Combating waste in more ways than one

It's a big theme in the learning world, combating waste and maximising training spend.  But it's also become a big theme in everyone's daily lives as well - recycling, fuel efficient cars, saving power - we are bombarded with these messages every day.  So when Waste Recycling Group, who are the national waste management company providing a range of cost and environmentally effective processing, recycling and energy recovery solutions began to put together their vision for learning and development, waste of budget or resources simply wasn't an option.  It would have gone against the grain somewhat! 

Derek Chatting, the Group's Training Manager, had e-learning firmly in his sights as part of his learning vision, 'Having a high end delivery platform our our e-learning was a big part of our vision, so I began discussing the idea of an LMS internally.  It was important to get buy in from our senior management and they have been fantastically supportive.'  As a way of delivering training cost effectively across 161 sites, it was a no brainer.  But he also realised it was a good way of achieving his mandate to increase Health and Safety awareness amongst staff and ensure compliance with their legal safety requirements.  So from creating their e-learning using a rapid authoring tool and distributing it via CD-ROM on discs the training team burned themselves, the Group implemented Kallidus LMS as an enterprise wide system.  As well as delivering and tracking e-learning, Kallidus is now used to manage and book all their classroom training courses, map skills and competencies to 350 different job roles, and manages their internal accreditations scheme. 

Their story has all the more resonance for overcoming the cultural obstacles that might well have prevented e-learning adoption within the organisation.  Most staff do physically demanding, manual work - far removed from sitting at a desk - and many are not regular PC users.  But with support from senior management cascading down throughout the company, staff were encouraged to try the e-learning and reminded of the learning opportunities through an internal communications campaign.  And now up to 1,000 staff members refreshing their Health and Safety e-learning every 6 - 8 weeks. 

It's an example of how e-learning can work somewhat against the odds - tight budgets and cultural difficulties didn't make it an easy journey for Waste Recycling Group, but they are now reaping the dividends of a cost effective solution.  To find out more about learning solutions within the utilties industry and to download your copy of the case study, click here. 

The Learning and Skills Trilogy

The Learning and Skills Trilogy is a new model to help you REACH learners, build business value and manage learning.

At Learning Technologies 2010, e2train director, Martin Belton, will introduce the new learning and skills trilogy model.  This examines why learners, directors and you, the learning professional have such different real world objectives. Using case study material, it demonstrates those differences and provides a framework to enable you to create a learning and performance system that will work for you and your directors. The presentation introduces the REACH theory which explains how you can use new technology to engage learners effectively.

Learning Technologies is Europe's leading organisational learning and learning technology conference.  Now in its 10th year, the conference programme this year is broader than ever with a brand new stream and the chance to here more than 50 speakers and meet over 400 delegates to share experiences on organisational learning and the ever-changing technology used to support learning in the workplace.  Click here to view the full Learning Technologies 2010 conference programme.  In addition, there are over 130 exhibitors (including e2train on Stand 15!) at the Learning Technologies 2010 show, all focusing on learning and development and the use of technology to support workplace learning.  Click here to find out more about the Learning Technologies 2010 exhibition.

We look forward to seeing you there in January.

What will the LMS of the future look like?

Well last week's eLearning Network event, 'New Models for Learning Management', explored this and other issues around learning management, including the question posed by some, 'Is the LMS dead?'  Controversial!

The agenda began with a look an an open source system used by Cambridge University and presented by John Norman, called SAKAI.  It was interesting to see an open source system in action and many of the features mirror those found in commerical systems like Kallidus.  The system is used by numerous universites around the world and includes a lot of functionality specifically for academic research, as well as supporting traditional teaching and learning.  Whether or not it would be a good fit for use in commercial organisations remains to be seen.

Oliver Daly of First Rate Exchange Services, then took us through their online performance management system that links their learning to business and individual objectives and to deliver results.  Christened 'iPlan' this system formed part of an overall change management programme to make performance review and development an ongoing process within First Rate, rather than an annual process that was done because it had to be and it was a certain time of year.  Supported by a comprehensive internal communications programme to promote the system and its underlying objectives of developing staff, setting objectives and moving the whole organisation forwards, the anecdotal feedback has been extremely positive and Oliver's done a great job of implementing a system that really works for his organisation.

Next up was e2train's very own Martin Belton who examined 'Managing Learning in an Informal World'.  The slides from Martin's session will be available to download from the website very shortly and his commentary on the importance of not only embracing informal learning, but managing it effectively via a Learning Management System was of great interest to the eLearning Network members.  The results of a recent survey of L&D professionals, done in conjunction with the Learning and Skills Group, revealed that the priorities for a LMS are1) A dynamic home page2) Access to social learning3) Learner communications and networking4) The ability to set and define competencies5) Detailed reportingMartin also made the point that all forms of learning are important, whether they are formal or informal, but that the vital point to remember as we move forwards is to demonstrate the value of learning and how it contributes to organsational performance. 

After lunch, eLearning Network committee members Barry Sampson and Matt Brewer got the attendees to do a bit of work in scoping their ideal LMS.  By looking at requirements from four key perspectives within an organisation - the learner, the L&D department, the IT department and the board of directors - key features and functionality began to emerge.  Conversations around everything from front end features to hosting to 'code forking' (which was a new term discovered on the day!) revealed the complexities that can be involved in choosing and implementing a Learning Management System.  Look forward to the final findings being published soon by the eLearning Network and of course, we'll publish them here for your perusal. 

Fiona Leteney, of Feenix Consulting, then finished the day with a session asking 'Do you get what you pay for?' which can obviously be a contentious issue when discussing Learning Management Systems.  She also refuted the claim that the LMS is dead as she has first hand experience working with numerous organisations where their Learning Management Systems and strategy are making a real difference.  Fiona questioned whether some organisations simply go for the brand of an LMS - likening it to food purchased in Aldi versus Marks and Spencer.  If they weren't told the brand name when they looked at the software, could organisations really tell the difference between the expensive and the mid-market?  The term 'reassuringly expensive' is one it seems applies to some organisations i.e. if it costs more it must be better.  But of course the flip side of this is some organisations will purchase the cheapest system they can in what often ends up being a false economy when they run into issues or have additional requirements further down the line.  It was an interesting debate and the conclusion would seem to be that it is incredibly important to a) do your homework, b) look at other organisations in your sector who have worked with the LMS providers you are speaking to, c) ensure you have a good working relationship with your LMS provider and d) make sure the model fits your organisation's needs now....and for the forseeable future. 

It was a great event and as soon as the slides are available on the eLearning Network site the link will be posted here.  It would be great to get your thoughts and comments on how the LMS of the future should look and what your new models for learning management would be.  Comment below if you'd like and to see a preview of e2train's new platform, Kallidus 8, email sales@e2train.com to book onto one of our free webinars coming up over the next couple of weeks. 

eLearning Network event: New Models for Learning Management

e2train is delighted to be involved in the next event of the eLearning Network.  The eLearning Network (eLN) is a non-profit organisation run by the e-learning community for the e-learning community.  It's a great source of guidance on best practice and future trends in technology-based learning and development at work, with more than 1500 members in the UK and beyond.

 Having been to eLN events in the past and found them to be enjoyable, informative and full of interesting people to talk to, this upcoming event is an exciting opportunity for e2train to actively participate and give back to the e-learning community.  The event is called 'New Models For Learning Management' and will be an exploration of how the landscape has changed within L&D.  It will take a look at the variety of platforms and approaches available to support different aspects of learning and will find out how leading organisations are using a range of tools, commercial, open source and hosted. There will also be the opportunity to explore what the next generation of learning management tools should look like.

With talk of trends like talent and performance management, and informal learning permeating almost every discussion about learning and development today, it will be great to have the chance to explore how optimum solutions should look and discover what organisations are doing in practice to embrace these concepts and integrate them into their learning strategies.  For e2train, with the recent launch of Kallidus 8 as a platform that supports these initiatives, it will be interesting to hear from other industry experts and end users alike share their thoughts on the future of learning management. 

Click here to find out more about the 'New Models for Learning Management' event which is being held at Holborn Bars, London on 25th September.