Multi-device elearning may be a trendy buzzword but there are compelling reasons why businesses are adopting it as a delivery strategy.Creating elearning content that works across the widest possible range of devices can help to address some tricky enterprise challenges. It wasn’t all that long ago that if someone was online they were almost certainly using a PC or a laptop. Today, a huge range of devices and consumer goods are internet-enabled so you can’t make water-tight assumptions about how people are accessing your online content. Of course, smartphones are becoming increasingly predominant but recent research reminds us to take nothing for granted.A study of Sponge UK’s LMS, Launch&Learn reveals that learners are accessing content via 16 different operating systems, evidence of the multi-device world in which we live. For some organisations, the fact that learners are accessing content in this way is cause enough to build the case for multi-device elearning, also known as responsive elearning.But there are also specific enterprise benefits of taking a multi-device approach to elearning, depending on the challenges facing a particular organisation. Here are seven business problems where multi-device elearning could make a difference:  Rapid change or crisisSometimes there is a requirement to deliver elearning quickly and this can be a particular challenge for large, global organisations. There may be a change in direction for the company, perhaps precipitated by the appointment of a new chief executive. Or, there may be a need for swift action following a crisis affecting the reputation of the business. Either way, the speed of the training rollout is an important factor. In this situation making elearning multi-device capable is a real advantage. Employees don’t have to wait for time on a corporate device as they can get the elearning done on whatever device they have to hand. This also allows them the flexibility to complete urgent training when they have the time.  Varied workforce profile Much is written about millennials and their smartphone usage, and it’s hard to argue with the data. More than 85% of 25-35 year olds use a smartphone - the highest percentage of any age group. So for businesses with a largely millennial workforce, it makes perfect sense to offer elearning on mobiles. But many organisations do not have a homogeneous workforce, employing people across a broad range of ages with differing skills, experience and needs. Some employees may be able to do their training on a mobile but with only 70% of 45-55 year olds owning a smartphone, there may be a proportion who cannot. Advances in elearning technology like the Adapt framework allows businesses to develop a single elearning course that can function on practically any device. This makes multi-device elearning a cost-effective option and makes sure all learners are catered for whether they use a smartphone, tablet, laptop or PC to do their online training.  IT pressuresIn some business sectors, large sections of the workforce don’t have access to a desk and a computer. Retail is an obvious example, where employees spend the majority of their time on the shop floor and space for a training office with dedicated PC is at a premium. Other service industries including travel, hospitality and catering have similar challenges in terms of IT access. Making workplace elearning available on a wide range of devices including tablets and smartphones is an obvious way to overcome these IT pressures and allow employees who cannot get to a PC to make full use of elearning and other online training programmes. Poor product knowledge Lack of product knowledge by sales staff can by a real problem in the demanding consumer environment of today. A survey by Red Ant found that 67% of customers have experience poor product knowledge and it is a significant factor driving them away. Clearly, this is of particular concern for retailers, but the same issues could apply to any sector where product knowledge is crucial, the automotive and pharmaceutical industries, for example. Multi-device elearning allows employees to have product knowledge training and information at their fingertips when they need it most. Tablet learning is particularly useful in this respect and some businesses are using dual-purpose content that can be used for staff training but also as an aid to show customers.  Future-proofing Creating an elearning course costs time and money so organisations expect to get a reasonable shelf life for their investment. But with technology advancing so quickly, an elearning module could become defunct if it is only available on single device or operating system. By using responsive technology that can deliver elearning to the widest possible range of devices it is possible to extend the life and value of an elearning module.In summary, five specific training challenges facing organisations around the globe can be met by adopting a multi-device or responsive elearning strategy:The need for rapid change or a crisis responseTraining a workforce that varies greatly in age, skills and experienceLimited access to desktop PCs or laptopsCustomers being put off by poor product knowledge among sales staffWasted investment due to rapid changes in technologyFinally, the crucial point about multi-device elearning is that it offers businesses the best of both worlds. The ‘traditional’ practice of completing online training sat at a desk using an office PC is still available, but there is also the flexibility to enable learners to take an elearning course on practically any device. For this reason, more and more organisations are opting for multi-device elearning and we’d love to hear your experiences of solving real world training challenges with a responsive approach.Sponge UK is one of the founding partners of Adapt, the world’s leading multi-device elearning framework, so if you have any questions about responsive elearning technology or design do get in touch.  The post 5 challenges multi-device elearning can help solve appeared first on Sponge UK.

We’re now well into #multideviceweek so hopefully by now you’re aware of some of the more unusual ways people are accessing your elearning content. One recurring theme throughout the week has been responsive design. To highlight the benefits and possibilities of responsive learning we created a mini module using Adapt as a multi-device elearning example. The module focuses on cyber security and is designed to work on any platform which has a web browser. Why responsive learning? Responsive web design Web access from mobile devices has grown exponentially in the last few years, in order to keep up with so many new devices a new approach was needed.Google penalises websites which do not work well on mobile devices in mobile search results so creating a mobile friendly version of a site is a must, but designing and maintaining different versions of sites is unwieldy and labour intensive. Ethan Marcotte coined the term responsive web design and helped popularise it in his 2011 book. It describes the principles of creating one set of content and using style sheets to manipulate it to best fit whichever device it’s being viewed on.It has become the standard way to design quality websites and its principles are now guiding the way the best websites in the world are created.   From a web design point of view it may seem like elearning design is lagging behind as it drags its feet adopting responsive principles.But it’s important to look at the staff who interact with your learning and the environment they’re in. The workplace usually has a much slower rate of change of infrastructure, many employees use a relatively basic desktop PC for their day to day work, including training.But things are changing, with BYOD schemes , the abundance of smartphones and tablets and a younger and more tech savvy workforce all adding up. Mobile apps for specific platforms have been around for years but there are advantages to a responsive learning design approach. Benefits of responsive learningA well designed piece of elearning works everywhere your learners will encounter it.Based on our research into users of the Sponge UK Launch&Learn LMS we know that real employees are using a huge variety of devices to access elearning right now. #multideviceweek 16 different operating systems have been used to access our LMS Create once, access anywhere The module looks great on all the screens we’ve tried from TV screens to windows mobile phones, you can navigate easily using basic controllers for games consoles or a touch screen interface. This is a standalone module but if it was part of a course it could track results and progress and report to the LMS for managers to monitor.Building a course like this one using technology like the Adapt responsive learning framework means you can create one piece of content that any employee can access from anywhere. Second screen learning Being able to access the course on your desktop and your phone has other advantages. The same learner might originally take the course on their desktop PC, but being able to refer to the same content on their mobile phone makes it much easier to apply that training.In our cyber security example a learner could bookmark the relevant course and return to it if they have a query about an email they’ve received. Having the training available at your fingertips gives staff the confidence to tackle tricky compliance issues more effectively. Cost effective A well designed responsive learning course can take the place of a suite of separate courses designed for specific platforms, reducing the time and investment needed to design, develop and distribute the course for everyone involved. Updating a responsive course is also a much easier prospect than several courses, especially if it involves delivering them in proprietary app stores. Future proof responsive learning Your employees will access your elearning on devices that haven’t been announced yet. The rapid rate of smartphone and tablet progression means that new devices appear on a monthly basis.Building your elearning on web technology is one of the ways you can ensure that it’ll be possible to access it in the future. Making courses which rely on proprietary apps or non-standard technology could mean limiting the lifespan of the content. Responsive learning design decisionsThere are differences in the design approach when using a responsive technology. Sponge UK developer Jason Butler ran through some of the considerations for creating responsive content in the Adapt hangout . Mobile friendly interactions "The real estate you’ve got available on a mobile phone compared to a desktop means certain components go into a different state. To give you an example, one of the components that we use a lot is a hot graphic where you tap on icons on an image and it brings up a pop-up to explore more. When that goes onto a mobile it then mutates into a narrative component, you can then slide through and find that content a different way. It’s essentially the same content but served up in different ways" - Jason Butler These screenshots show the differences in the hot graphic component on desktop and mobile Hot graphic component on a desktop computer screen Hot graphic component when selected on a desktop computer screen Hot graphic component on a smart phone screen Hot graphic component when selected on a smart phone screen Less text, strong graphics Designing for the mobile experience first leads naturally to a text-light approach. Introducing strong graphical elements helps keep learners interested and reinforces the theme.These considerations lead you to choosing interactions that lend themselves to being easy to use on mobile. Software like Adapt can help with these decisions by automatically changing the layout of an interaction depending on the screen size and input method. Test on a variety of devices When testing the module it’s important to use as many different operating systems and devices as possible, ideally with the smallest screen size you expect will be used.There were some changes made to the length of the component titles which allowed them to be more easily understood on smartphones.Adapt is set up to reconfigure components in a natural way in order to present the content in the most suitable way for each device. Responsive components If you want to include a more advanced interaction component like an elearning game in your course, you need to make sure it’s also responsive.Using an HTML 5 framework like Phaser to create the games content and adding that to a course built in something like Adapt gives you ultimate creativity without sacrificing accessibility.Responsive learning is more than a buzzword, it’s one of the most important considerations for any elearning program. It allows elearning developers to design elearning content that offers an engaging, effective experience on any platform. Discuss a project Subscribe to our newsletter  The post The benefits of responsive learning appeared first on Sponge UK.

An entrepreneur who runs a successful elearning company in Plymouth has won a triple place in the final of the 2015 Devon Venus Awards, which recognise the achievements of women in business.Louise Pasterfield, Managing Director of Sponge UK, based at Plymouth Science Park, is a finalist in the categories of Director of the Year, Employer of the Year and Digital Media and Online Business.Louise said: "It’s been really interesting taking part in the Venus Awards, finding out about the diverse and innovative businesses being run by women across Devon. I’m delighted to be nominated in three categories, particularly given the number and standard of entries. 2015 is proving another great year for Sponge UK with more than 20 new clients since January and a further expansion of our workforce." She set up Sponge UK in 2004 and since then the company has grown into one of the country’s leading elearning companies. The firm specialises in tailor-made online courses and campaigns for large global organisations with a host of well-known customers including Tesco, Coca-Cola, Royal Mail, the NHS and the United Nations.  The Devon Venus Awards, nicknamed the ‘Working Women’s Oscars’, is now in its third year and the competition takes place in nine regions across the UK.The Devon winners will be announced at a gala celebration evening on Friday, November 27 at the University of Exeter.The post Triple finalist place in Venus Awards for Sponge boss appeared first on Sponge UK.

Compliance courses have the potential to change the way your staff act more than any other type of training.Unfortunately compliance learning has a reputation for being dull and irrelevant with many of the people who are required to take it.Here we offer our best practices for compliance training and elearning so you can make sure your courses gain the positive reputation they deserve.Comply with legislationThe underlying aim of compliance learning is avoiding mistakes that could lead to breaches in the law. Every business and every member of staff needs to be aware of the legal requirements for their role.Keeping track of your employee’s completion of the relevant training is necessary in order to comply with most industry regulations.Meeting the legal obligations to provide the correct training for your staff is the primary motivator for people seeking compliance learning. You have a responsibility to ensure all staff take the required compliance training, but there’s no reason it can’t also offer a real benefit to your business.Make it realThere are many ways to make people aware of the regulations and legal frameworks that they operate in at work. Some compliance training will consist of a basic run through of the laws involved with an assessment to test understanding at the end.Good compliance learning uses scenarios that bring the legislation to life. If you want your course to be more than a tick box exercise and offer real benefits to your staff you should incorporate the real situations they will encounter.Bringing regulations into the working world of your staff means using realistic examples that are specific to your business. Staff who can relate to the scenarios in training will be more likely to follow the correct procedure in a similar real life situation.Targeted trainingBlanket compliance training can be blamed for much of its negative reputation. Any compulsory regulations or companywide policy changes are going to affect a high proportion of employees. How can you make sure no-one is taking training that they don’t need?Even within a department there might be a wide variety of job roles that each operate within different legal frameworks. It’s common for a company to employ many staff in very similar roles who don’t all work in one place or at one time.Grouping your staff for compliance training based on the place or time that staff are available could result in wasted resources and man hours.The answer is to target compliance training based on a job role. It’s possible to create an elearning course that allows a learner to select their role and be led through a path of modules which are tailored to their needs.By routing each learner appropriately you end up with employees who are less bored, quicker back to work and more easily tracked for completion.Keep it simpleLong drawn out compliance courses mean less engagement from your staff and more frustration all round. Keeping the individual modules short and on subject allows you to target specific regulations and keep your learners interested.Combining short, focused modules with good targeting of staff roles gives you the best chance of getting the training that’s required to the people who need it.There’s another big advantage to keeping compliance training segments brief; it allows them to be updated much more easily. It’s inevitable that new regulations and legislation will come into effect and make your compliance training outdated.You can avoid re-creating a whole compliance course by breaking it up into components that can be individually updated when necessary.Creating simple compliance training that can be easily delivered on many platforms is also going to offer an advantage when updating.Consistent cultureKeeping all employees on the same page when it comes to their actions helps create a consistent culture across the organisation. Compliance can be an important part of this process, by laying out the official ways of performing a particular role.There are not too many opportunities as clear cut as compliance training for setting your expectations of employee’s behaviour. If everyone has the same training and can refer to it in the future it gives them the confidence to act, especially in situations which are not immediately black and white.Reinforcing the seriousness of staff’s legal obligations is much easier within a formal training environment. Setting the right tone and making sure it’s consistent is very important and online delivery can help make this possible.Elearning makes compliance easierFailing to keep up with the latest legal requirements of all your employees can quickly result in serious problems for your business. Compliance elearning offers many benefits for your L&D department to help ensure you’re able to stay compliant.Here are five clear benefits to using an elearning model for your compliance training program:Comply with legislation - elearning allows you to track completion within an LMS and ensure all staff are up to date on compliance and policyMake it real - bringing the legislation to life with actual examples that are realistic and relevant to all your staff is much easier with multimedia content like videoTarget - no-one wants to sit through compliance learning that is irrelevant, by using elearning you can build one course with many modules that takes learners through the training they require and nothing moreSimple and quick - creating bit sized modules and allowing learners to log on any time to complete the compliance course means less time away from their work, more knowledge retention and allows you to update them more easilyConsistent culture - compliance gives you the opportunity to impress your values onto your staff and ensure a uniform response to some of the common legal problems, offering the same training every time to anyone in the same role is a crucial part of the processMoving your compliance training on line in whole or as part of a blended solution can have a big impact on your employees. Creating a bespoke compliance course will allow you to take advantage of all the benefits we’ve outlined and give your staff the best chance of completing their training.Author: Louise Pasterfield, Managing Director, Sponge UK Discuss a project Subscribe to our newsletter The post Benefits of compliance training appeared first on Sponge UK.

If your cost per hire doesn’t take into account the cost of bringing a new employee up to optimum productivity you’re ignoring the biggest expense of taking on new staff.Oxford Economics report that the total cost of hiring someone new is just over £30,000 with more than £25,000 of that total represented by the cost of lost output while a new employee reaches optimum productivity.If you’re a HR professional looking to reduce these costs, we’ve got five tips to help you achieve your goal. During this post we’ll shed some light on the problem and show you how elearning can help speed up the time to productivity significantly.Where do the costs come from?There are many factors that affect these costs, and some can be managed better than others.Some factors will affect all new employees, and others will be specific to one group. It’s important to know these differences when you’re creating a strategy to reduce the costs.The main areas to consider when finding ways to minimise these costs are:Business factorsSector - highly skilled employees are more expensive to bring up to speed and this difference is reflected in industry variance for costsSize - small businesses have lower productivity costs than larger organisationsEmployee factorsRelevant experience - if a worker is currently in the same sector it’s a big advantage in time to productivityCurrent employment situation - new starters who are unemployed fare worse and graduates take longer than workers from other businesses to get trained upHow can I reduce these costs?There are two main ways to reduce these costs: cut the time it takes to reach optimum productivity, or change your new starters’ path to productivity.A graph from the Oxford Economics Report shows how new starters who learn faster at the start reduce costs by having a higher total productivity over the same period than slow starters A new employee who starts fast and finishes slow on this path will cost you less than a steady or slow starter, despite taking the same time overall.5 ways elearning can helpCreating or improving an induction or onboarding strategy is one of the best ways you can reduce your cost per hire.Here are 5 clear ways that an elearning model can help reduce your cost per hire: Pre-boarding - start induction before day one for a boost in productivityAn online elearning programme is the easiest way to offer pre-induction or pre-boarding training to employees. Using a cloud based LMS means elearning can be made accessible to new starters from anywhere.A new employee who is coming directly from employment in the same sector tends to improve productivity fast at the start of their new role and more slowly as they approach optimum.If you identify which type of employee you’re likely to be hiring you’ll be able to cater to their needs better. If you start early enough you could give an industry newcomer some of the key skills that they lack and take a shortcut to fast progress.Pre-boarding or pre-induction is becoming more and more popular, especially amongst industry leading companies.These pre-boarding statistics from the Aberdeen Group show its potential:Best in class companies are 35% more likely to begin onboarding before day oneTop companies are 18% more likely to provide information on the company’s norms, etiquette and values to new hiresMoving the basic but essential elements of induction into a package that can be completed before day one gives you more time to focus on individual needs of new starters.Video - give new starters the chance to hear from high level managers quickly and easilyUsing video of the top management team as part of an induction process will help new starters identify with the heads of the business. The people who set the company culture and values are often the best people to share them.Learning the culture of the organisation and having the ability to ask questions about a specific role to the people in charge accelerates the progress of new employees. But often it’s not possible to get one-on-one time with the high level management of a larger company.Innovative techniques like branching scenarios with interactive video can help create a unique path for each job role to discover the most relevant information from busy managers. Elearning games - allow new employees to experience real scenarios before they happen for a short-cut to experienceA report by the Elearning Guild shows that games and gamification has a real impact on skill-based knowledge assessments with a 14% increase in performance when game elements are used. New skills are a large part of new starters’ learning so improving training in this area has a real impact on speed to productivity.Gamification elements can be built into the LMS, with elearning tracking feeding into them as your employee takes the training. These clear markers of progression help motivate employees to develop new skills through competition and collaboration with peers.Incorporating serious games and simulations allows new employees to experience the scenarios that they haven’t had the chance to in real life. Giving a new starter this realistic environment in which to fail safely gives them the confidence to act decisively when the real situation arises. Tracking - monitor performance and progress to help identify learners needs more quicklyHaving your new staff’s results and progress available is invaluable when creating a plan for their development. Using elearning in an LMS (Learning Management System) makes this data collection straightforward.An employee engagement study by Blessingwhite shows that 24% of employees would be more engaged at work if they were given the opportunity to do what they do best. Tracking which training themes new employees are returning to enables managers to give them these opportunities as soon as they start.Tracking your new starters’ progress is critical to keeping them moving at the right pace. Combining tracking with frequent reviews gives management the opportunity to guide people onto the right track whilst identifying potential stand out talent.Self-paced learning - capitalise on new starters existing skills to speed up their path through training Elearning allows ultimate flexibility for learners to take courses on demand, not only will new starters be able to take control of the speed at which they consume courses but they will be able to revisit the modules that matter most for their role.Self-paced learning can help accelerate the progress of exceptional employees. Allowing new staff to go at their own pace means they can concentrate on the areas that they need the most work on and breeze through the subjects they are familiar with. There are many other benefits of induction elearning beyond reducing time to productivity, we have a produced a free guide on how to integrate elearning into your induction or onboarding programme that’s available on our induction page. Discuss a project Subscribe to our newsletter The post 5 ways to reduce your cost per hire with elearning appeared first on Sponge UK.

Minecraft is being used by the UK government to help recruit IT talent and it’s more than just a gimmick.Games are a credible way to tackle major business problems and their value goes far beyond novelty and entertainment.This post explores why elearning games can help organisations meet some of the biggest challenges they face.The Minecraft factor Finding the right staff is a major problem for many large organisations. Globally, 38% of employers reported difficulty in filling jobs in 2015, according to research by ManpowerGroup. In response to this challenge, the UK government is turning to the popular computer game Minecraft to find and recruit talent to work in the cyber security industry. It’s part of the Cyber Security Challenge UK, which aims to find potential employees through the use of games. In this particular example, the use of Minecraft helps to attract attention and inspire younger people who may not have ever considered a career in IT security, but there is more going on.To be good at Minecraft you need certain skills including strategic thinking, team working, problem solving and creativity, just the type of skills that modern organisations want in the workforce. It is this side of the game, not its popularity that makes it such a good instrument for recruitment. Similar skills and abilities can be developed with elearning games in the workplace. These tend to be on a much more modest scale than Minecraft but can be just as effective in meeting specific challenges.  Leading thinker on games in learning, Professor Karl M. Kapp, has highlighted the three most compelling elements of games as being mastery, story and feedback. Kapp says: "People play games to demonstrate mastery, overcome competition, to escape from stress, to control their environment and to be entertained." He argues these make for a more successful and engaging learning solution.  3 top business problems The next section of this post takes three common business challenges and explores the role elearning games can play in addressing them. They are:Introducing new a technology or system successfullyGetting managers to give effective feedbackComplying with new regulations or legislationThese are generic issues but relevant to a wide range of organisations, both public and private.Introducing new a technology or system successfully  Whether it is a new way of working or the latest piece of software, the hope of any business is that the change will lead to improvements in productivity, sales, customer service or another critical aspect of enterprise. However, introducing something new is fraught with difficulty and can be a challenging time for the workforce. A survey by MIT Sloan Management Review about the adoption of new technology revealed that most employees found the process complex and slow with managers failing to adequately communicate the benefits to the business.Training can play a big part in helping employees to feel more comfortable and confident but also make it quicker and easier to get the new tech or system up-and-running. ‘Traditional’ online learning or a face-to-face workshop may well be in the training mix but a game offers something special. It can be a test bed where employees can practice in a safe environment. This works best when the elearning game is a simulation of the new system or technology. A game allows people to see if they are doing it right, and if not, enables them to replay until they master the task.Getting managers to give effective feedback We expect our leaders to be able to handle difficult conversations at work but it doesn’t come naturally to all of them. Research by the Chartered Management Institute found that 31% of those surveyed in the UK found it hardest to challenge a colleague’s inappropriate behaviour while 30% struggled to give feedback on poor performance. Inevitably, if managers repeatedly dodge tricky conversations this behaviour will have a negative impact on an organisation. The cost to business of ineffective management is significant and a UK government study put the figure at a massive £19billion per year.An elearning game can offer managers a platform to practice and learn from their mistakes. By navigating their way through a realistic story, where they have to make decisions about what to say and do next, they gain experience which can help improve their skills in the real world. Crucially, feedback in a game is visible and constant so they know instantly when they get things right or wrong.Complying with new regulations or legislationThe need for businesses to be compliant has never been greater as regulators get tougher, penalties rises and the level of regulatory change increases. The financial impact alone is significant; fines by the UK Financial Services Authority rose by more than £400 million between 2008 and 2013. But there are wider consequences of non-compliance including the impact on share price, liquidity, increased management and staffing costs, reputation and customer trust. Andrew Neblett, Managing Director, Enterprise Risk Management at Thomson Reuters, sums it up: "Regulators are under intense pressure and are coming up with more creative ways to enforce and promote compliance. The new challenges that firms face go way beyond just a fine, and companies and individuals need to be aware of the wider implications that non-compliance can have throughout an entire organisation starting from the bottom-up."Compliance training has a mixed history in terms of its effectiveness and questions are constantly being asked about whether it can deliver what businesses need to safeguard themselves in such a tough climate. The latest report on compliance from the independent research organisation Towards Maturity sheds light on the scale of the problem facing businesses. Eight in ten compliance professionals looking to mitigate risk, improve business process and shift behaviour through learning initiatives are failing to achieve their goals. The report also highlights a move in thinking away from ‘traditional’ elearning to more innovative approaches.Elearning games are among the new techniques being used to help organisations avoid non-compliance and boost the effectiveness of  compliance training. As already outlined, games allow people to learn, explore and practice in ways not normally available in traditional courses, whether online or face-to-face. In particular, elearning games in compliance have a number of advantages, allowing learning through exploration, practice, decision-making and engagement.  Finally, games don’t have to be on the grand scale of Minecraft to make an impact. Advances in technology along with clever and creative design means that affordable elearning games are now available, allowing more organisations to tap into their unique properties to help tackle the biggest challenges they face. Discuss a project Subscribe to our newsletter The post How elearning games tap into the Minecraft factor appeared first on Sponge UK.

Viewers of the live-streamed internet television channel, Learning Now TV (LNTV), will be able to see an exclusive interview with Louise Pasterfield, Managing Director of elearning provider, Sponge UK this month.The entrepreneur will reveal how Sponge UK has grown to become an award-winning market leader, how the company demonstrates the impact it is making for large global organisations and how it has created its own internal university to help develop its staff.Louise said:"Learning Now TV is a valuable resource for the learning and development community and is leading the way in providing the latest news and debate on key topics.  It’s great to be included and I’ll be explaining why Sponge UK is breaking the mould in the elearning industry.  I’ll share my personal view of our growth from small business to a significant player in the UK and Europe, and I’ll be tackling a crucial issue for the industry - evaluation." Learning Now TV is a free channel produced by some of the L&D world’s leading authorities who have many years’ experience of reporting the real world issues for today’s learning and development professionals.Colin Steed from LNTV said:"It’s good to hear from our award-winning learning solution providers and Louise provides some valuable insights on where she sees elearning going in the future. We are celebrating our first birthday at Learning Now TV in this episode so make sure you tune on 29 October at 8pm."The interview with Louise Pasterfield is due to be broadcast on Thursday, 29 October.People need to register for free to watch the channel via http://learningnow.tv/registerThe post Sponge UK boss on Learning Now TV appeared first on Sponge UK.

Focusing on the learning outcome is all important in elearning design. Finding the one goal that you need to accomplish and building really effective training to achieve it.One company that has led the way in focusing on customers and getting them the information they need is Amazon. The world’s biggest retailer, Amazon has had to solve some of the biggest problems facing any business.We’re going to analyse their innovative ideas and show how an elearning approach can help you use the same techniques to solve some common business training problems.At Amazon.com, it’s our goal to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy…Amazon’s primary goal is to sell more products to their customers, in order to do that they need to compete for customer’s attention, loyalty and money.Let’s see how we can overcome some business training issues with the help of elearning and the Amazon approach.1.   Time away from work: 1-ClickOne of the problems with training is the time that workers need to spend away from their job.The genius of Amazon’s patented 1-Click buying process is reducing the necessary steps of purchasing an item to the absolute minimum.Don’t necessarily think about this as a parallel with micro learning or creating bite-sized sections of content focused on one thing.  It’s more about the process by which learners reach the content in the first place.One click buyers still see the photos, description and reviews for each product, it’s only at the point when the decision is made that all obstacles are removed. One click learners should be given all the information they need to choose the right course for them and have it available immediately.Opening up all areas of a course to learners can accelerate their progress as they decide which pieces of the content they will benefit from most.Elearning, specifically combined with a customisable LMS (Learning Management System), allows you to make learning accessible quickly and easily for all your learners. A bespoke, streamlined approach to the course selection process that is tailored to your staff will give you the best chance of getting people into the learning.2.   Lack of feedback: Amazon reviewsL&D can struggle to get useful feedback from employees about training, but it’s an essential part of a good learning strategy and can inform the whole process of career development.Getting feedback on products is valuable to the supplier and prospective customers.  If you have feedback from learners on a course, consider sharing it with staff who will take the same training in the future.Amazon has their Vine program which encourages suppliers to provide products to Amazon that they then send out for free to their most helpful reviewers, as voted for by the customers browsing the site. They also publish a leaderboard and hall of fame for the top reviewers on the site, gamifying the process of giving feedback.Introducing reviews for elearning becomes a lot easier with an LMS in place. There is a Moodle plugin which makes it simple to add Amazon-style star ratings and reviews to your courses, for instance.It can also be automated and anonymised so it can work on a large scale and give you the most valuable feedback.Acting on that feedback is the next step and it requires a thoughtful approach to ensure continual improvement of the course for the next round of employees.Of course, the system is open to abuse and, just like Amazon, you may need to step in to make sure it’s being used properly so it gives your staff a genuine view of the course.3.   Unnecessary training: RecommendationsGetting the right training to the right people is a constant challenge for L&D teams.  Creating a more personal experience for employees can really help create engagement and boost outcomes.By building on reviews and incorporating other items that customers have purchased, Amazon pioneered the idea of a personalised shopping experience.Having the data to be able to recommend the best course for your learner takes a few steps and we can follow Amazon’s lead on each one.First the basics: collect the essential data required, name, job role, location etc. This helps you put the right content options in front of the learner.Amazon Garage is a service which collects your car’s make, model and age and then makes sure that car-related products are compatible with your vehicle. That way you only see the items that you might need for your car.Having your learners get specific on the details of their work allows you to make sure they only see relevant courses, this is especially beneficial for compliance where no-one wants to complete a course that they don’t need to.The other approach is to use the learner’s input to steer them in the right direction for their needs. Adaptive learning techniques like pre-course assessments and branching scenarios can be employed to create a more personalised route through the content for each participant.Interactive video provides a great way to offer engaging, adaptive content that matches a learners needs closely.4.   Lacking a learning culture: Amazon PrimeMaking learning and development part of the culture of the company is a goal for many L&D teams. Giving staff the opportunities to progress and gain knowledge throughout their time at work gives them motivation to continue their personal growth.The Amazon Prime subscription service is a loyalty programme, it offers advantages for members that mean they are more likely to choose to buy from Amazon than a competitor. They looked at their key advantage, originally logistics and speed of delivery, and now cloud data storage and streaming, and used it to come up with a compelling reward for subscribers.In order to create a culture of learning you need to start by identifying the key advantage that training can offer employees. Look at the values of your company, what makes it unique? What development opportunities can you offer that no-one else can?If you have the right rewards your staff will repay you with their time and effort to receive them. Don’t be afraid to try different approaches. Some people will respond well to a chance at networking opportunities with senior colleagues, others will thrive on self-paced courses that they can complete on their mobile.The lesson to take from Amazon is to look at your strengths and create clear benefits based on them.  If your company wants to promote all regional managers from within the business in 2 years, make this clear and create a way for employees to prove their worth.An elearning provider needs to have a fundamental understanding of the company’s goals in order to foster a culture of learning that promotes them.  Creating campaigns that include elearning can be a great way to introduce these ideas to your strategy.5.   Change in workforce behaviour: KindleAmazon started out selling books because they were cheap and universally popular. Even before e-readers started threatening the physical book market, Amazon were prepared to create their own hardware and marketplace to compete in a new field.The Kindle is now the most popular e-reader in the world, and Amazon controls up to 95% of the e-book market. When it looked like tablets were going to overtake e-readers as devices for consuming e-books,  Amazon released their range of tablets too.The equivalent for L&D professionals is the rapidly changing nature of the workforce. With younger employees, better connectivity and cheaper access to technology there is a clear move to more mobile working and learning in many areas.Elearning mirrors the growth of Amazon’s original business for many of the same reasons; it’s available online, any time and the costs are therefore lower than face-to- face training.Now the way people are accessing the internet is changing it’s time to react and give the learner what they want. Well-designed elearning gives you the flexibility to deploy your training content in different ways.Being willing to pivot your elearning strategy to include the needs of new learners will make it possible to keep ahead of dramatic changes. Going with an elearning provider who uses the latest techniques helps benefit from the changes rather than seeing them as an obstacle.In summary here are the five ways thinking like Amazon can help elearning overcome your business problems:Time away from work - streamline the process of getting your learners onto the elearning they require by giving them all the information they need and delivering it onlineLack of feedback - encourage reviews for courses and make them available to both learning designers and learners themselvesUnnecessary training - target your elearning using employees roles and abilities and use adaptive learning through pre-course assessments and branching scenariosLacking a learning culture - make your staff aware of the unique opportunities they have to develop their skills in your company and incorporate these in your elearning campaignsChange in workforce behaviour - elearning has the flexibility to help you react quickly to changing trends in workforce behaviour like the increase of mobile devices in the workplace Discuss a project Subscribe to our newsletter The post The Amazon approach - Problem solving with elearning appeared first on Sponge UK.

An induction programme by Farmfoods that not only welcomes new employees to the company but helps to identify potential managers has been shortlisted for a top award by the Learning and Performance Institute (LPI).The frozen food retailer worked with elearning provider, Sponge UK to develop the new blended induction programme which includes multi-device elearning modules supported with on-the-job training and printed workbooks. Crucially, all employees are able to progress through the training up to branch manager level, no matter their job title.This innovative approach is helping Farmfoods to retain staff, identify talent and promote from within the company.  The training has been shortlisted in the LPI’s Learning Awards 2016 in the category of Onboarding Programme of the Year.  Ronnie Morgan, Head of Training and Development at Farmfoods, said:"We are delighted to be shortlisted particularly given the high standard and number of entries for this year.  We’ve already started to see the benefits of our new onboarding programme which has not just enhanced our staff training but is helping us nurture our talent for the future."Farmfoods is the second biggest frozen food retailer in the UK and one of the fastest growing food retailers in 2014 with 35% sales growth for the year.The company launched the new induction training in January this year. More than 3,500 staff throughout the UK have already completed it.Louise Pasterfield, Managing Director of Sponge UK, said:"Farmfoods have embraced innovative ideas in their onboarding programme and used learning technologies to their full advantage to deliver benefits to the business. We worked really closely with the company to understand their needs and develop relevant and engaging scenarios that would help employees get the most out of the training."Sponge UK used the responsive framework Adapt to create the elearning so employees can access the training via smartphones and tablets.The Learning Awards winners will be announced at a ceremony at The Dorchester hotel in London’s Park Lane on Thursday, February 4, 2016.  The post Induction wins shortlisting for Farmfoods and Sponge UK appeared first on Sponge UK.

Fleet vehicles are a big cost to business and a lot of effort goes into managing driver risk and providing training, whether on the road or online.But research by a leading road safety charity suggests more than half of companies are not offering training when a fleet driver needs it most - after an accident.I’m lucky enough to have never been involved in a serious accident but the other day I had a minor bump in a country lane.  No-one was hurt and there wasn’t much more than a scratch on either vehicle.  Nonetheless, my hands were shaking afterwards and I had to pull over for a few minutes to calm down.  For a few days afterwards, I avoided that stretch of road and it took a good few weeks to regain my confidence on rural routes. Remember, this is was a minor incident but it goes to show the impact even a minor shunt can have on a driver.Worrying researchThere are more than 35 million fleet vehicles in the UK and around 86% of fleets will have experienced an accident in the last 12 months.  It’s estimated that one in three road accidents in the UK involves a vehicle being driven for work.  About half of fleet accidents cost over £1,000 in vehicle repairs so repeat incidents can make a sizeable dent in company finances.Of course, the financial impact pails into insignificance against the human cost of fleet accidents.  Around 75% of workplace deaths are as a result of driving; it’s still one of the most dangerous work activities people undertake on a daily basis.   Most large companies with fleet drivers operate some kind of Driver Risk Management (DRM) system to manage risk effectively and maintain a duty of care. This will include training but often it is only targeted at drivers deemed to be at high risk and usually takes place when an employee joins the company or moves into a job with fleet driving responsibilities.  A new report by The Institute of Advanced Motorists’ (IAM) Drive & Survive division, providing analysis of fleet incidents based on a survey of a 100 companies, makes worrying reading.  It reveals that while 80% of businesses have post-incident policies and procedures in place, more than 50% do not offer post-incident driver training as a means of reducing the risk of repeat incidents. An earlier IAM study also revealed that 72% of people who drive for work in the UK had never been offered driver training at any stage.IAM concluded: "Many companies are not….putting in place sufficient measures to reduce the risk of incidents happening or (more worryingly) happening again to the same drivers." More than 50% of businesses don’t offer training to their drivers after an accident Barriers and benefitsGiven what is at stake, the question is why are so many fleet drivers not being offered training after an accident?  There is no definitive data explaining this trend but a number of factors may be influencing decision-making in this area:Post-incident training is not compulsory for corporate fleet driversDriver training costs money and takes up timePost-incident procedures focus on managing the administrative burden rather than prevention of repeat incidentsCompanies do not deem training necessary if their driver was not at faultThe impact on the driver’s confidence is underestimatedBut while there are obstacles to overcome, there are significant benefits of offering post-incident driver training as a way to avoid repeat accidents.  The advantages make a strong business case:Better trained, more confident fleet driversReduced repair, legal and administrative costsIncreased residual value of fleet vehiclesEnhanced company reputationQuicker return to full efficiency for driversImproved evidence of duty of care and corporate responsibilityTraining as standardFor those companies that do offer post-incident training, the majority would normally do some form of assessment to identify which employees to target.  For reasons of cost and time, only those deemed to be at fault or at increased risk of a repeat accident will be offered face-to-face training and, of course, this makes good business sense. But it’s not a fool-proof strategy and overlooks the needs of the drivers who now lack confidence, those who have never had driver training and those who would benefit from training regardless of their risk level.One option is to provide post-incident training as standard so all drivers can have at least some base level learning support following a crash. An obvious way to make this approach cost-effective is to offer the training online. Online courses can help drivers to learn good behaviours and the best approach for managing driving situations in the safest way. Elearning also reduces the amount of downtime required for training. Innovative elearning techniques include:Interactive video3D simulationsVideo-based scenariosElearning games and game elementsAnimationsThese are all highly interactive elements and well-suited to the likely content of post-incident training such as road safety, minimising risk, identifying hazards, building confidence and driving defensively. Importantly, adding an assessment or test to the elearning can help fleet managers identify which drivers require further one-on-one intervention or on-road training.Finally, there is evidence that fleet drivers themselves are crying out for training, whether or not they have been involved in an accident.  A survey found that 44% of work drivers who had not been offered training would welcome the opportunity.  The challenge for business is to find the best way to meet this demand and make driving safer for their employees. Discuss a project Subscribe to our newsletter The post Should you offer all fleet drivers training after a crash? appeared first on Sponge UK.