it should help propel learners forward in their careers and the organization forward in its vision of the future.

However, a murky view of learning performance often stands in the way. LMS admins and talent development leaders shouldn't scratch their heads, feeling uncertain about the outcomes of their programs. 

At Skillsoft, we've heard stories like this time and time again. Talent development teams seek clarity and a means to measure their efforts. They are ready to close their skill gaps and driven to prepare for what's next. 

But they face roadblocks. 

Skillsoft offers an interactive learning platform with a suite of tools and features to remove obstacles and support learners' journeys. Today, we offer even more.

Announcing Interactive Skill Benchmarks


We've listened to our customers who have asked for a clear way to measure and index skills, so they have insight into what's working, the efficacy of learning programs, and more.

Interactive Skill Benchmarks answer this call, and they are available to existing Skillsoft customers with access to our Codecademy learning portfolio.

In addition to the Skill Benchmarks we offer today, these Interactive Skill Benchmarks will provide another level of insight into learners' progress as they develop new capabilities. They build on what's already working for many of our customers:

  • An assessment of learners' skills and knowledge 
  • A clear path forward with content recommendations 
  • A benchmark for learners to beat as they work toward their goals

However, Interactive Skill Benchmarks go further. 

"Amid widening IT skills shortages, Skillsoft helps enterprise learners gain literacy around generative AI and other important emerging technologies,” said Gina Smith, Ph.D., research director for IDC’s IT Skills for Digital Business practice. “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.” 

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Interactive Skill Benchmarks Available Now

Skillsoft customers who have access to our Codecademy learning content will see these Interactive Skill Benchmarks in their training libraries now.

The Interactive Skill Benchmarks focus on data science, artificial intelligence and programming. Learners at various skill levels — beginner, intermediate and advanced — will find benchmarks that test their abilities in each area, with more on the way. 

See the initial set of Interactive Skill Benchmarks below:

Data Science

  • SQL – Data Fundamentals  
  • SQL - Table Transformations  

Artificial Intelligence 

  • Supervised Learning I: Regressors, Classifiers and Trees 
  • Feature Engineering for Data Scientists  
  • Supervised Learning II: Advanced Regressors and Classifiers  

Python

  • Programming Fundamentals  
  • Intermediate Python  
  • Python Linear Data Structures 
  • Python Nonlinear Data Structures 
  • Advanced Python 

JavaScript

  • Programming Fundamentals 
  • Intermediate JavaScript   
  • JavaScript Linear Data Structures 
  • JavaScript Nonlinear Data Structures 
  • JavaScript Algorithms  

Java

  • Programming Fundamentals  
  • Intermediate Java   
  • Java Linear Data Structures 
  • Java Nonlinear Data Structures 
  • Advanced Java 

 

WHY THESE MAKE A DIFFERENCE 

Knowing employees' skills and proficiency helps surface opportunities to bridge gaps, support internal mobility, and use this data to enrich learning programs.

These add another level of interactivity and rigor to our existing set of Skill Benchmarks — largely thanks to our integration with Codecademy. 

HOW THESE FIT WITH EXISTING BENCHMARKS

As they start their journey, learners will face Skillsoft's initial set of Skill Benchmarks. These test their knowledge of key concepts and details of their training. The goal is to prove their understanding of what they're actively learning.

As they continue, Interactive Skill Benchmarks challenge them even more. Through these assessments, learners must prove they not only understand the concepts they've learned but can also apply them in realistic scenarios.

This added level of testing brings forward Codecademy's longstanding pedagogy of interactive and engaging training to build relevant technical skills. With Skillsoft, learners can build technical and non-technical skills — and prove their proficiency — with Interactive Skill Benchmarks. 

Interactivity Challenges Learners to Master Their Craft

As mentioned, today's Skill Benchmarks test a learner's initial understanding of the concepts they've learned. As they've completed the early stages of their learning journey, they graduate on to more significant challenges. 

Interactive Skill Benchmarks will test learners through hands-on practice in realistic virtual environments.

WHAT LEARNERS WILL EXPERIENCE 

Before, learners had to select the right answer from a set of choices. At this next stage, learners must provide the right answer. They will demonstrate their knowledge in technical and non-technical areas. 

Interactive Skill Benchmarks will present a question or scenario to learners and then leave it to them to solve. 

For developers, programmers, and engineers, learners write and edit their own code before running it to see the result. The assessments help them work through challenges and see where they can improve. The same idea is true for those learners who focus on their Power Skills, like communication or leadership skills. 

Read next:  Unlocking Potential: Teaching Tech Workers Power Skills for Success

After completing the assessment, learners will see how they scored — ranked from novice to advanced — and get content recommendations based on their performance.

These assessments also give talent development teams another level of insight into skills application. This data will clarify the questions that are often left unanswered for too many organizations. 

Interactive Skill Benchmarks will bring a greater depth of clarity to:  

  • Strengths — See how your workforce performs in an array of areas and take stock of skills.
  • Personalization — Every learner is different and goes at their own pace. These benchmarks tailor their journey.
  • Growth — Assessment provides immediate feedback. Learners see their progress and a path forward. 

These benchmarks will help talent development teams enhance their programs, add to their strategy, and show positive outcomes. To see how they can help your organization, get more information about Interactive Skill Benchmarks below or request a demo.