Content is abundant. Genuine understanding-the kind that survives three weeks and transfers to a new problem-is far rarer. Completion rates for online courses hover below 15%, according to MIT and Harvard researchers studying MOOCs. Students enroll with real intent, then drift away. The content was never the problem. The design was.
Learning today doesn't usually look broken. It looks like a well-run treadmill, always on, always moving, quietly exhausting everyone. New initiatives, new tools, new priorities. New "must-have" skills. Even when learning is thoughtfully designed, there's a nagging sense that nothing sticks because nothing gets a chance to. People finish the course, grab the badge, and move on to the next thing before the last thing has had time to show up in how they work.
From nurturing curiosity to harnessing cognitive science principles and designing learning for co-intelligence, November's Guest Author Article Showcase spotlights some excellent pieces on human-AI convergence. What happens when humans focus solely on technology when designing learning with Artificial Intelligence? Why do we need to teach and cultivate critical thinking? Can AI tools amplify our humanity? In no particular order, here are last month's top guest author articles on this hot topic.
Attention is the gateway to learning. Before comprehension, before memory, before critical thinking, the brain must first decide to focus. Learning does not begin when instruction begins. Learning begins when the brain voluntarily directs its limited cognitive resources toward the content. The challenge is that attention is not automatic. The brain constantly filters incoming information and selects only a fraction to process actively.
Las Vegas, NV, November 6, 2025 - ELB Learning, a strategic workforce development company to 80% of the Fortune 100, announced its programming for the DevLearn Conference & Expo, taking place November 12-13 in Las Vegas. The company will feature an impressive lineup of enterprise learning leaders from Bank of America, Live Nation Entertainment, Learning Pirate, and more, alongside interactive sessions, hands-on product demos, and a '90s-themed pre-conference VIP party.
The future of Agentic AI in learning isn't about replacing human expertise-it's about scaling it. By embedding best-practice design principles into AI today, we're ensuring that tomorrow's fully autonomous systems will create, deliver, and refine knowledge that's not just quick to build, but built to last.
In the late 1990s, a group of commuters would board the early-morning Amtrak train from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. They'd sit in the first car behind the locomotive, enjoying communal, consensual silence. Eventually and with the conductor's help, their car was officially designated as a noise-free zone. Soon after, Denise LaBencki-Fullmer, an Amtrak manager, recognized the value of a peaceful ride and institutionalized the program as the quiet car. At the request of passengers, it soon spread to a number of other commuter services.
