Tech Tuesday: An innovative approach to technology learning
Let’s put on a show!
IT Learning Services was called on by Humana's CTO to address support tickets and general technological capability across IT. This team was known for solving novel problems with a combination of technology and advanced learning techniques. In order to engage with a large corporate IT department and introduce new platforms and tested solutions to frequently ticketed problems, so they decided to put on a show!
Learning Innovation on a budget
As responsible stewards of a limited budget for learning initiatives, the Tech Tuesday program was built entirely by the IT Learning Strategies team using in-house talent for learning content, video production, hosting and distribution, virtual set design, and even special effects.
Production of all 26 hour-long episodes was accomplished entirely by ITLS staff with existing user licenses for Adobe Creative Suite, mixing and encoding with Telestream Wirecast, and live streaming over our in-house CDN built by ITLS with Wowza Streaming Engine servers. Viewer interactions and xAPI tracking was built by ITLS software developers.
With a nod to the public access TV aesthetic, his home-grown solution meant means no additional administrative cost or capital expenses were required for this program, securing a positive RoI for each episode.
And now, a word from our sponsors
The structure of each episode followed a simple formula. We began with an introduction to the episode, followed by the first installment in a series of interstitial videos to tell a story. You might recognize this narrative tool from shows like Sesame Street. The interstitial storyline bookended three segments showcasing a technology concept, a new platform, or a recorded demo. Each of the three sections would be followed by a ‘Check on Learning” question that asked a multiple-choice question about the previously viewed content, and viewers could answer during a brief ‘commercial break’ using a timed popup. After the break, the answer would be revealed. The show concluded with the resolution of the interstitial story, revealing the learning objective through the denouement before show credits rolled.
The commercial break was of course, not required in order to fund the program. But as a staple of typical broadcast programming, these breaks provided a unique opportunity to enrich the experience. During this time, we would collect responses to the single-question evaluations from our ’Check on Learning’. Also, the content of the commercials included important timely announcements for company events, new policies revealed, helpful tips, and sometimes just a little bit of humor to break up the time. The structure and content is rooted in learning theory, managing to release the attention of the learners and then renew the focus with attention-grabbing content before relieving the light stress of an unanswered question. And we also enjoyed producing the quick segments.
PSA inviting viewers to embrace a 16:9 aspect ratio for presentations.
ATD Excellence in Practice Award Winner
Following the 2nd season of Tech Tuesday, the program was nominated for an Excellence in Practice award from the Association for Talent Development. This award is presented annually by ATD for learning programs that go above and beyond the typical corporate offerings, and Tech Tuesday was able to rise to the top.
In the program review, ATD cited Tech Tuesday’s unique fusion of entertaining learning content, scripted interstitial narratives, timely messaging, practical application to solving a business problem, and innovative use of technology.
Features like real-time cohorts with SME moderators, policy announcements disguised as snappy advertisements, and formative evaluations during our "Check on Learning" segments set the program apart from the typical click-and-quiz content. This nationally recognized award now sits in the trophy case at Humana's Louisville headquarters.
