L&D Trends 2025: AI, ROL and Edutainment in Personnel Development

2025 also promises to be a year full of exciting learning innovations and creative training concepts in Learning & Development. What will really catch on? And what will remain a hopeless hot take? We shall see!

Nevertheless, if you look at the different opinions of learning experts such as Nina Schwarting and Florens Cubasch, there are some consistent L&D trends for 2025 – and this increases the likelihood that they will be promising.

Here are five interesting takes for the coming year that you can take away as inspiration for your L&D work:

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1. Artificial Intelligence: Efficient Tool and Central Topic

In 2025, Artificial Intelligence will be a game changer in two ways: firstly in the personalization of learning processes and in learning transfer, and secondly as a central training topic for all employees.

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Customized Learning through AI

The great potential of Artificial Intelligence in L&D lies not only in the optimization and acceleration of processes, but also in the individualization of learning opportunities.

While there are initially no limits to creativity, certain fields of application have already proven their worth and are opening up new possibilities:

• AI-supported skill gap analyses allow you to identify specific skills gaps in a short space of time and create tailored development plans.
• Further training measures can be individually adapted to the progress and needs of learners. This makes them both more efficient and more effective – keyword: Adaptive Learning.‍
• Personalized AI coaching goes beyond simply imparting knowledge. The focus is on the practical application of what has been learned in everyday working life.

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AI Skills as a Key Qualification

At the same time, the teaching of AI skills itself is becoming a key issue. In view of the EU AI Act, it will ultimately become essential for companies to train all employees in the use of Artificial Intelligence.

Apart from this, the further development of AI skills can (still) create a competitive advantage in 2025. Companies that invest in AI training enable employees to optimize processes, think more innovatively and make the best possible use of the technology's potential. 

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L&D Tip: Make AI a topic in personnel development! Experiment, test and start with simple prompts and pilot projects. And most importantly: empower your team to use Artificial Intelligence successfully!

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2. Automation: More Freedom for Further Development

“No resources!” – to avoid this problem in 2025 and save personnel development from additional work, innovative L&D strategies rely on efficient automation when expanding the learning offer.

To create more capacity for strategic and creative tasks, you can, for example:

• Have administrative and routine tasks (e.g. compiling training materials) carried out with Artificial Intelligence.
• Use a learning platform to create standardized and reusable learning paths for onboarding, mandatory and product training that can be quickly updated and assigned to the relevant employees with just a few clicks.
• Implement systems that make automated and personalized course suggestions to learners. Based on learning behavior, self-assessments and interests, employees are supported individually and without additional effort.

L&D Tip: Analyze your recurring to-dos, tools used and possible alternatives to see if automation is an option - and save valuable time!

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3. Return on Learning: Convincing Based on Data

Return on Learning (ROL) is increasingly becoming an indispensable practice for future-oriented companies in 2025. It enables further training to be treated as a strategic investment and its value contribution to the company's success to be made transparent.

The ROL approach is proving to be a particularly effective tool because it:

• Makes discussions about training initiatives more informed, 
• Contributes to faster decision-making,
• Allows for an optimal allocation of resources, 
• Supports the continuous optimization of training programs and learning effectiveness by measuring ROL metrics and thus
• Helps to fully exploit the development potential of employees.

L&D Tip: Start by backing up personnel development decisions with figures. This will make you more convincing and position L&D work as a central component of the company.

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4. Hybrid Learning: The Right Digital-Analog Mix

The trend in recent years has clearly been towards digital training courses. For 2025, however, it is worth reassessing the mix and weighting of different formats and methods. 

With Hybrid or Blended Learning, you can bring a breath of fresh air into monotonous training cycles. Expand flexible (online) training courses with fixed-schedule events, for example by combining

• Supplementing digital courses with on-site training or webinars,
• Combining theoretical self-study with interactive workshops or
• Offering coaching sessions to match certain learning materials.

L&D Tip: Break away from fixed training concepts and recombine formats and methods to create a varied learning experience.

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5. Edutainment: Creating Captivating Learning Experiences

The combination of education and entertainment is revolutionizing how employees develop - and will potentially determine how successful learning initiatives are in 2025.

This is because employees' attention spans are decreasing and competition for their time is increasing. This makes it all the more important that your training offer has a high entertainment factor, for example through 

• Gamification: Gamified Learning with interactive quizzes or points systems motivates continuous learning. For complex training scenarios, immersive experiences with Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies are also inspiring.
• Storytelling: Stories can emotionally enrich learning content and help to anchor it in the learner's memory. Instead of dry facts, topics are embedded in captivating narratives that illustrate their relevance to learners' everyday working lives.
• High-quality learning materials: Professionally produced video courses that combine cinematographic elements with didactic expertise are the new benchmark. These courses offer a captivating viewing experience that enhances the learning effect.

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L&D Tip: Question the edutainment factor of your previous training courses and turn them into exciting learning experiences that are perceived as enriching and motivating.

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What Also Remains Important in 2025

If you follow these five trends, the outlook for a successful year is promising. They will be even better if you (continue to) follow the evergreens and trends of recent years:

• Establish lifelong learning: Building a sustainable learning culture continues to be a crucial factor in the success of training programs - and should always be a long-term goal of your L&D strategy. 
• Develop leaders into pioneers: The leaders of your company are valuable multipliers. If they are convinced of the opportunities for personal development, they can inspire their teams to follow them.
• Offer microlearning formats: As a time-saving and flexible learning method, microlearning can be optimally integrated into any working day. If you offer small learning bites, you make further training accessible to everyone.
• Encourage personal initiative: Attractive, intuitive learning opportunities that can be accessed at any time and from any location promote self-directed learning among employees. This reduces the need for external motivation and strengthens learning autonomy.
• Focus on interdisciplinary core competencies: Developing universal skills equips employees for the changing demands of the world of work. They remain crucial for the company's ability to transform and innovate.

And now: Let's embark on a successful L&D year 2025!