Wednesday 11th August 2005
Brighton & Hove City Council has exported the e-Government IDeA training material into SCORM compliant packages to enable it to launch, manage and track the content with its new Kallidus Learning Management System.
The council installed e2train's Kallidus Learning Management System and Authoring Tool after e2train had translated the e-Government content into SCORM compliant packages.
Brighton & Hove made its choice after a two year project which assessed an array of solutions across a broad price range. Kallidus LMS was preferred for its combination of reasonable costs and broad functionality which would enable the council to host, manage and report on its expanding range of on-line learning resources.
Kallidus LMS will also monitor usage of CD-Rom based courseware at Brighton & Hove's existing staff Learning Resource Centre and library. It will be installed within the Council's intranet which has not been previously used for training purposes.
The system has already been piloted with 60 users. A further 50 staff have been enrolled onto NETg ECDL. Initial feedback shows that the LMS has been well received, with users liking the interface and enjoying the self-paced learning and reporting facilities. It is now planned to broaden its reach to 3,500 council staff over the next few years.
To encourage take up of the system, the council has marketed Kallidus during its Adult Learners Week, referring to it on the front page of its own Intranet and promoting it to the staff joining the ECDL courses.
Explained David Guthrie, Brighton & Hove's Learning and Development Manager: "Probably the most important features for the council have been the system's monitoring and tracking tools, but I was also pleasantly surprised that the pilot group and ECDL students found the system's collaboration tools, such as the bulletin board, useful to stay in touch with other learners"
"The LMS has also helped us focus more effectively on our training processes so in future we can ensure vital training in areas such as health and safety are communicated to staff more efficiently" added David.
Kallidus Authoring System is scheduled to be used to adapt the Council's existing induction material for on-line use. Explained David: "We want to make sure that the user's experience is positive and that material is not missed out. This will take some time, but will undoubtedly be worth it long term."
"The service from e2train was very good. In fact our biggest headache was making sure that the council's PCs were up to specification. I have liaised with out corporate IT department to ensure future builds are compatible and consistent". A project manager has been appointed to lead a group with responsibility to identify the training needs of specialist departments such as IT. David and his team also did some additional training, with e2train, to help them fully deploy all the system's administration tools and use Kallidus Authoring.
The council's future plans include catering for the specific training needs of specialist staff such as the Technical Support Help Desk, the addition of KAZ for touch typing tuition, and increasing access to users whose roles do not give regular access to a PC. David's team will also be looking at the privacy issues faced by users undertaking e-learning in large offices.
Martin Belton, Sales & Marketing Director e2train added "Brighton & Hove City Council were a particularly fulfilling customer to work with as they were keen to understand and utilise the full breadth of the system's capabilities. By insisting on making the e-Government IDeA Learning Material fully SCORM Compliant, they have been able to use Kallidus LMS to manage and track learners and facilities to the full, and gain a far broader understanding of the breadth and success of their training.".
About e2train Limited
Founded in 2000 from the training division of Audiosoft Limited, e2train is a leading provider of learning systems and solutions to major organisations around the world. Its products include Kallidus® Learning Management System and Kallidus® Authoring system, as well as reselling products from Questionmark™, Impaticaä and leading content providers such as Thomson NETg, Xebec and Harvard. e2train also provide bespoke content, integration and hosting services.
Other organizations currently benefiting from using e2train solutions include: O2, Ofcom, Chubb Insurance Europe, Bank of Ireland, House of Fraser, Waitrose, South Wales, West Mercia, Kent and Dorset Police, Mencap, Royal Air Force, Slaughter & May, Norton Rose, Carmarthenshire County Council, The Environment Agency.
For more information about e2train and Kallidus®, please visit our website www.e2train.com or contact Martin Belton direct on 01285 883909, email martin.belton@e2train.com.
About Brighton & Hove City Council
Brighton & Hove City Council employs 7,500 staff of which approximately 3,000 are based in schools, 1000 are field based and the rest are office based, having direct access to PCs through their work. There are four main sites and a large number of satellite offices servicing areas such as social care. David Guthrie is the ICT Learning and Development Manager and has been in this role for the last five years. His responsibility lies in two areas, managing a team of IT trainers and establishing a cost-effective e-learning system for the council.
About IDeA learning Pool Material
The IDeA is part of the e-Government initiative and is a wide range of services designed to help councils address their improvement issues, and this includes HTML based e-learning modules. There are now roughly 30 local authorities signed up with a further 60 envisaged by the end of the year. The material comes with a basic authoring tool, and because there are no licensing constraints with learning material produced, it is therefore suitable for sharing with other local authorities.