Photo: Jennifer Alsabrook-Turner, UAB Marketing and CommunicationsOver the past year, thousands of UAB employees took advantage of the university’s access to LinkedIn Learning — and its 16,000-plus course offerings. What topics were in highest demand? Spreadsheets, AI and EI (emotional intelligence): Those topics took the top five spots in a list of the year’s most popular among Blazers, according to data tracked by UAB Learning and Development.
The top five LinkedIn Learning courses taken by UAB employees over the past year:
- Excel Essential Training (Microsoft 365)
- Introducing AI to Your Organization
- Developing Your Emotional Intelligence
- Generative AI Skills for Creative Content: Opportunities, Issues and Ethics
- How To Boost Your Productivity With AI Tools
The strong interest in AI at UAB has helped inspire other popular learning opportunities from Learning and Development, including its well-attended AI @ Work series. AI @ Work, in which UAB employees share how they are using AI tools, has come close to overloading its Zoom rooms on occasion. The next session will look at AI for Coaching Others at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 30; register here. (And learn more about all things AI at UAB at uab.edu/ai.)
Usage up significantly
It is not just AI, however. Usage of LinkedIn Learning is up across the board, according to data from Learning and Development. Between March 1, 2024, and Feb. 28, 2025, 3,318 employees viewed 10,719 hours of content on the LinkedIn Learning platform — an average of three hours and 15 minutes per employee. They completed 8,242 courses and 183,121 videos. Most courses consist of short video segments so that learners can fit them into busy work schedules. Comparing data from February 2025 with the same month last year, that represents a 56 percent increase in video completions and an 89 percent increase in course completions.
Those numbers illustrate a pattern that Jerad Watson, manager of Learning and Development, and his team have been following — and influencing. Learning and Development Specialist Alison Kniseley tracks LinkedIn Learning usage monthly, Watson said, and “we have seen a great increase in usage in recent months.” Although the number of users has remained relatively stable, employees “are watching more videos and completing more courses.”
Learning Challenges, Chats attract employees
Two programs have contributed to the growth. Learning and Development hosts quarterly LinkedIn Learning Challenges, in which watching short videos on the challenge topic makes employees eligible for prizes. The current Learning Challenge, with the theme “Grow Your Executive Presence,” runs through April 9 (join in here); another will start in May. “The LinkedIn Learning Challenge is a great opportunity to spend about five minutes a day for two to four weeks learning about a selected topic,” Kniseley said. “You also have the option to complete the learning all at once.”
Learning and Development has also seen success with its themed LinkedIn Learning Chats, hosted monthly by L&D staff. In each Chats session, “we pull one or two short LinkedIn Learning videos and play them in the Zoom meeting, then have a breakout room or whole group conversations about the topic,” Watson explained. “And we leave learners with tools and the link to the full course if they want to learn more.” The first quarter of Chats sessions focused on productivity; upcoming themes are communication, leadership and career development. The next LinkedIn Learning Chat will look at Mindfulness in Interactions at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 17; register here.
“It is interesting, because the videos have always been there for individuals to find and watch themselves; but something about our marketing it, putting it on their calendar and then having a place for them to discuss with others encourages people to engage with the topic,” Watson said.
Access to LinkedIn Learning is free for all full-time regular and temporary employees as well as part-time regular, interns/residents, 3/12 shift employees, weekend staff, postdoctoral scholar trainees and employees. Visit uab.edu/linkedinlearning to learn more.