Kyle Goss

CUIN 3313 - Section: 14920 and 15360 – Summer Online

July 26, 2019

 LinkedIn Learning – Web 2.0

Employee training and development programs are essential to any organization and

having the right technology and tools are key in retaining talent and increasing job satisfaction.

Offering the best training technologies will help achieve employee growth goals by improving

skill sets, addressing any weaknesses where training and development are needed. A good

training and development program can provide benefits to enhance employee’s knowledge and

can also increase morale and improve culture in an organization. Offering the proper training

programs with the right kind of software tools, with an effective learning platform, is essential to

scale, measure and sustain employees and continuously improve the staff’s overall knowledge to

achieve organizational success. LinkedIn Learning is web 2.0 technology that allows users to

share, interact, collaborate, participate, and contribute.

According to the article, Introducing Linked in Learning, A Better Way to Develop Skills

and Talent, the goal of linked in learning “is to help people discover and develop the skills they

need through a personalized, data driven learning experience” (Roslansky,2016, pg1). LinkedIn

was original created for the working professionals as a place to network, share career ideas and

post and seek jobs. Eventually, LinkedIn discovered that their market could also coincide with a

market of learning needs. LinkedIn and Lynda.com merged in 2015 to offer a better training

solution for employers, employees, students, job seekers or anyone who has the need to learn.

The idea was to integrate resources for career professionals looking for job and educational

opportunities. It is a very convenient and easy to learn program for professionals who are

seeking training and resources needed to become successful.

 Lynda.com was founded by Lynda Weinman in 1995, and was a successful merge with

LinkedIn. According to the article LinkedIn Learning: A Bold Success with More Growth to

Come, “Lynda, who was a computer instructor, believed that if she authored studio-quality

content, authored by world-renowned experts in different topics, she could build a library of

content that was compelling, easy to use, and instructionally interesting in a bold new way”

(Bersin, 2018, pg7). This opened availability to Photoshop, HTML, new programming

languages, and other new technologies that would help an employee build a successful career

and add new attributes to their tools. Lynda.com came up with the idea of “consumer first”

where it focused on sound quality, user interface, and the passion of learning in the company.

Although LinkedIn was at first known to be a professional social network and a recruitment

solution provider, the merge with Lydna.com created LinkedIn Learning and has become one of

the biggest providers in the market.

For the employer and the employee, LinkedIn Learning’s training platform paid

membership would give all employees access to their video content where employees can choose

their training programs that are trending for their profession. According to Roslansky, “LinkedIn

Learning combines the industry-leading content from Lynda.com with LinkedIn’s professional

data and network. With more than 450 million member profiles and billions of engagements, we

have a unique view of how jobs, industries, organizations and skills evolve over time”

(Roslansky, 2016, pg.2). Each video segment is taught by course expert from across the globe.

The courses platform is designed to make it easy for anyone that is pursuing learning and

development by offering access through computer or mobile device and any point and time. The
employer’s designated administrator, managers or human resources training coordinator, can

track employees training progress and create learning paths for users.

The difference in web 1.0 and 2.0 is interactivity and creativity. Web 1.0 is the term

referring to the first stage of development on the World Wide Web that was characterized by

simple static websites. Most websites before the year 2000, was originally built with static

HTML pages with a few simple styles embed in the HTML. The static pages did not offer

interactive features that changed based on website visitor behavior. Web 1.0 also made a

changed in website content stored in files, combination of content and layout, proprietary HTML

tags, guest books, and E-mailing of forms. The article What is Web 2.0 says that “Web 2.0

represents an important shift in the way digital information is created, shared, stored, distributed,

and manipulated. In the years ahead, it will have a significant impact in the way businesses use

both the Internet and enterprise-level IT applications” (Wolcott,2008, pg1). With web 2.0, users

are now creating content, sharing information, ideas and opinions. With web 2.0, social media

and learning platforms has become a space of interconnected environment. Social networking

and endless information are essential in today’s digital landscape and employees are looking for

tools that offer collaboration, flexibility, and interconnection. Web 2.0 has given a new

dimension to training, learning and development that has allowed users to engage, share,

communicate, and participate in topics.

With the rapidly growing global market and economy, digital natives are at the forefront

of the job force and they are known nothing other than a digital landscape where information is

endless and thrive on the connectivity that today’s technologically advanced society affords.
This generation of work-force employees face a competitive landscape and employers needs to

adapt to retain talent. Older generation lack the ability to use some of the new and advanced

technologies because technology was scarce. Technology is present in almost every job today

from the simplest jobs to the most difficult. The new training programs used to help employees

are needed so that employees and future employees can expand. New technology also creates a

since of competiveness that puts employees on different levels, making a person learn and grow.

Essential training programs is a benefit that will contribute to employee retention in more ways

than one. That is why web 2.0 tools are essential in the workplace where today’s innovative and

interactive tools for learning is needed. As the job markets remains competitive, employees are

seeking the best opportunities within an organization offer employees and the desire to stay

ahead of the ever-changing technological skills.

In conclusion, the merge of LinkedIn and Lynda.com was one of the most successful and

brilliant ideas. LinkedIn Learning has allowed users to share, interact, collaborate, participate,

and contribute. Over the years, the program has advanced and became more essential to the

workforce. It has helped employees gain knowledge and add new skills that can be used within

their job and after. Adding Linked learning to a job as a requirement can help elevate a company.

LinkedIn learning provides knowledge that an employee can retain forever and can eventually

lead to others learning from others. Although every company does not use LinkedIn learning, it

is a valuable program to consider.

 Work Cited

Bersin, J. (2018). LinkedIn Learning: A Bold Success with More Growth to Come. LinkedIn.
Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-learning-bold-success-more-
growth-come-josh-bersin

Roslansky, R. (2016). Introducing LinkedIn Learning, a Better Way to Develop Skills and
Talent. The Learning Blog. Retrieved from https://learning.linkedin.com/blog/whats-
new/launching-linkedin-learning

Wolcott, M. (2008). What is Web 2.0? CBS NEWS. Retrieved from

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-web-20/