Open Source software is licensed through an open source agreement (such as GPL) that allows organisations to develop and tailor the software to suit local needs, for example, Totara LMS is licensed through GPL. The licence obliges organisations to make any changed source code available to the community to ensure the product remains open and beneficial for all. As a result this reduces the total cost of ownership in a sharing model.

Is Open Source safe?

The increasing adoption of open source solutions has resulted in a growing network of user and developer communities who continually review, troubleshoot and improve software code. The open source partner has a responsibility to support each hospital within their Service Level Agreement (SLA).

What support can I expect?

Support is available either from the communities involved in the development and usage of the software or from the original developer organisation, for example, these could be other hospitals. The SLA agreement will also give you, as a hospital, a support agreement where you can call a partner who can fix bugs for you and walk you through new functionality.

Are we locked into a particular partner of open source?

No, given the open source element, you have the flexibility to move from one vendor to another. This gives you control if you are unhappy with the service provided.

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This spend can be linked to concerns with:

• falling sales
• the apprenticeship levy
• competition

Retail Sales Index: showing the slump in sales

According to the Retail Sales Index, sales are declining.

We saw the recent slump in Next’s sales in 2017 adversely affecting their profit and cited a “combination of economic, cyclical and internal factors working against us”.

Also, we saw John Lewis slash staff bonuses to the lowest level in over 63 years to protect their future.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk | Data: ONS

Competition

Another factor affecting this change is competition from online sales. In grocery for example, companies like Acado in the UK are providing more and more reasons to buy online, with new entrants such as Amazon building on their current business model to now deliver food produce.

Increasingly, competitors are entering this crowded and aggressive marketplace where:

• the product range is wide (i.e. home cleaning items, personal hygiene goods and foodstuffs, such as crisps and ready meals); and
• margins are low.

In order to compete for retail shelf space, customer facing employees need to know exact information about products at a given time.

The apprenticeship levy

Another criticism in the training industry has been how the apprenticeship levy has been introduced.

Retailers feel that this is an unnecessary tax on their revenues given that most of them are already running training and graduate programmes.

As the size of the retail sector is approximately £3bn they will pay around £235m for the levy this year.

How can we measure training impact as a return on investment?

Here are several tips on how to measure the impact of training in your FMCG business

Sales revenues

Running product sales training, or coaching is a simple win.  When you are releasing a new product, why not link the Learning and Development team with the Sales and Marketing team to produce supporting training materials.  As sales increases, you can demonstrate through learning assessment how this effected knowledge of individuals and therefore sales results.

Customer net promoter

Some businesses ask you to fill out a net promoter score at the bottom of your receipt.  There may be in some cases a cash prize or holiday if you win.   If you are rolling out a customer service training programme, you can assess the its results by the customer net promoter score.

For example, how many customers are filling out the feedback via net promoter, low number means your employees are not doing their job.  If they are feeding back, how good is this feedback, is it positive?  You can then link in the customer service training programme results to your net promoter.

Employee engagement

Most businesses send out an employee engagement survey, this is to ‘check in’ and for the head office to understand where people are feeling engaged or not.  This would be on top of the one to one’s with managers.  Typically more engaged workforces have a learning culture, you can evidence how many effective training programmes have been rolled out over a specific period and link this data to increases in employee engagement, then you can evidence the impact training is having.

Learner feedback

From training courses that you run, whether they are face to face, or blended, you can always ask for feedback.  You can use the ‘happy sheet’ to gain this, but most organisations are now using their online learning portal to gain this feedback, which means it’s much easier to aggregate and analyse the data.

Mystery shopping

FMCG businesses outsource their mystery shopping to other businesses who specialise in this area.  You can use this feedback to understand the impact of your training programme.

For example, you may run a training programme about management of aggressive behaviour in store.  You could ask the mystery shopper to approach several stores to raise complaint and potentially use aggressive behaviours.  Following your training programme, you can ask the mystery shopper for independent feedback on how this was handled.

Therefore, with these challenges in the FMCG sector training has become more important than ever.  We need to leverage our skills in our teams to bridge the challenges in sales decline.

The benefits of training

In our experience, we are seeing that these employees have benefitted from training on:

• Product knowledge
• Professional selling skills
• Bespoke sales training
• And much more …

Once trained, they are far more effective in negotiating shelf space with retailers to increase distribution and sales.

For more information about how other FMCG corporates are approaching learning programmes, you can read more about:

• Zara
• Hotter Comfort
• Dominos ; and
• Clas Ohlson here.

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The secret code

EasyJet’s Secret Code was developed for this purpose specifically, with special signals including:

• bacon baguette
• get the champagne
• baby’s bottle needs warming

Source: easyjet.com | Secret code of cabin crew

Source: easyjet.com  | easyjet cabin member requests a bacon baguette

Although this is a funny example of how EasyJet have approached training their cabin crew on how to communicate, it works.

EasyJet: Training Programme

EasyJet have also opted an onboarding training programme prior to starting in the role. This model is common in corporate learning departments and provides the employee the opportunity to learn about the company culture and some of the skills they will need from day one.

EasyJet specifically on:

• Safety and Equipment
• First Aid
• Aviation Security and Dangerous Goods; and
• Customer Service and Cabin Service.

This method of flipped learning online means new employees can use the face-to-face onboarding training as more of a collaboration for questions and discussion with their peers.

Demand for pilots

According to Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer, 558,000 commercial pilots will be needed by 2034 to meet an increase in demand for air travel.  This equates to 28,000 extra jobs per year.  The significant increase in demand means higher pressure on the learning and development teams to deliver.

Sherry Carbary, VP at Boeing commented:

“Aircraft manufacturers, airlines, training equipment manufacturers, training delivery organizations, regulatory agencies and educational institutions are all stepping up to meet the increasing need to train and certify pilots and technicians.”

The RyanAir approach

With increased demands on air travel, airlines are looking to use learning and development as their model to ensure they remain competitive.  RyanAir have invested in their ‘labs’ project which includes IT recruitment in Poland and Spain.
Their European expansion included opening a training centre in London in 2016. The training centre is located near to Stansted Airport and was part of a £1.24bn investment in Britain.

Source: Ryanair.com | Ryanair – classroom

The apprenticeship levy

With the new UK apprenticeship levy now in play, many airlines are using this model to support the growing demand for talent to grow their skilled workforce.  Accordingly, British Airways’ Apprentice and Graduate Manager Karen Hewitt states:

“Apprenticeships are an excellent way to introduce talent to the workplace. You can learn new skills and gain vital on-the-job experience, all while earning a wage.  We are particularly proud of the retention rate of our apprentices – the majority of whom gain employment with the airline after their programme ends.’

As part of the new apprenticeship levy, airlines in the UK will now have to contribute 0.5% of their payroll to the apprenticeship programme. They will be able to use these funds to spend with specific approved government suppliers.

Heathrow Academy are training over 1,000 unemployed people, most of whom find a job at the end of the programme.  They are also providing levels 2 – 4 apprenticeships and have pledged to deliver over 500 this year.

Paula Stannett, Chief People Officer at Heathrow comments:

“There is a place for everyone at the airport – whatever your career ambition, we’ll help you get there.”

For more information about an airline’s successful training programme, read about JetBlue’s experience here.

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Well-designed workplace training for teachers – a way to improve teaching and learning

It is obvious that a lack of training in the workplace might negatively affect various aspects of any business. When talking about school as a workplace, it always raises concerns about how to provide the best training for those who are responsible for the knowledge of the next generation.

It has been acknowledged that a well-designed training has a significant impact on the quality of teaching and it can have an effect on how well students learn and what their results are. However, most schools do not have appropriate training programs for teachers. What is more, it has been noted that some schools are more likely to invest more in maintaining and upgrading their buildings than in training their staff. The methods of training that are used in some schools don’t seem to be very effective. For instance, the training that is provided for teachers, mostly consists of a large stack of uninspiring PowerPoint slides presented after a whole day of teaching. Another alternative for training – ‘Inset’ days that involve closing a school for training, but this method of training not very popular with parents.

“There are far too many schools where teachers simply aren’t getting the right support (The Telegraph, 2016).’’

 “There are, unbelievably, schools who have decided to cut their training budget to zero – hard to think of a more short-sighted approach (The Telegraph, 2016).’’

Why teachers need a well-designed continuous training and support?

– Adapting to the technology changes. While it’s clear that technology can be very beneficial in terms of developing a number of skills and preparing students for their future jobs, most teachers aren’t trained well enough in how to integrate technology effectively into their classroom. Technology itself can’t benefit students the way that well trained teachers can. Therefore, teachers should receive training and support on how to get the most out of technology in terms of providing students with the best learning experience. Receiving enough training and support about different types of technology and about different learning platforms can help teachers make teaching more engaging and fun for students.

–  Inspiration and motivation. Training can help teachers feel inspired and motivated to deliver best quality teaching. Although teaching is considered as a very intrinsically rewarding job, it can become demotivating like any other job. Teachers need different types of training available whenever they feel like they are not fulfilling the expectations of students or when they want to improve the way they have been teaching for years. Continuous training allows teachers to stay up to date with new trends in education and teaching. I’m certain everyone agrees that motivated teachers are the best at keeping students motivated!

– Developing knowledge and skills. Whatever the subject, there are always new things to learn. Teachers should be encouraged to engage in developing their knowledge and skills. However, without a well-designed training, teachers might not be able to find resources themselves. Therefore, a well-designed training is what every teacher needs.

Although it’s clear that it’s very important to provide well-designed training for teachers, most schools face challenges regarding this. For instance, lack of resources is a major issue when talking about teacher training. Resources can be related to money which means that the school does not have money to invest in training. This means that when there is a need to provide training regarding different topics, it can require investing a lot of money to meet different needs of teachers. Other challenges that schools face can also be related to finding right people to train the teachers.

Online based training is the solution that could benefit most schools. We can see that more and more schools are using different available e-learning systems to provide learning for students. This is great! However, e-learning is also a perfect way to engage teachers in their training. There are many amazing opportunities that could help improve training in schools, for instance, Totara LMS. Read more about different online learning platforms. 

Why choose online based training?  Online training is convenient,  immediate, cost-effective, easy and fun. It provides participants with easy and convenient access. They can undertake training at their own pace and whenever they have free time.

“Organisations outside education are investing in specialist human resources and training departments, yet we barely give any training to staff appointed as heads of teacher development (The Telegraph, 2016.)’’

“To compound the issue, England has the most unregulated system of training in the world, with no quality assurance systems for training companies (The Telegraph, 2016).’’

To conclude on this topic, it can be said that when schools are investing in the development of good training programs for teachers, they are also investing in the quality of teaching as well as in the learning of students.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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The starting point is simply to use e-learning to complete the knowledge segment of the certificate. Using an online course you can teach your staff everything they need to know, with them able to take the lessons at their own pace, on their own devices, and even fit them around existing work. The benefits e-learning brings (including mobile and independent learning) suit a work environment where employees are expected to be learning as they’re working. Plus, e-learning’s flexible, independent approach works as well for focused, long term sessions as it does for piecemeal, micro-learning ones.

E-learning is going to make the Knowledge section much more adaptive for carers, but surely can’t it also be used for the Competence section? Well, while e-learning alone cannot directly act as the automatic assessment machine in the same way it can for the Knowledge portion, it can function as a primer and organiser. By making sure all the essential learning is in place, you can “flip the classroom” and make sure all theory and research is done without having to set foot in a formal lesson. This way, when the competence test is underway, your staff will already know what to do without needing to learn the theory then and there. The system can also provide resources for revision prior to the tests, giving your staff a curated library to refer to.

The true secret of e-learning isn’t to make it all-encompassing, but to make it a complementary catalyst to “standard” learning. In the case of The Care Certificate, the best suggestion isn’t to digitise the whole learning process, but rather to recognise what parts of the course would benefit from a less analogue approach. We believe that utilising an LMS and integrating a decent care certificate course will set the path to evolving your organisation’s learning and development – not just in the short term, but in the future too.

For more information, fill in our contact form or email us at healthcare@webanywhere.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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According to The Information Daily¹, 85p from every pound set aside for training is spent on actually delivering it, leaving just 15p for the course content! In addition to preventing people from actually working during the course, this includes the cost of things such as room hire, teaching fees and equipment, and it quickly becomes clear that this isn’t a sensible or a sustainable way to train large numbers of employees. By contrast an e-learning approach using an LMS, despite a higher initial startup cost, ultimately leads to lower costs elsewhere and a more long-term, reusable approach. As we can see from the graphs below1, this applies both to training existing staff and inducting new ones – in both cases a higher initial outlay leads to long-term savings. According to one study, you could save up to 70% over instructor-based methods⁴.

As touched on above, the flexibility and scalability of e-learning is also one of its key advantages – after initial setup, costs are very limited to deploy programmes to either very narrow or very broad focuses – it’s simply a matter of specifying course access to the right people. Where with brick-and-mortar learning this requires the drawing up of guest lists, hiring of event venues and the sorting out of timetables to ensure the maximum number of people can attend. It doesn’t matter with e-learning whether you need to train one person or a thousand, all that’s needed is the initial outlay in creating the course.

This is not to say, though, that the only benefits are material in terms of savings – using a blended learning approach can help your employees to retain information for longer, its wider range of learning styles appealing to different people’s personalities³. Perhaps some work better through video training, some might prefer to read sheets while others could prefer interactive quiz/form-based learning. Additionally, revision of information at intervals has been proven to improve memory and retention – with an LMS you can simply go over the information again rather than holding another costly seminar or training session.

Not only can you help your employees to learn better with an online approach, you can see for yourself the benefits through tracking their progress. Totara, for example allows you to see how much of a course an employee has completed as well as providing data for you to graph and track. This benefits in the area of lifelong learning – a single instructor-based session ends when staff leave, and tracking its progress is difficult to say the least, while online it’s simply a matter of checking profiles.

These are just a few of the many ways your organisation can benefit from embracing e-learning. Get involved with the future of training and teaching, contact us today to find out how we can help your organisation implement a robust, world-standard LMS.

Sources

• 1. eLearning Success – measuring the ROI impact and benefits
• 2. 18 Mind-Blowing eLearning Statistics You Need To Know
• 3. Organisational benefits of e-learning

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1. Define Your Scope

Know what you want and you don’t. Don’t feel like just because you’ve got a huge amount of options before you that you have to use them all. Keep in mind areas such as your target audience, what you intended to teach and how appropriate the content is on an e-learning environment. Once you know what it is you want the rest of the process becomes a whole lot clearer.

2. Setup Your Team

To get your e-learning project going you’ll need a decent team. This usually consist of:

• A Human Resources/Capacity Development manager
  Essentially the project leader, their job is to decide what they want from the project, who’s doing what during the projects development and when to move to the next stage at every step.

• An Instructional Designer (ID)
  The person in charge of implementing what goes into the system, evaluating what is and isn’t appropriate as an e-resource. They also design specific activities for the course which are checked over by the…

• The Subject Matter Experts (SME)
  The people who know about what you are teaching. They write the content for the course and look over any content made by the ID.

• Web Developers & Media Editors
  This part of the team assembles the website, adds in any interactive elements and looks after the media content.

• Course Administrators, Facilitators & Tutors
  The people responsible for actually running the course once it’s built, with administrators looking after the site, facilitators providing students with access and tutors guiding students through the elearning course.

• Technical Support
  All the team should be backed up by a support team throughout the development and during the course’s use.

3. Set Deadlines

Staying organised is a key part of keeping your project on track. Set realistic deadlines with your teams, and try not to be unrealistic. Delayed deadlines will throw the next stage off their deadline, so it’s better to plan with a practical mindset. Make sure there’s time for review and feedback once it’s launched, you don’t want to scrape a deadline and still have problems.

4. Define Terms

Misunderstood jargon can lead to disastrous problems later on, so make sure everyone understands the terms at an early stage. Write out a glossary and have a meeting to outline what the goals are. This is great for both preventing miscommunication and keeping everyone informed of what exactly it is you’re building.

5. Gather Your Content

Perhaps the most important thing of all, find and organise what you’re going to put in! This is obviously something that should start happening once the team’s been assembled, but it’s a crucial early stage. Get hold of any currently existing resources and start to think about how you’ll convert them to the e-learning system.

6. Set Technical, Design and Content Guidelines

Keeping your project consistent will make the user’s life a lot easier later on. Make sure that everyone in your team is aware of what the guidelines are, and if there aren’t any, make them! It’s important not only for ease of use but also for keeping the your own branding consistent across your new platform.

E-learning projects have the potential to make everyone’s lives easier and more productive, so don’t let the early stages of organisation be a concern.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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A successful LMS deployment depends on more than just the technology involved. The strategies that the management team use to launch the LMS are just as, if not more, important if you wish to ensure it is a success. We’ve examined several key techniques that you can use to improve take up within your organisation.

A Central Resource

Modern businesses have large numbers of systems in place. Using your LMS as the central location to point staff at the right system for their need will increase uptake and ensure that the LMS is the first system users look to for information.

Gamification and rewards

The Mozilla Open Badges system makes it easy to create game based incentives for staff, this can encourage further uptake of the LMS. As well as this, league tables of team results and prizes for the best scores can encourage healthy competition.

Mobile Access

These days most staff have access to at least one mobile device. Ensuring that the LMS is easy to use via mobile will mean that staff can access learning materials conveniently and on a platform that they are familiar with.

Blended training

The LMS can be used to host preparatory work for a face to face training session. It can also host notes from the session and follow up work to ensure that knowledge is embedded. Combining this with the ability to book sessions online, means the LMS is central to face to face training.

Bitesize “Just in Time” training

An LMS is an ideal platform for “Just in Time” training. This can allow users to look up facts and check information on company processes or tasks (like on a search engine). This can make a workforce more efficient and increase ROI on the LMS.

Social Learning

Forums and chat rooms are an ideal place to get staff to share ideas and answer each other’s questions. These can be hosted on an LMS and help encourage communities. Collaborative work and glossaries can also help you leverage staff experience.

Mandatory Learning

Hosting mandatory training and inductions on the LMS helps to ingrain it as part of your company’s culture. This ensures all staff get used to taking training online and can help them see other resources that are available.

Hopefully this has given you some ideas about how to increase usage of your LMS. If you have any questions or want to find out more please get in touch.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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