E-learning seeks to match employees with the right technology platform
A decade ago, when e-learning was still new, vendors looking for business would show up at a potential client’s with their product in hand, conduct a demonstration and show how it was implemented. Today, it’s reversed.
The focus is on determining how people in the organization work, and then matching training technology platforms to employee needs. Vendors used to impress people with all the bells and whistles that came with the product. Now, they don’t want anyone to notice the technology behind what the employee is doing.
“You can’t over-emphasize what a mind shift this is,” says Lyndsay Green, Toronto-based e-learning consultant. “It’s a focus on serving the needs of learners or workers rather than the workforce having to accommodate themselves to the platform’s requirements.”
It’s harder to serve the learning market because this changed approach means a lot of time must be spent on needs assessments — by both the vendor and the HR department, says Green. It means determining what’s “mission critical.”
Surveying employees is part of the process, and getting input also helps build learner acceptance into the e-learning plan. HR needs to ensure that employee buy-in occurs, says Green.
“First impressions can kill you. People have an innate ability to be time- and cost-effective at work. They can make sophisticated measurements about what it takes to use e-learning. You have to be careful about usability and cost-effectiveness from the user’s point of view. Will the employee get more out of it than it costs them to use it?”
In conjunction with determining employee needs, the technology platform chosen (software, CD-ROMs, Web-based programs, live videoconferencing) will be affected by an organization’s current technology, as well the technology upgrades HR and the IT department can envision.
HR and IT need to work together to review e-learning platforms in the context of the organization’s technology infrastructure.
“HR working in isolation of the IT department is problematic. Learning itself can’t provide the business case,” says Terry Lister, partner, human capital management at IBM Business Consulting Services.
Building a business case for e-learning means examining the technology that exists and having a vision for the future.
“Choosing the best e-learning blueprint is a combination of vision versus what you already have,” says Lister.
Keep in mind e-learning is not everything, she says. A blended model — not just a mix of technology platforms, but also classroom and other forms of learning — is best.
Choosing the right platform
Appropriate platforms are essential to the success of e-learning.
“Early adopters often opted to build it and hope they will come,” says Jill Proctor, principal consultant, human capital management at IBM Business Consulting Services.
“This is particularly true about e-learning libraries. They are still out there and provide value to companies, but companies are being more strategic about the options they offer.”
The big advantage to e-learning is that employees can access it whenever they want to. Therefore, an anywhere-anytime framework is a driving force in any e-learning offering.
As for the size of an organization and available resources, while smaller firms have an ability to overhaul technology infrastructures more easily than large firms that have to change and update technologies for large numbers of employees, larger firms will benefit from economies of scale.
The process of surveying employees, determining employer requirements and then selecting appropriate technology platforms is illustrated in e-learning projects developed for workers in Canada’s construction, textile and hospitality sectors.
Construction Sector Council chooses CD-ROM platform
The Construction Sector Council turned to e-learning to help its member companies train pipeline construction workers on new requirements for safety certification. The need was driven by compliance and, because the oil industry is facing labour shortages with pipeline construction workers in short supply, it was important to get people up to speed quickly.
Rather than simply presenting an e-learning platform for workers, the council first talked to workers and end-users to find out what would work best for them.
Pipeline workers are at remote sites, with no or limited Internet access, so the visual components needed to show safety situations could not be on a Web-based platform. The council also wanted proof of individual identities of people working toward certification.
There was a broad-based certification for construction workers in general that was recognized in Alberta. That training program, developed by the Alberta Construction Safety Association, was available on CD-ROM and construction workers reported having good experiences with the product. Having analysed needs and consulted with employers and employees, it was decided CD-ROM was the best platform for the new safety certification course.
Textiles HR Council opts for live Web casts
The Textile Human Resources Council has taken the learning-centre route, where individual companies set up centres on their premises where employees can use computers for training and development. This provides access to a variety of platforms.
Textile companies are opting for live Web-casts that demonstrate use of machinery or a process. Experts are thus able to share their knowledge with trainees in different locations.
This works better than asking training experts to create a CD-ROM, which is much like shooting a movie, with trainers coming into the studio. Asking an expert to produce a CD may not be up the person’s alley. The production value can seem unprofessional, particularly compared with a live demo that comes off naturally, and can then also be archived and burned onto a CD.
After a live Web-cast demo, learners can send text questions via e-mail. The trainer responds, and a Web blogging format compiles the teacher-student messages into a course diary. (For more on blogging visit www.hrreporter.com, select “Advanced Search” and enter article #2779.) This is an example of how learning can really blend together using different platforms — Web-casting, CDs, text e-mail.
Companies can also rent e-learning solutions. Small and mid-sized firms can get Web-conferencing for a monthly fee; organizations just need to make sure corporate computer systems are fast enough.
Hospitality training best served through low-speed technology
How does technology reach employees without access to the best technology and the Internet?
That was the problem Toronto-based, non-profit organization Smart Serve Ontario faced with a Web-based training program to educate restaurant and bar staff about serving alcohol responsibly. Smart Serve already had a video-based product and workbook, and wanted to offer an e-learning solution. Making the training technology available to any employer in the province meant looking for a platform that would satisfy not only sophisticated systems in large enterprises, but also reach small employers with little or no computer resources.
“We tried to make it the lowest bar possible for the format,” explains Smart Serve executive director Diane Stefaniak. “We surveyed our clients two years earlier and found a lot didn’t have a computer, many that did were not connected to the Internet, and others with a computer wouldn’t give it up for employee training. So we decided we had to plan for staff using public computers at libraries or their home computers to receive this training.
“There wasn’t going to be a lot of infrastructure support. We also wanted to reach remote areas of Ontario, many of which still don’t have high-speed Internet access. We had to determine what was the lowest possible level to get these people online.”
Program designers created an e-learning product that would use dial-up rather than high-speed Internet connections, and that would function without requiring the latest versions of computer operating systems or Web browser software. Design focused on compatibility with a Windows operating system. A video component was designed to operate with low resolution so that it can easily be brought up on dial-up connections.
While Smart Serve has attempted to make its e-learning solution work with simpler systems, Stefaniak notes that compatibility is a problem no matter what route you take.
“With Internet browsers you can have the latest version of Explorer and find that graphic elements in an e-learning program are better displayed with an earlier version. There’s no 100-per-cent method to ensure compatibility.”
The focus is on determining how people in the organization work, and then matching training technology platforms to employee needs. Vendors used to impress people with all the bells and whistles that came with the product. Now, they don’t want anyone to notice the technology behind what the employee is doing.
“You can’t over-emphasize what a mind shift this is,” says Lyndsay Green, Toronto-based e-learning consultant. “It’s a focus on serving the needs of learners or workers rather than the workforce having to accommodate themselves to the platform’s requirements.”
It’s harder to serve the learning market because this changed approach means a lot of time must be spent on needs assessments — by both the vendor and the HR department, says Green. It means determining what’s “mission critical.”
Surveying employees is part of the process, and getting input also helps build learner acceptance into the e-learning plan. HR needs to ensure that employee buy-in occurs, says Green.
“First impressions can kill you. People have an innate ability to be time- and cost-effective at work. They can make sophisticated measurements about what it takes to use e-learning. You have to be careful about usability and cost-effectiveness from the user’s point of view. Will the employee get more out of it than it costs them to use it?”
In conjunction with determining employee needs, the technology platform chosen (software, CD-ROMs, Web-based programs, live videoconferencing) will be affected by an organization’s current technology, as well the technology upgrades HR and the IT department can envision.
HR and IT need to work together to review e-learning platforms in the context of the organization’s technology infrastructure.
“HR working in isolation of the IT department is problematic. Learning itself can’t provide the business case,” says Terry Lister, partner, human capital management at IBM Business Consulting Services.
Building a business case for e-learning means examining the technology that exists and having a vision for the future.
“Choosing the best e-learning blueprint is a combination of vision versus what you already have,” says Lister.
Keep in mind e-learning is not everything, she says. A blended model — not just a mix of technology platforms, but also classroom and other forms of learning — is best.
Choosing the right platform
Appropriate platforms are essential to the success of e-learning.
“Early adopters often opted to build it and hope they will come,” says Jill Proctor, principal consultant, human capital management at IBM Business Consulting Services.
“This is particularly true about e-learning libraries. They are still out there and provide value to companies, but companies are being more strategic about the options they offer.”
The big advantage to e-learning is that employees can access it whenever they want to. Therefore, an anywhere-anytime framework is a driving force in any e-learning offering.
As for the size of an organization and available resources, while smaller firms have an ability to overhaul technology infrastructures more easily than large firms that have to change and update technologies for large numbers of employees, larger firms will benefit from economies of scale.
The process of surveying employees, determining employer requirements and then selecting appropriate technology platforms is illustrated in e-learning projects developed for workers in Canada’s construction, textile and hospitality sectors.
Construction Sector Council chooses CD-ROM platform
The Construction Sector Council turned to e-learning to help its member companies train pipeline construction workers on new requirements for safety certification. The need was driven by compliance and, because the oil industry is facing labour shortages with pipeline construction workers in short supply, it was important to get people up to speed quickly.
Rather than simply presenting an e-learning platform for workers, the council first talked to workers and end-users to find out what would work best for them.
Pipeline workers are at remote sites, with no or limited Internet access, so the visual components needed to show safety situations could not be on a Web-based platform. The council also wanted proof of individual identities of people working toward certification.
There was a broad-based certification for construction workers in general that was recognized in Alberta. That training program, developed by the Alberta Construction Safety Association, was available on CD-ROM and construction workers reported having good experiences with the product. Having analysed needs and consulted with employers and employees, it was decided CD-ROM was the best platform for the new safety certification course.
Textiles HR Council opts for live Web casts
The Textile Human Resources Council has taken the learning-centre route, where individual companies set up centres on their premises where employees can use computers for training and development. This provides access to a variety of platforms.
Textile companies are opting for live Web-casts that demonstrate use of machinery or a process. Experts are thus able to share their knowledge with trainees in different locations.
This works better than asking training experts to create a CD-ROM, which is much like shooting a movie, with trainers coming into the studio. Asking an expert to produce a CD may not be up the person’s alley. The production value can seem unprofessional, particularly compared with a live demo that comes off naturally, and can then also be archived and burned onto a CD.
After a live Web-cast demo, learners can send text questions via e-mail. The trainer responds, and a Web blogging format compiles the teacher-student messages into a course diary. (For more on blogging visit www.hrreporter.com, select “Advanced Search” and enter article #2779.) This is an example of how learning can really blend together using different platforms — Web-casting, CDs, text e-mail.
Companies can also rent e-learning solutions. Small and mid-sized firms can get Web-conferencing for a monthly fee; organizations just need to make sure corporate computer systems are fast enough.
Hospitality training best served through low-speed technology
How does technology reach employees without access to the best technology and the Internet?
That was the problem Toronto-based, non-profit organization Smart Serve Ontario faced with a Web-based training program to educate restaurant and bar staff about serving alcohol responsibly. Smart Serve already had a video-based product and workbook, and wanted to offer an e-learning solution. Making the training technology available to any employer in the province meant looking for a platform that would satisfy not only sophisticated systems in large enterprises, but also reach small employers with little or no computer resources.
“We tried to make it the lowest bar possible for the format,” explains Smart Serve executive director Diane Stefaniak. “We surveyed our clients two years earlier and found a lot didn’t have a computer, many that did were not connected to the Internet, and others with a computer wouldn’t give it up for employee training. So we decided we had to plan for staff using public computers at libraries or their home computers to receive this training.
“There wasn’t going to be a lot of infrastructure support. We also wanted to reach remote areas of Ontario, many of which still don’t have high-speed Internet access. We had to determine what was the lowest possible level to get these people online.”
Program designers created an e-learning product that would use dial-up rather than high-speed Internet connections, and that would function without requiring the latest versions of computer operating systems or Web browser software. Design focused on compatibility with a Windows operating system. A video component was designed to operate with low resolution so that it can easily be brought up on dial-up connections.
While Smart Serve has attempted to make its e-learning solution work with simpler systems, Stefaniak notes that compatibility is a problem no matter what route you take.
“With Internet browsers you can have the latest version of Explorer and find that graphic elements in an e-learning program are better displayed with an earlier version. There’s no 100-per-cent method to ensure compatibility.”
