Kevin McDermott started out as a journalist in the 1980’s and rose to the position of Northern Editor of the Irish Mail on Sunday, followed by Group Editor of Gazette Group Newspapers. He moved into the online education, learning and publishing space over a decade ago and has worked extensively in both Europe and the Middle East. 

Digital Learning Management Systems (LMS’s) have been around for several years and are in use in the vast majority of schools and universities today. However as they become more sophisticated and intuitive, their usage in the commercial world to educate and upskill employees in niche fields has become more prevalent versus the traditional classroom-based learning approach. In particular, the ability of LMS’s to utilise interactive tools, gamification and AI to identify additional skills gaps and improve methods of learning has further increased their importance in the overall education landscape. With universities increasingly moving towards resembling commercial businesses via offering more and more courses in exchange for sometimes very high fees, we discuss with Kevin the growing role of LMS’s in both traditional education and workplace upskilling. We also explore how relevant institutions such as universities might be in the future given the increased scope for personalised education versus a growing and more sophisticated array of digital platforms.