Look at Uber. When people talk about the success of that company, it’s usually about the matching of buyers and sellers. Then it became, “Let’s Uber this, let’s Uber that.” But Uber’s major impact was on the antiquated certification and licensing systems in the taxi business.
As a part of our series about “Big Ideas That Might Change the World in the Next Few Years,”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Doug Donovan.
Doug Donovan, CEO of Interplay Learning, the leading provider of immersive training for the essential skilled trades.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you please tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Before launching Interplay Learning in 2016, I worked at a company specializing in training for residential energy auditing. Field training for auditors was a persistent challenge. It meant dragging 20 students at a time through someone’s home. That’s a logistical nightmare and a major inconvenience for homeowners who are willing to do it.
Home energy auditing is a small, specialized field, but the same challenge applies to all field service industries in different ways. It’s difficult for trainees in HVAC, Electrical, Plumbing, and Facilities Maintenance to get the real-world hands-on experience they need. I knew there had to be a better way.
For years, the military and the medical and aviation industries have used simulations to tackle this challenge. I thought, “Why can’t we do this for energy auditors? Why can’t we do this for all the skilled trades?”
Which principles or philosophies have guided your life? Your career?
“Just show up” and “Yes, and.” They’re both about keeping things moving forward. “Just show up” is about commitment and persistence, even when you don’t have the answers. “Yes, and” comes from improv comedy. It’s about optimism. In improv, it’s a natural, powerful way to move a scene forward. In life, it will keep you moving forward through all the twists and turns thrown at you.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now move to the focus of our interview. Can you tell us about your “Big Idea That Might Change the World”?
We can now personalize everything in our lives. We can personalize our Netflix list. Amazon can tell you which slippers you’ll like, based on what you’ve liked before. Technology steers us down these incredibly detailed and accurate commercial and entertainment paths.
We can do the exact same thing with education and career paths. We can help people attain rewarding, fulfilling careers that align with their personalities and goals. All it takes is a hyper-personalized training experience applying technology that already exists, like artificial intelligence, 3D simulations, augmented reality, and virtual reality.
Traditional educational models aren’t necessarily the most efficient or effective way of connecting with and teaching students. There’s a large segment of the population that doesn’t thrive in that environment. But if you can expose those people to options and opportunities that are more attuned to their interests and goals, they have a higher chance of success.
We now have the ability to engage kids and young adults on life paths that build rewarding careers with what’s essentially a gaming device. That’s a huge departure from what’s been taught to them. They’ve been told they have to follow a certain path, which involves 12 years of school, followed by four more years of school.
How do you think this will change the world?
AI and simulations can open up a whole new world for young people. They can have accurate, detailed, firsthand experience with a range of career options, from aeronautic factories to commercial HVAC and telecommunications. Technology can challenge some of the negative stereotypes about the skilled trades.
Look at coding boot camps and how they changed the technology industry. If you have an appetite and affinity for computers and programming, you can take an intensive six-week course and start your career. We haven’t seen anything like that in the career trades. But it’s possible now.
Back in 2016, I held an Oculus device and said, “Pretty soon, kids around the world will be able to launch their careers with their gaming consoles.” Now it’s even more true than ever because of AI. AI can serve as a personal tutor or mentor that students can access at any time. These new learning paths are not only possible, they’re potentially more effective than traditional training.
And the potential societal impact goes beyond that. With the low price of a VR headset, people around the globe have access to education and training that was never available to them before. More skilled workers around the world means we can even accelerate global development. The ultimate potential positive impact is enormous.
What do you need to lead this idea to widespread adoption?
Fundamentally, we need institutions to recognize that regulatory capture is keeping people from working. With the disconnect between underemployment and job openings, it’s a shame.
One of the challenges is the friction around traditional training and career licensure. Many industries are still operating under old systems based on time or formal training instead of demonstrated competence.
Look at Uber. When people talk about the success of that company, it’s usually about the matching of buyers and sellers. Then it became, “Let’s Uber this, let’s Uber that.” But Uber’s major impact was on the antiquated certification and licensing systems in the taxi business.
Instead of having to sit for hours and hours of training and passing an exam to get your taxi or limo license, Uber said, “We just want someone safe, with insurance, who will show up.” And that’s what consumers wanted. They broke through the institutional logjam.
Digital solutions are more efficient. With AI, they’re also more effective. They’re better at predicting on-the-job performance. Let’s say you’re troubleshooting a heat pump in a training simulation. AI can prompt you to walk through the process verbally and show your work. Without talking it through, even if you get the right answer or address the troubleshooting scenario, we don’t necessarily know that you have command of the skills involved. However, when you talk through what you’re doing and why, we can better assess your critical thinking skills and depth of knowledge.
What we need for that to happen in the skilled trades industries is the acceptance of competency-based models. It’s how the world works now. You’re expected to show your skills rather than just hand someone a resume on a piece of paper.
Some very well-known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
There’s a major change underway in how people enter and train for careers in the trades and beyond. This represents more than one-third of the jobs across the globe. This change is driven by technology. Simulations and AI make training more accessible and more effective than ever before. Technology is opening new learning and career paths, but many organizations don’t know how to activate the opportunities available. Innovative, scalable digital platforms like Interplay Learning are helping forward-thinking companies and institutions accelerate training to transform the trades. Our system impacts tens of thousands today, but it will be millions by 2030.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
I’m on LinkedIn, and readers can learn more about Interplay Learning at https://www.interplaylearning.com/.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Interplay Learning: Doug Donovan’s Big Idea That Might Change The World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.