Tag: eLearning

To focus or not to focus, that is the question.

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It’s safe to say that almost every small business has been through the process of defining exactly what service or product it provides.  In fact, most market savvy businesses will go through this process multiple times, to stay afloat and keep up with the pace of change.  Questions asked are likely to include whether a business should… 

  • Focus on a core service or product?
  • Broaden the offering and capture a bigger share of the market?
  • Specialise in one industry or have a general understanding of many?
  • Offer a one off service or something that needs an ongoing contract?

The answers to which are all critical for any business to know.

One thing we have learnt in almost 20 years of trading is that small companies must excel at something!

In our case, we are a digital agency.  More specifically, we’ve refined that down to providing ‘eLearning and digital comms’ for the heavy industries and transportation sectors.  Even more specifically, our specialist topic areas are non-technical skills, railway communications and site induction via our online platform SiteSentinel.

We’ve also learnt that it’s important to say what you don’t do!  This builds credibility and helps clients frame your offering. In our case, we don’t do Public Relations; we don’t do Marketing Communications; and we certainly don’t do print campaigns… 

…except for the fact that we’ve just done a print job! Our offering – digital comms and learning – is pretty well defined, so why have we dipped our toe in the print pond? The answer is simple: it made sense for the client.

The rail client wanted a set of cards designed and printed that workers could use to learn about non-technical skills.  The project was required within an existing programme of work that we were involved in and we were well placed to deliver it.  We used our knowledge of non-technical skills in the rail industry and combined that with our experience of creating and delivering eLearning programmes, to design the set of educational cards.

And now comes the critical part… we then brought in a partner company and leaned on their specialism – printing!  In this case the excellent print management company Birch Print – who printed a beautiful set of client-ready cards.

So, what’s the moral of the story?  Defining what you do, and don’t do, is key to attracting customers and making sales.  However, sometimes a job might come along that you are well suited to – just with a little expert help.  So it would seem that specialising, whilst remaining open to possible new opportunities through collaborating with trusted business partners, provides the best of both worlds.

Why Use Voiceover, Graphics and Text Content in E-learning?

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At Lucid HQ we often find ourselves creating e-learning content combining graphical, auditory and text-based content – and please let’s bust any myths right here and right now – doing it this way isn’t straightforward!

We certainly don’t do it to ‘pad out’ the learning material or reduce the time spent writing technical text.  In fact, it makes the process of content creation more complex as we gather information from different sources and in different formats.  This is time consuming, and can also be costly, so it’s not something we would readily opt for!

However, recently a big customer asked us “Can we remove the voiceover and graphics from our e-learning and just stick with the text?”.  In responding to the client, it made us carefully consider exactly why we do this…

You might be familiar with the “cognitive load” concept… we’ve certainly highlighted it in other blogs because it’s key in the world of training.  It’s the notion that when we learn new information it must be stored in our working memories until it’s fully processed and passes into our long-term memory.  However, our working memory is a crowded place, and if too much information is presented we run the risk of losing it altogether.

However, there’s a little trick termed the “modality effect” – which means if information is presented in different formats or ‘modes’, then our working memory can hold on to more – because it reserves a separate space for processing visual data and another space for auditory data.  So, by using both visual and auditory stimuli in e-learning packages, we improve the trainee’s chance of avoiding cognitive overload and embedding new learning.

Building on the scientific basis, let’s face it, people also just have different learning preferences and by presenting information using a variety of mediums it keeps people’s interest throughout.

And finally, we live in a fast-paced world.  With around 40% of consumers not willing to wait more than three seconds for a web page to render before abandoning the site, societal patience levels are at an all time low.  But rushing can cause people to miss critical information.  This is the last thing we want in a training scenario.  So, delivering e-learning using a range of formats forces people to slow down and take the time to steadily digest all the new information.

So, can you see why we take the harder path when developing e-learning content for our customers?!  It may be a longer process for us – but ultimately it helps to improve the learning outcomes for our clients.

Brief Before They Get To Site, Not Once They’ve Arrived

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There’s an old adage in training: “tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you’ve told them.”

Sound a little odd?  Well there’s a sound educational basis for the one-liner – most of us need time to assimilate new knowledge and getting to grips with new concepts requires time.  There is only a certain amount of information that our working memory can absorb in any one training session – in psychology circles this is known as the “cognitive load” – the limited mental capacity that we have for processing new material.

So, why do companies still insist on waiting for contractors to turn up to their worksite, ‘hosepipe’ information at them, walk them around unfamiliar surroundings pointing at things, and then let them loose on site, expecting they’ve fully comprehended everything that’s been said?

The best approach to site induction is to deliver detailed information BEFORE visitors arrive on site, using text, photos, diagrams etc.  Of particular importance is the provision of a site schematic – an overview of the ‘shape’ of the site.  People new to the site will need this to make sense of any site walk-around.  They need a context into which they can place the physical experience of a site visit.

There is also certain information that visitors and contractors might need beforehand, such as: Where is the site?  Which entrance should I use?  How do I get in?  What are the relevant telephone numbers?  What equipment should I bring?  Etc.

Lastly, think of visitors and contractors from outside of high hazard industries like rail.  For example, are they aware of the strict ultra-low alcohol level required by the rail industry?  Would you really expect a contractor, upon arriving at site and being told of the level, to throw their hand in the air and say, “Oops, sorry, I went out drinking last night – I can’t come on site…”  Highly unlikely!

So, we suggest the best worksite induction looks something like this:

  • Step 1 – Online briefing and test before arrival;
  • Step 2 – Quick verbal test and correction of any incorrect test results;
  • Step 3 – Site walk-around to reinforce and embed information.

What are your experiences?

Assisted Delivery: Guidance On Implementation

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In our last blog we discussed the advantages of Assisted Delivery as a training format that ‘self-delivers’ in the same way as E-learning – but is structured in a way that allows a facilitator to dip in and get involved, either leading on particular topics or convening group interactions to encourage social learning and deeply embed new knowledge.

So, what are our top tips for successfully implementing Assisted Delivery?

1. Choose your facilitators wisely

As with traditional face-to-face training, the skills and experience of the trainer is key. However, unlike traditional training, leading Assisted Delivery training does not necessarily require subject specific knowledge.  Instead, the person running the course requires facilitation skills rather than subject matter expertise.  Therefore, a strong team leader or line manager with basic presentation and facilitation skills could comfortably deliver an Assisted Delivery course.  The course materials themselves will cover the subject specifics in depth, with the facilitator’s role being to guide the trainees in their group discussions, enabling them to benefit from social interaction within a learning group.

2. Carefully structure the course

To allow facilitators to get an ‘aerial view’ of the course and understand where the opportunities for class discussions are stored, Assisted Delivery works best with a tightly controlled course structure and content.  Be clear on the topics you want to cover, at what point in the programme you want to cover them, and where trainees might pause for group discussion.

We recently used Assisted Delivery for an international sales programme.  A particular aim of the programme was the implementation of a globally-consistent approach to sales.  However, it was recognised that some practices must be attenuated for specific markets and local cultures.  Assisted Delivery allowed the sales managers to apply local emphasis at particular points in the course whilst also ensuring that the core content was delivered in an accurate and timely manner.

3. Support your facilitators

Although one of the key benefits of Assisted Delivery is that your trainers do not need in-depth subject specific knowledge; they still need support.  Developing and providing detailed delivery notes for facilitators is therefore crucial to success.  Furthermore, peer support outside of the classroom can also provide a much-needed chance to ask questions and refine the approach.  For one project we found setting up a discussion forum for the facilitators was useful.  They actively used it for sharing experiences and FAQs.

4. Encourage feedback from trainees

OK, so we’re not advising anything revolutionary here…but we are highly recommending you seek feedback from training delegates to see what they thought of the Assisted Delivery training: Did everything link together well?; Was the overall structure easy to follow?; Did you benefit from group interaction?; What would be useful next time?