awards case study


How learning design and delivery works in practice Team Gemini worked on analysing performance issues and suggested solutions that involved training/learning in some form. This ensured that the training solutions were aligned well with actual business requirements. They then went on to collaboratively design and deliver courses and simulation


to meet that need. This covered a wide variety of business lines and products. Courses delivered included soft skills, tool usage, technical (system configuration and usage) training, sales training, process training, and industrial training. One example of how this worked in practice involved an evaluation of


Vocollect’s existing learning materials, delivered face-to-face, via virtual classrooms and e-learning. Initial analysis found that they were far too lengthy to be delivered on mobiles, which is core to Vocollect’s business. The Team Gemini specialists from Upside proposed a design approach which involved converting Vocollect’s existing learning content and courseware into short m-learning nuggets called Snippets.


The Snippets were designed to present the core learning objectives and outcomes of the courses in a format compatible with the device of choice, the iPad. IPads were chosen because of the nature of the end users’ roles, which were largely non-office based (eg warehouses, on-field demos), and to also enable users to access the learning on the move or from home. Using Snippets, Vocollect managed to reinforce the knowledge gained during


classroom sessions for its learners and reduced the overall time and cost involved in repeating those sessions. Snippets helped Vocollect to train its employees, partners and end-users in using its products and services by providing access to simple, informative and effective content on the go.


Working globally Given the geographical spread of Vocollect’s operations and Upside Learning’s base in India, individuals from both organisations worked constantly in virtual teams. These virtual teams were able to design and deliver learning interventions at speed and economically. The diversity of the team also added value in the form of multiple social and cultural contexts. The primary challenges with this project involved getting timely reviews from


Vocollect’s subject matter experts. Upside Learning’s team, in India, worked into US morning hours so it could communicate with its counterparts at Vocollect in real-time. Instant messaging tools as well as Skype were used to address any immediate concerns.


Impact Since its formation, Gemini had a major impact in three areas: n Cost and time to market. Moving some of the design and development work to Upside Learning reduced costs for Vocollect’s training team. It also shortened the development timeline for the courses produced.


n Quality. Improved staffing because of a large virtual team meant that designers could focus on improving the instructional quality of the courses designed, and the developers could create effective high quality learning materials.


n Learning management. Training managers were able to manage the delivery and scheduling of training within and outside the organisation with the help of Gemini’s support. The learning management system (LMS) was a critical piece of infrastructure and was leveraged for tracking and certification compliance.


We found that top performing learning organisations are 50% more likely than average to know how to take advantage of the expertise and experience of external providers


e.learning age september 2014


Tips on working collaboratively with external partners


n Don’t be compelled to do everything in-house n Consider what additional value is added by working with external partners n Look for partners, not just suppliers, with long-term vested interest


n Distribute work appropriately – allocate responsibility according to the skills and stakeholder network of each team member


n Work globally – leverage virtual teams around the world to deliver 24x7 service


n Establish joint programme goals that are focussed on outcomes and results rather than products and take-up


n Add extra value to recover costs – develop quality learning that the extended enterprise is willing to pay for.


Delivering more in less time Teaming up with Upside Learning allowed Vocollect to meet and exceed its objectives. Its original goals were: n to provide 25 to 30 new courses to its learners each year n to make those courses engaging and educationally sound n to make them available 24x7 globally.


The formation of the team resulted in an increase in L&D production capacity by more than 50%; increase in the quality of its deliverables, and ability to provide meaningful content to its partners and internal employees. Learners now get between two and four new courses every month. Vocollect made training modules available on the day that products were released, sometimes beforehand, so that learners could immediately get up to speed on its latest technology. This new access to learning also significantly reduced user support costs.


Training the extended enterprise From a business perspective, the formation of the Gemini team allowed Vocollect to support a volume and quality of courseware that enabled it to charge its learners for access to its LMS system. This has resulted in cost recovery for course development as well as better educated partners and employees. It was able to initiate a subscription programme, so that for an annual fee, its partners had unlimited access to all training content. This allows Vocollect to recover some of the development costs of the training courseware. Its partners were satisfied finding the content to be invaluable, especially for employee induction which meant that partners were better able to handle turnover of employees.


Teamwork pays dividends In our own Towards Maturity Benchmark Research we found that top performing learning organisations (eg those delivering the best bottom line impact of learning) are 50% more likely than average to know how to take advantage of the expertise and experience of external providers. Team Gemini showed how this approach works in practice for everyone’s advantage: cutting costs and time to market, improving quality and increasing bottom line profitability.


Laura Overton is managing director, Towards Maturity @Laura Overton


This case story by Towards Maturity is part of its good practice partnership with e.learning age and the E-Learning Awards.


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