Podcast 87: Taking Video Skill Assessment to the Next Level

EPISODE 87: Next-Level Skill Assessment

Josh Kamrath, CEO of Bongo

No doubt about it, AI is rapidly transforming every aspect of learning and video skill assessment is one of the most impressive advances. Why?

Let’s ask Bongo Learn CEO, Josh Kamrath. He and his team are revolutionizing interactive video feedback and credentialing solutions. That’s why we named Bongo one of the “Best Supporting Learning Tech” tools of 2024. And they’re not resting on those laurels.

But what exactly should you expect from a state-of-the-art solution like this? Join me as I dig deeper with Josh on today’s Talented Learning Show…

Next-Level Skill Assessment — KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Future-minded leaders recognize that a skilled workforce is necessary for success. That’s why they support skill assessment — not just for certification and compliance training, but for other learning processes, as well. Without it, how can you know if people actually have the skills and know-how to excel?

• As with many aspects of learning, innovation is disrupting classic assessment methods. The popularity of digital video has ushered in video-based assessments as a powerful way for people to prove their competence.

• Now, AI is taking skill assessment to a whole new level, with personalized, interactive feedback that helps learners develop and grow. At the same time, it reduces the burden of coaching multiple people simultaneously — especially in large organizations.

Next-Level Skill Assessment — Q&A HIGHLIGHT

Welcome, Josh. Could you start by telling us a bit about your company?

Sure, John. Bongo has been around for nearly 13 years. We help organizations solve two problems:

1) Scaling observational assessment. When a manager is looking over an employee’s shoulder or working with them on an experiential exercise, it is usually a one-on-one situation. That doesn’t scale well, so that’s where Bongo comes in.

2) Holding people more accountable for what they’re supposed to learn and apply in a real-world context. Think about traditional multiple-choice assessment. It is important for gauging how well a person knows a particular thing. We take this a step further by gauging how well someone actually applies what they know in their job.

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Right. And why is this kind of skill assessment important? What is the business benefit?

The biggest benefit — especially for senior management — is knowing that an investment in learning was worth it. Often, learning impact is based on completion. We like to think that’s important. But too often, employees just rifle through content.

Bongo holds people accountable to articulate what they’ve just learned or demonstrate how they can actually apply it. That’s ultimately what learning investments should help organizations achieve.

It’s not just about getting people to remember things. It’s about helping them improve at whatever they do in their job. That is at the heart of Bongo.

What are some leading use cases for video-based skill assessment?

1) Definitely sales enablement. When people in customer-facing roles are learning how to engage in any kind of interaction, Bongo facilitates that in a safe, judgement-free environment, along with coaching, feedback and evaluation through AI or with humans in the loop. That’s our bread and butter.

2) Leadership development is another common use case. For example, we help gauge or validate a manager’s ability to give constructive criticism to a subordinate.

3) It is also huge in customer education, when validating that someone can use a piece of software correctly. For instance, when using Salesforce, can a salesperson convert a lead into an opportunity? Instead of recording a talking-head video, the rep can take a screen capture of their computer while they walk through the process. Bongo confirms when they complete the task appropriately.

Want more details about video-based skill assessment with Bongo? Check the Bongo listing in our LMS Directory — including company/product profile information and videos. Or visit the Bongo website.

Nice. Exactly how does this skill assessment process play out?

Basically, a person logs into an LMS or other content tool to learn something by going through an online module. Bongo is often plugged into that platform through AICC or APIs.

At the end of the module, the learner clicks on a “start assessment” button that automatically launches the skill assessment. And then they record a video to demonstrate a relevant skill or competency.

Okay…

So, a ServiceNow employee might demonstrate how to set something up on the backend of that platform. Or a Chick-fil-A employee could demonstrate how to give constructive criticism from a mobile device.

We support a wide variety of vocational scenarios. It doesn’t have to be a white-collar desk worker.

For example, someone who works with their hands may need to demonstrate a specific work skill. They do that by recording a video or a screen capture. It is heavily used with mechanics to validate or certify that people know how to change parts in machines of all types.

Makes sense.

There are several different Bongo skill assessment workflows:

One centers on practice. People have multiple opportunities to record themselves. They can get some feedback from the AI and re-record the video if they think they can do a better job.

In addition, there’s a higher stakes workflow. It’s similar to a face-to-face or real-time setting, where learners are presented with a question prompt.

So, in a sales training situation, the prompt could be a customer objection. For instance, “I love your product, but the price is too high.”

That’s the stimulus. Then the learner must respond within a predetermined timeframe — maybe 30 seconds, or 3 minutes or so.

But it’s a one-shot exchange that simulates a real-world interaction. Then, the AI provides feedback, with or without human involvement. This can be customized, depending on how the instructional designer or manager want to set it up.

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Cool…

Usually in very large-scale situations AI drives the entire evaluation. In other cases — especially high-consequence scenarios — AI recommends a score, but there is also a human in the loop. In those cases, learners see the AI recommendation as well as the human’s final score.

Since most LMSs have some sort of reporting tool or analytics engine, score data is pushed back into the LMS and aggregated there. Think of it as a digital grade book. So, interactions happen seamlessly and the LMS captures the outcomes.

How do you train the AI to support video skill assessment?

Think of two dimensions:

1) Delivery. For instance, what is the learner’s speaking rate? Do they use a bunch of filler words? What does the tone or sentiment analysis tell us? Are they confident or nervous? There’s a category of AI that evaluates this and provides feedback.

2) Contextualized feedback. Does the learner correctly understand key concepts? This capability is unique to Bongo. The key is in the authoring process.

How does contextualization work?

The instructional designer, manager or admin submits source material. It may be a marketing asset or a two-page product description with release notes.

Often, an ideal example is used as the primary input. For instance, a sales manager shares the perfect sales pitch. Or a chief technology officer walks through a software demonstration to showcase new features.

Bongo ingests this material and then recommends learning objectives and evaluation criteria. We generate this snapshot calibration using what the AI world calls a “zero-shot” approach. You can include it or not. You can even edit it. But this benchmarks and contextualizes the AI and the feedback.

Next, after the calibration is complete, we effectively shred all the source material.

This means the AI doesn’t train models directly with customer data. It just uses that data to calibrate the evaluation and contextualize the coaching. And that process takes only about 15-20 seconds during the assignment creation process.

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Good to know…

Contextualization is also a massive time-saver for instructional designers. Often, they aren’t subject matter experts. Nevertheless, they need to identify how learners can demonstrate mastery.

So, instead of doing tons of homework to figure out what’s relevant, they can lean on the AI to identify important training bits within submitted materials or modules.

And how do you charge for this? What’s your licensing approach?

We have some deep OEM-type partnerships with numerous vendors. And recently, we introduced the ability to buy directly from us. Either way, it’s usually based on annual or monthly active users.

Let’s talk about how organizations manage skill assessment. Role-play can be highly effective. So, why does it tend to fall apart at scale?

Yes. It adds a lot of rigor and accountability to learning. It also makes the material less conceptual and more applicable.

But these interactions are extremely labor-intensive and monotonous. Managers don’t want to sit one-on-one with even five team members for 20-30 minutes several times a week, let alone a couple times a quarter.

So, even though it’s really important and can lead to much better outcomes, people naturally avoid it.

Sure…

That’s where Bongo comes in. Whether there are 5 employees or 5000, we can facilitate the same level of accountability, rigor and experiential exercise without requiring managers to invest an unbearable amount of one-on-one time.

AI-driven skill assessment keeps managers in the loop, so they know what’s going on. But they only need to intervene when necessary to provide some white-glove treatment. This massively improves their coaching efficiency and results.

I’m sure it does. This also accelerates time-to-market, right? …

… For complete answers to this and more questions about the business value of skill assessment, listen to the entire podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, on Amazon, or right here on our site.

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Find Out More About Bongo

Want more details about video-based skill assessment with Bongo? Check the Bongo listing in our LMS Directory — including company/product profile information and videos. Or visit the Bongo website.

Want to Level-Up Your Skill Assessment Capabilities?

Get advice you can trust from an independent expert. Schedule a free 30-minute consult with me, Talented Learning Lead Analyst, John Leh…

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