Like many organizations, ours has struggled with “Mandatory Education” compliance. While these annually-required topics, which include information security, privacy, fire safety, safe handling of hazardous materials, can be dry – our learners’ ability to understand and be able to apply the knowledge and skills is critical. When asked why completion is such an issue, our common responses are:
- I’ve been here 10 years and seen the same content each year – I could probably teach it
- I just want the facts – not all the floofy (a technical term) games
- I could read the content in 3 minutes – logging in to the LMS and completing the eLearning takes 20 (too long)
Personal accountability aside, to address this issue, we have expanded our offering to include our traditional interactive version, a PDF based printable text version, and an audio-only (podcast) version (see section screen depicted below). While the amount of time required to build the training has increased – it hasn’t done so dramatically, as we are able to repurpose many of the traditional eLearning assets to create the text and audio based versions.
So far, we’ve gotten a very positive response from this approach – both through comments and in Mandatory Education completions. Our deadline for completion is 5/28/2010 – and so far we are at 57%. I’ll report back with our final stats.
Our plans for the new fiscal year are to move from a traditional Level 2 (mastery test) schema to a Level 3 (application) schema – using our LMS to track our learners’ access of the content – and a sample population to test for application.
Additional Resource: This week’s eLearningTV episode ( http://elearningtv.blogspot.com/2010/05/elearningtv-may-11-2010-lms-learning.html ) addresses the three primary learning styles, and provides some additional suggestions on building and deploying eLearning that addresses the various learning styles prevalent in your organization.
Don Best Practices, Design Tools, Development Tools, Templates
It’s that time of the year again – budgeting! I’ve found this template helpful as I look to assign staff to various projects, and ensure that I have the resources needed to do so. While 2,080 hours is the typical number used by Accounting for a Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff member, I’ve found that 80% of that, or, 1,664 hours is much more realistic, when you factor in time off (PPL), meetings and non-project administrative activities. You can feel free to modify as you see fit. Please note, the smiley face is a quick reference to tell you how you’re doing in your plan for each staff member: the smile turns to a frown above 1,664 hours.
I’ve also grouped the activities as follows:
Baseline: Those day-to-day activities that are at the core of your business. For the training department I direct, this includes activities such as delivering New Employee Orientation, and developing and delivering mandatory compliance education, and other trainng classes needed by new staff members.
Client-Driven Activites: These are separated into two groups: client and operating plan. ”Client” are for training programs requested by a specific department. An example of a client request is building a training program for a department-specific application. “Operating Plan” are for training requests tied to a specific [enterprise-wide] Operating Plan initiative. An example of an Operating Plan initiative we are supporting is the reduction of Bloodstream Infections.
HR Operating Plan: These are activities aimed at improving the service(s) my department – HR, and funtion – Learning Services, provide the organization. An example of this is upgrading our Learning Management System (LMS).
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Don Development Tools, Templates
Here’s another template I’ve found to be useful in the Leadership Development vendor selection process.
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Don Evaluation Tools, Needs Analysis, Templates
I’m currently part of a team developing our hospital’s leadership development program. While traditional classroom instruction, eLearning, mentoring and cohorts are included, with budgets tightening, and workload increasing, we are now, more than ever, committed to ensuring learning and development are taking place within the work itself (action learning and stretch assignments). To aid in this work, I’ve created a simple spreadsheet aimed at cataloging the various opportunities throughout the organization. Our overall goal with this tool is to provide our leadership development coordinator with a comprehensive, organization-wide “database” of opportunities for leaders to either demonstrate or develop, while tangibly advancing the work. Fields included are aimed at making it easier to “filter” these opportunities to meet the specific needs of the individual and the organization, and include:
- Name of the Opportunity
- Brief Description of the Opportunity
- Brief Description of the Assignment
- Estimated Time Requirements for the Leader
- Core Competencies (that are needed, and can therefore be demonstrated or developed within the work)
- Tie to our Strategic Plan
- Tie to our Operating Plan
Please note, you can change the drop-downs within each cell from the “DropDowns” tab. If you would like to modify or add more drop-downs, you can find instructions to do so by searching “Create a drop-down list from a range of cells” within Excel’s Help.
While we’ve used action learning and stretch assignments in our leadership development programs in the past, we have never done so to this scale. If you have – please comment on your experiences, best practices and lessons learned. Thanks in advance for your help!
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Don Templates
Statement of Work / Scope Template: This Statement of Work / Scope Template has been particularly helpful – as it describes the project, resources needed, scope etc. in advance of starting the work. Sounds crazy, I know, but I’ve found it’s much easier to take work in than it is to close work out – and that’s usually due to scope creep. This template helps accurately state what work needs to be completed, by whom, by when, etc., and does so in a concise manner. It’s also helpful if you need to share project details with other functions – such as OD, Process Improvement, and Communications.
If you like this form, try using the Training Program Project Plan and Client Sign-Off Template.
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Don Best Practices, Design Tools, Development Tools, Needs Analysis, Templates
