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In the ever-evolving corporate learning landscape, organizations often default to creating new content from scratch when addressing skill gaps. However, in many cases, a more effective, scalable, and cost-efficient strategy exists- curation. Learning curation- the process of sourcing, organizing, and delivering relevant content from multiple sources, is an often overlooked yet powerful approach to meeting learning needs without reinventing the wheel.
The rise of AI has brought one hard reality even more to the fore. Organizations are not struggling with a lack of learning resources but with an overwhelming volume of content scattered across multiple platforms. This content overload is part of the problem we at Komensky call ‘junk learning’.
That’s not to say it’s all bad, of course. Good content can be, and is, found everywhere. Whether it’s industry reports, TED Talks, university courses, expert blogs, or existing internal documentation, much of what people need to learn already exists. The challenge then is not creation but effective selection and contextualization, and there are several benefits of this as we will see below:
Faster Time-to-Value
Even with AI, creating high-quality learning content from scratch is time-intensive and resource-heavy. Research, instructional design, production and deployment take weeks or even months. Curation, on the other hand, enables organizations to quickly assemble and deliver relevant learning experiences, ensuring employees access knowledge when they need it.
Cost Efficiency
Producing custom training materials involves high costs- subject-matter expertise, design tools, video production, and content hosting all add up. Leveraging existing high-quality resources significantly reduces expenses while still delivering effective learning.
Keeping Content Up-to-Date
Industry trends, technologies and best practices evolve rapidly. Manually updating internally created courses to keep up with change is both impractical and costly. By curating external content, L&D teams ensure employees always have access to the latest insights.
Encouraging a Culture of Continuous Learning
Curation shifts the mindset from passive consumption of one-off training programs to active discovery and engagement. Learners are encouraged to explore diverse perspectives, compare different viewpoints and apply knowledge dynamically rather than relying solely on structured courses.
More than ever, L&D professionals must evolve from content creators to curators- selecting the right material, contextualizing it for their workforce and embedding it into workflows. Effective curation involves:
Leverage AI and Automation
AI-enabled learning platforms can automate content recommendations, tag relevant resources and personalize learning paths based on employee behavior and skill requirements.
Mix Internal and External Content
A curated learning experience should blend external insights (industry reports, expert talks, open courses) with internal knowledge (company best practices, case studies, leadership insights). This balance ensures learning remains both relevant and forward-thinking.
Use a Centralized Learning Platform
Without a central hub, curated content becomes scattered and underutilized. An integrated learning ecosystem with curation capabilities can ensure easy access and seamless navigation. Keep in mind, your catalog shouldn’t just consist of e-learning but ideally a mix of different content types served up in one place.
Enable Social Learning
Encourage employees to contribute to the curation process by sharing useful articles, participating in discussions, and recommending valuable learning resources. User-generated curation fosters engagement and knowledge-sharing.
Ensure Relevance and Quality Control
Curation is not just about aggregation- it’s about thoughtful selection. Learning teams should regularly vet and update curated content to ensure it remains aligned with business needs and industry developments.
The days of L&D teams being solely responsible for content creation are increasingly behind us. In a fast-paced world where knowledge is constantly evolving, curation provides a smarter, more sustainable way to empower employees. By shifting from content production to content curation, organizations can create agile learning ecosystems that are cost-effective, relevant, and continuously updated- ensuring that learning never falls behind the speed of change.
Instead of asking, “What new course should we build?” the better question is, “What valuable knowledge already exists, and how can we connect our employees to it in the most effective way?” The answer to that question should be a key part of your learning strategy.
If any of the above resonates with you and you'd like to get started on this journey, we'd love to share how we support a number of organizations- large and small- build skills at scale without breaking the bank. Drop us a line at hello@komensky.nl and let's chat.
