Staff E-Induction Course (Derby Adult Learning Service)

Derby Adult Learning Service (DALS), in partnership with software developer, REALSENSE Solutions Ltd. (REALSENSE), has developed an online tutor induction course using a flash based learning object.

Summary

Derby Adult Learning Service (DALS), in partnership with software developer, REALSENSE Solutions Ltd. (REALSENSE), has developed an online tutor induction course using a flash based learning object. This case study describes how the course was conceived and used, obstacles they had to overcome, and what its impact has been on the adult learning service as a whole.

Introduction

Organisational information

What were the hardware and software requirements?

Evaluation mechanisms

Barriers and enablers

Impact, outcomes and sustainability

What were the tangible outputs of the project?

Transferability / Portability

Lessons Learnt

Conclusion

 

An independent review of the project, written by Chris Swaine of Becta (the Government's key partner in the strategic development and delivery of its information and communications technology (ICT) and e-learning) is available in full at 'The Excellence Gateway'. The Excellence Gateway is provided and managed by the Quality Improvement Agency for Lifelong Learning (QIA).

You can review the case study on the aclearn / excellence - community learning resource website. You can access the article in full via the Skills Development > Skills Library section or alternatively link to the Derby Adult Learning Service Case Study - Tutor E-Induction Course here directly.

Introduction

Derby Adult Learning Service (DALS), in partnership with software developer, REALSENSE Solutions Ltd. (RealSENSE), have developed an online tutor induction course using a flash based learning object. The seven section e-induction course comprises:

Introduction - A brief overview of the adult learning service with basic guidance and what the user needs to do next

About Us - What the service does, what it provides and it's partners. Who are the learners, what courses can they can learn and where they can learn.

Organisation Structure - The people at the service including the tutors, learner support, admin staff, organisers, co-ordinators & senior management team.

Working for Us - Pay and conditions, holidays and DCC policies and procedures.

Expectations - Tutor responsibilities and the support we provide to our tutors in terms of staff development and training.

Quality Approach - A quality system that works towards continually improving the service DALS provide to learners.

Quiz (Assessment) - A short multiple choice assessment to test trainee's understanding and knowledge of the information provided.

The tutor induction package has been deployed through Derby's learning platform known as DerbyLearn ensuring that it is easily accessible and maintainable. Only registered users of DerbyLearn with the correct login details (such as tutors) are permitted access the e-induction course.

     

    

Organisational information

Derby City Council local authority provides adult and community learning through the Derby Adult Learning Service (DALS) which is part of the local authority's lifelong learning and community division. All of the provision is directly delivered by DALS, and it is funded by the Derbyshire Learning and Skills Council. Courses are offered in 10 areas of learning.

The largest single area covers foundation programmes. Other significant areas include information and communications technology (ICT), hospitality, sport, leisure and travel, visual and performing arts and media, English, languages and communications, and family learning. Since September 2004, there have been 6,200 enrolments on adult and community learning courses. For 2003-04, there were 10,694 enrolments. The head of DALS is responsible for its strategic development. She reports to the assistant director of the lifelong learning and community division, who is one of three assistant directors in the education department. A deputy head of service has general responsibilities including management information. One full-time member of staff and two other staff who job share are senior managers and have specific responsibilities for leading teams of staff.

The family learning manager is jointly managed by the head of adult learning and the head of early years and childcare. There are 28 other managers, 20 of whom work part time, or job share, and have either co-ordination or organisational responsibilities. Most staff with a co-ordinating role are full-time, whereas those with organisational responsibilities work part time. Each senior manager, including the head and deputy head of service, takes the lead in a curriculum area. There are over 220 part-time tutors who teach on accredited and non-accredited courses in over 70 locations across the city.

REALSENSE is a Derby based interactive software solutions company founded in 2000. REALSENSE specialises in next generation interactive software providing solutions for design, visualisation, education, learning, marketing, communication and entertainment. The REALSENSE team has over ten years experience in high quality computer based training, eLearning, management systems, multimedia and virtual reality technology.

What was the staff resource working on the project?

Derby Adult Learning Service has a small recruitment and selection group comprising staff at different levels which meet on a regular basis to discuss specific areas of work. From that group, one member went on to work with the developer and subsequently develop the tutor induction package.

In terms of its implementation and as part of the tracking system, the quality co-ordinator monitors the process and has contact with staff. There is also a parallel mentoring system for new tutors, enabling a close relationship between the mentoring and induction process. This offers a blended approach. Quality assurance is also being built into the process through surveying tutors on their knowledge and understanding. This is partly done through the mentoring process, but also as part of a wider survey process.

The software developer (REALSENSE ) contributed a development team comporising of project manager, programme designer / author and a creative graphics designer. They liaised with Derby's appointed project manager (Brendan Donovan - the quality co-ordinator) throughout the production process. REALSENSE worked jointly with Derby to identify and establish the learning aims and objectives and produced a storyboard and concept design (prototype) which was reviewed and approved before development commenced.

The content author and designer then reviewed the objectives and worked out what and how to present the information on the screen using proven e-learning methodologies and experience from previous projects. Initially, Derby were considering delivering the induction training using a PowerPoint presentation, so the developer was able to take those initial thoughts, interpret them and propose a more visually attractive and dynamic form of delivery involving user participation / interactivity to improve the transfer and retention of information being presented. Hence, the latter interactive e-learning approach took the solution to a more effective level of training.

What was the monetary resource put into the project?

DALS funded the design and development through the LSC's Local Intervention Development Fund [LIDF]. Staff time was match funded. REALSENSE  subsidised the development of the software as they recognised the value and importance of demonstrating good quality e-learning to staff and in being able to promote the benefits of the induction e-learning solution to other education authorities.

What were the organisational implications for the project?

Cultural change for many staff and the impact of the technology on both the organisation and staff.

Choosing a developer was an interesting process. Key elements within the process were:

To ensure any developer was within easy reach to make it easy to have face to face meetings.

Doing an internet search for companies within a 20 mile radius.

The successful developer spent more time listening to what was required, as opposed to 'telling' Derby what it could do for them! It was also interesting in that it was a small company that could offer a more personal service than a large software development house.

There was a 6 week development window.

What were the training implications for the project?

There were no real training implications, other than raising the awareness amongst staff and implementing procedures.

What were the hardware and software requirements?

Access to the internet

Software needed to be uploaded on to the learning platform and tested

The tutor induction package was built using Macromedia Flash with the underlying authoring tool being a .NET platform with Flash embedded within it.

Jim Beizsley, quality and curriculum manager: "Tutors must register with DerbyLearn before they are allowed access to the e-induction course. It must be emphasised that the e-induction course is one part of the induction process and is not a replacement of what was previously paper based training. Hence the e-induction course forms part of a blended learning approach to tutor induction. The course is also available to existing tutors enabling them to perform refresher training as and when they wish."

Evaluations mechanisms

How did you evaluate the project? What project evaluations mechanisms / processes did you put in place to measure the impact and outcomes of the project?

A survey has been conducted with staff who have completed the induction. It is intended to repeat this survey at regular intervals. The survey is intended to cover a wide range of areas, including basic information such as computer and internet / email literacy. The results of the initial tutor online evaluation survey will help inform the management team and their quality assurance processes.

Jim Beizsley, quality and curriculum manager: "As tutors work through the package, the learning object records what the tutor has or has not visited and provides visual feedback upon completion of a chapter, thereby tracking and informing tutors of their progress throughout the learning process."

Barriers and enablers

Technical issues

Because the service has built up a very good relationship with the software developer over a few years, there is a good deal of understanding and trust. The developer understands the culture of the service and the technical issues associated with accessibility and usability.

The package can be used as a standalone model. However, it doesn't then have the online reporting system (using the 'auto email' assessment facility built into the software).

Installation and setup on the DerbyLearn learning platform website. This has been developed using the Moodle VLE.

The SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) elements of the tutor induction package are not yet being utilised by Derby's learning platform although the e-induction software has been built in a way in which SCORM features can be enabled with the minimum of development effort in future. As Derby's requirement was to notify specific people of each tutor's results, the decision was made to produce a bespoke solution tailored to Derby's needs that was compatible with Derby's learning platform (Moodle).

 

Connectivity issues

Not a huge issue as tutors are able to access the staff induction via a number of locations - from home to library or centres. The e-induction course was also designed for optimised fast internet delivery ensuring that the material is delivered quickly and effectively even on a standard dial-up 56k modem connection.

Staff training issues

Very few because the process is managed by the quality co-ordinator who organises and provides information and feedback to tutors with regards to their online tutor induction.

The recipients of the completed staff induction emails only have to input the information into their existing systems.

Within the service there are some staff who are not confident in using ICT and this lack of confidence does impact on their willingness to engage.

However, the service is supportive and support is available, including through basic ICT courses.

Management issues

Because local authorities are large organisations, they often have many different computer systems, a good number of which are not integrated. Whilst they are gradually moving through the e-government process of front and backend integration, the useful training record data generated by the Derby tutor e-induction course is not yet connecting directly to existing management information systems (MIS). This is because Derby's MIS is a legacy system with little or no suitable application programming interface capability.

As the tutor e-induction course has been built using up-to-date modern programming techniques and is SCORM compliant, it can be easily integrated with an up-to-date MIS that has a suitable application programming interface. In addition, the authority has a corporate wide area network (WAN) and a large percentage of the adult learning service is not part of the WAN and this does hinder some opportunities.

Impact, outcomes and sustainability

Organisation and cross department working
Whilst in some respects it is too early to say, because every tutor is going through the process, there is a general consensus that there is now organisational confidence in knowing:

That it provides for a more efficient and effective method of undertaking tutor induction. This includes both staffing and monetary resource savings

The package provides a consistent system of induction with inbuilt tracking system.

What information the staff have been given in relation to policies and procedures.

That it is consistent and that it has been recorded. This removes any potential ambiguities in terms of knowing what staff have or haven't done.

That there is a tracking process built into the induction pack so that the organisation can definitively know what tutors have or haven't worked through.

Using the internet to deploy staff induction.

Jim Beizsley, quality and curriculum manager: "The quiz/assessment section requests the full name of the trainee tutor and the type of tutor application they are making i.e. a general application to the tutor pool or a specific post they are applying for. The prospective tutor is then presented with 10 multiple choice questions. The tutor completing the quiz/assessment is notified at the end if they have successfully passed or failed it. If a tutor does not pass the assessment, they are encouraged to take remedial action and revisit the learning material and refresh themselves with the content that they have not learned fully.

At the end of each assessment, the tutor can review the questions and their answers.

Feedback is provided for every question and they may select an alternative answer in order to try and pass the assessment. The software records how many attempts a tutor has taken to complete each question and this is taken into consideration by the service as a method of improving the quality of the e-induction training and / or as a measure of each tutor's abilities.

The assessment element of the learning object records the tutors details along with their answers and then automatically notifies both the personnel department and the quality improvement team. This notification confirms to the relevant departments within the council, that the tutor has completed their training. The details of each tutor's training record can be reviewed and help in the decision making process that determines how each tutor's application is progressed."

Staff

Tutors working in outreach can have easy access to organisational information at a time and place that suits them, because it has been deployed online. Staff on part time contracts and/or who work in outreach locations are now more aware of organisation polices and procedure. Tutors benefit from getting the same information.

What were the tangible outputs of the project?

Twenty five tutors have now successfully completed the tutor induction with thirty more in pipeline

The tutor induction object has now been created and is being tested as a model that could be easily deployed across the organisation in different contexts.

It can be easily updated.

The tutor induction object is sustainable as it more efficient than a paper based solution and requires less resource to deploy.

Added value as staff across the organisation are improving their own experience of how technology can be used, the use of the Internet and the value of tracking, uniform compliance, whereby tutors have all been through the process.

A confidence by managers that all staff have been through the same processes and received consistent and correct information.

Transferability / Portability

Due to the push towards work based learning, the service believes that this model could be utilised for the authority's 13,000 employees by changing the content as appropriate once it has been proven.

The tutor induction package can be easily disaggregated and new content added or existing content amended, although at present this is done by the developer as it is far more practical and cost effective in this case for them to do so. The alternative would be to allocate and co-ordinate Derby staff to be trained on how to use the authoring software in order to make amendments themselves in future.

If Derby chose to purchase the authoring software, Derby staff could be trained in the use of the authoring tool on how to make changes to the text based content themselves. Integrating graphical and animating content that is optimised for online delivery is a unique skill that may still need to be outsourced (to a developer with the appropriate level of skills and experience such as REALSENSE) in order to ensure that attractive and dynamic interactive content is delivered successfully.

This type of e-learning has the potential to be deployed in a variety of different contexts - for similar staff inductions across other departments, to delivering blended learning (combining e-learning with other forms of training such as instructor led sessions) for different groups of staff.
Jim Beizsley, quality and curriculum manager: "The e-learning can also be used offline and will run effectively from a CD-Rom or floppy disk. However, the automatic notification element of assessment feedback to the quality improvement team and personnel department is obviously not included in the offline version."

The underlying e-learning delivery engine coupled with a Learning Platform / or Learning Management System (e.g. Derby's DerbyLearn.net) is a good proven foundation to meet the needs of administration, delivery and management of similar forms of council training e.g. health & safety induction, diversity & culture, data protection, disability discrimination, equal opportunities, staff development & training, network & information security, organisation policy related training courses etc.

Copyright Issues

In terms of copyright, the text based content of Derby's tutor induction e-learning belongs to the Derby Adult Learning Service. The e-learning graphical content and underlying authoring software and delivery engine is the copyright of the Developer (REALSENSE). As the current content is tailored specifically to the requirements of Derby Adult Learning Service, rolling out a course for other organisations would require discussions with the software developer in order to tailor the training to that particular organisation.

Interoperability

The tutor induction package has been built and delivered to SCORM 1.2 standards, although the SCORM aspects of Derby's Learning Platform are not yet being utilised. In its present state, about 95 per cent of the solution could be used or ported into another SCORM compliant VLE. In terms of the auto email notification facility, some minor configuration would be required in order to make it work effectively for another authority's platform.

The software developer, REALSENSE, have produced their own e-learning course authoring tool called 'PageBuilder'. PageBuilder has been developed using a .NET framework and makes use of Macromedia Flash for both authoring and course delivery.

PageBuilder enables the REALSENSE team to author quickly and easily with the use of proven and successful e-learning page templates that they have built up over a number of years. The authoring software makes use of xml and schemas that drive the text based content ensuring that content can be localised easily. The software also has a narration feature enabling content to be delivered on screen accompanied by audio voiceover.

Key for image

1. Course Contents Viewer showing a hierarchy of the entire course structure showing all chapters, sections and pages.
2. Page Preview showing how that page will look when published / deployed.
3. Page Customisaton allows users to edit the text that appears on the selected page - a preview of the change can be shown in the page preview.
4. Text Field - enables the editing of specific text items on the page.

Lessons Learnt

Were there any critical interventions which affected the project in either a positive or negative way - were any of these down to electronic intervention?

The money had to be spent by a certain date. Due to project timescales, it was necessary to go back to the LSC to negotiate an extension, thus enabling the tutor induction package to be delivered in full as opposed to leaving out functionality due to deadlines.
There was an original plan that a tutor would be able to write this, and that it could be produced in house. However, suggestions were made by a number of Derby's staff including the e-guides, the quality and curriculum management team and the quality co-ordinators to consider the use of more interactive e-learning methods. Steps were taken quickly to explore the option.

Due to this critical intervention, it was agreed that the actual skills requirement would necessitate expert external input by suppliers and that the scope and vision of the project could be expanded.

What have been the most important outcomes of this project and did it achieve what it set out to do?

There is something positive for everyone in the organisation.

Tutors - to have breath and quality of information well presented.

Managers - knowing that they have a quality and consistent information.

Organisation - the benefit of having a system in place that is monitoring quality and a clear and standardised process is improving their quality assurance processes.

What advice would you give to other organisations or tutors wanting to carry out a similar activity?

Take your time and build a project team that brings together appropriate staff who understand the service needs and the developer.

Don't be frightened to go back to the funding body to negotiate an extension to funding if it means that a better quality product or deliverable could be achieved, thus offering better value for money.

Ensure you build in plenty of development time into your project as everything always takes longer that anticipated and even a small hold-up can put everything back.

Find a developer that you can work with who understands the culture of adult learning and has the right level of technical, creative and commercial competence. They must be able to listen to what you want and make the appropriate interpretation on what you are trying to do.

Meet the developer on a regular basis to ensure everything is on track.

In terms of advice to a developer wanting to work with a local authority, the most important advice is to initially ignore the technology, instead listen to what is required and focus on understanding and establishing the key aims and objectives. Simply throwing technology at a problem will not solve it - however, applying technology effectively to a problem you understand will provide a successful solution. In some cases, the use of technology itself is not always the right option.

From a developers perspective, understand the organisation, it's culture and it's processes.Build into your project and financial plans proper maintenance and support contract with the developer in order to manage expectation and understanding.

 

What have you learnt from doing this project/activity - How far have you (or your staff, learners) 'travelled'?

Brendan Donovan, quality co-ordinator was Derby's member of staff who was given responsibility to develop the project. He was energised and enthused to the extent of becoming a real e-learning champion.

Conclusion

This Derby Adult Learning Service e-induction course has demonstrated a range of innovative thinking in terms of creating an online induction method which benefits both the individual tutor and organisation.

It offers a consistent approach so both tutor and organisation can have the confidence that the correct information is being presented. This is linked to a basic online reporting system so that when tutors undergo the assessment element, their information and level of knowledge is collected.

It has obvious savings and at the same time links very closely with Derby Adult Learning Service's learning platform.
Whilst technically there are a range of areas to build on and progress, the money spent on the project offers both the taxpayer and the authority good value for money and an obvious proof of concept.

It is also presented in a clean and interesting way which could well offer a common approach by other authorities across a range of local authority areas.

Notes to Editors:

For more detailed information about the Derby Adult Learning Service e-induction project, contact Jim Beizsley or Russell Bielby.

Jim Beizsley ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Quality & Curriculum Manager
Derby Adult Learning Service
Kedleston Road Centre, 184 Kedleston Road, Derby, DE22 1GT
01332 717898

Russell Bielby ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Managing Director
REALSENSE Solutions Ltd.
Derwent Business Centre, Clarke Street, Derby, DE1 2BU
01332 208500