An ambitious blended learning programme that cut cost and reduced development time by 80% whilst maintaining effectiveness and quality.

The BBC has a well established track record in their innovative use of learning technologies within their programmes.

The success of these programmes has positively changed attitudes to learning technologies throughout the organisation. It is now an accepted delivery mechanism but the increased demand for alternative media poses further challenges - the organisation needed to respond much faster to new business training needs, to collaborate more effectively with in house experts to harness and share their knowledge and  retain quality whilst reducing both cost and development times.

BBC Training & Development started to use rapid e-learning tools to help address these challenges, working with internal customers more effectively, so that they are able respond to rapidly changing business demands.

This case study highlights the next step in the BBC’s e-learning journey as they turn to rapid development tools to deliver an award winning blended learning leadership programme. In 2008, this programme has won the gold Elearning award for best use of rapid e-learning content. It was also shortlisted in the WOLCE blended learning award.

The study investigates

• The business challenges behind the new leadership development programme
• The components in the blended learning programme and the importance of the programme pilot
• The drivers behind capturing and sharing in house leadership expertise
• The implications for the skills for Learning and development staff
• Benefits and feedback

The BBC’s  Top Tips for using rapid e-learning in effective learning blends can be summarised as follows:

> Listen to users early in the development process and don’t be afraid to respond to their feedback.

> Smaller bite sized modules fit better into busy working days and can be mixed and matched according to individual need.

> Use video to seek out and capture good practice within the organisation to provide authorative and credible content.

> Consider externally hosted rapid development solutions if your development team are geographically dispersed which greatly facilitates a group of people working on the same project.

> Use integrated review tools and automated quality assurance processes to help you work on  different parts of the project simultaneously.

> For speed and efficiency plan and build clusters of modules in parallel using shells created within the rapid development software.

> Develop new skills for trainers so that they can exploit the tools

 Thank you to Nick Shackleton-Jones of the BBC for sharing this story with us.

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Related downloads

• BBC lBlended learning for Leadership Development May 09

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