Fulcrum Labs revolutionizes digital learning with AI and Contentful

Introduction

Teaching effectively and building a lifelong enthusiasm for learning has long been hindered by environments that only allow one way to teach. That discussion has taken on new life in the era of online learning as educational institutions increasingly embrace e-learning and corporations rely on it to deliver mission-critical training to their team members.

Fulcrum Labs is responding and changing the game by delivering personalized learning experiences enabled by a revolutionary approach to content and cognitive science. 

Rather than building courses on static learning management systems (LMS) that offer linear, standardized courses, Fulcrum uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to create personalized learning experiences that are as unique as the individuals taking them. 

“Learning can no longer be a  ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, which you typically see in both classroom and instructor-led type trainings or in e-learning, through the legacy LMS,” Fulcrum Labs CEO Patrick Weir said.

This next-generation approach to learning puts an individual at the center of their customized learning  journey, creating robust curricula that both inform and inspire. Courses adapt to every individual’s needs and learning style, instilling knowledge & confidence, reinforcing key takeaways, and encouraging further curiosity and exploration. Moreover, by instilling confidence in the learner, Fulcrum substantially increases the likelihood that the knowledge obtained will actually be applied on the job, which significantly improves the performance results for their corporate clients.

For many, the experience is life changing. Learners that self-identify as obligated attendees in the beginning quickly find themselves embracing a learning journey that builds deep subject matter expertise with confidence. 

Fulcrum’s customers range from educational institutions to government agencies and corporations  of all sizes looking to educate and train employees on a wide range of topics, from technical and functional skills to personal development and soft skills.

Fulcrum’s approach for driving learning and performance outcomes relies on industry-leading artificial intelligence technologies coupled with Contentful’s composable content platform.

Facilitating adaptive learning with composable content

Building a lifelong learning mindset isn’t just a behavioral challenge — it’s also a technical one.

Before Contentful, Fulcrum Labs operated a home-grown content management system, but it was time consuming and pulled off key resources to maintain. For Fulcrum, it became a question of whether it should spend significant time and resources maintaining their own content management system, or move to a flexible, API-first content platform that could grow with their business and allow their team to refocus on the areas of their true core competencies: developing and innovating an industry-leading Adaptive 3.0 learning and predictive analytics platform.These types of focus projects draw on Fulcrum’s unique strengths and deliver outstanding learning and performance ROI to their clients. 

“Five years ago we were going through an evolution and we asked ourselves, ‘Do we want to continue to support a custom content system which doesn't necessarily fall into one of our core competencies? Or, would we rather put our effort and expertise into AI and machine learning to generate insightful and personalized learning experiences?’” Weir said. “We strategically decided to focus on our strengths: data science, AI/ML, and personalized learning pathways.” 

To continue supporting dynamic content, Fulcrum Labs traded its homemade CMS for API-first composable content platform Contentful. 

Increasing productivity and enabling personalized experiences

Contentful’s composable approach allows Fulcrum’s customers to add content of any type to the platform with speed and ease, while maintaining a single source of truth that can be edited at any time and with absolute fidelity across endpoints and even localizations.

It also empowers rapid localization of content. For example, a Fulcrum customer can enter an exam question and automatically translate it into any language. If the customer needs to change the content of that question later, they only have to do it once. The change automatically propagates to all versions and languages of the exam. 

Second, Contentful’s ability to detect content relationships allows Fulcrum to apply powerful AI and machine learning to detect differences in learning style and then adjust the course content and delivery style to meet the needs of specific learners.

For instance, a learner who's inclined toward visual learning would be presented with visual exercises and learning materials. Learners who benefit from written materials can be given text versions of the same lessons. Administrators and instructors don’t need to build these individual experiences manually — Fulcrum does it automatically, drawing from content linked by Contentful. 

“Contentful made it really easy to deliver personalized experiences because the adaptive engine latches on to the content,” Fulcrum CTO Dave Thomas said. “We’ve reached a point now where machine learning assigns metadata values to content elements based on actual performance within a course by real users and adjusts its delivery accordingly.”

Learners receive a customized experience that accounts for their progress, presents the information they need, and automatically offers help and reinforcements to facilitate success for a superior learning experience. 

Contentful is an essential enabler

Fulcrum Labs’ innovation story is far from over as the company continues to work with its corporate and academic clients to find new ways to meet their needs and the needs of individual learners and then deepen and accelerate their knowledge acquisition and retention throughout the lifecycle of a student or employee. Contentful brings forth a continuous stream of content management tools and supports a level of reusability that enables the Fulcrum Labs team to evolve and personalize digital learning experiences faster and better, making Fulcrum an innovative leader in the adaptive learning marketplace. 

The result is an ongoing revolution in digital learning. Contentful is proud to be an enabling part of this revolution.