Where is the Teach on Mars rocket headed in 2021?

2021 will be a significant year for Teach on Mars’ race to the stars.

Our company has been helping trainers from Europe’s largest (and smaller) companies to modernize their practices for almost 8 years now.

When it was established back in 2013, Teach on Mars made mobile learning applications for the general public, in partnership with leading magazines. This enabled us to lay the foundations for a consumer-grade mobile experience.

In 2014 we developed into a mobile first training platform for professionals, offering training for sales and support networks, regulations and training for customers and partners. By deploying more than 150 training projects, we became aware of the expectations of overseas key accounts, the USA, China and every continent. We forged a loyal and caring community of customers who share new knowledge and good practices, and who help us to improve each day.

Then, in 2018, after building a network of almost 50 content and service partners, we gradually became an ally for HR departments, with change management, digital transformation, employee onboarding and soft-skill projects, using micro learning or blended courses.

Which direction for 2021?

To get to grips with this, I need to share some insights about our vision.

Since our creation, we’ve always had the firm conviction that if we can help everyone to (re)discover the zest for learning a little more each day, their future, and that of everyone else, will be better. That’s the meaning behind our guiding principle “More learning moments. Better future”.

In a professional setting, this mission is embodied by our capacity to connect employees at the best time possible with a high-quality, bespoke learning experience, which meets their personal objectives, and which is also in line with the objectives of the organization.

Our 2021 roadmap is characterized by decisive acceleration in this direction, offering new features to enable our customers to connect their Teach on Mars application to varied learning resources (micro learning, classroom lessons, videoconferences, coaching, content selected from the internet, e-learning content off-the-shelf from top publishers and professional content) and to turn it into a simple and efficient instant access portal to the company’s training universe.

This development comes naturally to us and demonstrates our vision of a “Corporate Learning App” — a personal training assistant for employees, a training GPS capable of guiding everyone towards a better path for progressing in the right direction.

3 R&D approaches

Our 2021 roadmap features a new generation of releases known as “Tethys” (the name of one of Saturn’s satellites) with a three-pronged approach:

• User Experience: We consider this approach to be the most important because happy learners are easier to win the loyalty of – a prerequisite for developing a strong learning culture within the company. 2021 will see significant strengthening of the app’s social aspect, with the capacity to load a video on the Wall, take part in learner communities and organize peer 2 peer coaching.
There will be two new games (one of which will be released in January), a fully-rewritten web responsive interface and a plethora of UX (User Experience) enhancements – placing an emphasis on visuals. You will (finally) be able to schedule your communications ahead of time and get to know a “learning chatbot” – which can be a bit sassy at times ?

• Machine Learning: For nearly 18 months we’ve been working in partnership with INRIA [The French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology] on artificial intelligence algorithms to enable relevant matching between each learner’s learning goals, the organization and the ever-growing quantity of training resources available. In the first quarter, there will be a new full-text search engine to easily locate the right lessons, as well as articles and training resources. Our recommendation algorithm, “Curiosity”, will provide advice based in particular on your skill development plan. A predictive algorithm for notifications will send requests at the best moment for each employee, consolidating the potential for taking action.

• Open Architecture: This aspect is a little more technical but nonetheless essential for integrating your Teach on Mars app into a complex training ecosystem (SIRH, LMS, MOOCs, author tools, videoconferencing tools, etc.). We are working on advanced integrations with leading software players from the business world, including Cornerstone OnDemand and Microsoft Teams. Thanks to your constructive demands, we are going ever further with security standards and overseas data management. Our numerous users in China will be pleased to know that Teach on Mars will be fully integrated into WeChat from the start of 2021 and some of you will be happy to learn that we are going to develop a SCORM export of our content, which will be directly integrable into any LMS (a guarantee of reversibility).

As you can see, for 2021 we have an ambitious roadmap dedicated to your most advanced training projects. Please get in touch with your Teach on Mars consultant for a detailed presentation of the ongoing developments and to share with us your digital training vision.