FAQ

Skillsoft Aspire is a series of technology career journeys for people working in technology and developer roles. They include sequenced instruction that methodically progresses on prescribed tasks, functions, or roles so an individual can move towards their aspirational role. Included in the journey is practice, assessments and a credential at the culmination of the journey.

Organizations desperately need to retain tech talent. A recent CompTIA survey found that there are more than half a million open tech positions in the US. By 2020 there will be a million more jobs available than applicants who can fill them, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Therefore, organizations won’t be able to hire their way to new skills, instead they need to reskill and upskill existing staff.

There are certain functions, tasks and activities that a person does in their current role and others that are part of an aspirational role. For instance, you can't just give a Data Analyst the title of Data Scientist because they have been around for a long time in your organization. They need an enhanced set of skills that are built on their current knowledge. This is Skillsoft Aspire.

A digital learning journey is a sequence path of instruction and credentials that builds to an aspirational role.

Nope. This has 4 elements

• 1. Job Task Orientation – key work functions that the learner performs in the path
• 2. Sequenced Instruction – learning content that is prescribed to the learner based on Job Tasks
• 3. Practice and Application – opportunities for the learner to perform the requisite tasks of the persona in a safe environment
• 4. Credentials – Meaningful incremental validation of skill along the path to the aspirational role.

We offer an unparalleled solution, developed in conjunction with our industry leading experts who carefully curate multimodal resources into hundreds of learning channels. These channels incorporate several learning modalities including video learning, hands-on practice labs, virtual mentoring and access to the largest library of leading certification prep books and audiobooks.

Technology and Developer professionals need to continuously adapt to new advancements, security threats and something else. To continuously adapt, they need to be learning all the time. Continual learning is an organization’s most important tool in adapting to this unprecedented technology transformation where new roles are rapidly evolving, new skillsets are required and business and technology sides of the business are increasingly converging.

Each journey—usually 4 tracks—offers between 50-80 hours of multimodal courseware that includes videos, practice labs, books, audiobooks, test prep and assessments.

Why 50-80 hours when other providers offer 10-17 hour paths?

Skillsoft believes that training competent and able tech professionals requires serious preparation, with a commitment to meaningful study and practice culminating in a competency-based assessment.

Other vendors may offer a faster track to completion, where participants are graded on a curve, based on whoever is taking the course (Pluralsight) or a quick 10-17 hour path which is a speedy solution that doesn’t deliver robust learning resources, practice labs or assessments based on skills and knowledge (LIL)

The time to completion will vary depending on the individual. Each learner must receive a passing score on both their assessments and practice labs before progressing. An individual may have to go around the track more than once to fully understand and learn.

Learners earn a meaningful competency-based credential. This is NOT an industry certification, but rather a confirmation of completion of course work and competency-based assessments.

Learners should be better equipped to go on to take industry certifications if required in a given topic, but these are not administered as part of the current Aspire solution.

These journeys ensure consistency across the organization in definitions of roles, saving time in the learning and development department. Discussing aspirational roles also helps to inspire and incentivize tech staff and supports professional development.

Several elements of research informed the creation of Skillsoft Aspire Journey.

• 1. An evaluation of our own usage data.
• 2. Market feedback and common customer concerns.
• 3. University curriculums, specifically extension schools, allowing us to target a more professional audience.
• 4. Competitive Analysis.
• 5. Our own informed knowledge of the industry/domain expertise.

Aspire journeys will include video courses, practice labs, books, audiobooks, and assessments.

This is all new content. Nothing is being reused from older content. The content will be released as it is finished, and will later be pulled into the journey channel with assessments and practice labs.

Yes. Mentoring will be included wherever appropriate.

Through a personal dashboard and an admin dashboard for L&D.

As content is added and retired, we will announce plans and they will be curated to each track as appropriate. The solution is not a playlist; rather channels for Percipio and categories for Skillport. These courses were built from scratch so we could avoid duplicate content.