I had the privilege…nay, the honor to build a branded training academy from the ground up and launched it with its inaugural self-paced eLearning course.
The TSOLife Academy launched as the educational brand of TSOLife. The vision was to create a training hub of self-paced microlearning content for an array of audiences, including general users, corporate administrators, and new internal hires.
Its launch title, Foundations, is a self-paced video-based course of microlearning modules that is designed to provide learners with a foundational knowledge of the software.
About the TSOLife Academy
Having a corporate-branded training academy is like being in possession of a gold-plated Swiss Army Knife. If you’ve planned it well and load it with adequate training materials, then it can serve as an invaluable enablement tool for customers and new company hires.
Think about this: chances are the academy will be pushed by your Customer Success team, and that’s great. But having a training academy at no extra cost is something that the sales team can play up. Marketing can pimp it out on social media and during trade shows and events. HR is certainly going to use it during the new hire onboarding process. There are so many possibilities!
I designed several prototype logos for the academy and then asked AI to generate polished versions of each. I found this to be a very practical use for AI because A) it means I don’t have to spend an absurd amount of time creating a final version, B) it allows me to avoid opening a request with the marketing team’s graphic designer, which can take a minimum of two weeks, and C) it took my design and made it better in a matter of seconds.
About the Foundations Training Course
Look, no one wants to actually learn new software. It’s hard and, in most cases, can probably be annoying. So, my goal with the course was to make it as painless as possible. That’s why I like to stick to the microlearning model with an emphasis on absorbing essential concepts.
The curriculum’s organization was very carefully thought out. Last year, I spearheaded a project to accelerate the new customer onboarding timeline. I established a training plan that presents different features of the software in a natural progression so that learners can understand why the platform works the way it does.
TSOLife is software that senior living communities utilize to create a personalized and engaging experience for their resident populations. So, I devised a logical and foundational way to teach the concepts. Here’s an excerpt from the spreadsheet I was working in, which basically became my gospel:
The course consists of 41 video-based microlearning modules, with each video companion averaging 2-3 minutes in duration, four knowledge checks, and a 20-question certification exam.
Each module consists of a video (self-produced), some brief reading material, guides, job aids, and links to additional information on the Help Center:
Upon 100% completion of the course, learners will be presented with a certificate of achievement that they can print out and show off to their family and friends:
I opted against using dynamic variables because the out-of-the-box certificate builder of the learning management system that this course was built in was not very effective.
I also dabbled with AI in the video production process. TSOLife analyzes resident data and quality of life through an electronic interview process. However, due to the high cost of production shoots as well as HIPAA laws, recording such an interview can present problems. So, I created a sample interview by integrating AI into the process.
Through trial and error, I was eventually able to create a brief interview where these two AI women are talking to each other. I think it’s interesting that we can create shots that were previously very difficult and/or expensive to film, so I’m pretty excited about continuing to integrate AI into my workflow.
The Foundations course is currently in a pilot program. We’ll assess feedback, revise as necessary, and then make it available to a wider audience.