Our challenge to the Human Resource Development (HRD) community, is how far we should proactively take responsibility and get involved in shaping future skill development and human interactions with technology? Or will they, as in the past, retain a passive observer position?There is much talk of the displacement of humans by technologies with Deloitte's (2018) reporting that employment in 44% of occupations in the UK is creating uncertainty about which jobs will continue.The disruption to current approaches to skill development and identification of what new skills are needed requires attention. For people to retain relevance, more attention is needed on those skills that resist automation and technology replacement by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) package.In this chapter we seek to answer the question: to what extent do LD practitioners incorporate both the learning of humans and machines within their areas of responsibility? Initially, we consider some of the key ideas relating to 4IR with respect to HRD/LD. We report the findings from a series of interviews with Senior HRD practitioners. We identified five themes: Emerging Awareness; Responding; Division between IT and HRD; Role of HRD; and Ethical Implications that we share and explore. We suggest that ML/AI is still something of a black box for HRD/LD and our enquiry prompted speculation and possibilities with an emerging recognition of the need to be involved and develop a more collaborative response. We argue that HRD/LD can make this happen and is important to the continuity, relevance and survival of the profession.

An enduring challenge for HRD is ensuring academic research achieves impact on professional practice. We have located this research within debates about the researchpractice gap. To investigate this challenge, we analyse case studies of academic impact from all disciplines submitted to the United Kingdom's 2014 research assessment exercise (REF 2014). We found that Learning and Development was a primary focus of significant number of impact case studies submitted across all disciplines compared to other areas of HR and HRD. We also found that Learning and Development was a key path to Impact. These findings reveal that Learning and Development in a work context plays a pivotal role in helping researchers irrespective of discipline achieve impact. Our findings therefore speak to the research-practice gap across academia. We conclude by considering the potential role for HRD in generating impact.

It has been observed that mobile learning (mLearning) in institutions like Museums in the United Kingdom (UK) has been underutilized. mLearning usage could potentially increase productivity by delivering just-in-time technical knowledge to the science museum group (SMG) staff. This study uses the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model to determine factors affecting mLearning adoption at the SMG. Two research questions were formulated based on an adaptation of the UTAUT model. 1) What are the determinants of behavior intentions to use mLearning at the SMG? 2) Does gender or age have a moderating effect on the factors that determine behavior intentions to use mLearning at the SMG? 118 respondents were surveyed from the SMG. Data obtained were analyzed using Structured Equation Modelling on IBM SPSS 20 and Amos version 25. Results indicate that the UTAUT constructs, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions are all significant determinants of behavioral intention to use mLearning. A newly proposed construct, self-directed learning was not a significant determinant of behaviour intentions. Further examination found age and gender moderate the relationship between the UTAUT constructs. These findings present several useful implications for mLearning research and practice for ICT service desk at the SMG. The research contributes to mLearning technology adoption and strategy.

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This is a repository copy of From chain to net : assessing interdisciplinary contributions to academic impact through narrative case studies.