Many organizations' training materials are a lot like a well-stocked library. It’s filled with valuable, carefully organized information, but it’s a bit stale, cumbersome to access, and one-dimensional. Wouldn’t it be cool if the library could come alive? Instead of people having to painstakingly search through shelves of information, what if the information itself actively engaged with them?
This transformation from static library to live coach was the central theme of our recent webinar, Scaling Personalized Coaching with ELB's AI Learning Companion, featuring Amber Rodbell, vice president of learning experience at ELB Learning, and Vicky Pereira, associate director of instructional design. During the session, Amber and Vicky discussed the ways artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way organizations deliver personalized learning experiences at scale.
The Reality Behind Training Gaps
Research consistently shows that individualized coaching delivers superior outcomes compared to standardized training programs. The world's best athletes, musicians, and business leaders all share one common trait: they've benefited from personal coaching. But for most organizations, providing that level of personalized attention has been logistically and financially impossible—until now.
Even after organizations invest big bucks in comprehensive training programs, complete with transformation experts, regional champions, and detailed FAQs, learning gaps still exist. And the poor subject matter experts are forced to repetitively field questions that pull them away from strategic priorities. Global teams struggle with consistent clarification across time zones. Many learners are too shy or uncomfortable to ask questions in group settings, opting instead to spend precious time searching through course materials for the answers they need.
Common challenges like these are like books collecting dust on a shelf; the flow of knowledge is stifled rather than flowing freely to the people who need it most.
The AI Learning Companion Solution
ELB's AI Learning Companion is intelligent, always available, and expertly trained specifically on your organization's content. Unlike generic AI solutions, this customizable companion is built by instructional designers using your specific training materials, policies, and procedures.
The companion serves as both a tutor for curriculum revision and practice and as an assistant for real-world applications. This continuum approach means the same system that helps someone review basic concepts can also synthesize complex information from multiple sources to provide sophisticated guidance for even the most challenging of scenarios.
Real-World Applications in Action
During the webinar demonstration, the companion went through a security awareness training scenario. When it was asked about phishing attacks targeted toward someone in the marketing department, the AI companion provided accurate, role-specific guidance drawn entirely from the organization's training content. The system's ability to thread conversations allows learners to explore multiple topics simultaneously while keeping the context.
The companion's versatility extends beyond text-based interactions to phone-based scenarios as well. The phone-based functionality allows people without access to a digital device (like field workers, for example) to call in with questions and receive the same quality guidance they would from a human expert. This accessibility ensures that knowledge flows to every corner of the organization, regardless of the location or preferred method of communication.
Empowering Data-Driven Decisions
Get this: The companion can identify learning patterns. By analyzing the way learners interact with the material, it can reveal knowledge gaps that might otherwise remain hidden. If learners tend to struggle with a particular type of content, the system flags these trends for L&D teams to address, which creates a feedback loop that keeps the learning environment healthy, thriving, and impactful.
Flexible Deployment Options
The AI Learning Companion integrates seamlessly into existing learning management systems (LMS) or can be deployed as standalone eLearning packages. Your organization can control access through current LMS workflows and roll out the companion to specific groups, or make it available after learners complete initial training, for example.
Updates to organizational processes or policies can be implemented without rebuilding entire training programs. New knowledge simply gets added to the companion's database to ensure all future responses reflect the latest information.
The Technological Advantage
Our solution stands apart through its LLM-agnostic architecture, meaning it can leverage the best available language models for different tasks rather than being locked into a single provider. This flexibility, combined with a robust RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) architecture, creates accurate responses while minimizing the occurrence of hallucinations.
The platform also provides qualitative analytics that go beyond simple usage metrics. Organizations receive insights about conversation patterns, trending topics, and knowledge gaps, which help L&D teams make thoughtful, data-driven decisions about content updates and training focus areas.
You Ready?
The evidence is striking: personalized coaching brings about better learning outcomes, and with AI, you can do it at scale. The AI Learning Companion doesn't just store information—it transforms it into an active learning partner that adapts, grows, and supports learners wherever they are.
Transform your training materials from dusty books or static PDFs into dynamic learning partners. Watch the complete webinar demo below to see the AI Learning Companion in action and determine how it can improve your organization's approach to learning and development.
If you want to learn more about how AI can transform your training approach, click here.
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Disclaimer: The ideas, perspectives, and strategies shared in this article reflect the expertise of our featured speakers, Amber Rodbell and Vicky Pereira. Be sure to follow them on LinkedIn to explore more of their insights.
