Getting to Know Roundtable: Scott Stachiw

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This week, we sat down with Roundtable’s Scott Stachiw to talk about his role, learning & development (L&D), and industry trends he finds interesting. 

 

 

What does your title mean? What do you do for Roundtable?

I’m in charge of a team of programmers and 3D designers who take learning objectives and outlines created by the learning design team and build immersive learning projects, including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and 360° VR. In addition, I research the latest technologies and applications in the realm of immersive learning to stay up to date on potential tools for effective training.

 

How did you get into L&D?

At my core, I’m a teacher and someone who finds joy in sharing knowledge. After studying theater, education, and computer science in college, I ended up using my passions and skills to start a media company that developed training content for high school students. Over the years, the projects and organizations I worked with transitioned from high school education to corporate learning. 

 

What is a trend in L&D that’s exciting to you?

I’m excited about trends in technology that bring learning to a large group of individuals in more ways than simple text and pictures. We all learn in different ways. While a set of instructions in a PDF might be great for one learning objective or individual, a VR experience may be better for another. 

 

In addition, I’m excited about the social learning aspect of technology. Sharing knowledge among peers and students has typically been done by word of mouth and paper notes. Now, we can provide a living ecosystem of knowledge. I may learn something new while performing a procedure, and now I can record my approach along with the description of the task in a digital format and add it to a library. The next person who is faced with the same task can access my notes and add to them. 

 

What would you say is the most important part of building a training program?

Diversity and opportunity. I feel both are equally important. A diverse training program considers the multitude of learning styles and strives to train the same subject in as many of those styles as possible. The program needs to be accessible and give each individual the opportunity to learn and grow from it. To build an eLearning and VR course is a great start, but it does us no good if only 10% of the workforce has the opportunity to use the VR training.

 

Finish the sentence. Learning is essential to an organization because…

… it establishes the foundation by which the very success and future growth of the business will be determined.

 

What is something you have done in this role this year that you are proud of?

There isn’t anything I can say I have done on my own, but I’m extremely proud of the work my team has accomplished. We have pushed the boundaries of what can be done in VR and AR, as well as how these programs can shape corporate L&D. We have launched three very unique VR training programs for three of the largest organizations in the world and helped all organizations adapt instructor-led training (ILT) programs by developing a new way of sharing VR content for virtual instructor-led training (VILT) programs.

 

What are some interesting facts about you?

I’m an Eagle Scout.