Snapdragon Spaces Partner Q&A with Talespin

Snapdragon Spaces™ XR Developer Platform provides XR developers with the tools they need to create brilliant immersive experiences. To give Snapdragon Insiders a peek behind the curtains, we decided to interview leaders in the XR space to understand how they use the technology to build their solutions. 

We recently caught up with Kyle Jackson, CEO of Talespin — a skills mobility and corporate experience platform that helps workers better prepare for new career opportunities through immersive learning experiences — to discuss his experience working with Snapdragon Spaces. 

 

The way we work has changed dramatically in recent years. How does that change the way we train for work? 

Most obviously, hybrid and remote work are here to stay. Before, there was a large amount of in-person training. The kind of training people used to travel for. Now, a lot of that is being facilitated remotely, so spatial computing capabilities become extremely important. 

There's a concept in learning called Bloom's Taxonomy, and essentially it's a framework for how you address certain needs. If I'm onboarding an employee, my needs are relatively low. I can send them information, they can get loaded in relatively easily. But as you get higher and higher up — think leadership roles — that's typically been things that people do in person because there's just so much nuance involved in crossing that chasm of upskilling. 

So in a remote world, that paradigm shifts. Before, there were all these problems that were solved by us being in the same place, or by traveling to each other. That’s where spatial computing comes in. And it's not just a superficial layer. And Talespin is laser focussed on spatial computing’s ability to solve challenges associated with remote upskilling because we started the company on the basis of using AI and XR to increase automation, and see what effect that had on productivity and how fundamentally that would change how we all work. And as that change happens, there's certain skills that come into focus.

If you were trying to persuade a new client, what would your elevator pitch be? 

We take the most powerful learning paradigm around the biggest skills in need, and we put the power of creation in the hands of the business with our no-code toolkit, which makes designing immersive training so much easier. Which, in this new modality, has not yet been a thing. It requires a lot of skilled practitioners that aren't familiar with the challenges of the business. 

And so being able to digitally say, “Okay, we're gonna give you the most powerful way to solve those problems in terms of immersion and the interaction paradigm that we're supporting, and we're going to focus that around the biggest pain points you have in your business.” We're giving enterprises the tools they need to address their biggest pain points, broadly, across their businesses. 

Has immersive learning been embraced by the average worker? 

I think this is a “surprise and delight” thing. So generally speaking workplace training is viewed as an activity you just have to do. There's obviously a lot of investment trying to move the needle on that. However, the different things that have been presented to learners to this point have oftentimes kind of fallen flat. So the “surprise and delight” aspect of XR learning is critical because people say, “Hmm, that's interesting.” And then they lean in. It's such a unique experience. And hugely beneficial to individual workers and the enterprise alike. 

How do you teach emotional intelligence and soft skills in a virtual setting? 

We think that if we can move the needle on that, then this is a really worthwhile investment. However, people are using the tools and the modality and the Talespin platform to do things that are much simpler. So If I need to teach a real retail employee, or do day one onboarding just to teach them the values of the business and its core constructs, I can still do that on our platform and you get the benefits of retention and engagement. 

That kind of learning isn’t really a mindset shift. What is a mindset shift is trying to anchor yourself in someone else’s shoes. And that’s hard to accomplish digitally — especially in a video call. For example, roleplay is an absolutely crappy way to implement this kind of training. 

Instead, people are just uncomfortable and focussing on their discomfort versus the information they’re actually supposed to be learning. Whereas when you’re dropped into an immersive world, you can focus on the subject matter and your own internal processing. That’s how you achieve actual change — whether with emotional intelligence, soft skills, onboarding, and beyond.  

Can you talk about your no-code content creation tools? Are they as simple as they sound? 

They have to be simple because they’re aimed at learning designers who are not always familiar with 3D development. They're not familiar with development or coding; they're not familiar with animation; they're not familiar with XR. So we had to essentially push those flows into the background and automate it. 

There's a couple similar design tools that the learning industry has standardized at this point. One is called Captivate from Adobe and the other is called Articulate. And those paradigms are what we borrowed from for our requirements. 

At Talespin, we use a comfortable design paradigm, helping users to nail the ins and outs pretty quickly. They’re up and running within minutes.

So Talespin gives learning designers the ability to build a module soup to nuts? 

Yes, but it goes much further than that. So where we're going now — because we have all the foundational systems built — is this: I can go into the program and just describe the problem I'm trying to solve, the context of the business, the world that it exists in, and my ideal outcome, and Talespin will build a module and build the world. It will cast virtual humans. It will write their dialogue and l give you the decision choices. It will build that whole world out. 

So we’re actually on the road to being fully generative. 

How did you get involved with Snapdragon Spaces? 

Qualcomm Technologies is a leader in the XR space — publishing reference designs, and being such a critical component of this space for years. So, when Snapdragon Spaces launched, we were immediately drawn to it trying to understand how it could help us further standardize and simplify the development of content and platforms in this space, which until recently was a challenge. 

What advice would you give to XR developers interested in using Snapdragon Spaces? 

Snapdragon Spaces offers such a good community, and the team is collaborative in a way that’s provided us with so many benefits. 

 

Head over to Discord to discuss.