Learning is high up on the agenda at C&W Worldwide; The HR division has now become The People Team whose strap-line is 'obsessional about colleagues', and Debbie Meech, People Director, has a seat at the Exec table because the organisation realises that its key differentiator is its people. There is now a strong focus on attracting, retaining and managing talent along with new roles such as Head of Talent and Colleague Development Consultants, working as advocates within the business, ensuring flexible technology enabled learning delivery is an integrated part of the process. These new roles are opening up new channels to market and the shifting emphasis from learning events to performance improvement is even more important.
 
Shifts in learning services - simplifying access for colleagues
 
As we explored last time, C&W Worldwide had already made a fundamental change to its learning infrastructure from a managed outsourced service (complete with traditional LMS) to a more flexible solution consisting of new rapid development processes and a simpler interface, iLeARN, to connect colleagues with relevant learning assets so that they could respond rapidly to individual demand and the changing needs of the company.  Since then additional components have been added to support individual performance even more.
 
The business’ performance management system, SuccessFactors, is now integrated with iLeARN, allowing colleagues to align objectives and goals on their personal development plans and, through a simple click on button, they are able  to search iLeARN for relevant assets and launch them from within their PDP. Being able to reach important learning assets quickly is essential, so C&W Worldwide recently implemented a “single sign-on” meaning that if someone clicks on a link, that’s posted on the intranet, in an e-mail or a document, they are immediately taken to the learning asset without the need to sign into iLeARN.
 
C&W Worldwide has also integrated its New Way of Learning portal into the corporate intranet. This step forward has further simplified access for colleagues, as the single sign-on allows links in the learning portal to connect directly to content they need to do their job.
 
Shifts in learning services - continual improvement
 
During the last four years, C&W Worldwide has shifted its attention to using rapid development tools to deliver company critical learning faster and, last time we visited, this was really taking off.  It has since refined its use of RAD tools with partner Kineo and now uses its proprietary tool, Cranberry, which means that content can be developed on similar timeframes and costs, utilising reusable assets and templates. The resulting look and feel is akin to a bespoke e-learning course which improves the overall colleague learning experience.
 
C&W Worldwide occasionally needs to be able to assess and accredit colleagues, so it is important to be able to prove that users and outsourcing partners understand particular products and processes. The company has found that proprietary online test services have often been too clunky and expensive, so in the last year it has used Moodle and implemented it as a stand alone test centre. C&W Worldwide stripped the system back and now uses it as an infrastructure to deliver and monitor assessments. Tests are developed in Quizmaker and loaded into Moodle. An enhanced database on the back of Moodle allows the team to evaluate the data and slice and dice the reporting which helps them to identify development areas.
 
 
Shifts in learning services - building capability by connecting colleagues
 
Like many organisations, C&W Worldwide has been using web-conferencing for four years, but it is during in the last 12 months that it has started to apply the tools to address learning issues on a corporate scale. As a result the uptake has snowballed, with corporate programmes run to support the following three critical business issues:
 
1.      Perfect Pitch - this is a weekly webinar aimed at commercial colleagues who need to keep up-to-date with the latest products, case studies and innovations to support their customers. Following a well designed framework the product team developed a series of sessions that are now a standing appointment in the diary. The sessions are delivered by Product Managers and Sales Specialists and are supported by Mike, who moderates and compares the event. New propositions, cases studies, and real success stories are used within the sessions and interactive polling confirms understanding of the content. The programme runs in a series of sessions before a break to regroup; four series have already been completed.
2.      Management Matters - C&W Worldwide has around 850 colleagues in its management community, who are critical when leading teams through periods of change and maintaining high spirits. These are just two subjects that have been covered in a monthly management webinar programme on the last Thursday of every month, which is tied into specific business initiatives. Other subjects include performance management conversations and setting objectives. Between 100 and 250 managers attend the one hour monthly programme and the investment in time pays dividends. At the end of each webinar, managers are provided with specific resources from iLeARN to support them with the subject, they also receive support with workshops for their teams. Polling is used in these sessions to gather thoughts and opinions and provide instant quality feedback that helps to shape future training sessions.
3.      Obsessional about Customers - the success of the first two programmes has led to a third monthly series being developed specifically for colleagues delivering service to customers. 
 
Whilst the webinars help to connect colleagues with each other and experts, they are also recorded so others won't miss out, - the recordings, slides and a three page pdf summary are included in the New Way of Learning portal. A number of lessons were learned from this initiative.  Firstly, the selection of technology is important; the more ubiquitous the better. It is more important that the user finds it easy to join the session without being technically minded, than the bells and whistles for the moderator. Good preparation is also key; you can't just throw a quality session together (the attentiveness gauge on the software shows how easy it is to lose colleagues).
 
Moving forward there are also plans for quarterly webinars for all colleagues looking to invest in their own personal and career development.

The results?
 
Compared with delivering similar training via other means the return on investment to the organisation is staggering and the new approach means that C&W Worldwide is able to offer timely and relevant training to far more of its colleagues than ever before.
 
 
Practical hints and tips

• Don't let technology get in the way - make it simple for colleagues to log-in and get to what they need
• Make access to learning assets relevant and timely 
• Make a date; use webinars to connect colleagues around important business issues
• Once colleagues come together, make the most of the opportunity to highlight additional resources 
• Don't take success for granted; use tracking embedded within tools to continually enhance and improve

You read more about the original changes that C&W made to learning 2 years ago here and can download the original case study below.

If you want to hear more, Mike Booth will be speaking at WOLCE 2010 (28&29 Sept 2010)

Over the past few years AXA PPP healthcare has seen a significant rise in interest from prospective clients on its approach to corporate responsibility and, in particular, its environmental policies.
Despite implementing a range of environmentally friendly initiatives (including drives to reduce energy consumption, installing solar panels for lighting and increasing recycled paper use), AXA PPP did not hold any formal, externally recognised accreditation prior to 2008 that would enable it to more robustly demonstrate to enquirers and prospective clients its environmental credentials which, to maintain its competitive edge, needed addressing.

Winner of the silver award in the Meeting the needs of compliance for an external regulator or an internal workforce category at the e-learning awards 2009, this case study describes how the health insurer successfully secured compliance with the leading internationally recognised standard for managing and reducing the impact of activities on the environment – ISO14001.
Background to ISO 14001 with e-learning.

Commenting on the ISO 14001 achievement, Keith Gibbs, AXA PPP healthcare’s chief executive, said:
 “We’ve made great strides to improve our environmental performance and I am proud of the way our employees have responded so positively to this challenge.”

Top tips from this case study:

• Ensure compliance with new environmental legislation to emphasise your green credentials and remain competitive.
• Ensure the solution has the lowest impact on the environment and learner time.
• Develop a coherent communications plan to keep everyone fully informed.
• Realise real cost savings by practically eliminating all validation, printing and travel costs using e-Learning.

In addition, a core objective of their industry regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), is to minimise the extent to which the financial services industry can be used to facilitate financial crime. It states that the risks and issues of fraud must be addressed and highlighted to employees in the industry.

In 2008 Legal & General radically changed their approach to fraud awareness, moving from the classroom to a creative e-learning solution. In doing so they saved £1.1 million, redefined what effective e-learning was within the company, significantly raised awareness of fraud issues and reduced the risk to the business.

Winner of the bronze award in the ‘Excellence in the Production of Learning Content – Private Sector’ category at the e-learning awards 2009, this complimentary case study provides further insight on the Podcast recently recorded with David Lockett & Kelly Bush @ Legal & General in April 2010 and published on the Towards Maturity website, exploring how they did it, the reaction and the resulting business benefits.

Although the e-learning team considered other methods, e-learning was the only solution that would meet all of the business needs. This was an exciting proposal. It was their first opportunity to build a module from scratch and to influence every stage of the project, breaking away from traditional templates with text heavy e-learning that Legal & General had been used to. This was their opportunity to produce e-learning that would engage learners, encourage the right attitude and behaviour change and benefit Legal & General from both compliance and business perspectives.

The biggest success has been the significant reduction in training costs. Just comparing the learner “downtime” of the two interventions has shown a saving of £1.1 million, reducing classroom costs of £1.156 million to £55,250 by using e-learning.

To date, 95.2 % of employees have completed the module, the highest of any of their e-learning modules. But completion figures were not the only measure to be applied.

You can find out more by reading the full case study from which we've extracted the following 'Top tips for success':

• Having a clear vision by establishing and agreeing the objectives early on.
• Putting themselves in the learner’s shoes.
• Never compromising the learning experience for style.
• Questioning the norm and taking a leap of faith to break away from overused “safety net” styles and templates.
• Building a good relationship with the SME, being able to openly discuss and challenge content.
• Playing to their strengths – individually each team member has graphics, script writing and instructional design skills but by collaborating they developed good ideas into great ones.

The Ministry's investment in e-learning demonstrates a top down strategic approach rare in introducing e-learning. A strategy of business driven learning was established first; business leaders were in charge supported by Learning and Development professionals. This created a pan-departmental identity for learning at the Ministry of Justice, a key element of which is the Justice Academy. This is a strategic response for delivering and tracking e-Learning as part of a blended delivery strategy.
 
The learning strategy is underpinned by a clear set of principles:
• To support the goal of business-driven learning.  The provision of learning that supports the achievement of business results is considered a key enabler and differentiator of an employer.  It is vital that learning is directly relevant to business goals.
• To enable leaders to develop and grow.  A key element of an organisational capability particularly in times of turbulence is the quality of leadership at all levels.
• To create a culture of openness and equal opportunity.  Everyone has a part to play, indeed an important part to play in the performance and success of the organisation.
• To support greater efficiency in the public sector.  Whilst reducing cost may not be the prime motivator for investing in learning technologies it is essential that every function must increase its efficiency by increasing output and driving down cost.
• To create access for everyone.  Delivery at any time and in any place is a significant benefit of blended learning and the strategy required of 24 x 7 service provision for learning.

Right at the beginning the business identified two key learning priorities; induction and performance management.  These early pilots established credibility with internal stakeholders by speed of delivery, quality and content.  The priorties were met with scenario based learning using real life vignettes based within the Ministry of Justice.

Rapid delivery (within eight weeks with piloting over four weeks before full release) gave the project early credibility. The pilot period allowed review and feedback by learners enabling modification where required.  The pilots built expectations amongst users simplifying future marketing. The early success of these two courses have led to individual departments seeking to use the Justice Academy to deliver local initiatives and an ongoing programme of pan-department learning.

Five main styles of content delivery are used:
• In Theory articles to enable individuals to explore particular areas of knowledge they wish to know more about.
• Insight guides provided to enable managers with a framework for dealing with various day-to-day work issues.
• Nudges, which are limited to one page of interactive e-Learning objects to provide just-in-time support for a manager dealing with an immediate problem.
• Storylines, which are episodes in a story around work and home themes.
• Knowhows, which are short interactive tutorials to help managers put skills into practice.

Learners appreciate the consistency and enables them to choose the style of learning they need at the time.

It would be a mistake to think of the Justice Academy as a course based relatively static intervention, it is actually an actively managed business-focused resource.  Both content and the style of what is going on changes in relation to current business pressures.  An example of the constantly changing nature of the learning web site is an approach to learning entitled “Rough Justice”.  This e-Learning is a storyline on the personal challenges a fictional employee encounters in their work and personal life.  The plot supports the business aims of the Ministry but is a human interest story in its own right; which is what draws learners to it.

The Academy has made a difference to the business. Senior stakeholders are increasingly involved with its activity and in seeking to use learning to support their current business issues.

Learners like it with typicaly 250 users a day, new courses are readily picked up and have proved to be the best means of  delivering compliance and updating on legislative changes.

MOJ suggests some tips for success:

1. Get the strategy right and get it endorsed at the highest possible level
2. Introduce learning in direct support of key business imperatives.
3. Don't be afraid to try open source technologies (ensures value for money and competitiveness with suppliers).
4. Check that what you are going to use is scalable up to the size of the organisation.
5. Innovate in delivering for speed, lower costs and enhanced flexibility.
6. Deliver pilots in weeks not months
7. Engage and enthuse the whole training team as part of an overall blended learning strategy. 
8. Senior stakeholders value compliance and regulatory training so deploy it early on and then build on it with a broader programme.
9. Any strategic on-line learning site must constantly evolve and keep supporting current business initiatives and match the quality of external sites that users regularly visit outside work.
10. Implement a strong brand that reaches across the whole enterprise.
11. Use styles of learning objects that learners can relate to and recognise not only visually on the screen but how they match their learning needs and styles at the time.
12. Continually respond to current business themes as they emerge, be ahead of the game.

For more detail on this strategic development of a blended learning strategy please download the employer story here.

Aviva has grown rapidly in recent years, often by acquiring businesses and merging them into the international group. Previous training on Business Protection policies (such as information security, physical security, and health and safety) had been carried out in an ad-hoc and localised manner with a mixture of classroom training, and some online information. The team recognised that there was no consistency of message in the training provided across the group and no way of accurately auditing all the training that had been carried out.

A decision was taken to produce an e-learning programme and deliver it to all staff. This would be the first time that a global programme had been introduced across the group and the excellent work of the Business protection team, and their partner Inmarkets was recognised when they were awarded the bronze award in the ‘Securing Widespread Adoption’ category at the e-learning awards 2009.

This would prove to be quite a challenge with learning to be delivered over 20 countries ( & not everyone speaking English), no centralised delivery platforms or systems and not even a centralised HR database. In addition , this would be many’s first experience of e-learning so it was important to get it right.

In this case study you can read how about how

• The learning was designed and delivered
• How Aviva dealt with the translation issues
• A comprehensive marketing and communications programme was developed
• The programme made an impact on behavior and awareness

 Aviva's top ten lessons to secure widespread global adoption:

1. If it’s the first experience of e-learning for many employees ensure that the design is simple and intuitive.
2. Gain support for the programme from all key stakeholders including line managers, business units and key representatives overseas.
3. Ensure some degree of ownership ‘locally’ in content development and the communications plan.
4. Establish clear design principles respecting your audience(s).
5. Ensure a realistic and appropriate context for the learning. 
6. If there’s a need to have multi-language versions construct the English language content in such a way as to enable all text content (including text within graphics and interactive exercises) to be exported into a single XML file to enable the translation process. 
7. Deliver as a single multi-language module, in a way that enables learners to switch between languages.
8. Develop a coherent communications plan utilising posters, email, CEO video messages, PowerPoint’s and locally translated course information.
9. Establish a framework and process to evaluate reaction and successes.
10. Provide pertinent management information to demonstrate take-up, adoption and business benefits.

Change in behaviour has to be achieved in organisations managed in very different ways and with different cultures; let alone get over the inertia of out-of-date practices in use for a long time.
There was a variety of technical infrastructures and some departments wished to host the learning themselves, others did not.

The National School of Government worked with their e-Learning supplier (Epic) to create a short engaging but focused e-learning programme that  used scenarios to presente security and protection of data in a positive light concentrating on its benefits, particularly for the public.  To increase access across departments, the programme was designed to be suitable for all platforms and meeting all key government technical and usability requirements.

As a result ,over 250,000 individuals have completed the programme, eight times the number of learners as any previous e-learning initiatives . The shared service aspect of the initiative saved each and every department the time and money to develop their own solutions to data security training and has ensured standard practices being adopted across government.

We are pleased to include this programme in our Evidence for Change initiative as it clearly shows that:

• Learners are now more confident; 99% of learners will now ensure they have the authority to release information; a rise from 53%
•  Learners are more knowledgeable; 98% know how to send information securely, a rise from 43% before training.

It was clear that the learning design has played a key role in this success. The scenarios are liked by the learners who engage with the content and instructional design; most importantly staff also tell their colleagues. There is no substitute for direct peer-to-peer marketing.   

Ten Top Tips from the National School for Government

1. Get key stakeholders engaged from the start of the process
2. Understand the technical barriers and how these might be overcome – like providing different ways to access the learning.
3. Be clear about who will be doing what.
4. Set expectations about what can be achieved from the outset
5. Have a clear project management structure with definite milestones
6. Have a clear decision making process. There will be many opinions expressed all of which need to be listened to but ultimately there needs to be a definitive mechanism for coming to a conclusion
7. Leave some wriggle room. There will always be things that come up unexpectedly.
8. Leave sufficient time for a pilot before going live- a working model is better than a description on paper.
9. Remember that the project does not finish at launch- people will need ongoing support
10. But to help keep the cost of this reasonable make sure that everything is simple to use

Download the full story here (remember to log on or register).

Leadership matters, and the direct involvement of top managers in learning has a major impact on the success of learning. This is clearly demonstrated in this case study from Hammonds Furniture; a progressive and expanding company with a high quality product.

The technology they have implemented is very simple, essentially podcasts delivered to mobile devices supported by workbooks and face-to-face mentoring sessions. The result: Increase in sales volume of 24% (for comparable quarters); average order size increase of 14%; growth in gross margin of 3%.

These improvements happened in those areas where the learning was implemented and was one of the factors contributing to a significant business impact.  The key ingredient in this success is the face-to-face mentoring which started with the Chief Executive mentoring his Directors through the learning material and they mentored all the staff involved. Learners presented what they had learnt back to the Directors and the CEO; the CEO was an enthusiastic user of the material frequently listening to the podcasts as he drove from location to location in his Aston Martin.

The Towards Maturity research in 2008 revealed that organisations where Directors are users of e-learning rate e-learning’s Business Impact at 57% and the impact on Staff at 65%, where Directors have no involvement in e-learning this drops to 43% and 53%.

Leadership matters.

This case study was contributed by Enterprise Leaders where you can find out more about the technology. 

Although the E-FLI story may be a little different to most other elearning content stories, there's plenty to be learned from it. It's perhaps even more interesting because it was made outside of
the bounds of the established elearning industry, and so was created without any
preconceptions.

At the age of 24, Holly Budge was already an experienced skydiver, and was working in New Zealand as a free-fall camera woman, when she spotted a gap in the market for skydiving training.

This case study shows how Holly developed an award winning programme that delivered results to a demanding community.

Evidence for Change

This case study has been included in Towards Maturity's Evidence for Change programme because for those schools adopting the programme, they have found:

• Students are spending less time on the ground and more time in the air which has increased the schools revenues ( students pay per jump)
• Reduced time to competence as students are better prepared in the classroom
• Improved practice has resulted in greater activity and fewer accidents.

It also highlights how e-learning can also be used to support difficult topics!

E-FLI's Top Tips for developing e-learning for tricky topics!

• It’s certainly easier to change things when planning, but it's important to be flexible and
  continue to make improvements even after the programme is built.
• One person can't be the expert at everything, so surround yourself with people who are
  experts and collaborate with them.
• Give everyone the chance to help in shaping things. If you’re working with multimedia
  developers, remember you hired them for their skills, so don’t just get them to build to order,
  get their input.
• Get more informal feedback earlier on. You may have a vision of what you’re setting out to
  produce, but taking the time to understand what people really need and how they will use it
  can save a lot of time in the long run
• Be hands on in the production phase, because that's where the vision becomes reality.

Darrell Minards has been with Xerox for over 20 years and 4 years ago he was appointed Head of Learning & Development for Xerox in Europe. He wanted to re-engineer learning and development so that it would be seen as a thought-leader and a key business enabler. This case study provides insight into how Darrell and his team have changed L&D in Xerox forever.

With responsibility for L&D across Europe with different cultures, languages and learning experiences Darrell adopted the mantra of ‘Develop Once, Deliver Many Times’ for all his target markets. His strategy really embraces two major elements – the skills of their people and their performance.

We are pleased to include this case study in our evidence for change programme.

The true testimony of success is being able to measure and quantify the business benefits that have resulted from re-engineering L&D @ Xerox Europe. Here are some of the key achievements:

• Cost savings in excess of £5 million.
• Over 300 virtual classrooms were delivered through 2009 to over 3,500 delegates across all business groups.
• The new induction programme has resulted in the best prepared inductees.
• Managers are now truly engaged and L&D include a Managers pack in inductions. Historically the rating for L&D averaged 3.2 out of a possible score of 5 – now its 4.1 based on their new programme.
• They are setting and managing expectations successfully.
• They have increased efficiency, management engagement and coaching and achieved a faster time to performance.

But perhaps the greatest testament to the work of Darrell and his team is that now L&D is seen as a key enabler to business performance. They are now seen as an innovative team and Darrell is being rewarded for creating an environment in which individuals feel that they can take risks, make mistakes and learn from them for the benefit of everyone.

Top 10 Tips from this case study for re-engineering Learning & Development are:

1. Challenge pre-conceptions and past ways of doing things
2. Adopt a performance consulting approach to identify the core problem and agree the most appropriate solution
3. Secure commitment, engagement and participation from key stakeholders
4. Harness learning technologies to optimise available time and reduce costs
5. Be creative and innovative
6. Demonstrate business impact and measure contribution
7. Align the learning solution (where appropriate) to key business needs and objectives and be seen as a ‘key enabler’
8. Identify key ‘champions’ and agents of change within L&D
9. Be strong and have faith in your team
10. Don’t be afraid to make the changes needed for the ultimate benefit of the organisation, L&D and the individuals.

New PFAS come from a variety of backgrounds, from experienced Financial and Banking Advisors to Milkmen and Personal Assistants, and it was important to start catering for all of their different learning needs. In order to gain qualified and competent PFAs at the end of the induction they began the ‘Destination PFA’ initiative where the key to success would be training knowledge and skills as separate entities.

From the shortlisted e-learning awards submission in the category of ‘Best online or distance learning programme 2009’, this complimentary case study provides further insight on the Podcast recently recorded with Mark Shelmerdine at Lloyds Banking Group in December 2009 and published on the Towards Maturity website. In that Podcast Mark describes how they identified the need, how they established the key criteria for developing the programme, the 6 topic areas that comprise their blended learning solution and finally the benefits that have resulted.

They identified 5 key objectives for their new Destination PFA programme:

1. Provide a programme that could be tailored to an individual’s needs, allowing delegates to learn at their own pace.
2. Allow delegates to learn wherever and whenever was best for them.
3. Provide skills and knowledge that could be easily applied in the real world.
4. Design the entire programme in-house to allow for quick and easy updates.
5. Provide cost savings.

In less than a year Destination PFA has saved direct costs in the region of £500,000, and that doesn't include the benefits of increased staff morale, lower staff turnover and higher productivity.

In the Podcast, Mark provides the following tips for others who may be facing a similar challenge:

• Speak to past users to understand their experiences.
• Spend time on understanding the skills and knowledge that's required to do the job and what's needed.
• Explore what's available in terms of technology and tools and consider what could be used.
• Don't be restricted in your thinking or approach.

Within the year, this blended learning programme @ Lloyds Banking Group has delivered:

• Improved staff morale
• Lower staff turnover
• Saving £500,000 direct costs

Destination PFA set out to achieve a number of key goals which have all have been met, laying the foundations for expanding the concept of this blended learning programme into other areas. In fact Lloyds Banking Group have now developed a comparable programme for Mortgage Advisors in half the time based on their experience as Mark reveals in the Podcast.

In the 11 months since launch in September 2008, the use of e-Learning has soared to 71% of their population of approx 65,000 employees with 228,380 e-learning modules now completed which is an average of 3.5 per store employee.

“eLearning is universally loved by our people in stores.”
Alex Gourlay, Chief Executive of the Health and Beauty Division, Alliance Boots

The challenges they faced were considerable when you consider:

• Over 2,600 stores and around 65,000 employees, with many varying work patterns
• Training needed to be:
  o Consistent, sustainable and quickly deployable
  o Delivered efficiently to maximize customer facing time
  o Of high quality but delivered at low cost
• Increased demand from the business to demonstrate return on Learning and Development (L&D) investment
• The employee engagement survey indicated that training was consistently falling short of employee’s expectations

It was evident Boots needed a new approach to L&D and to meet these challenges, Boots decided to invest in an e-Learning infrastructure that would allow stores to access online training content.

Boots developed a unique brand for e-learning called 'Log-on and Learn' and they have overcome technology, accessibility and cultural obstacles to deliver a programme that has had a profound impact on business performance.

Evidence for Change 

We are pleased to include this story in our Evidence for Change programme. In this case study you'll learn how Boots achieved improvements in:

Sales performance:

• Cosmetics – the top 10% of stores completing e-learning show a significant increase in sales compared to the average;
• Electrical Beauty – the top 10% of stores completing Electrical Beauty e-learning also show a significant increase in sales compared to the average;
• Travel Insurance – stores completing e-learning show a 100% increase in sales over those that have not;
• There has been a tangible improvement in the sales of vitamins just three weeks after the launch of a vitamin basic module.

Customer Care - in the period Oct 08-Mar 09, the top 10% highest engaged stores show a 3 percentage point increase in their score compared to the average score in that period.

Impact on Great Place to Work Score - When considering the question ‘I have the training I need to do a great job’, the top 10% highest engaged stores show a 5 percentage point increase compared to the average score for the question.

Efficiency Savings - e-Learning has been used to support 3 key HR projects:

• Performance Leadership
• Employee Offer
• Recruitment Transformation

 10 top tips to take away

Terrific results and here are the top 10 hints & tips that you can learn from this story:

1. Don't be constrained by history and past training preferences
2. Respect the diversity of your audience and understand their needs
3. Secure senior management commitment and buy-in
4. Balance high quality with low costs
5. Align learning to key organisation values and goals
6. Undertake a 'pilot' to demonstrate success and identify key obstacles and likely resistance
7. Develop and implement a plan to overcome obstacles and resistance
8. Establish a strong brand and communications strategy for e-learning in the organisation
9. Establish 'e-learning champions' in 'local' stores (locations)
10. Demonstrate value and benefits to the organisation in terms of improved business performance, increased sales, staff satisfaction and customer care.

 Download the full case study below and don't forget to login or register first.

The Get Up To Speed onboarding portal helps Sky’s large volume of new contact centre staff deliver excellent customer service to its nearly 10 million customers by building product and company knowledge in a fun way before they start work. It particularly appeals tothe company’s large number of Generation Y recruits by using social networking (including blogs to connect staff to new recruits) and interactive games. The online portal also uses a video belt and simulated customer scenarios, as well as incentive mechanisms to encourage repeated completion through a real-time leader-board.

We are pleased to incude this great initative in our Evidence for Change programme.

Sky's business challenge: Accelerate time to target performance for contact centre staff

Sky has a commitment to deliver engaging and entertaining experiences to their customers. In an economic climate where customer service is a real differentiator Sky recognised the potential impact for a successful pre-joining programme. With new recruits often underprepared, an induction period too long and attrition too high, the business case was clear. Brightwave developed the innovative ‘Get Up To Speed’ onboarding internet portal which accelerates time to target performance for all new Sky contact centre staff helping them to build knowledge before their start date.

As a result:

• Retention has doubled
• £700K saving
• 25% acceleration in time to target performance
• 11% increase in sales conversions in week one for new starters

You can find out more about this story here.

Care Management Group is the winner of ‘The best e-learning project securing widespread adoption’ at the elearning Awards 2009, this compelling case study describes how they have successfully implemented 'Fullfilling potential' in their care-focused business.

The enthusiastic and widespread adoption of e-learning has transformed training provision and is delivering value across the entire business. The extent to which learning technologies have been adopted by this organisation is all the more remarkable when you consider the working environment.

Evidence for change

We are pleased to include Care Managemetn Group in our Evidence for Change programme
as Fulfilling Potential has shown how e-learning can be enthusiastically adopted within a people-focused working environment, and can rapidly deliver significant business impact.

Costs of both staff training and covering staff whilst training have been cut considerably, realizing large savings for the company as a whole. The evidence speaks for itself:

• Fulfilling Potential has cut costs by approximately 90%, and is already saving CMG over £300,000 per year (from the initial 6 modules alone)
• The comparative cost of training for a single course has reduced by approximately £57,000 per module
• The huge impact on staff can be seen by the fact that ‘Fulfilling Potential’ is on target to achieve 100% completion of all modules

This adoption of e-learning is delivering business benefits by improving efficiency, reducing costs, reducing risk and improving service quality. We hope it will help you build your case for business change!

You can download the full story below for details on how they achieved such great results in their first foray into using learning technologies. In the meantime, here are some hints and tips from their journey that we hope you will find useful!

Hints and Tips for getting it right first time
 

• Realise that initial implementation will be a challenge
• Think carefully about the kind of people you are expecting to use the new technology
• Make sure that an accurate audit of current provision is undertaken
• In depth and on-going consultation with stakeholders is vital
• Integrate the new system around existing work patterns
• The infrastructure needs to be solidly in place before implementation
• Create an efficient communications plan that will reach every part of the target workforce
• Set and manage expectations in line with corporate identity and philosophy
• Efficient feedback methods are required throughout the process
• A partner with plenty of experience always helps!

 In just 10 days, they developed an e-guide for the car company to solve a the problem of car owners claiming on waranties for car keys that don't work but could be quickly repaired in the dealership, if only the staff knew how.

The solution was simple - the repair needed was quick but fiddly to master so the e-guide captured the solution on video to demonstrate how it could be done.

 Within 6 weeks over 1.600 dealership staff had completed the module and the repairs started to flow, saving time and waranty pay outs.

We have included this in our Evidence for Change programme because a simple guide , costing a few thousand to build is on the way to saving Citroen £1 million!

Find out more below!

Not only has there been great uptake (c45,000 hours of e-learning completed to date) plus 93% of key messaging fully understood by learners, but there has also been great feedback on the impact on the business itself:

Ford  is getting more business results from their investment:

• 81% of sales people believe that e-learning helps them sell vehicles in the pre-launch stage
• Sales people completing the e-learning have recorded 2.4 additional car sales per year compared to those who do not undertake the e-learning.

And that's been achieved with less resource than before:

• reduced training time for learners to be certified as ‘fully trained’ from 37 months to 13 months
• per capita training cost reduced by c74% 

The Business challenge 

With over 20,000 sales consultants in 21 countries across Europe, Ford knew they needed a better way to both train and communicate to their network of dealers, while at the same time reducing costs. LINE Communications were the chosen partner to help implement ‘The Learning Centre’. A key challenge with the implementation was to make access as easy as possible for employees in the dealerships. This was achieved through a ‘single sign-on’ access via the Internet as well as through Ford of Europe’s ‘Dealer Portal’ which already provided access to key dealer applications. Ford originally asked LINE to validate their strategy to create an online dealer learning and communications portal that would:

• do away with the need for printing thousands of expensive product binders
• better prepare staff for Ford of Europe classroom training and launch events
• reinforce the content and messages from the classroom courses and new car launch events
• improve communications between Ford of Europe and the sales staff employed by local dealers (the vast majority of which are not owned by Ford)

The solution 

Ford also stated that the solution should include the ability to localise translated content quickly and efficiently in the individual markets. The solution needed to avoid the traditional, lengthy and iterative process of releasing versions of localised content into the markets for review and amendment cycles.

To ensure successful uptake, LINE designed and produced a communications campaign directed at both national sales companies (NSCs) and dealers, and they also worked alongside the technology partner for the Learning Centre to develop a set of best practice guidelines for content development.

The project was successfully completed in less that 12 months with more than 90% take-up by the target group of 20,000 dealer sales consultants and the Learning Centre is now used to deliver e-learning that supports all new vehicle product launches, as well as foundation training and ‘just in time’ communication material. The audience has expanded beyond sales to include after-sales and technical dealer staff and interestingly the Learning Centre has increased new car sales on some models: those consultants who successfully completed training courses outsold those who didn’t by an average of more than two cars per year.

The results

A significant volume of evaluation has been undertaken to measure the success and the impact of The Learning Centre and here's just a flavour:

• c45,000 hours of e-learning completed to date
• reduced training time for learners to be certified as ‘fully trained’ from 37 months to 13 months
• 93% of key messaging fully understood by learners
• per capita training cost reduced by c74%
• 81% of sales people believe that e-learning helps them sell vehicles in the pre-launch stage
• sales people completing the e-learning have recorded 2.4 additional car sales per year compared to those who do not undertake the e-learning.

Now that's impressive!

The project, known as the Ford Foundation Programme is making a significant contribution to Ford of Europe and we'd like to thank LINE Learning & Communications for providing this story. You can find out more by clicking here right now.

The group started using learning technologies back in October 2005 under a programme known as Foundations for Growth.  Prior to 2005, each individual organisation within the group was responsible for the learning programmes of existing and new staff  which were delivered through face to face interventions either in house or off site. But in the face of rapid growth and an increasingly competitive market, maintaining these standards presented significant challenges and a radical reworking and centralisation was required. You can read more about how this programme started by clicking here.

When I first met the L&D staff at Priory Group back in December of 2007 and they were enjoying the first fruits of success- just over 4,300 staff were actively accessing the programmes and had completed an average of 17 e-learning modules each - over 38,713 training hours had been delivered online. However many new initiatives are often ‘one hit wonders’  that  fade away as e-learning  fatigue sets in and business priorities shift.

Like everyone else, the Priory Group has faced it’s fair share of change over the past 2 years - the organisation has been battling the recession and have expanded into new services but the Foundation for Growth programme has gone from strength to strength.  There have now been over 8800 active learners since the programme began  in 2005 and over the last 2 years the number of modules completed has increased by over 200%, the number of hours spent learning has increased by nearly 300% and staff are completing an average of 26 e-learning modules each.

But the real question is has this adoption made any significant difference to the growth of the business?

Matthew Franzidis, Chief Operating Officer at Priory Group seems to think so "Priory aims to deliver consistent services of the highest quality, and FFG is vital to this. It is wonderful to go to a Priory site and see staff of all grades using FFG as part of their work. The result is better trained staff, improved service delivery and higher patient satisfaction’’. 

So what has contributed to this successful adoption?

Priory group illustrate the 6 strands of behaviour that influence e-learning success (outlined in the Towards Maturity Model).

1. Aligning to need  - From the outset, Foundation for Growth has been aligned to the corporate vision of the group. But since it’s inception, the programme has now responded to new demands to support individual needs for CPD, is addressing an increasing number of clinical issues through distance programmes and is proactively supporting the rapid business growth.

Jan Cowie, the group’s  learning and development manager highlights how Foundations for Growth has helped  L&D  to respond faster to changing business needs and uses the example of staffing 4 new care homes- ‘ Traditionally, it would have taken us 3 – 4 months to bring new care home staff up to speed in a way that ensures that staff comply to industry regulations, with Foundations for Growth, we were able to reduce this time down to 2 weeks’.

2. Learner context – It has always been a priority to ensure that the programmes contained content that was relevant and practical for each user group. Now staff also have the opportunity to update a personal learning record online creating a portable CPD log critical for many roles within the organisation.

3. Work context – the programmes are closely aligned to working practices (such as probation periods) and line managers are involved in every step of the way – courses link out to local assignments and managers , supported by the centralised tracking system, are closely involved with  signing off staff progress.

4. Building capability of L&D – 2 essential elements of the success of this programme are the core infrastructure (LMS)that links all of the different businesses together which provides both efficiency and consistency and the focus on creating blended learning solutions that combine both online content, work assignments and distance learning programme (outlined above).

In addition, the L&D teams are now able to engage the extended  supply chain of the organisation – providing a platform for involving drug companies with clinical staff training or by providing training to external contractors on site at no additional costs. The success of Foundations for Growth has stimulated more demand and L&D staff are now engaged with clinical experts in designing new programmes – such as Managing patients with depression which has been created with the group’s professors of psychology.

5. Engaging stakeholders – the original implementation had a strong focus on engaging stakeholders across the business - a 19 strong internal working party from all operational areas was established and nurtured champions across each site that included unit directors or school principles and site learning administrators - a role designed to provide the link between corporate and local learning and development, and to ensure there is always a human face to Foundations for Growth. An extensive communications plan designed to motivate and engage also helped.

6. Demonstrating value  - the LMS has proved invaluable to Priory Group allowing, to be able to compile reports for different local services at the click of a button. She keeps track of costs, time and resources so that she can demonstrate value back to the business:

‘This programme was a business imperative for Priory Group, but in addition to the business benefits we have achieved through consistent learning through Foundations for Growth, we estimate that this programme would have cost at least £ 9 million * more to implement over the last 5 years if we had maintained with our original approach to learning.  This level of saving has been achieved as a result of time savings & administration efficiencies ( this doesn’t take into account the savings resulting from minimising travel and expenses!)’

 Jan also highlights back to the business how the quality of the interventions has improved through a number of specific examples. For example the group were spending over half a million pounds on sending staff on courses on how to manage violence and aggression – staff were exposed to  over 134 techniques  depending on the acuity of service and courses of up to  1 week in duration (during which the company had to pay to back fill).  A blended e-Learning solution has helped them to  reduce the course down to 2 days at the majority of their sites and provided focussed attention on 8 techniques that were more easily remembered and applied.

Getting started with e-learning may be daunting for some but the Priory Group’s journey has shown that  a strategic approach to implementation can help L&D professionals to deliver real business value and transformation.

This article was first published on Training Zone Sept 09

* Towards Maturity have spent time with the Priory Group to establish how this figure of £9m saving came about. It was based on an analysis of all the costs involved in attending, developing and administering Foundations for Growth since its inception compared with traditional approaches to learning used by the Priory to the event. Comparisons included time spent training ( where savings were calculated based on hourly wages, costs for cover staff) but cost comparisons erred on the conservative side  in all cases to arrive at this number ( for example the cost savings from travel and expenses were not included)) 

Coventry Building Society had to manage the implications of the extension of regulation to Mortgages in 2004; proving staff competence became a key deliverable for the Learning and Development function. Before 2004 compliance training was delivered by trainers during induction courses with a paper record of compliance understanding for staff. The Coventry needed something more rigerous, more reliable, more effective and more efficient.

They purchased a Learning Management System and now have over 425 lessons, 19% of which are assessed. The number of learners who pass assessment right first time is also commedable high; typically 90% pass first time and up to a third gain 100% scores in the assessments. Subject experts are much more in tune with the content that is delivered to the front line staff than they were in the days when content was under the control of the trainers in the classroom. 

Assessment is automaticly tailored to job role and compliance reports are available for individuals, branches, departments and across the whole enterprise.  The Coventry proves compliance efficiently, offers better service to learners, to subject experts and to the business, delivers more learning that is always up to date and consistent, all at less cost.

Evidence for Change

We are pleased to include Coventry Building Society in the Towards Maturity Evidence for Change programme as learning technologies have not only delivered the learning improvements outlined above but these improvements have delivered bottom line business benefis as well.

• Reduced time to prove competence - branch counter staff for example are fully proficient in 2 weeks from starting their role. 
• Based on just five courses e-learning proves to be £169,000 cheaper than delivering learning and assessment by previous methods.

Ron Edwards of Ambient Performance, kindly shared the attached white paper with Towards Maturity of from ACS, a global outsourcing and services company who are implementing 3D virtual worlds. This paper outlines the business drivers behind the adoption of this technology, how it is used and hints and tips for those considering a similar journey.

The Business Drivers

In the spring of this year, ACS participated in a study with Forterra Systems to explore different use cases and the promise of 3D learning for corporations. The increasing globalisation and a challenging economic environment together with a younger workforce with rising expectations of collaborative interactive work s

Historically the company made extensive use of learning strategies and technologies to address fast changing business needs. However they wanted to use 3D virtual worlds to prototype a learning environment that would incorporate benefits of collaboration tools and a mix of online/virtual delivery within an overall immersive and engaging experience, allowing them to address ongoing business needs with innovation and efficiency.

The emphasis of this paper is about the implications on innovation and efficiency - it does not tackle the detailed world and often expensive world of serious games. Instead it considers the practical considerations for those who are used to delivering the bulk of learning in workshops but want to increase harness the internet more effectively within the blend to increase the opportunity for peer to peer support both in class and through informal learning exchanges out of the classroom.

How are they using it?

They used 3D virtual world technology solutions to create an ACS-branded training room that was effective for both presenting training content and having group discussions.  Within the facility, learning is delivered live to participants via a combination of PowerPoint, access to web content, user profiles, and a social network, and the opportunity for participants to share their own applications as well.

ACS also created integrations to a poll, a survey and an LMS to demonstrate tracking of trainee’s satisfaction with the virtual training experience and course performance.

Trainees also got to role play their new skills in sessions that were recorded and replayed so the instructor could critique their performance. The sessions covering subjects such as engagement management, negotiations, and account leadership, were delivered live and included break-out discussion groups as part of the curriculum. ( A full description of how they went about course design in 3D worlds is included from page 9 onwards)

This cases study provides compelling evidence of learner engagement and their emersion in 3D worlds but also the impact on learner outcomes.

Hints and tips

The white paper offers hints and tips for those considering 3D virtual worlds which we would strongly echo from our own research into e-learning implementation success:

• Technical challenges - IT requirements and firewalls and the importance of involving IT in your first pilot. Similarly it is important to check that users PCs in the workplace are able to cope with the rich graphics and audio in the same way that their home PC probably does!
• Alignment to strategic business objectives or performance outcomes - ACS believes that 3D virtual worlds provide an opportunity for 'point' solutions that directly impact business performance where it is needed.
• Proactively addressing the culture change needed - particularly important as staff get to grips with the use of avatars and the business starts to understand that you are introducing a new form of collaborative working rather than a frivolous use of games in work time.

You can download the paper below (you need to logon or register)

Thank you again to Ron Edwards from Ambient Performance for bringing this to our attention.

Find out more :

For more information on research and case studies on virtual worlds on this site click here

Achieving quality with proven quality management is always essential but never more so than when times are tough. This has led to a surge in business for a global provider of ISO 9000 consultancy and training. Increased volume of business meant more staff were needed world-wide, quickly. The only way to deliver a consistent quality is to use internal experts to deliver on-line lessons.

Like many companies the required expertise and knowledge comes from within; knowleagable and capable staff provice the competetive edge. Yet these are also the very people who are busy dealing with clients. Terry Russell of the Centre for ISO 9000 explains how his company went about meeting the challenge of cutting costs and training students in Quality Management round the globe.

Software has been mainly Open Source, design has been straightforward, end result excellent and the learners are delighted. If you want to Go Global or just cut UK travelling costs then this is a good place to start.   

We were interested to see how a restructuring earlier this year inspired Devon County Council to investigate how they can use learning technologies to quickly reach out to staff who had been impacted by budget cuts.

An article on-site at publictechnology.net outlined how the organisation used web conferencing technologies they were able to respond rapidly to the needs of staff and were able to save £5000 over a 6 week period in their first project working with live online sessions. 

Given that many organisations are facing similar pressures of budget and time, Towards Maturity contacted Barry Wilding-Webb, the Senior Workforce Development advisor at Devon County Council to find out how a traditional stand up trainer got started in their first project with web conferencing.

Getting Started

Devon County Council with over 22,000 staff is one of the biggest employers in the South West.  As a result of Barry’s enthusiasm for being ‘up for doing things differently’, he also authors e-learning courses so the council were already users of traditional self paced e-learning programmes. Staff also had access to content through the Learning Pool network that shares content across local authorities. Earlier this year, he was approached by a large department who as a result of budget cuts were facing a significant restructuring which meant that all staff had to reapply for their jobs. Barry was asked to quickly provide help for the staff who needed to go through the process of application and interviews as they reapplied for their jobs.

Traditionally this need would have been addressed by a half day workshop but the need to respond quickly and the need to preserve quality in the midst of budget cuts meant that a different approach would be needed.It was important for the staff to be able to reflect on some of the things that they would be needed to do as well as feel supported in difficult times.  Barry designed a 3 pronged approach of simple interventions that would provide both self help for staff (through an online workbook and a self help process) and the opportunity to get together online in small groups. In sessions with a maximum size 16, staff were taken through a series of exercises including the opportunity to create a mind-map, take notes or reflect on the content either verbally or via a voting system.

The programme was advertised internally to staff via the existing restructure group and staff  were able to self select into the elements of the programme. Despite the fact that the online sessions were a complete unknown to the organisation , over a third of the delegates opted to try it out and were not disappointed.  In addition, when this approach is compared with a half day workshop, Barry estimates that the council are saving a minimum of £100 for every person who attends.

As a result of the successes of this first experience,  there are now plans to extend the use of online conferencing as part of the blend of other programmes. For example in programmes such as equality and diversity, staff will now be able to have access to online experts in the area without having to leave the office.

A first time user’s hints and tips

Given that Barry’s natural habitat is the classroom and this was his first foray into web conferencing, we asked him what hints and tips he would pass onto others in a similar situation. This is what he said:

• If you are conducting a programme for over 16, you need to have 2 of you supporting learners, one leading the event and the other supporting individuals via the chat room.
• He found that a half day workshop could be compressed into a 1 hour webinar.
• If you are asking staff to interact with the content ( through note taking, mind maps etc) then an hour on the end of a telephone is quite a lot – it’s better to make a small investment in headphones that can be loaned to staff on the programme which leaves their hands free.
• Make sure you have a quiet venue to conduct the session from – an open plan office isn’t the best. Barry conducted his from home – when the dog barked it proved it was live !
• PC’s in the council are timed to shut down if inactive for a certain period – Barry had to be proactive in introducing time for ‘mouse wiggle’ into the programme – a bit of fun that kept both staff and their machines engaged!
• Without the face to face contact, he found that he had to concentrate on varying style and content within the webinar to engage staff.

On a final note, Barry has found that this first experience has really opened his eyes to his ability to reach a lot more people a lot faster than traditional approaches.  He already has plans to continue innovating and experimenting bringing techniques proven to engage learners in the classroom to the desktop.We look forward to hearing more 

For more case studies and article on how to get started with web conferencing and virtual classroom click here

You can read the story as it appeared in www.publictechnology.net by clicking here.

VIP Hair Ltd (and other local companies) were keen to take advantage of a pilot that has been so successful for local salons that all training for the Hair and Beauty courses will run in the workplace supported by Learning Technologies and college academic staff. City and Guilds provides outstanding course material and study support which employers and college staff have been keen to use.

The pilot has resulted in 100% pass rates, all learners completing in less time and some exceeding expectations. Employees have been productive in the workplace earlier and have gained professional satisfaction from starting their careers.

The employer story demonstrates the importance that enthusiastic leadership is vital in the route to success; here that enthusiam in our podcast recorded at an early stage of the pilot.  The importance of good links with local employers, consulting with them and excellent relationships with college IT departments are described in the download and the podcast.

(you can also click here for the YouTube link )

This is just one of the projects highlighted at the Bite-sized Learning Opportunities On Mobiles(BLOOM) project showcase at the House of Commons earlier this week.

This european funded project aims to deliver workplace training for the logistics and passenger transport sectors in contextualised basic skills using a variety of mobile phone technologies. It looks to address the findings of recent studies that identified wide-scale basic skills shortages and the negative impact of this on the industries and the individual.

This story is a great example of impact of innovation on individual who don't always have time to train. It  has come about through partnerhips between providers, sector skills councils ( in this case GoSkills) and unions to creatively apply technology to adress important learning needs of busy people, regardless of location and experience.

Find out more about the BLOOM project here. Find out more about Union learn Reps here

Historically, learning approaches at SABMiller had been very traditional, with face to face workshops being the primary learning medium. With the increasing cost of running workshops in all corners of the globe, and the huge variation in the quality and consistency of output, SAB Miller chose to adopt e-learning as one of the ways of strengthening its world-class training and development operations.

Shortlisted in the e-learning awards for ‘Widespread Adoption’ in 2008, this case study demonstrates how to get it right first time - securing widespread adoption by engaging all the key stakeholders and overcoming resistance to new learning media.

This story highlights the steps that the SABMiller team took as part of their first company-wide e-learning implementation for the organisation.It cov ers their planning, partnerships  ( both within the business and with their provider) and engagement strategies as well as feedback and reactions to their approach. This quote sums up their successes to date:

“Previously I wasn’t convinced about e-learning as a medium, but because of what we have done on this project, I am now convinced and see it as engaging, informative and a very relevant learning medium for SABMiller”

They have overcome some of the classic obstacles in ‘getting started’ with e-learning and beginning the journey of meeting learning & development needs across a global organisation, in a more effective and efficient way.

Hot tips from SABMiller on making a great first impression

1. Make sure you have clear business objectives as well as media objectives when you are introducing new learning technologies.
2. Identify risks up front so that you can build proactive strategies to mitigate against them.
3. Don’t just identify the key stakeholders in the business that will make the solution a success, clarify what they need from the requirement as well.
4. Use a steering group to bring key stakeholders and providers together.
5. Build marketing and communication strategies into the plan up front, not in hindsight.
6. Use teaser campaigns to pique interest.
7. Branded headphones provided a dual role in building awareness and overcoming obstacles of open plan offices.
8. For global implementations, encourage local support via a champion network.
9. Use online conferencing to share good practice and provide ideas to support local champions.
10. Extend the reach of the programme by allowing individual resources to be used in ways that were not on the original plan.

You can download the story below ( but don’t forget to logon/register first)

• Engage  internal subject matter experts from the start and get them to agree the learning objectives and scope of the content.
• Do some digging to find out who the key stakeholders are – don’t rely on people to know who needs to be involved, as this can lead to unexpected stakeholders appearing later in the process.
• Factor in delays by stakeholders in terms of them reviewing and agreeing content in the time lines agreed.
• Scope and agree the sign off process at the start – e.g. do you want feedback on the layout or just on the words. If just on the words, who has final say if there is disagreement?
• Build in exercises that allow the learners to practice their skill or knowledge and apply to scenarios – this helps the learner understand the link between the e-learning module and what they do day to day.
• Support learners back at work through forums, champions, competitions etc encourages transfer of skills.
• Agree evaluation data upfront with project sponsor and key stakeholders and refer to this if project scope starts to creep.
• Have a contingency plan when implementing a large scale programme that affects many users.

You can download the full story below ( don't forget to register/login).

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.

You will need to login (or register) to download this case study.

The Dental Channel is a winner of the e-Learning Award 2008 for synchronous delivery of learning; there were previously a winner for widespread adoption of e-learning in 2005 for CD-Rom programmes and offer a wealth of learning material, online and on CD to a user base of 7,000 dental professionals. The Webinar programme builds on the success of these programmes, a loyal user base and adds the important ingredient of interaction.  

Starting in July 2006 a monthly live programme has been delivered directly to dentists, it is now extended to technicians and nurses. Sessions are delivered using WebEx; regarded as one of the product leaders for web conferencing services.  The experience of the Dental Channel is that WebEx is very easy to use and trainers can quickly convert from classroom or conference delivery to live web conferencing.  Presentations can be prepared in PowerPoint with the addition of image, audio and video files being added to meet the design of the classroom session.  As with all synchronous learning the collaboration between presenters and learners and between learners and learners is an essential feature of the interaction.  All learners value conversation with other learners at synchronous events.

Interactive sessions are delivered at various times that are convenient to work schedules; dentists participate individually from home in the evening, both those in the UK and overseas.  The style is that of a traditional lecture usually with PowerPoint presentations as the main presentation media.  The chat and Q & A panels provide feedback and the opportunity to ask questions.  Other visual aids are also used. Unlike a conventional lecture participants can submit questions privately that can be answered privately.  Those with microphones can ask questions and if they are using a web cam other participants can see them. Sessions are edited to provide an ”on-demand webinar”. A big advantage is that participants can see dental procedures in close up more easily.

Along the way the Dental Channel has picked much useful guidance on how to run this type of programme effectively and the download supplies more details.

The business return is also significant. The comparative cost of delivering the same volume of training just to dentists only by traditional conferences and face-to-face sessions is estimated at £280,000 with webinar delivery costs estimated at less than £30,000. In addition training has been delivered to those who might otherwise not receive it; dental nurses most noticeable who attend webinar sessions in their lunch time.

Several lessons have been learnt. The download lists ten top tips but three of them are: domestic broadband is capable of delivering webinars, it is wise to offer telephone conferencing facilities, use the assets you have for existing face-to face sessions (both people and visual material).

There is no doubt that the travel industry is in a state a flux. As the recession gets worse, redundancies continue to plague the sector, with 5,000 reported since autumn 2008 from recognised names such as Hertz and Delta Air Lines. British Airways has also announced a pay freeze.

In these circumstances, trust has become a major issue for the sector, particularly in the wake of collapsing firms such as XL Leisure. ABTA has since appointed a PR consultancy to address the issue and help restore consumer confidence in booking a holiday. With the pound down, people are also staying closer to home and foregoing extras, such as car hire and flight upgrades.

To add further woes, travel firms must digest an unenviable cocktail of challenges, including changing energy prices, eco-tourism, sustainability, online booking and financial modelling, as well as a high staff turnover, which is double that of other industries.

On a brighter note, Travel Weekly recently reported that holidaymakers plan to spend the same in 2009 as 2008, with companies such as Hays Travel actively recruiting and EasyJet announcing a fourth quarter 2008 profit increase.

So, what is the likely impact on training? The challenges faced by the travel sector clearly demonstrate a need for ongoing training. And to survive the recession, travel firms must focus training on customer service skills to help rebuild trust and generate a long-lasting competitive edge. Changing needs of travel customers also bring different knowledge demands and, as learning and development professionals, we need to keep up. Sustainable destinations and offsetting carbon footprints were key desires in previous years, but these are now being replaced by cost as the priority.

Henrietta Palmer, e-learning manager at TUI UK and Ireland, confirms this trend, saying: "Aside from vital compliance and product knowledge training, other requirements can be incredibly reactive. It's all about one thing and as soon as something happens, another completely different skill need becomes the priority. As learning professionals we need to think smart and have a portfolio of learning objects, a library of modules and tools to use and repurpose as needed."

Delivering business benefits

As an industry, travel has a highly evolved learning culture, with nearly one in five more people in the sector, compared to all businesses, receiving training and ongoing development last year, according to People 1st and the ABTA Travel Industry Training and Development Benchmark Survey 2008. Crucially, the same report demonstrated clear business benefits from training, including increased customer satisfaction reported by 96% of survey participants, increased profits (88%), a rise in productivity (83%) and a gain in sales (84%).

While the economic climate brings uncertainty, it is heartening to hear that the majority in travel do not plan to reduce training budgets and half of them expect a slight increase over the next five years. This is different to other sectors, which plan to cut or freeze training budgets in 2009, according to research recently conducted by Brightwave. The research also found that, despite the overall reduction, half of those questioned expect e-learning spend to rise in 2009, qualifying the increase in demand we are seeing for effective online solutions.

As training and ongoing learning are crucial to the travel sector and with large volumes of people involved in the industry, e-learning was introduced in its infancy by some of the larger agencies, hotel chains and air operators. E-learning meets a large number of travel training needs as it is efficient, persistent, consistent, accessible and engaging. It can also help bring large numbers of new recruits up to speed through effective induction and ensure high levels of compliance are met. Further, it improves customer service, builds product knowledge, fulfils multiple language requirements and provides on the job support.

Another reason for the early popularity of e-learning in travel is that it enables new training opportunities, such as critical job simulations targeting cabin crew and virtual scenarios for customer care and sales. We expect e-learning to gain greater popularity as it delivers more cost reductions, faster delivery, higher levels of learner engagement and more opportunities to train people where and when it suits them - crucial for time-shift work.

The future is bite sized

For the travel sector to continue exploiting e-learning in future, it needs to continue viewing technology enabled learning as an investment and not a cost as the rewards and return on investment are huge. There is a great opportunity for learning innovation using new tools and models of working. Travel companies should also take a more flexible approach to e-learning dependant on their goals, learners and risk.

As we move away from traditional and often unnecessarily lengthy courseware, learning progresses towards more digestible and memorable learning bites, or knowledge chunks, which are more engaging. These can be delivered via podcasts, video on demand, social learning, computer simulations or games to help change behaviour and improve performance. Learners simply select the format that suits their need from a collaborative learning portal designed with performance support in mind.

Wendy Stubbs at British Airways supports this view: "Bite sized knowledge chunks will change the way that we do mandatory short sharp courses. If there's a new piece of compliance, let's validate first then get learners to take the course. This frees us up to spend the budget on important stuff that is business critical."

Social networking

E-learning is helping to generate more effective informal learning as it blends formal online training with social networking and knowledge transfer. With generation Y so well represented in the travel sector, informal or social learning is likely to take hold much faster than in other industries. Companies have a lot to gain by connecting people so that valuable knowledge and best practice can spread faster.

At Brightwave, we are seeing travel firms exploring the potential of social learning ahead of other sectors and expect this to grow as technology costs come down and new models are created. A wiki devoted to destinations or the handling of difficult customer scenarios could help share knowledge and best practice live. Imagine this, supported by a portfolio of learning bites and communication pieces, and you have a powerful learning resource. As part of this mix, mobile learning, intuitively aligned to a dispersed travel workforce is poised to give true access to location-based services and bite sized learning.

British Airways is piloting BABlend.net, a professional networking tool that enables employees to learn from each other. It is popular with staff and has already identified what works best. For example, first screens and tags are vital to early engagement.

Travel companies that increase their commitment to training during the recession will be in a good position to prosper once the economy picks up. With customer service so fundamental to success, a 96% increase in customer satisfaction from ongoing learning and development can be ignored only at companies' commercial peril.

Looking ahead, Palmer at TUI, says: "We will all be looking to maximise budgets, repurpose resources, maximise informal opportunities, reduce business travel and exploit technologies to work across distances. Alongside cost reduction and customer care, sustainability is high on the agenda. E-learning is a way we can make an impact."

There is no doubt that technology will increasingly move centre stage to deliver business critical training with increased efficiency. But the shift also catalyses a move to more engaging and timely learning experiences for a sector that, while hit first by the recession, will also lead the recovery into a new economic landscape.

Editors Note

You can also read about Virgin Atlantic's award winning manual handling course This story first appeared in e.learning age magazine. You can find out more from Lar's by following the Lars is learning blog.

Online learning has been part of its DNA for many years - Route2Learn, their enterprise wide solution  is one of the largest corporate learning management systems in Europeand new technologies and approaches such as mobile learning and rapid development tools are part of the toolkit for delivering timely learning solutions for a changing business.

In a survey of staff , they found out that 78%  preferred to learn from their peers but to date, very little money or attention had been focused on affecting and improving the learning and development that naturally takes place in the workplace.

This case study, winner of the 2008 e-learning solution of the year award at WOLCE,  highlights the next step in BT’s journey to high performance through the development of Dare2Share - an award-winning collaborative social learning solution with partner Accenture.

It explores the proof of concept process that the partners developed to look at both cultural and technical aspects and highlights how a business case was established to take the solution forward.

It also includes some of the practical hints and tips on how encourage peer to peer learning within an organisation.

Watch this 3 minute story of BT Dare2Share on YouTube!

The numerical approach to comparative costing, managing suppliers, creating a brand and a distinctive presence for learners are all classic examples to learn from in this case study.

Diageo Academy access for employees soon spread to over 180 countries and now rolled out globally, centrally funded, and centrally supported, the Diageo Academy is starting to fulfil its overall mission to be “home for all people development in Diageo.” The business units started to see the benefits by consolidating their autonomous systems centrally.

This case study highlights the expansion that took place over time but with it came concerns from busy line managers. While appreciating the vast increase in the number of development options available to them, it was becoming difficult to narrow them down into a manageable list of planned development activities to undertake over the next financial year. 

Diageo & their partner Epic combined to create a unique diagnostic tool to help narrow down the choices and has resulted in high levels of engagement with learners and busy managers. (It also recieved the bronze award for  ‘The most innovative new product or tool in e-learning’ category at the 2008 e-Learning Awards!)

Top tips for e-learning success from the Diageo Academy include:

1. Spend plenty of time testing new courses on as wide a range of computer systems, office locations, and individuals as possible during development of new e-Resources
2. Develop your strategy with the future in mind and remember likely updates and changes to your learning content, IT operating systems, and hardware
3. Establish high levels of stakeholder engagement across all levels before any development work begins
4. Ensure that you establish clear ‘ownership’ and accountability.
5. ‘Expect the unexpected’ by building in contingencies in your timelines

The recently published benchmark report into Driving Business Benefits  shows that mature organisations in the use of learning technologies report higher engagement levels. So how have Diageo achieved that and what exactly is the diagnostic tool? Read on to find out more.....

(don't forget to log in to access our top employer stories)

We are all on a journey to improve the results of our learning interventions – so what can we learn from NCALT’s experiences?

This case study looks at the implementation of 2 critical programmes for the Police and looks at how they used learning technologies to engage busy staff around sensitive issues.

It also includes 10 top tips for engaging organisations with business critical programmes:

1. Align directly to business priorities and needs by surveying key users and allocate your resources accordingly;
2. Respect sensitivity of subject matter and audience expectations;
3. Devolve ownership and identify ‘local’ champions;
4. Forge collaborative efforts with key stakeholders to ensure high adoption rates, engagement and positive use;
5. Overcome resistance of user groups, review forums and regular updates as part of a strong customer relationship management approach;
6. Survey users on IT infrastructure, accessibility and usability;
7. Establish levels of support to address technical, product and implementation queries;
8. Imbed e-learning into classroom delivery as well as functioning standalone;
9. Network through local and national events to broaden knowledge and constantly improve;
10. Strive for excellence and don’t stand still.

You can find out more by downloading the case study below. Plus we have included details of their win in 2007 ( courtesy of e-learning age magazine).

Update Oct 09 – We have included NCALT in our Evidence for Change programme as they have seen:

• a projected saving of £10.5 million per year
• 100 tonnes per year carbon reduction by reducing travel and classroom based delivery.
• a very real increase in operational efficiency as a direct consequence of using learning technologies

(find out more about the results by clicking here)

Toyota directly and indirectly employs around 80,000 people in Europe and has invested over €7 billion since 1990. In 2007, Toyota sold 1,238,638 Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Europe, enjoying its 11th consecutive record year of sales.

This study presents the complex challenges Toyota has successfully addressed through process improvement and implementation of CERTPOINT’s Learning Management System for the company’s expansive dealer network. There are now 65 000 of people in Toyota Connect and a further 5 000 are expected to connect to the system by 2009.

Toyota Motor Europe (TME) and CERTPOINT Systems™, a leading global provider of corporate training software and solutions have been awarded the prestigious Silver Award in the “Best e-Learning project in securing widespread adoption” category by e-Learning Age.

 Here is a summary of the top tips on how to engage diverse audiences from this award winning study - download the full story below to find out more

1. As a priority, ensure learning strategy fully supports a  business strategy that impacts all parties
2. Use focus groups to provide key stakeholders with a means to contribute to system design and system selection focus groups help create buy in up front.
3. Keep the systems simple so that local regions can take ownership of localisation.
4. Use pilots around a simplified system to provide easy hands on experience on the most important features.
5. Train local champions in both how to use the system and how to implement change
6. Develop a communications programme that involves multiple media ( including face to face)
7. Work with your supplier as a partner in influencing change
8. Provide regular updates/newsletters to inform all regions of progress ( creating sense of community)
9. Don’t be afraid to use data collected by the system to highlight correlations to business success
10. Use external awards recognition to highlight service excellence internally

 Key features of the Xcite Programme

• Trained and engaged store managers to drive the programme forward
• Use of technology games with in store scenarios to boost engagement
• Embedded into work practices
• Got results!!

The RN train Marine Engineers as Modern Apprentices on entry leading through to Foundation Degrees as their skills and experience develop. The Buzzing Hub is an elearning website used by trainees to support classroom work and prepare them for practical sessions in workshop areas.

They saved time with a shorter course. Learners spent more time in practical and leadership activities. They still qualify to the same standards. The instructors are practical engineers who like using the e-learning in the classroom with learners; find it easier to help learners catch up and support those who get ahead.

There is a big emphasis on safety which makes learners more confident and safer working with the hazardous combination of electricity in a watery environment. Ship supplies are at high voltages and care and attention to safety has to be second nature to new recruits. The combination of classroom, e-learning and workshop time ensures trainees are competent, confident and qualified as they join the fleet. Yes there is a learning curve for Instructors; read the case study for comments from the instructors.

Managers who employ trainees at work after training find them much more productive and responsible right from the start. Read the case study to discover more, including what trainees think. 

A classroom course is replaced saving time, money and travel; and customers get better quality advice from inspectors.

Also those in the job already have an opportunity to update their knowledge when they want to.  There are nine top tips in this story

This partnership approach is an excellent model for future work in the professional skills area. The professional institute provides subject expertise and keeps content up to date, the employer understands the work-based learning environment and has business targets to meet, the e-learning supplier has the expertise to create an outstanding product that can be readily kept in date, is like by learners and achieves the learning objectives. 

In this case an excellent product is created that matches the needs of learners and the business.

 Traditionally inspector's learned by accompanying experts which was costly in time and resources. As a result of this programme, these subject experts are freed up to make better use of their time on policy and strategic discussions with the farming industry and skills have become more widespread across the UK.

Download this study to find out about:

1. How the programme was developed and delivered to engage busy inspectors
2. The significant benefits achieved by the environment agency
3. Good practice ideas to take away for similar projects

This innovative case study provides insight into the case for a Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Medicine targeted at physicians & non-medical professionals in the pharmaceutical and health care industries wishing to move into leadership positions by continuing their professional development, and also at other science graduates wishing to enter the pharmaceutical and health care industries.

This case study takes a closer look at a programme that was commended for their entry to the  'Most Innovative Application of technology to Learning' at the e-learning Awards 2007.

A series of 25 video clips were developed as part of a blended learning programme on communications skills, the videos were designed to reinforce effective communication techniques in work place scenarios and act as a performance support tool. 

Staff were able to use their mobiles to view the modules: learner uptake rates exceeded desktop e-learning uptake The clips not only helped staff apply new skills but left them wanting more.

Download this case study to find out more

The team at Superquinn faced a number of challenges:

• A large customer facing audience working part time or out of normal hours
• Low computer literacy and in some cases  low grasp of english language
• No obvious location for learning

This study explores the processes used to design,pilot and communicate and deliver a successful e-learning  programme in a challenging environment.

For more information about the e-learning awards click here

You can also read about this great implementation on Personneltoday.com as part of their HR in Practice series. This article looks at reactions from the business to a new way of learning and outlines 10 tips from Superquinn's partner Information Transfer.

Information Transfer have also produced 'How to make your e-learning garden Grow' a white paper to share lessons learned from helping e-learning to work more effectively in both Superquinn and last year's widespread award winner The Priory Group.

This article by Jenny Carruth (e-learning age) explains how the silver winners of the 2007 excellence in the production of e-learning content award developed their online solution.

It addresses

The challenges of reaching a dispersed audience

Using innovative learning interventions to engage and motivate

Sustaining interest

The programme has delivered impact in a number of levels - increases in sales and bookings, adoption of the programme outside of the UK and industry recognition.

You can also hear from Michelle Russell and David Chidley - the Training Managers behind this programme outlines some practical ideas behind their success in our online 'Simply the best' interviews.

London Gifted and Talented were e-learning award winners for project team of the year in the public sector. They developed effective learning networks to support some of the busiest and difficult to reach learners in the workplace - teachers!

London Gifted & talented have the responsibility of providing resources and education to teachers that equips them to challenge talented young people in their schools

One participant said “Over the years I have attended many courses and been involved in lots of distance learning, but I can honestly say this has been the most valuable and worthwhile learning experience I have been involved in for a long time.”  

The case study describes in detail the nine key elements behind the success of their learning communities.

1.  Blend

Blend  on-line collaboration with face-to-face events; specifically start programmes with face to face events. If that is not possible use a virtual classroom for synchronous meeting.

2 Lead by example

Tutors set good examples in use of the on-line facilities as well as content knowledge and learning skills; the opportunity for setting that example is in meetings (either face-to-face or synchronous virtual events) where learners can be shown how to use on-line discussion tools and be encouraged to blog, post comments and get over the hurdle of initial participation.

3 Gain Committment 

Gain commitment not just between tutor and learner but between learners. Learners agree to share their experiences. The meetings are the time to do that; where learners promise to try out new ideas and share their experiences, promise to each other as well as the tutor.

4. Actively Guide

Tutors actively lead and focus discussions. They are “guides on the side” rather than “ages on the stage”. They are well supported by simple but accurate administration.

5 Keep Focus

Each discussion has a tightly defined purpose. The tutor ensures that the interactions between learners 'keep to the point'. Keeping focus heightens the sense of purpose.

6. Keep it short

Each forum lasts for no more than ten or twelve weeks. The temptation with e-learning and self study is to minimise the time spent each week by spreading content over a longer period of time. The experience of training teachers in London to teach gifted children is the reverse. Short intense periods of activity work best.

7. Ensure Relevance 

Ensure all activities and discussions are directly relevant to the job. Relevance to work is one factor that has surfaced repeatedly in the Towards Maturity research and case studies. For engagement in learning communities it is essential that learners realise early on that the activities that learners participate in are part of their normal day to day job; the only extra work is typing in their experiences into the discussion threads and blogs; in return getting the lessons and experiences of everyone else, a twenty fold return on their input.

8. Give Expert Input

Providing expert input at different stages of learner’s development. Learners value expert input, the “sage on the stage”. At an early stage of the learning community more input is needed but tutors reduce and modify their input as learners become more confident changing their roles to that of encouragement rather than tutoring.

9. Ensure Accessibility (at all times) 

Websites must be accessible. All learning communities should be available to all so compliance to accessibility guidelines is mandatory. The website should always be available and error free. Functionality should be straightforward and consistent.

Download the study for more detail.

London Gifted and Talented will also be taking part in the e-Learning Network event on Building Learning Communities on the 18th of April - click here for more detail

This intriguing case study provides insight on how IKEA have started to address the issue, changing attitudes throughout the organisation to improve stock availability, increase overall profitability but most importantly to improve customer satisfaction.

No mean feat in a multinational global workforce.

In partnership with Brightwave, IKEA established 7 key learning objectives for the project, along with 4 KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) and the resulting programme is based on a detective-style mystery, with learners having to explore a virtual IKEA store to find out what’s happened to some missing stock! Learners pick-up clues as they go, some of which are designed to throw them off the scent!!

Take a look.

This case study shows how Uniaid worked with stakeholders to address  financial issues that deterred students from entering into higher education.

 This study shows how the organisation went forward to engage 2.3 million learners in their programmes and covers:

• Involving stakeholders in design
• chosing appropriate learning interventions to suit worried potential students
• Engaging learners with creative marketing approaches
• Assessing effectiveness

The council had to roll out a new system to over 8000 users who all needed to get to grips with the system from day 1. The team needed a solution that was available, suitable for all levels, just in time, refreshing , engaging and that supported the learners by providing them the chance to ask questions.

 This study highlights how the council

• used tools to create learning interventions that were suited to their audience
• Provided 24hr support
• backed their programme with extensive marketing  and communication support

It also outlines the benefits of their implementation.

 This case study, shows that you don't need a big budget to achieve great results with technology. The study highlights:

• How they used learning managment systems
• Creating their own content quickly to deal with unique requirements
• Using informal learning resources to equip managment and politicians

They also outline some of the financial benefits of their investment .

This case study contains useful lessons for any organsiation looking to build new technical and proceedural skills within a multilingual community where learners can't get to the classroom.  It shows how the effective use of appropriate technology can help an educator be more responsive to employer needs.

• Practical insights shared include:
• Processes for working closely with the business community
• Validating your learning solution
• Supporting learners 
• Developing skills of learning professionals

This implementation has been shortlisted for The Institute of IT Training's e-learning project of the year.

Core competencies for working in this strategic environment were established and a new learning programme was established and facilitated virtually across global boundaries. 

The 2 month blended learning programme introduced busy managers to working virtually and included a range of virtual technologies in its delivery:

• Web seminars on key leadership issues
• Telephone coaching
• Social networking team room
• Action learning sets
• Use of collaborative tools

As part of this programme, the learners defined their own requirements and were able to reflect on their  own working practices. As a result they started to build in alternative communication processes in their day to day work which released time to help them work strategically.

This case study also contains practical lessons for others who are interested in using low cost (or free) virtual tools within their leadership programmes.

The E-learning underpinned a company expansion in a changing regulatory environment that would have been unsupportable without it.

Existing trainer staff were redeployed to higher value training. Staff retention improved by 15%, NVQ Level 2 qualifications delivered in 4 months rather than 10 months, employee expansion of 2,000 a year, trained and assessed for competence immediately on joining.

The investment paid for itself within 6 months but more importantly improved the level of care, simplified compliance, enabled increased recruitment and got people through induction and into profitable work faster.

 The NHS piloted e-skills Uk's ITQ qualification. designed to demonstrate staff's competence in the workplace. The qualification is customisable to specific business needs and the employees in the pilot appreciated the fact that the skills that they used in their day to day job ( such as working with the patient record system) counted towards their qualification.

 This case study highlights some practical aspects of how relevant qualifications can be delivered into the work environment.  Specific highlights included:

• The use of the online e-skills passport - issued to each candidate to target appropriate learning interventions for their job & providing a record of all relevant learning regardless of source.
• A light touch assessment process was pioneered where candidate competence was assessed on the job through an uncomplicated 'witness statement'. The nominated witness then recorded satisfactory staff completion in the passport and the online passport was then accessed by the awarding body who then issued the qualification.

Chris Bamford, Director of Leadership, NLIAH said: "I believe that the pilots will provide insight into a new way of delivering IT training, especially for front-line staff."

 click here for more details

The video provides useful food for thought  for any learning provider looking to engage with small businesses.

The video was taken as part of the e-learn2work project and provides insights on how e-learning decisions are made from the perspective of the Financial controller and HR Manager.

It also outlines how a learner responded to this new way of learning at work.

click here to view

This case study looks at how the SPS learning team built on their previous e-learning successes to develop a blended learning programme.

This case study outlines their process for development and strategies for engaging learners to deliver success recognised both at home and abroad.

 Download

Richard West, Head of Organisational and e-learning at BAE Systems has combined vision and hard work over the past few years to use technology to deliver practical solutions for a staff of over 100,000 operating across 5 continents. When we met recently, he shared some of the practical challenges he faced in his journey of turning a learning strategy into a reality.

 This case study looks at the initial introduction of e-learning to improve flexibility and accessiblity and how the initial offering has evolved to meet changing business needs. It provides useful insights for any learning professional looking to support diverse business needs and engage busy learners at work.

Richard also shares 10 top tips for success.

This case study outlines how they introduced a new simulation process that allowed subject matter experts to create content suited to the 127,000 strong audience.

Download 

The work of DWP and Xor received a special mention in the e-learning awards for innovative technology sponsored by e-learning age magasine and the e-learning network

See how this innovative use of e-learning has delivered the following benefits:

• Reduced help desk enquiries
• Motivated staff
• engaged line Management

Download 

Virgin Atlantic Airways ( together with partner EBC) are the winners of the e-learning award 2006 for a project delivering the most tangible return on investment.

 This case study highlights how the VAA team developed a blended learning  approach to deliver health and safety training for cabin crew.  It outlines how they developed the programme and both the expected (and unexpected benefits that it delivered).

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UKI Partnerships, part of RBS Insurance is an extraordinary business.From its inception in 2000, it has grown rapidly to become one of the country's leading general insurance and motoring assistance partnership providers, serving millions of customers in partnership with brand leaders across all the major sectors.

Finding and keeping contact centre and support personnel proves to be a growing problem for business’s, and therefore was an area that UKI Partnerships were keen to address. They wanted to increase staff retention by becoming an ‘Employer of Choice’, and to be able to provide a mechanism for reward and recognition for the work that contact staff do on a daily basis

This case study shows how UKI Partnterships partnered with work based learning provider, JHP Training, to deliver a customer service qualification. E-NVQs were used to deliver learning at the point of need and to minimise time away from work.  The study includes excerpts from a detailed evaluation of the programme and highlights the impact on the business.

The Prosecution College is the central hub for learning and development opportunities in the CPS, which all employees can access via the portal. This case study outlines the phased approach to implementing the programme, the strategies for engagement and the resulting take up by learners.

The Crown Prosecution Service and its providers, Futuremedia were shortlisted in the e-learning awards 2006.

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Company: BT

'Foundations for Growth'  was introduced to support a rapidly growing business. This corporate online programme was set up to:

• Support corporate vision and goals
• Provide greater consistency
• Improve managment and reporting
• Increase efficiency

Download this case study to find out what they did.

This case study report describes the process by which the on-line assessment system had been designed for the "Polymers On-Line" pilot (now re-titled Learnplastics.com) – and attempts to do so in a way which will be helpful to others following in the steps of the Polymer National Training Organisation.

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First posted June 05

first posted July 07

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First posted June 05

Click here for more details

first posted Oct 05

This was the first time an attempt had been made to establish a learning network across a range of companies in an industry. The Ceramic Industry Forum (CIF) were tasked to deliver the project. As a DTI supported industry body, CIF would be able to manage the interface between ACTD, UALS, DfES and other potential stakeholders including LSC and, most importantly, companies within the industry.

The project has recruited enthusiasts for learning and brought them together in a single cross-company network, regardless of position or grade. They promote skills development in their companies through partnership and networking, creating added value that is already being shared and replicated among new companies joining the network. By August 2005, the learning network had enrolled 2,500 individual learners. The average saving or added value provided by each team has been at least £25,000. This represents a total saving of £750,000 for the six pilot companies in the first year – from CI teams alone. In future years the spreading use of CI teams within the pilot companies should generate savings in excess of £1 million per annum. 

For more details on this case study, click here

first posted Sept 05

This interview investigates how Jim McLaughlin (Head of Learning for the Royal Bank of Scotland Group) is using technologies and how they are impacting both training and development, staff and learners within the group.  He outlines how they are exploring new technologies such as blogs, virtual classrooms, Ipods etc to address different needs via an approach of trial and experimentation.

This interview was conducted with Stephen Walsh at Kineo. Kineo  are one of the work based e-learning virtual advisory members for e-Skills UK.

To download the interview please click here

They were one of the first companies in 2001 to introduce a  Learning Management System to address skills needs across the organisation. However, the evolving business and staff training requirements required a more flexible and more cost effective method of addressing continually changing company wide skills needs. This study details how their requirements had changed and how they migrated to a new system which replaced the functionality of their existing system and met 95% of their new requirements. One of the main benefits included a 65% reduction in operating costs.

William Ward was a key part of the team that led Cable & Wireless into the successful use of learning technologies and in particular rapid e-learning development. This interview details how they got there. William Ward spent the last six years as part of the e-learning team that made it all happen. Now an independent consultant and regular speaker on the learning, technology and talent management circuit, William talks us through his views on rapid development, his experiences at Cable & Wireless, and where he thinks learning technology is headed next.

Download Case Study

Company: Cable & Wireless | Author: SkillSoft

Datmedia and Ambient Performance  have provide a free online and mobile briefing on the use of 'Podcasts, wikis and blogs' for knowledge sharing at the BBC, featuring Head of BBC Training and Development, Nigel Paine.

Nigel Paine is responsible for the training of the BBC's 27,000 staff, and spearheads a multi-million pound operation which provides the vast bulk of the training used by the UK 's broadcast industry. Nigel Paine is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts as well as a visiting Professor at Napier University in Edinburgh.

 The new learning bite titled "Podcasting, wikis and blogs: Learning at the BBC" can be found at http://www.datmedia.co.uk/showcase.htm

To access the online briefing directly click on the links below.

MP3 Audio: Play

For more information,about learning at the BBC,  visit the BBC Training website: www.bbctraining.com/aboutUs.asp

This study shows how SkillSoft can work closely with employers to develop bespoke training courses. The project (completed by collaborative working between Alpha’s group security manager and Skillsoft) ensured that staff was trained quicker, more effectively and more consistently. Results included a competitive advantage with quicker compliance, reliable tracking, effective audit trails, and a 75% reduction in training costs and higher pass rates. This project won a coveted award from the Institute of IT Training.

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This case study was supplied by Skillsoft

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This study shows how a new virtual learning platform mixed just in time learning with access to tutors and peers to support local manufaturing business and improve their productivity.

a useful, short DVD outlining how the technology is being used to address business and learning needs is also available. Please click here to request a free copy of the DVD from V3, the company behind the platform.

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Company: V3 and others

This study outlines how technologies have been creatively used to manage and deliver blended learning programmes that are specifically tailored to BMW's needs and provides comments from learners and staff.

 Since the publication of this study BMW have been winners in the e-learning awards 2006

Whilst we completed this study in 2006, I have still not seen very many programmes that compare with the Frontline blended learning approach which includes in the innovative use of mixed media in a learning programme specifically designed to address behavioural change. Many say that online media are just not suitable for encouraging new attitudes and behaviours but this study proves them wrong! 

This study is for anyone interested in skills innovation at all levels of responsibility from directors and trustees to managers, workers and trainers.  It looks at how online media can be combined to addres customer service behaviour:

The challenge

• The need to fundementally change behavior of library staff - moving out from beind the desk to engaging with the public in order to encourage reading. 
• Dispersed audiences working in very different circumstances ( rural through to inner city)
• No face to face training resources avaialable
• Little experience of online learning with staff
• Staff with varied backgrounds and shift patterns.

The solution

• a blended learning approach that focus on methods of learning first , then media to deliver learning 
• direct application in the workplace via a series of work based tasks for staff to complete
• online reflection to assimilate good practice ( and get feedback) 
• online support by a supervisor who has also been through the programme
• a cascade model of support for learners

Whether you are interested from the direct perspective of the library sector itself or are providing in work based e-learning in other sectors, the Case Study contains an array of transferable messages, good practice, processes, hints and tips.

The Frontline case study is published in several parts:

The Executive Summary

The main findings of the detailed research looking at the blended learning methodology and impact, including recommendations both for the library sector and beyond.

A shortened version of the Case Study which was reported in the June issue of eLearning Age magazine.

The case study investigation was written in 2006 by a team of researchers at e-skills UK from research conducted with line managers, learners and supervisors who had been involved with the programme. 

NHS Connecting for Health manages the NHS Basic IT Skills (ECDL) Service. This offers basic IT learning materials and testing to NHS employees across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. With over 120,000 registered learners and over 350 learning and test centres, the program uses two suppliers to provide the services – Spring IT Training and BCS.

See www.ecdl.nhs.uk for more details and the complete case study.

first posted June 05

Special Mention in best use of an LCMS category. E-Learning Awards 2005

How to use a learning content management system effectively.

Blending e-learning with conventional tutor-led courses.

An example of the decision-making process to create content in-house rather than commission content from a third-party.

WavePool, a learning content management system (LCMS) supplied and supported by Brightwave, has enabled ScottishPower to

• decrease the production turnaround of new courses,
• lower production costs,
• improve the quality of the training material, achieve substantial return on investment and savings that total several hundred thousand pounds
• implement e-learning as an accepted, viable training option for ScottishPower as a company.
• produce e-learning content in-house and by blending this with other training interventions, effectively raising the quality of its overall training programmes

The blend of traditional and online learning solutions now effectively supports the company's learning philosophy, which in turn supports the company's strategic aim: to become a leading international energy company.

Read more here.

Winner of acheiving inclusivity for learners of all aptitudes and abilities. E-Learning Awards 2005

“Valuing Ability” was developed to drive home the fact that most disabled people are actually only 'disabled' by society, by the environment and by society’s preconceptions of their ability. 

This project won the category for the Award for the care taken to achieve inclusivity in an e-learn ing programme for users of all aptitudes and abilities at the 2005 e-Learning Awards.  Their submission described how they – together with their e-learning partner, Saffron Interactive – engineered “Valuing Ability” to ensure it not only educated employees about the social, legal and business issues around disability, but also set a standard for designing web-based communications and e-learning to provide true accessibility.

Company: BT | Author: Vaughan Waller/John Hoskison

Starting with just a manned telephone, Computeach’s approach to supporting learners is a model for others to follow.

Many obvious logistical problems had to be overcome but these have been tackled pro-actively.

Their practical use of technology should show others that any form of distance learning is more effective when it is supported by coaching and mentoring.

How Computeach International supports its learners through coaching and mentoring

Computeach has been delivering flexible technology training since 1964.

By today’s standards, the distance learning model employed some thirty years ago seems somewhat primitive, and lacks the sophistication in both technology and learning delivery methodology that is taken for granted today. Comparing today's offering with those of a few years ago shows that the Computeach distance learning method has evolved significantly. Recently however, gentle evolution has accelerated into revolution in terms of tutor support.

Computeach is a commercial training organisation. The people who learn from its courses are typically either employees of client companies or private individuals looking to move into an IT career. In order to keep in touch with all of its students, Computeach has built a comprehensive learning environment capable of accommodating large numbers of people studying a wide range of programmes, all of who have differing learning styles and preferences. 

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Company: Computeach | Author: Vaughan Waller

Over the past two years, the BBC's intranet Gateway has been transformed from broadcasting corporate communications to providing task-based tools which help people do their jobs more effectively. Learning online is no exception.   But with the profile raised, so are users' expectations. In response, Gateway's online training development team has developed its own brand of Learner Centred Design (LCD) - a development of User Centred Design for learning products. This has required structure, to ensure a consistent quality, and flexibility to accommodate the BBC's different-online training needs.

This case study looks at how LCD was used to respond to a major compliance requirement in Editorial Policy training.

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Since the publication of this case study, NOP conducted an annual survey of the editorial policy unit. 500 staff returned surveys and provided useful feedback on the success of the programme:

• 16000 users in 6 months
• 92% found programme useful
• 81% rated the programme good/excellent for demonstrating that guidelines are important part of the BBC
• Only 25% though they hadn't put what they had learned into practice

 (Download NOP document for further details) . As a result the programme formed a model for the BBC's College of Journalism

CLick here to listen to an interview between Charles Jennings and Stephen Walsh of Kineo that outlines his approach to performance consulting and the role of informal learning within Reuters.

Click here to download a case study that looks at Reuters use of Books 24x7 for IT professionals and the impact that this reference ware has had on their organisation.

Company: Reuters