I started my relationship with LinkedIn Learning back in 2007 through Lynda.com. Along the way, I became associated with Video2Brain, which was later acquired in 2013 by Lynda.com. Lynda.com was then acquired by LinkedIn in 2015, which itself was acquired by Microsoft in 2016. Despite all the upheaval, one thing remained constant: authors always felt welcome by everyone.
I travelled to the Carpinteria campus dozens of times over the years and consistently returned home, marvelling at how everyone seemed to like everyone else. From the lady behind the counter in the cafeteria to management, who always made a point of saying hello and welcoming me. As an author, I felt appreciated and respected.
Not any more.
A few months ago, authors found out their course contracts were suddenly canceled. Producers were laid off. Content Managers, the people we authors worked with, started disappearing. The remaining Content Managers were tasked with telling their authors that their services were no longer needed and couldn’t always explain why, or gave conflicting stories. Instead of authors proposing courses and working together with their Content Managers, authors were basically told, “Don’t call us. We’ll call you.”
For years, LIL felt like the closest heir to Lynda.com’s craft-first ethos: deep courses, respected and trusted instructors, broad institutional access. It never ceased to amaze me that the over 100,000 learners who engaged with my courses, were spread out around the globe.
Lately, the signals point elsewhere:
Educational institutions are cancelling their licenses due to budgetary constraints and a variety of other reasons. In fact, the University just down the road from me, McMaster, cancelled its license in September.
Though no one in LinkedIn Learning Management will confirm this the new LinkedIn Learning Career Hub with a heavy AI presence designed for clients to manage internal talent and career development is being built atop the LinkedIn Learning Library.
The new Data Defaults aren’t helping things. Starting next week LinkedIn will be using member data in some regions (including Canada) to train its AI models unless you opt out.
Let me be clear: LinkedIn Learning is not dead. It is evolving into something more “corporate” and more algorithmic. Though this strategy, in a weird way, makes sense it is also the exact opposite of one where authors were respected and contracted based on their knowledge and interactions with content managers, producers and everyone else at LinkedIn Learning.
Don’t call us. Our AI will call you.