CLOSING THE SKILLS GAP
Providing easy access to in-demand skills


Project 3
Skillsoft



Carriers and actors:
Softskills team, inclunding Jeff Tarr (CEO), Mark Onisk (Chief Content Officer) and Apratim Purakayastha (Chief Technology Officer). Actors also includes companies and partners such as Workday, learning people, HP and Oracle. So there is diversity among actors based on them being either technological, content, service or solution partners.


Description:
This project is answering the need for easy access of learning content, knowledge and skills. This also fulfills a broader need for silled workforce, thus trying tu fill the skills gap. "We believe every person has the potential to be amazing. And that there’s a better way to bring out what they already have in them." is the mission of skillsoft according to their website. Added to their motto : "PREPARE THE WORKFORCE OF TODAY WITH THE SKILLS FOR TOMORROW. By connecting the needs of the enterprise to those of the learner.", we understand that the principle of Skillsoft is to answer the growing need to easily access in-demand skills, thus increasing the skilled workforce within companies and states. Indeed, some of the content is free to use, therefore allowing anyone to use it.




This project underlines very well the challenges one may face when encountering the skills gap, one being either an individual or a company. Moreover, Skillsoft is the perfect exemple of using technology and in this case APIs to solve an ongoing issue : the troubled access to learning continuously shifting in-demand skills. Therefore, this platform provides à solution and a way to reach the 4.4 UN Sustainable Development Goal regarding the skilling of the global population.

How could APIs enhance in-demand skills' learning through providing an easier access to the skills required to get a specific job as well as to a way of gaining them? How could APIs bridge the skills gap?

To what extent is Skillsoft playing a role in providing an easier and fast access to learning in-demand skills ?
User Scenario

Users:
Individuals and are users of this e-learning platform, either because of individual's motivation or because of employer's request. There are also thousands of companies and teams using skillsoft's offer. Therefore, the ones benefitting from this project are both individuals in search of skills and organisations encouraging the learning process among their employees as well as finding a skilled workforce.

Persona:


Aylin Smith, 28 years old
Aylin is a young women eager to find a job. Even if she has a degree in marketing, she is struggling to find a position in this realm because she is not keen on technology and has yet to familiarize herself with new digital tools used in her profession. Aylin has a team spirit, as she enjoys team sports such as volleyball outside of work. She is a very social person, always trying to connect with new people. She is active on social media, but doesn't manage to find the ressources she needs to improve herself, thus prefering learning knowledge out of textbooks, as she did during her studies ten years ago. Her biggest challenges at the moment are accessing resources in order to master in-demand skills required to hold a marketing position in a firm on the current market. She has to face the strong digitalisation, especially since Covid hit. She has been particularly affected by the isolation and the lack of in-person trainings. Her goals are to acquire the skillset to find and hold a job that will suit her.

Key features:
-The most extensive course library in the world.
-Courses developed based on the science of learning.
-24/7 cloud access to all courses.
-Ergonomic and accesible user experience through the Percipio Platform : PERSONALIZED EXPERIENCE, LEARNER-CENTERED DESIGN, FIND CONTENT QUICKLY, DEMONSTRATE LEARNING IMPACT, ACCELERATE LEARNING, DRIVE ENGAGEMENT.
-Cloud-based corporate learning content, including courses, videos, books and other resources on Business and Management Skills, Leadership Development, Digital Transformation, Technology and Developer, Productivity and Collaboration Tools and Compliance with 120,000 pieces of content, 65,000 videos, 7,000 courses and 45,000 options.

Users storyboard:



Technical Analysis

General Principle:
This project is answering the need for easy access of learning content, knowledge and skills. This also fulfills a broader need for silled workforce, thus trying tu fill the skills gap. "We believe every person has the potential to be amazing. And that there’s a better way to bring out what they already have in them." is the mission of skillsoft according to their website. Added to their motto : "PREPARE THE WORKFORCE OF TODAY WITH THE SKILLS FOR TOMORROW. By connecting the needs of the enterprise to those of the learner.", we understand that the principle of Skillsoft is to answer the growing need to easily access in-demand skills, thus increasing the skilled workforce within companies and states. Indeed, some of the content is free to use, therefore allowing anyone to use it.



Technical Overview - API version:
Skillsoft is using many advanced technologies to provide a solution to the skills gap and provide acess to in-demand skills and competencies to both individuals and companies. Those technologies include Percipio API, Open API, Cloud-computing, Databases and AI.
When focusing on the use of APIs by Skillsoft, we find that they use both an open source API, that is Open API, and their own, that is Softskill Percipio API. Both of them a HTTP-based RESTful APIs using bearer token for authorization. The request and responses are JSON formatted. In the case of Percipio, calls are rate-limited to 100 requests / 20 secs per unique service account. The Percipio can for instance be called by a Swagger UI.

Added value thanks to API:
Thanks to Softskill many businesses and individuals are able to utilise their APIs to improve and facilitate the access to learning in-demand skills. Skillsoft does not only enable this access, but also does it fast and adapts constantly its offers to the changing demand, thus staying on edge with the current requirments of the labour market. Moreover, access to some of the content is made even more accessible due to it being free.
Therefore, Skillsoft is a good example of projects that can be put in place to achieve the 4.4 UN Sustainable Development Goal and thereby provide an easy access to learning in-demand skills.