Q&A with Myles Thies of 186 Digital

Reading time: approx 10 minutes

As part of Learnovate’s Meet the Patrons series, we speak to Myles Thies, the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of 186 Digital, a learning technology company that works with universities, colleges and businesses to provide innovative digital education solutions.

Operating from bases in both Cork and South Africa, the company provides and supports clients with digital learning applications that can be tailored to all education platforms and modes of delivery. Other than software, services include, digital learning strategy and instructional design, content creation, course quality reviews and frameworks, learning and data analysis, and gamification and simulation. 186 Digital is also the official OpenLMS partner for Ireland, the UK and Africa as well as Turnitin, the innovative originality assessment and plagiarism-detection software used by universities around the world.

186 Digital also undertakes its own product development. Indeed, its most recent innovation, Rocket Education Reward, is an app that leverages the mechanics of familiar loyalty programmes to help incentivise students to adopt good academic habits and behaviours by rewarding them with points and discounts on products from more than 3,000 globally recognised brands, including Nike, Starbucks and others. The company hopes to continue rolling out Rocket in 2025. 186 Digital is also applying to conduct critical research through its Learnovate association and leveraging innovation funding into university student attitudes towards academic rewards and incentives.

Myles began academic life by studying the somewhat unlikely field of landscape gardening at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa. Realising his misstep, he later retrained as a computer scientist before going on to study for a BCom in Business Management from the University of South Africa and an MSc in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh.

His professional career started as a junior project manager with Mouchel Parkman, an infrastructure and business services company in London, in 2001. In 2004, he travelled to Taiwan where he worked as an English language instructor before returning to his native South Africa to join the GIBS Business School in Johannesburg. Over nine years at the school, Myles worked as a Business Analyst, IT Operations Manager and a Manager of Technology Enabled Learning. In 2015, he joined Eiffel Corp in Johannesburg, beginning as a Senior Solutions Consultant before going on to become Chief Product Officer and Digital Learning Services Director.

He co-founded 186 Digital in June 2024.

What are the biggest lessons you learned in your career?

If you’re willing to take calculated risks in business, there will be lots of opportunities. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to be open to new opportunities and learn to recognise them because they come from different places and sometimes even disguised as other things.

What was the best advice you ever received?

Opportunities come from everywhere but also from commitment. Early in my career I changed careers and roles a lot and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t getting anywhere. It wasn’t until later that I realised there’s real benefit to sticking with something for a bit longer and growing in your role – in terms of your own skills and how you manage yourself and others. There’s a lot to be gained from committing more rather than switching. I always wanted to be part of an entrepreneurial business. That only came from being committed.

How would you define your work style and how has this changed over your career?

I’m much more collaborative now than I used to be. Before, my nature was that I was a bit of a loner, which was probably down to my imposter syndrome: you feel like you don’t want people to see that you can’t do things. That was certainly the case when I worked in a business school full of talented individuals. It was difficult to make myself look like I was shining. However, when you’re the leader of a business the priorities are different. Believing in yourself, being more collaborative – those things are more important. Collaboration has paid dividends in the sense that we all learn each other’s skills, what we each do well on an individual level, and what we don’t do well. Having said that, sometimes it’s good to work on your own, too. That intense focus time is vital to the formulation of ideas which you can then bring to others to collaborate on. Groundbreaking ideas and concepts are seldom conceived by committee but the right amount of feedback is critical to making things better.

What have you learned about managing teams and individuals?

In the beginning I made the mistakes of trying to be corrective, particularly around the work expected as a business analyst and how a team member presents their reporting. What I found was that it’s important to let people who report to you do things their own way. I had to become more confident in myself, to be more hands off. People surprise you by how good they can be. I hated being micromanaged. Why should I expect others to tolerate it?

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Don’t take criticism so personally. Most young people tend to be sensitive, which is tied into imposter syndrome. Take feedback and learning in your stride and reflect on it maturely.

If you had not chosen your current career, what would you love to do?

I always enjoyed technology and there was a time that I thought I would be a programmer, but I realised quickly I didn’t have the acumen or discipline for that. If we’re talking total fantasy, I would say that I always wanted to be a pilot. I was always enamoured by flying.

How has AI impacted your organisation/industry?

Like the rest of the world, we’ve found it difficult to keep pace with level of change. New innovations and capabilities emerge on a daily basis. Our consulting division works prolifically in course development where the level of AI capability in that field is very rapid. We’ve been on top of the changes from the very beginning, to the point where we’ve completely integrated AI into the way we do things. That means that turnaround times are quicker and we’re more effective at meeting our partners’ and clients’ expectations quicker and with increasingly levels of customisation which was harder to achieve before.

In terms of professional development or educators in universities, there’s always a question about how they will cope with questions about plagiarism, cheating and a number of other challenges associated with facilitating digital teaching. Even in that regard, we’ve found that we can pivot into the role of advisor – on how to adapt courses, tools and assessment to counter those trends.

We’re dealing with successive waves of AI innovation as it comes. I’m definitely not in the camp that AI is going to take all the jobs, but I do think that the only people who have to worry are those who are complacent. The biggest risk is to businesses that are complacent and stagnant and not anticipating disruption happening rapidly. Business cycles are so much quicker now than they were years ago. The onus is to stay on top of all the developments in AI, not just in their focus area or discipline. Someone asked me recently about our three-year strategy. I said, ‘How could anyone have that?’ We introduce new ideas all the time but they’re coming from everywhere.

From your experience, what are the current trends in learning?

There is now widespread acceptance of AI. The initial attitude, which was to ban access in academia, is now gone. Educators are used to using technology as part of their roles and with every successive generation of educators in schools and higher education institutions, there’s going to be greater acceptance of technology in the delivery of training and degrees. That acceptance and willingness to try different things is appreciated, and so I respect the commitment, patience and resilience of modern educators. They have so many challenges, from the changes in student attitudes, to AI and consistent funding challenges. It’s always hard to start new programmes and be proactive when the culture of universities doesn’t lend itself to change and rapid decision making. We’re asking them to consistently innovate a lot quicker than we’ve ever expected previously. So, education needs to borrow from the playbook of private enterprise, be flexible and adaptive, and be radical in how they respond to AI.

What book would you recommend on learning, technology, business or understanding people?

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

Reading it gives you insight into the way people think. I’ve done a lot of reading on behavioural psychology, into people’s mental states. The book helps you to anticipate people’s decision-making by helping you understand how the processes work and how they might react in certain circumstances. It’s also given greater insight into my own thinking. It’s really useful. It’s a meaty volume.

What are your favourite tools and resources in work?

I use Google Scholar quite a bit and I use Claude a lot. As an AI, I’ve found that Claude gives me concise answers to my questions. That helps when I’m writing copy because it serves as a second pair of eyes. I also use an application called SciSpace which summarises academic journals and has been a huge time saver and reference source for related articles

Any interesting podcasts or other media do you consume that you would recommend on learning, technology or business?

The Rest is History podcast is a particular favourite. I’m very interested in history in general, from Roman civilisation to other parts of the ancient world, so it’s great for all that. I also like The Knowledge Podcast presented by Shane Parrish, which is focused on learning from technology innovators, leaders and notable researchers who share their knowledge and experiences in achieving success in their filed. I’ve found it very inspirational and practical.

Why is membership of Learnovate important to your company? What does Learnovate do well?

We’re a business with credibility in the learning technology space, we’ve delivered good work and are sensitive to what our customers want, but we’re new to the Irish landscape. A lot of businesses just want to sell a product. We want to be part of the legitimate conversations that are happening on the ground. We need to feel like we’re plugged into the issues and environment. Working with Learnovate has given us that access. Indeed, the organisation has made it so easy for us. I’m moving to Cork from South Africa permanently this month to ensure that 186 Digital can be part of the higher education and digital education space in Ireland, grow our business there and hopefully hire a lot more people. Ireland is such a great base from which to operate and membership of Learnovate is a great asset to have at our backs.

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