We are honored to have the opportunity to serve as Guest Editors for the third (2017, 2020, 2023) Association of Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Division of Organizational Training and Performance (OTP) Special Issue of Tech Trends. In each of these issues we have strived to present a collection of articles that represent the depth and breadth of organizational training and performance research and best practices, from the perspective of both researchers and practitioners.

The mission of the AECT Division of Organizational Training and Performance is “to bridge the gap between research and practice, facilitating communication, collaboration and sharing between academics, students and practitioners across multiple disciplines interested in applying current theory and research to training and performance improvement initiatives” (OTP Bylaws, 2019). This mission supports, but is not identical to, the AECT mission; the difference being that OTP clearly articulates the audiences we serve (academics, students, and practitioners), the fact that these groups practice “across multiple disciplines”, and our overarching goal of “bridging the gap between research and practice” (OTP Bylaws, 2019).

The manuscripts selected for this special issue are representative of the OTP mission, reminding us that training and performance is not limited to traditional, K12 and higher education institutions; that the value of research is found in its application in practice; and that the field encompasses many areas of interest. We have organized the content in a manner that we believe illustrates the complexity of the field in a somewhat sequential manner; moving from analysis, to learning design, technology integration, and finally, change management. We begin with three manuscripts related to analysis. Kara Garcia and Gamze Ozogul open the issue with “U.S. Air Force’s Special Warfare Preservice Instructors’ Training: A Systematic Needs Assessment Approach.” This is followed by T. Logan Arrington, Kalia Steele, Nikol Winthrow, and Alison Moore’s article titled “Performance Systems Analysis in K12 Organizations.” Finally, the analysis section concludes with Laruen Adlof and Minkyoung Kim’s “Comprehensive Front-End Analysis of Student Retention Outcomes in a Higher Education Institution.” We then present five articles focused on various aspects of learning design. The first piece in this section is Jennifer L. Scott, Gerald Knezek, James Poirot, and Lin Lin’s “Attributes of Learning Organizations: Measuring Personalized Online Learning as Part of a Learning Culture.” This is followed by “Instructional Design for Socially Distanced Compliance Audit” authored by Lorraine Frazier, Justin Beaudry, Madeline MacDonald, and Lisa Giacumo and “Lessons Learned from Online Learning at Scale: A Study of Exemplar Learning Organizations”, authored by Scotty Craig. The learning design section continues with “A Categorization of Workplace Learning Goals for Multi-Stakeholder Recommender Systems: A Systematic Review” by Dirk Ifenthaler, Yvonne Hemmler, and Julian Rasch; and then concludes with “Authentic Learning Experiences to Improve Online Instructor’s Performance and Self-Efficacy: The Design of an Online Mentoring Program” authored by Victoria Lowell and Mohan Yang.

The next six manuscripts selected for inclusion in this issue focus on the role of technology integration in organizational training and performance. Teddy Edouard opens the section with “Why and How Colleges and Universities Should Leverage Technology Mentoring to Maximize Faculty’s Technology Integration Efforts.” This is followed by Eamonn Powers and Rob Moore’s contribution, titled “Organizational Analysis in Preparation for LMS Change: A Narrative Case Study” and Annetta Dolowitz, Jessica Collier, Aleshia Hayes, and Cem Kumsal’s “Iterative Design and Integration of a Microlearning Mobile APP for Performance Improvement and Support for NATO Employees: A Case Study.” The technology section continues with Yao Huang and James Klein’s “Mobile Performance Support Systems: Characteristics, Benefits, and Conditions” and Franz Coelho’s “The Corporate (Magic) Circle: Fun Work or Controlled Play?” Wan Ju Huang then closes the technology section with “Deep Learning Becomes a Reality When Emerging Technologies Meet Learning Design”. This leads us to the final article in the special issue, “Change Management from Theory to Practice”, authored by James Klein and Jeff Phillips. This manuscript, focused on change management, was intentionally chosen to close the issue because it illustrates the role change management plays in every aspect of organizational training and performance and reinforces the importance of the bridge between theory and practice.

We believe this collection of articles effectively represents the guiding principles of the Division of Organizational Training and Performance and their far-reaching influence on research and practice. It is our hope that presenting them in this manner will encourage “communication, collaboration and sharing between academics, students and practitioners across multiple disciplines interested in applying current theory and research to training and performance improvement initiatives” (OTP Bylaws, 2022).