Hosted by Jeff Walter, Founder and CEO of LatitudeLearning
In this engaging episode of the Training Impact Podcast, Jeff Walter welcomes David Boyes, President of Today’s Class, for a fascinating discussion about adaptive learning, technician development, and the future of workforce training in the automotive industry.
From the beginning of the conversation, one reality becomes clear: automotive training has become extraordinarily complex.
Modern vehicles are no longer simple mechanical systems. They are sophisticated combinations of software, electronics, diagnostics, sensors, and advanced technologies that continue evolving at an incredible pace. At the same time, the industry faces ongoing technician shortages, workforce turnover, and increasing pressure on shop owners to maintain profitability while keeping employees properly trained.
David explains that many automotive organizations recognize the importance of training, but traditional approaches have struggled to keep pace with the realities of the modern shop environment.
Historically, training often meant sending employees to occasional workshops, classroom events, or lengthy online courses. While valuable in certain situations, these methods created limitations. Employees were expected to absorb large amounts of information at once, retain it for extended periods of time, and apply it effectively months later in real-world situations.
Today’s Class approached the problem from a completely different angle.
Instead of treating training as an occasional event, Today’s Class built its platform around short, highly targeted learning experiences delivered every single day.
David explains that most users engage with the platform through a mobile app that delivers three to five minute bursts of training daily. These learning sessions are designed to fit naturally into the workflow of technicians, service advisors, managers, and shop owners without disrupting operations.
What makes this approach especially effective is the consistency behind it.
Rather than overwhelming employees with large amounts of information all at once, the system encourages daily engagement through smaller learning interactions that compound over time. The result is a training experience that feels manageable, accessible, and sustainable.
Jeff notes that this creates a very different type of learning culture compared to traditional training programs. Instead of viewing learning as something separate from work, employees begin to see development as part of their normal routine.
That subtle shift changes how organizations think about workforce development entirely.
As the conversation progresses, Jeff becomes particularly interested in the adaptive nature of the platform.
Many learning systems rely on static learning paths where employees complete standardized sequences of courses regardless of their individual strengths, weaknesses, or business priorities. Today’s Class takes a much more dynamic approach.
David explains that the platform continuously evaluates each learner based on previous answers, confidence levels, response times, topic mastery, retention patterns, business priorities, and even seasonal trends.
Using this information, the platform determines what training each employee should receive next.
An experienced technician may demonstrate strong knowledge in one area while struggling in another. A newer employee may rapidly progress through foundational material while requiring reinforcement elsewhere. Rather than forcing both employees through the same rigid curriculum, the platform adapts continuously based on real-time learning behavior.
Jeff describes the experience as highly adaptive rather than deterministic.
The system is not simply moving learners through predefined courses. It is constantly recalculating the next best learning opportunity based on multiple changing variables.
That flexibility allows organizations to personalize learning at a scale that would be nearly impossible through traditional training methods alone.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning play a major role in making this personalization possible.
David explains that the AI behind Today’s Class is focused less on content generation and more on intelligent decision-making. The platform constantly analyzes learner behavior, business requirements, previous training activity, and long-term retention patterns to determine what each employee needs at a given moment.
Jeff compares the system to modern vehicle technology itself.
Advanced automotive systems continuously monitor inputs, conditions, and variables to determine the best response in real time. In many ways, Today’s Class operates similarly by constantly evaluating information and adapting the learning experience dynamically.
The comparison becomes one of the most memorable moments in the episode because it perfectly captures the sophistication behind the platform.
Rather than assuming employees either “know” or “do not know” a subject, the system continuously measures confidence, consistency, and retention over time.
That ongoing evaluation creates a far more accurate picture of actual competency.
One of the most fascinating parts of the discussion centers around how Today’s Class blends assessment and learning into a single continuous process.
Instead of separating testing from education, the platform integrates them together through small daily interactions.
Learners answer questions, review explanations, evaluate their own confidence levels, and choose whether they want to explore topics more deeply. The system tracks those interactions continuously and uses them to refine future training experiences.
David explains that employees are not punished for gaps in knowledge. Instead, the platform treats learning as an evolving process.
If a technician demonstrates mastery in a topic, the system gradually backs away from that area and focuses elsewhere. If inconsistencies begin appearing, the platform increases reinforcement and revisits the topic later.
This constant feedback loop allows learning to evolve naturally over time while reducing unnecessary repetition.
Jeff finds this especially compelling because it moves beyond the limitations of traditional “test out” learning models. Instead of using one-time assessments to determine a fixed path, Today’s Class continuously adapts based on what employees demonstrate every day.
Another major theme throughout the episode is motivation and engagement.
David explains that one of the biggest challenges in workplace learning is not access to information. It is getting employees to engage consistently over time.
Simply making content available does not guarantee employees will seek it out, retain it, or apply it effectively.
Today’s Class addresses this challenge by creating a learning environment that feels interactive, engaging, and integrated into daily operations. Employees earn points through consistent participation, creating friendly competition and social engagement within organizations.
Importantly, the platform rewards consistency more than perfection.
Jeff notes that this creates a powerful behavioral shift. Employees begin viewing learning as a normal part of work rather than something extra they are forced to complete.
Over time, that consistency helps organizations create stronger learning cultures where development becomes embedded into everyday operations.
The long-term impact goes far beyond technical knowledge.
Organizations that consistently engage employees in learning become more adaptable, more responsive to change, and better equipped to evolve alongside shifting technologies and market conditions.
Toward the end of the conversation, Jeff reflects on the broader implications of what Today’s Class is building.
The automotive industry changes rapidly. New vehicle technologies, electric vehicles, diagnostics, software systems, and advanced driver assistance technologies continue reshaping the skills technicians need every year.
Organizations that rely solely on occasional training events will struggle to keep pace.
David explains that continuous learning is no longer optional. Organizations must build systems that help employees develop knowledge consistently over time rather than expecting learning to happen all at once.
That shift represents more than a training strategy. It represents a cultural transformation.
As employees begin engaging in learning daily, organizations evolve into true learning cultures where adaptation, development, and improvement become part of everyday work.
For Jeff, that may be the most important takeaway from the episode.
Today’s Class is not simply delivering automotive training content. The company is helping organizations create environments where learning becomes a natural, continuous part of operational success.
To learn more about Today’s Class, visit: https://www.todaysclass.com/
For more from the Training Impact Podcast, follow us on Social Media – https://t-sml.mtrbio.com/public/smartlink/trainingimpactpodcast
Jeff Walter (00:00)
Hi, I’m Jeff Walter and welcome back to the Training Impact Podcast where we explore scaling channel performance through training infrastructure. My guest today is David Boyes. David is a software business leader with a proven experience in driving strategies forward through the implementation of technology. He’s also president of today’s class, an innovator in daily micro training for automotive technicians. David, welcome to the program.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(00:23)
Thank you for having me.
Jeff Walter (00:25)
So David, as listeners know, I like to, I’m very interested in the personal journey of folks and how they got where they’re being present in today’s class. It’s a great organization. How’d you end up there? What crazy path it got you to present of today’s class?
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(00:39)
My background originally started in the engineering space. I went to an automotive engineering school in Flint, Michigan, named Kettering University. It was GMI when I started there. My dad had worked there as well, so connection to automotive and education was always part of my life. After going there, I went down an engineering path for a little while, but ultimately began shifting into software, focused on supply chain initially.
but then shifted into ⁓ medical, then shifted into utilities. But I always liked the idea of how software can impact a business and help us solve bigger problems. In parallel, my dad’s career arced in a way where he ended up running today’s class. It evolved over a few different iterations, but they were providing training to the aftermarket through instructor-led means, ultimately shifted into providing online training for schools and tech centers.
Jeff Walter (01:15)
Mm-hmm.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(01:33)
And then there just came a point in both of our careers as he was winding up and I was looking to shift where it made sense for me to join today’s class and bring some of my software experience to it. ⁓ And that ended up putting us on a journey where we’ve shifted the way that we deliver training using an app-based approach, really focusing on scale and making an impact where we can.
Jeff Walter (01:56)
So for the listeners, explain what today’s class is. I mean, we’ve got a little bit about it, but when do folks come to you? What are they trying to achieve when they engage you guys?
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(02:08)
Yeah, so I would.
think that most shops in the aftermarket recognize that their teams need training. Things are changing very fast. Staffing is always a question. We’ve got folks retiring. We’ve got new people coming in. We’ve got employee churn and so forth. So consistent training has been something that I think most shops have been struggling with over time. How do we solve that? So our approach has been first to recognize that one and done training has some limitations.
tough to attend one event, absorb everything you need and retain that information over the long haul. On the other hand, a shop can’t send their team to training five times a week. So there’s just limitations that exist. So we really…
recognize that it is our opportunity to try it little differently. So what we do is we provide training that is delivered in three to five minute bursts typically. Most people use our mobile app.
Jeff Walter (03:07)
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(03:07)
But
the idea is that you can get three to five minutes of training today that’s relevant to your role and leaning on areas where you need more help. My training would do the same, but be focused on different areas. So with this advanced technology, whether we’re training 550 or 5,000 people, we can be pushing each of them a relevant training session today that’s convenient and it builds from one day to the next. So it’s a compounding effect over time, but making it very accessible.
for the learners.
And then we provide a lot of data because we recognize that there’s only so far you can go through an app-based learning approach. These technicians are going to need to get their hands on tools and work through these systems. Service advisors are going to need to have discussions and game plan different scenarios for working with customers. But we can be very effective in providing that foundational knowledge and allowing managers and training leaders to see, here’s where
doing well, here’s where we should support him, but maybe here’s an area where he needs more help, and let’s focus on that.
Jeff Walter (04:13)
And so you’re providing the platform and the training content and the assessment to personalize the training. help me understand how the approach you guys took to figure out that like you need training in a certain thing and I would need training in something slightly different.
when we’re talking about the training here, are we talking about kind of general technician type of training or are we talking about model specific type of things or both? Okay.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(04:41)
Not model specific it is it is more
general and we’re that is one of the
guess, constraints, just, guess, realities. There’s so much volume there. And obviously there’s resources that get very detailed on making model specific. And so we’ve found that that’s probably not the area that we’re going to lean into at this point. So we tend to focus more on, let’s say, ASE related training, foundational training. We do get targeted. But essentially the way it works, we also recognize, particularly for an independent shop owner, that
Jeff Walter (04:51)
Right.
Alright.
Right.
Yeah.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(05:15)
They are training managers. To develop curriculums and learning paths, that’s a lot of additional work. So we’ve tried to absorb that work and make it very easy for them to onboard. So the way that it behaves is that if you’ve got a team of seven employees and maybe some entry-level techs, great. You can set up those technicians for our entry-level path, and it will push them relevant training for them. Now, you might say, look, I’ve got some very
Jeff Walter (05:17)
Right.
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(05:44)
specific needs. I don’t want to use the today’s class out of the box training path. I want to help create my own. We can help you do that. Essentially what we have is a broad training inventory where you can select the things that you need and we can help you build a path for it. But the idea is to help you about that entry level technician, a tire installer, up through an ATAC, advisors, managers, and owners.
Jeff Walter (06:09)
So it’s that, you use the AAC, but it’s that industry knowledge where you go from base to practitioner to master on all the different…
dimensions of a shop, right? From engine transmission, body electric, but then also on the service side, a service manager side and working your way up and building that base knowledge, which is a huge challenge because the industry is short. I forget the number, but it’s a hundred thousand plus folks. It’s just, it’s ridiculous. And on top of that, the technology, the vehicle is constantly changing, right? So it’s, it’s, I mean,
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(06:23)
All right.
Jeff Walter (06:49)
It’s amazing. I just myself got a new vehicle last month and it was like, I haven’t had a new vehicle in 10 years. And it was like, I was like, wow. It’s very, very different. It’s like, it’s, it’s a rolling computer, you know, and it, but, ⁓ so that’s really interesting. you said,
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(07:01)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Well, I was,
as an example, this week I was at the AMRA MAP technical conference at the Curtin State Lewis. And there were lot of great technical presentations about this new technology and a lot of very sharp people in the audience. And they’re very fascinated and excited about what’s to come. But I think there’s also a concern about, how do we, how do we disseminate this information to our teams? That’s challenging. And we know based on our experience working in our previous
Jeff Walter (07:10)
Yeah.
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(07:34)
iterations of the business that it’s not as simple as just making this information available to your teams. That doesn’t mean they’re going to seek it out. It doesn’t mean they’re going to absorb it or retain it. So we have to be very thoughtful about how we try to expose this new technology to our employees to make sure that they understand it, they know how to take advantage of it. Certainly there are some employees you’ll have on your team that will just soak it all in.
Jeff Walter (08:01)
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(08:02)
we need to find different strategies for the folks where they’re not willing to take those steps.
Jeff Walter (08:07)
So, well, actually, yeah, there’s a couple of things in there which is really interesting. One of the things that I think we’re starting to really appreciate is there’s a difference between learning and advancing in that competency and knowledge access, right?
like knowing how many foot pounds to torque a particular thing down to is like knowledge access. know how to do the brakes. I know how to drop a transmission, but I don’t know how many foot pounds this bolt needs to be tightened to, right? So I need that instant. But then knowing how to do that is the learning part, right? That’s the competency part. it’s interesting. So one of my earlier questions is, okay, so
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(08:30)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (08:48)
the micro learning, it’s really interesting because it’s like micro learning on steroids. You these little three to five minute things. It’s really cool. And so how do you do the assessment?
How do you know or how do you assess somebody? Like somebody comes in, like one of your clients, right? I got seven people in my shop. are varying degrees of competencies and knowledges and from the entry level person to person that’s been there, master person has been there 20 years, but it’s never touched an EV, right? Like those are two very different types of people, right? So how does your platform…
discriminate between the two and say, this master tech who just never touched the EV before needs these types of micro learning. Whereas maybe say the 18 year old kid out of high school who’s really good with a wrench and has tons of curiosity.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(09:43)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (09:43)
Yeah, but doesn’t have a tremendous amount of formal experience and or training. Like, how does it figure out who they’re who it’s dealing with? Talking to your platform like it’s a person.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(09:52)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. So when we think about somebody’s
knowledge, it’s complex, right? It’s not like, okay, well.
Jeff Walter (09:59)
Night.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(10:01)
Dave’s got 92 % knowledge of everything, right? So we need a little time to begin to evaluate where somebody is. we don’t tend to do, let’s say, a 100 question assessment to evaluate Jeff and assume this is exactly where Jeff is. And the reason we don’t do that is we have so much data that tells us, well, hey, maybe Jeff guessed right on this question.
Jeff Walter (10:15)
Okay.
Yeah.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(10:25)
We don’t
want to assume that he knows it, or maybe this other thing, he read it too fast, or the wording was a little tricky, or he fat fingered it. And again, we’re dealing with, I should clarify, we’re dealing with lot of multiple choice, online question-based approaches.
So there’s nuance and we want to be careful to not over assume based on one interaction. So we focus on depth. We will want to ask you questions more than one time across a variety of areas really develop a more comprehensive view of where you are. Now, how do we start? Well, typically we start with an initial recommendation from the shop owner or the shop manager whomever is really that decision maker to say, okay, Jeff is really an A level tech.
bill is more of a C-Tech, you we’ll get that initial guidance. And then we start working through the, daily training sessions. After two weeks of these three to five minute training sessions, we’re starting to gather a picture about where you are and then we begin to tune it. So there is a little bit of expectation setting with our customers to say, well, Hey, on day one, we can’t push you exactly what we need. Cause we don’t know you yet, but over time we gather that.
Jeff Walter (11:10)
I’m good.
Okay.
Gotcha.
⁓ that’s really interesting.
Well, that’s really interesting. And you can do that because you’ve got the daily interaction going on. So if I understand that Joe’s an A-Tech, Mary’s a C-Tech, at least the shop owners thinks that. And then goes, OK, so they set them up that way. But then over time, you’re like, well, we’ve got two weeks worth of data on Mary.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(11:44)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jeff Walter (12:00)
And yeah, she’s a C tech, but really she’s kind of a B over here. She’s a C over like, and therefore we’re going to get more. We’re going to adjust her, her daily training to sit there and go.
Yeah, she’s solid on, you know, seven out of 10 of the competencies there. And that makes her a C, but she would, you know, or, you know, but she really needs to focus over here, you know, to come back up or, then likewise, you take the more entry level person, they’re on the entry level path and it’s like, oh, they really understand this. So I don’t, you know, they really understand, you know, breaks. We don’t really need to drill them on breaks or educate them on breaks.
We need to bring everything else up because they, you know, that’s really interesting. That’s, that’s really cool. That’s really cool.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(12:47)
Yeah. So, so there’s kind of two, there’s the,
as a, as the administrator of the platform or the owner, yeah, I can, I can see that data and I can begin to adjust it. then the algorithm in the background is also recognizing that. let’s say that my settings haven’t been adjusted and priorities for me include breaks in alignment.
Jeff Walter (12:53)
Yeah.
No.
Right.
Yeah.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(13:07)
What the system will do is that if it recognizes that I’m really strong in alignment, it’s going to back off and focus me on breaks where potentially I’m a little weaker. So that system will do that automatically. Now granted, we want to make sure that we’re steering in the right direction. So observing that is important. And we might need to shift things from time to time. Seasonality is a big deal. I know you’re in Michigan and waiting for things to warm up here and maybe we…
Jeff Walter (13:16)
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
Ha
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(13:32)
For customers that are in your region, they shift into more AC training at this time of year just to refresh people, hit them where they’re weak. you can essentially pull these levers and shift the experience that your teammates are getting. If we’ve created that routine where they log into the app each day, then we’ve got a great opportunity to push them relevant information. And we can be steering that from the back end and shifting those priorities to match our business need.
Jeff Walter (14:00)
And when you say our business, you’re talking about the shop owner. so if I, if I, that’s, that’s actually really cool. So, so if I’m a shop owner and most of my business is breaks and alignment, let’s say I can kind of dial it in to say, look, I want to make sure everybody’s solid on breaks and alignment because I, I need all every hand I can get that knows that stuff really well.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(14:03)
Correct.
Mm-hmm.
100%.
Jeff Walter (14:27)
But then for our professional development, you we do get other stuff. ⁓ Maybe we don’t get a lot of EVs, but you know, it’d be nice to skill people up and all these things. Cause so I’m going to dial it in that I want to make sure that I’ve got these areas covered solidly and everybody’s there. Whereas another shop might be focused more on powertrain, right? And so I’m going to, I’m going to dial it.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(14:30)
Mm-hmm.
Correct.
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (14:51)
as that shop owner to really focus on dial train, power train or body and all that kind of stuff. ⁓
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(14:59)
Yeah, we’re
folk, we’re the intent is to make this a business tool. mean, it’s important, but if I’m, if I’m the shop owner, I am trying to run a business. I’m trying to be profitable. I’m trying to deliver good service for my, for my customers. need to make sure my team knows how to execute those services. So we’re trying to aim the training towards that. the daily training tends to be geared towards that. Now again, it’s.
Jeff Walter (15:04)
Yeah, that’s really interesting.
Yeah.
Yeah.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(15:25)
three to five minutes of training, then folks, if they want to dig deeper, they certainly can. So if I am an entry level tech and I’m getting training that is a little more foundational, great, that’s three to five minutes. But tonight, maybe I want to log in and learn about being a service advisor or learn about high voltage. I can do that. So we can support both the business requirements side and the professional development side.
Jeff Walter (15:41)
Right.
Right, so that I as the learner can sit there and go, hey, there’s this whole inventory, there’s this whole catalog of courses and learning paths. And for my own personal reasons and my own curiosity and my own professional involvement, I’d like to do this. But then the algorithm is serving me up that on a daily basis based on the dials that the shop owner is setting.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(15:54)
Correct.
Jeff Walter (16:09)
to make sure that there’s, so you’re actually addressing two really interesting needs, the professional development of the tech and where they want to go with their careers and the competency needs of the shop owner. And that’s really cool.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(16:09)
Correct.
Yeah, we
know, we know particularly from the business need perspective that it can be difficult for shop owners to get their teams to follow through on that. And if you just rely on your team to say, right, well, hey, I’m going to log in and learn something.
Not everybody’s wired to do that. At the meeting I was at, that AMRA meeting the other day, again, it’s a lot of very experienced, very interested folks, a lot of trainers, and they are hungry for that information. But that’s not always the case for a team. so I think, again, we’re trying to create an environment where, hey, you as the employee, this is expected of you. You need to do this three to five minutes of daily training. It’s not going to tube a bunch of your time, but this is part
Jeff Walter (16:42)
Right.
All right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(17:08)
of your job, it’s gonna help you learn how to do your job better. You there’s different engagement tools, ways we can tie into that. There’s different reporting. So it can help you from a career development perspective. So me as the shop owner, that’s my expectation. Then if you have that person that does wanna seek out more, great, they can go do that. But again, we know just based on the dynamics of teams that that’s not, unfortunately that’s not gonna be every one of your employees that’s gonna take that next step.
Jeff Walter (17:37)
Yeah, well, yes, it’s the, you the learner, you it’s like the, you know, can bring a horse to order, but you can’t make them drink, right? Like you can’t force, you know, learning is is an internal process and you can’t force people to learn. You know, you can, you know.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(17:45)
Perfect, yeah.
Right. Yeah, so we really
follow a lot of adult learning best practices as well. And motivation is a big piece of it. So if we can prompt you through this daily training to say,
You know, I don’t know that as well as I thought I did. Let me go seek out more. That’s a win. And again, that’s how this daily engagement can help. Because with, let’s say, an A level tech, it’s very common for us to see in the data that these folks have gaps. It’s very rare that they just cruise through all of our content. There’s a ton of information that these folks need to know. There’s a lot of things that are changing. It might be years since they were trained in it.
Jeff Walter (18:19)
Alright.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(18:31)
subject.
So there’s a lot of reasons why they may not know everything about everything. So if we can identify some of those gaps and give them opportunities to dig deeper, that’s where learning tends to be much more impactful. If I’m seeking it out, I’m hungry for it, I’m choosing to do it, it tends to carry more weight than, well, Jeff’s making me do this, let me get to the end of it, you know, and hit the complete button.
Jeff Walter (18:31)
Alright.
Right. You know, I was talking to somebody the other day and it was something that ⁓ we were talking about assessment. were actually talking, I think we, how, you know, at the shop level, you know, people are making, you know, the techs are making money based on what they’re doing. It was that whole, I don’t want to, there’s, I had a whole conversation. was all the reluctance of the
the individual learner, the technician wanting to expose that they don’t know something as well as they are perceived to know. ⁓ And therefore, because that might be their bread and butter at that shop. It’s an interesting type wire, high wire.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(19:25)
Yep. A hundred percent.
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (19:39)
Tightrope, that’s the word I was looking for.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(19:39)
Well, cause you know, nobody wants to raise their hand in the class and say, I don’t understand this, particularly as a tech with 20 years of experience, who’s, you know, recognized as the lead in the shop, you know, you may not get it. So that is where.
One of the advantages for a personalized type of training like what we offer is that it’s non-threatening. I can get in there, I can poke around, I can search it up. The system’s going to find it anyway and lean on it. Sure. My manager has visibility to that data, but my coworkers don’t. So I can find these gaps in a very comfortable way and do it. I’ll give you another use case where that’s very effective. We have a service advisor training as well, a blend of communication skills, phone skills.
Jeff Walter (20:05)
Right.
Yeah.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(20:23)
sort of stuff, but also technical training.
When we, we often hear that a shop will, will hire a service advisor based on their personality and their ability to communicate, right? Cause that’s huge. But in many cases, if these folks do not have any automotive or technical experience, they can struggle for a bit, you know, learning systems and technology. can be intimidating trying to talk to that ATAC and, and, you know, really a customer concern or take that information back to the customer can be challenging. So what we find is that, that these folks.
Jeff Walter (20:33)
Right.
you
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(20:56)
dive through our technical content and they learn that pretty quickly. They could spend an evening just learning the right words to say and then the next morning be able to talk the talk a little bit more with the team. And again, they don’t.
Jeff Walter (21:04)
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(21:09)
Again, feeling comfortable asking questions is obviously important, but if they can do that on their own, and they’ve got a business reason for doing it, they want to be able to do their job better, so they’re motivated. So that’s, again, an area where if it’s a little more private, non-threatening, I can learn it, it helps me get better. That tends to be a win.
Jeff Walter (21:29)
So if I, so help me understand on the motivation side. So let’s say I’m an ATAC, but I’m not really good at alignment, let’s say, just for argument’s sake. When those courses come rolling through, those micro learning, and the system goes, ⁓ Jeff’s not so good on alignment, am I being given a score?
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(21:39)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (21:52)
on my own like I know that I’m at you know you know 50 % or like am I getting something like that and my manager can see that but you know and so I kind of know where I stand on some type of grade
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(22:04)
Correct.
So the term that we called in our platform is the report card. So I can see for any area, whether I’m 78%, 100%, whatever, we use a question-based learning approach. it’s very, very found. We get down to these building block levels. So not only can I see how I’ve got an 83 % alignment,
Jeff Walter (22:14)
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(22:24)
I can see that I’ve got 100 % with everything related to Canberra and Castor and included access and all that stuff. But tow is something that keeps tripping me up. So I can see it to that level of detail. My manager can see it too, and that’s intentional that they can have those conversations. Now from my co-workers perspective, the only thing that they’ll ever see about me is that as we do training, we earn points as we go. So there’s a scoreboard, but it has nothing to do with what I know.
Jeff Walter (22:33)
Right.
Okay.
Okay.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(22:51)
It has everything to do with how regularly I’m training and you do get bonus points for answering things right. There’s other hooks, but that level of game creation helps with motivation. But again, it’s very private. My coworker would never know that I have this gap.
Jeff Walter (22:59)
Okay.
interesting. So, so from the motivation standpoint, you know, when you get the points in there on a leaderboard or something along those lines, you know, it’s, ⁓ it’s important.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(23:17)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (23:22)
The important thing is you’re developing social capital within the community, right? Like in my shop of 10 people, or if I’m in a larger organization that has a dozen shops in an area, and so there’s 100 of us or 200 of us. They’re seeing that, this guy, he’s racking up points. And it sounds like it’s interesting because you’re giving points for consistency.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(23:26)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (23:47)
Right? Like, Hey, he’s, uh, uh, uh, help me. I think what I heard since so good for confirm, but it’s like, Hey, he’s taking the micro training every day. And, and because he’s consistently taking it, he’s racking up points as opposed to the person who’s coming in, taking 10 micro, uh, micro learnings, and then doesn’t do anything for three weeks and then comes in and get it. All right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(23:52)
Yeah, yeah.
Correct. Rewards, so it all ties together.
So the typical daily training experience is four of these targeted questions that are coming at you. Now these settings can change. We can configure them. the most common setting is that four of these questions will come at me Monday through Friday.
Jeff Walter (24:23)
Mm-hmm.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(24:30)
For each question I answer, I get 10 points. If I get it right, I get another five points. So I could get 40 points today. I could get 60. And there are ways to make up a day. But it’s all geared around the more I do this, the more points I will get. So consistency is the key.
Jeff Walter (24:41)
Right.
All right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(24:48)
The more I’m doing it, the better the training is going to get. It’s going to become more targeted and reinforce that knowledge over time. So it’s all part of this model. And then in terms of the points and competing with my peers, that tends to take it to another year just to make it fun, create some discussion. Because we also know that we can break the learning outside of the app experience. And if you and I are talking about what you learned, what I learned, or maybe giving each other a hard time about points, or I’m going to beat you this month,
Jeff Walter (25:07)
Right.
Yeah,
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(25:18)
really hard.
Jeff Walter (25:18)
I’m coming for you. Yeah.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(25:20)
Yeah, that stuff
just tends to add a little bit of depth to the experience. Again, it doesn’t work for everybody, but there’s also groups that have become very sophisticated about how they use points. So for example, we have groups that are now saying, here is the water line for the number of points you have to earn this month to be eligible for a bonus. If you exceed that, great. And it’s really geared more about the daily consistency as opposed to being right. And that is their way to shape behavior and say, hey, look, we’re going to be in
Jeff Walter (25:24)
Yeah.
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(25:49)
organization that learns every day. It also gives them opportunities to where if we know our whole team is logging into the platform each day, we can pipe direct information to them if we have a change or an announcement or something we really need to focus on a sale, a promotion. We’ve now created this environment where everybody’s in there each day. They’re paying attention, they’re engaged, and we can measure how they’re responding to this.
Jeff Walter (26:14)
Yeah, that’s, I mean, that’s really sophisticated. Like I just, it’s really cool. It’s really cool. Cause I mean, I’ve seen that work over and over and over again at different clients of tying the learning and your, whatever your achievement is, whether it’s points or certifications or whatever, but tying your learning achievement.
to something else in the business, right? Like, oh, you’re eligible for a bonus, you’re not eligible for a bonus. You get an extra, you know, you know, a premium on your bonus, you get an extra spiff on your bonus. And, and to your point, I’ve seen it time and time again, really affect engagement. Right? Because if I’m going to get a
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(26:49)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (27:01)
You know, if I’m doing all this work and I’m going to get a dollar bonus or a dollar commission, but I do this learning activity over here, whatever it is, and I can get a buck 50 and that holds up over time. Then you see a tremendous amount of engagement here. So I can go from that buck to buck 50 at the same time. If the learning is really tied into performance, it’s a, it’s this beautiful, positive feedback loop.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(27:14)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (27:28)
Right. They’re motivated to get the learning so they can get a little bit. They could get the premium on the reward. That’s part of their day job. Right. But then the learning helps them get the reward and you get this beautiful feedback loop. So that’s really, that’s really cool. Very cool. Yeah.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(27:44)
That’s the intent is, you we think
there’s a lot of opportunity there to kind of help them move forward. Again, I think the alternative.
is that if my opportunities to train, let’s say, are quarterly and my team has to drive an hour to go do that, and I don’t necessarily have control of what that class is going to be, and I don’t know what the level is, there’s going to be limitations in how much I can get out of that. So if I’m really trying to develop my team over time, grow my own, as a lot of folks say, ⁓
Jeff Walter (28:15)
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(28:16)
That can be a challenge. Now should say we play really nice with those types of activities because again, we could provide you data to say, well, hey, you don’t need to send all eight people to shop to this event. Here’s the two you should send because they really fit well what’s going to be happening at the shop. And the other six, you could say, hey, look, I’m respecting your time. You’ve got to protect your time. I will have you attend one of these sessions when it’s the right event based on where you’re in
Jeff Walter (28:33)
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(28:44)
needs and that and I think that discussion tends to be a little more productive as opposed to hey we all got to go whether we like it or not.
Jeff Walter (28:52)
Right.
Well, and it also depends on the event because depending on the nature of the event, could be the going to the event can be a reward in itself or, it could be a, Hey, you know, we need to get you some additional knowledge and skills. Yeah. Exactly.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(29:00)
Absolutely.
We see that too. see people using it like as a qualifier to say, show me you’re engaged,
show me you’re learning. And yet I will happily cut that check to send you to this premium event. On the other hand, if I don’t know if you’re like, if you’re willing to commit, it’s tough for me to really take that step to support you.
Jeff Walter (29:16)
Right, to take it to the next level.
Yeah, that’s really, that’s, yeah, I like that. So now have you got, mean, that’s very interesting. And we haven’t even talked about, when you say the algorithm is, how does AI factor into what you’re doing? That’s the big, know, everybody’s talking about AI. So.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(29:37)
Yeah. Yeah. So, so AI
is, you know, would say less about the language learning models that are kind of more the current version of this. So we’ve been using AI and machine learning for the past several years, but it’s more about trying to figure out.
Jeff Walter (29:48)
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(29:54)
OK, so if Jeff is supposed to know these 10 things and Jeff is, you know, and the priority of those 10 things is in this structure and Jeff last engaged with this, we need to consider what he needs today, when to reinforce it, when are we going to revisit it? We’re basically juggling all of these different constraints at once. Guess what? We’re not just doing with Jeff. We’re doing it with tens of thousands of other users too. So that’s where the AI comes into play to figure out, OK, given all
Jeff Walter (29:57)
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(30:22)
of these considerations, we need to create, Jeff, a personalized experience for this today. A way that, you know, I think a lot of people can relate to that as if, assuming you have an Amazon account and I have an Amazon account, well, we log in with today, you know, we’re going to have different recommendations and settings and all that stuff. It takes a lot of, you know, horsepower to create that experience. So that’s what we’re doing. Now we are starting to use some AI tools to,
Jeff Walter (30:42)
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(30:48)
to create some different searchability and interactions with the app. Obviously, we’re exploring it from a content development perspective. But in terms of the end user’s experience, the biggest connection to AI is how the system is trying to provide them a personalized learning experience each day.
Jeff Walter (31:05)
Right. So, so rather than a set of rules, you’re using an AI model to sit there and go, well, here’s how he’s, here’s how he’s answered all these questions. Here’s our, um, not, uh, you know, here’s our rubric in terms of what they should know and at what level, you know, or, or, or our skill profile, if you would, uh, you know, knowledges and our skills and levels of that knowledge or skill.
and then kind of doing what we used to do, multivariant regression analysis and all that kind of fun stuff. But kind of doing that all and then saying, OK, here’s the next 20 modules for Jeff. Very good. Right. yeah, that’s right. What’s the next thing to give to Jeff?
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(31:45)
Yep. And I guess tomorrow, what are we going to do for Jeff? Cause then it’s got to recap. So it’s constant.
Yeah. So it’s so it’s written. So, there could be changes tonight that we implement. Okay. It’s got to rework all that. So again, that that’s really where the power of that, that machine learning comes into play. So it’s not, it’s not this discrete path. Well, Jeff passed this. So tomorrow we provide this and this and this, because there could be 25 different things that you need to know. So it just gets very complex.
Jeff Walter (32:10)
Yeah.
It’s very agile. mean, I mean that from a, a software dude, you know, it’s like, it’s almost like you’re sitting and going like, here’s the backlog of things Jeff needs to learn. Right. And we’re going through a sprint a day and, ⁓ and what’s the next thing Jeff needs to learn. And that, that depends on, well, here’s in general, the things he needs to learn and what’s most important to where he needs the most things. But then.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(32:16)
Yes.
Yep.
Essentially, yeah.
and
Jeff Walter (32:40)
how he answers questions today can change that. How a shop owner might change what’s important to the shop might change that. The seasonality might change. Like you were saying, hey, you know, I bet you there’s going to be a spike in air conditioning repairs in the next month here in Michigan. I’m a freaking guru because everybody starts putting their AC on, right? Yeah, it’s like just like a spike in pool repair.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(33:05)
Yep. Well,
and further, gets down to, because we don’t, as I mentioned earlier in our conversation, we don’t just ask you this stuff one time. Our job is also to reinforce it. So we also need to consider, well, great. Jeff learned about AC services, let’s say, in May. So when it’s October,
Jeff Walter (33:10)
Yeah, interesting.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(33:24)
The system might say, look, do we need to revisit this stuff for Jeff? He hasn’t touched it in a while. Here’s how he did really well. OK, let’s look at his settings. Let’s look at how he’s doing. So it’s constantly evaluating where you are, where we need to push you forward, weaknesses we need to focus on, and also what have you learned in the past that we need to make sure that you remain sharp on?
Jeff Walter (33:33)
Okay.
So if I can drill into the learning, I mean, the learning, my brain is all over the place because this is really interesting. It’s really, it’s a tough nut to crack. And one of the things I love about the auto tech sector for learning, as a learning and development professional, what I find fascinating about this sector is it is like the, is so complex.
And the learning needs are so great that relative to other sectors, just because of the complexity of a vehicle, it’s the thing you’re working on is a highly complex piece of machinery with many, many, disciplines of knowledge, right? And getting more complex by the day. And so I always love this because it…
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(34:17)
Mm.
Jeff Walter (34:34)
It really is always on the fore… I’ve been in this for 20 years and it’s always on the forefront because it has such a knowledge acquisition, skill acquisition need. So it’s really interesting.
But if I can drill into the actual user experience, the learner experience, you had said four questions. So is it, is my micro learning or what’s happening on a daily basis is I’m getting fed a question based on my answer on being given a lesson or what’s the?
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(35:00)
Yeah,
so the typical structure, we have, so.
we will group content in what we refer to as topics. So it could be disk breaks. It could be alignment. could be ignition systems. It could be phone skills. Within each of those topics, we have up to five different difficulty levels. Well, that first level is going to be more foundational. You understand voltage, current, resistance, whereas the fifth level is going to be diagnostic. So these questions support these topics and levels. And the idea would be that I ask you a question.
Jeff Walter (35:18)
Okay.
Gotcha.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(35:32)
And in that question text, I will typically give you an opportunity to say, well, hey, Jeff, if you’re not sure, if you don’t feel like you have the information to answer this question, click here to dig a little more. It’s up to you. You’re in control. You’re an adult. You can drive that. If you look at that question and say, I’m an expert. I know this. Well, terrific. Submit your answer. The system will also prompt you for your confidence level, low, medium, or high.
Jeff Walter (35:58)
interesting.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(35:59)
As you’re
doing that, the system already understands a few things. It knows what this question is, what topic, what difficulty level. It knows if it’s the first time you’ve seen it or you last saw it in March of this year and you struggled with it. knows all that. It’s coming to you with it for a reason. It’s also counting how long it takes you to answer that question. Are you answering it like this? Does it take you 12 and a half seconds to do it? Once you submit your confidence, then you get delivered what we were
describe as the learning moment or the explanation. It’s going to say, Jeff, you’re correct or you’re incorrect. And here’s the additional context that is associated with that. And you’ll get that even if you get the question correct. We’re still going to provide that to you because, hey, you may have guessed. It’s tough for us to know if you really knew that, whether you were totally locked in or somewhere in between. And then it also gives you another opportunity to dig deeper. You might get that feedback and say, you know what?
Jeff Walter (36:45)
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(36:57)
That is not what I expected. there’s something I’m missing here. Let me click the link here and go get more information. Again, it goes all back to adult learning and putting them in control. So if you have the person that is curious or interested or that caught their attention, they can choose to dig deeper and they’re more likely to learn in that case. On the other hand, if you’ve got somebody that says, Hey, that was easy. know that let me just move right out and get to the stuff more relevant for me. So they are driving driving bus. it’s, it’s really these small.
Jeff Walter (37:01)
There are more, huh?
All right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(37:26)
building blocks that begin to compound over time.
Jeff Walter (37:30)
So, and you’re getting four of those a day. that the, yeah.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(37:34)
Typically, yeah. And
that’s really about time, you trying to be mindful about how people do. You can scale that up or down. We find that just behaviorally, it’s kind of interesting. Cause if we, if we boost that up to let’s say six or eight, usage begins to drop. I don’t have time for that. And so we, try to find that sweet spot. And again, customers can, do it their own way. But it’s really about what is the, how do we balance pushing them?
Jeff Walter (37:38)
Yeah, that’s the…
huh, ⁓ huh. huh.
I’ll it in.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(38:02)
Relevant training and a time that they can fit into their day and a routine that’s consistent So trying to find just the way to thread that needle across those constraints
Jeff Walter (38:12)
So let me see if I understand it. So as a learner, I get fed a question. And I answer the question. And then I say, hey, I’m pretty confident, or I’m moderately confident. And you’re looking at those answers plus the behavioral, how long it takes me to answer these things. But the longer it takes translating into more question, uncertainty.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(38:18)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (38:38)
of my confidence level or something. you know, something, you know, the longer the duration, the more likely I’m uncertain. It’s, and that’s feeding into it. And then I answer it. And if I answer it correctly, like if the question was like, Hey, what color is the sky? I go C blue. Like, yeah, got it. Yeah. I nailed that. And high confident boom.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(38:46)
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Walter (39:00)
But then the explanation is, the sky is blue because of the way the light prism works and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And this is why it’s orange at sunset. And I went, and I go, I never thought about that. I can hit the learn more.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(39:10)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (39:15)
And then it goes into light refracts this way. And when the sun is this and the, and the, and therefore that’s why it’s blue during the day, orange at sunset and sunrise. And, now I just took, I got the right answer to the original question. What color is the sky? But when I read the explanation as to why the sky is blue, it created curiosity in my mind to go, ⁓ I knew it was blue, but I never knew why I want to understand that concept more. And now I’ve gone to the next level.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(39:45)
That’s the intent. so, and then I’ll take it a step further. So we asked you that today. Now, as I’ve mentioned a couple of times in this discussion, like we think we need depth. So we’re to come back to you in another week. Let’s say week, 10 days, two weeks. And we’re going to ask you again. And maybe that time you seem like, yeah, I read about that. Yeah, it’s blue. Cool. God, I’m gone. Now, if you do that, if you get it correct twice, we’re likely going to start backing off. We’re going to say, all right, we think Jeff has this.
Jeff Walter (39:45)
Set.
No, right.
Yeah.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(40:13)
We’ve got all the things that we need to tackle. On the other hand, let’s say that you got it wrong. That second time, we might say, ooh, all right, well now this is potentially an open item for Jeff, so we’ve got to keep our eye on this. And we’ll probably come back to you with that question in another week or two. And maybe you grade it right there. So the way that it is represented in our reports, think about, let’s say, just three questions listed.
Jeff Walter (40:13)
Right.
Right.
No. Yeah.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(40:37)
On the first one, let’s say you answered it right two times. So we would show two green dots. But then the question below that, it’s a green dot, that red dot for incorrect. And then another red dot and then a green dot. This inconsistent answer pattern. That’s how the system determines to say, okay, these things are important to Jeff. Of these 10 questions about the color of the sky, these are the three that Jeff really seems to struggle with. So we’re going to focus on these other items he’s done quite well on. We don’t want to bore him.
Jeff Walter (41:02)
Thank
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(41:06)
We also don’t think that’s a great investment of his time to be, you know, getting this training on things he’s demonstrated he has knowledge on. So again, we try to get to those very specific details.
Jeff Walter (41:17)
Great. That’s, that’s a really interesting adaptive. And what makes it work is the micro, the micro learning. It’s, it’s happening at this and you’re micro assessing. Like it’s it. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Like actually that’s not what I originally thought. Now that you’re explaining that user experience, it’s like what you’re really doing is you’re micro assessing and that’s leading to spoonfuls of learning.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(41:27)
Yeah, we’re measuring all the time.
you
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (41:43)
Right? Like on the other hand, if I get my three questions to the day and I’m like, yep, high confidence, yep, high confidence, yep, high confidence, got all three right. Then that’s telling you up. And, and, and you’ve hit me a couple of different ways on that same question. Cause you can, you also have the same question just asked differently. Right. Um, then you’re sitting there going, okay, he’s got this knowledge area. What, you know, he, he, he’s got that we’ll come back in six months and just make sure he still remembers it.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(42:01)
Uh-huh.
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (42:12)
But
at this moment in time, he’s got it. And let’s move on to the next. then, and then the interesting thing, because when I’ve talked to other people about personalized learning paths, this is just fascinating. I’m just finding this really fascinating. So thank you for educating me. When I’ve talked to other people about personalized learning paths, it’s usually in the context of a larger goal directed. I want to get them from here to there.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(42:14)
That’s the idea.
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (42:36)
Let me do some type of big assessment that basically analyzes them at this point in time. And then therefore here’s the 16 courses they need to take. Right. But they don’t have to take these other five, you eight courses, right. Because, because they, they, they test it out of it. The assessment basically, they already know that. Give them this, right. But it’s to get them to that goal over there in a very deterministic path, if you would. And what you, what you’re, what.
I’ve seen a lot of folks talk about that is like, what you’re really doing is doing like testing out of things. You know, it’s not presented that way, but that’s what’s really happening. Right. You know, but the interesting thing about what you’re doing is it’s not a deterministic path, right? Because it’s, it’s a point in time. It’s what’s your next step.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(43:09)
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Correct.
Jeff Walter (43:25)
And what’s your next step is dependent upon a plethora of variables. What does this individual know? What have they demonstrated? They know how long has it been since I’ve validated that they know that, right? What are the needs of the business at this moment in time in terms of knowledge areas and all that. And you’re taking those, that multitude of inputs and saying, and therefore what’s the right next step?
for this individual.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(43:53)
And what does that sound like? That sounds like a car today. I was learning about these advanced suspension systems this week. And so they’re taking in all this input, right?
Jeff Walter (43:54)
Yeah.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(44:02)
speed, weight, all these different factors that the system can make adjustments. If you think about some of the various ADAS capabilities, sign recognition, speed, the markings on the street and so forth. So we’re doing the same thing, trying to figure out, where are we? And based on what we know right now, what is the proper decision to make? Not necessarily from a braking perspective or a steering perspective, but from a learning perspective. Based on what we know about Jeff right now, this is the best
Jeff Walter (44:02)
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(44:31)
possible thing that we can deliver to him.
Jeff Walter (44:33)
Yeah. So what’s, and so what I really find really fascinating about that is it’s truly adaptive. It’s not the big, because it’s not deterministic. have these multitude of knowledges and you want to get every, mean, the ideal thing is for everybody to get to a level five on every single knowledge area. Right. That’s the, that’s the, you know, to be the Renaissance person, right? You know, everything about everything. the re the reality is that
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(44:49)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (44:58)
what you need to know at a point in time is constantly changing and then also reassessing or reestablishing that they actually know what they knew a year or two ago is… yeah.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(45:11)
Yes, because we’ll forget stuff at different rates, too. Maybe you’ve got a terrific memory
and I don’t. So that’s just another variable.
Jeff Walter (45:17)
Exactly. Or maybe it was in my short-term memory because I just talked to a guy. Hey, I just talked to one of my buddies about how to set that thing. And that, that, and that, and, you know, I happened to get assessed on that question that, you know, the next day, but then three weeks later, I don’t remember because it was, it was just in my short-term memory. never made it to, you know, it never, it was over here. It never went to the left and then to the back. Right. and, ⁓ that’s really, that’s really cool.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(45:24)
for a great example.
Jeff Walter (45:44)
So, thank you so much. That really kind of opened my eyes in terms of what you’re doing and why it’s so unique and effective. On the effective side, with your clients, they seen any…
What have they seen in terms of the impact it has on the individual and the performance of the shop? Or the retention of the individual? Do you have any anecdotal information about the…
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(46:07)
Lots
of anecdotal, you know, we’re striving to do more of a data focused approach where we’re connecting to job management systems and looking at things like tech efficiency and so forth. We don’t have that just yet. We have loads of anecdotes where, you my team has just learned this better. They’ve gained a lot more confidence. Confidence is one of the big ones where we do tend to hear about productivity gains that, I now understand this better. And it’s not just that I think I do, like I know.
Jeff Walter (46:12)
Yeah.
All right.
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(46:36)
We see a lot of that. One of the most measurable ones comes back to the service advisors, again, where they’re boosting their technical knowledge, more comfortable having those conversations, fewer documentation error handoffs. We’re starting to see some increase in booking rates based on ⁓ questions that service advisors are more comfortable handling.
Jeff Walter (46:56)
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(46:56)
When
it comes to things like ASE certifications, lots of anecdotal positives there as well. And I think much of that has to do with these people, these employees feel prepared for it. And they’re more comfortable with the question based approach, which tends to address some of the test anxiety that a lot of folks have. Many people in this industry have the perception either internally, or they were told, hey, you’re not good at school. You’re not a good test taker. I mean, we all know that that that’s a common thread.
Jeff Walter (47:07)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(47:24)
at conservates itself when you go to take one of these exams. But in our case, for our users, again, they’ve gone through hundreds, maybe thousands of these questions. They’ve learned to think critically about this. And so we hear lot of great feedback about people marching in very confidently to take those and doing quite well.
Jeff Walter (47:41)
Very, very good. And I see we’re coming up on time. Anything else you want to share with the listeners out there? I mean, it’s been very fascinating. What you’ve done with today’s class going from what I remember from the beginning of the conversation, more of a traditional type of training organization, kind of butts in seat type of.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(47:57)
Okay.
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Walter (48:03)
to this adaptive learning tool. It’s just really fascinating.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(48:08)
Thanks. Yeah, I would say that the reality about how this works, so the technology is cool, the app works, you know, I think a lot of folks on the Facebook say, okay, this makes sense. The reality is that this is a behavior change and that is something that we work very hard with the shops that we are on board to work through with them, because
Jeff Walter (48:20)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(48:29)
creating a habit for your team, whether it’s training, whether it’s DVI, whether it’s how we document, those things are a people and a change management challenge at times. So when we bring shops on, tend to work on a three month pilot phase to just see how that fits. And for the shops that they can really adopt it as part of what they do day by day, we tend to have a pretty good long-term success. But for others, there could be reasons why it doesn’t fit.
But it’s one of those things where given the incremental nature of it, you need a little bit of time to see if it’s going to work for you. This is not something where you can do it for two or three days and have a good feel for what the impacts are. It’s just a much longer term play. So setting that expectation on the front end, I think, tends to be pretty important.
Jeff Walter (49:15)
Well, and the, you know, when we’re at the AT &T, I forget which speaker talked about the, you know, we went from knowledge worker to learning worker. Yeah, it’s like, you know, industrial worker to knowledge worker. And now the next thing is the learning organization as the, as the main competitive advantage of an organization. And like all the other stuff we talked about, it’s really cool and good.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(49:26)
and
Jeff Walter (49:42)
But the other thing is it goes back to that cultural shift also. Like it’s because you’re, you’re engaging the person in daily learning. And so you’re changing the culture of the organization to, you know, that daily, like learning is part of what you just do as part of your job. And, and then I just got to imagine then that.
seeps and when you start to see some positive effects from that, which takes time, like you said, but then it, it’s, it’s got to turn that organization war into a learning worker or learning organization, which means it’s more adaptive to changing market conditions on dimensions that have may have nothing to do with technician training, right? You know, like
Like, because it changes the culture of the organization, which is really wild. Because it’s like you it’s a behavioral change.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(50:33)
Yeah, think, yeah, and
I think about, you know, sometimes for me, the way I think about it is, well, what’s the alternative? know, are we an organization where we already know everything? We don’t need to learn anything at all. We’ve got it nailed versus we need to be an organization that is continually learning.
Jeff Walter (50:50)
All right.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(50:51)
On the face of it, I think most people would probably almost laugh at that first word. Well, of course, nobody’s going to know everything. So, okay. Well, then how do we begin to, what are going to be our tactics? If we, if we recognize that we do need to learn what is a realistic way that we can do it. And do we do it once? Is that good enough? If we learn one time, if we got it nailed, do we have to learn five times? So again, that’s really what led us down this path to say, look, we really have to do something that’s very dynamic and consistent over time, because you never, you never hit the finish line.
Jeff Walter (51:07)
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah. Well, and the thing on that, that whole cultural change, you know, it almost reminds me back, you know, way back there, there was a book, you know, the seven habits, the highly effective people written many, moons ago. And the seventh habit was sharpen your saw. It’s like always be, you know, sharpening your saw, learning more, going to the next level. And I think organizations have historically given lip service to training a lot of a lot have, because I just want you to do. Right. And just.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(51:33)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (51:51)
do do do do do do do and then we hit it we hit something it’s like shoot nobody knows how to do this thing go learn how to do this thing okay come back do do do do do do do do shoot nobody knows how to do it like that person left now i need to get somebody else to be able to do that go learn it okay come back do do do do do and and and this is
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(52:00)
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (52:13)
integrating sharpening your saw into the entire organization because it’s a daily you’re getting micro doses of learning on a daily basis and ⁓ I just think that’s really cool.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(52:20)
Yeah.
And I would say
from that learning and development professional perspective, think the other challenge is like.
15 years ago, what were their options, right? You know, could bring people into a classroom, maybe push them an online course. You had these very discreet tools that were available, which forced you into that space. I think as we continue over the next few years, it’ll continue to evolve and we’ve got more of a dynamic option that’s going to be available. We’ve got better technology. Everybody’s got a phone. There’s just different angles now. So I think we’ve got an opportunity to not be constrained with the same
the same limitations that we were operating under 10 or 15 years ago.
Jeff Walter (53:04)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, very interesting. All right, before we go, you have anything else you want to share with the listeners out there?
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(53:12)
No, I mean, I appreciate you having me on. This has been a really, really fun discussion. So, no, thank you so much for having me.
Jeff Walter (53:17)
Yeah.
Well, so if somebody was curious to learn more about today’s classes and how would they get a hold of you?
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(53:25)
So www.todaysclass.com is the easiest way to find us. So there’s a lot of good information on our site. We also do open demos multiple times a week. It’s a pretty informative process along the way. So if anybody wants to sit in and learn more, we’d be happy to show you what we do.
Jeff Walter (53:43)
All right, thank you, David. My guest today has been David Boies of today’s class. David, thank you so much for sharing what you guys do and educating us all on that. I appreciate it.
David Boyes (Today’s Class)(53:54)
Thanks so much for having me.
Jeff Walter (53:55)
And to everybody out there, thank you for listening.