Lambda Solutions e-Learning 2.0 Online Training and Moodle Experts

• If you would like to learn about the philosophy behind Moodle, which is both broad and deep, read Martin Dougiamas' A journey into Constructivism
• If you would like some of your questions answered about Moodle, read Athabasca University's Moodle Q&A

We reviewed Nancy Bigley's article, CFE, director of franchise services for Dunkin' Brands Inc. and drew parallels between online development in the franchise world and the corporate environment.

Ms. Bigley outlines five basic principles:

• Needs assessment. Learner analysis. Analysis of the learning environment.

  Prepare a franchisor and franchisee needs assessment. Be clear on both audiences and endeavor to understand each vantage point in terms of requirements and expectations when considering an online training program.

• Selling the concept.

  Identify why the organization (Franchisor) wants to develop an online training program. They must define the benefits and answer to franchisees:

  • Will it save them traveling costs to the training center?
  • Will they be able to train faster with higher quality, and according to their time schedules?
  • Will they have the ability to bring staff online and produce money for the business more rapidly?
  • Ultimately, the franchisor will have to identify the value upfront and ensure it is measurable, sustainable and communicated in the program rollout.

• Budget.

  Determine the costs to implement online training taking into account the costs of production, technical needs and resources. Will franchisees be charged for access to help offset the costs or will all costs be absorbed by the franchisor?

• Content development.

  Determine the content that franchisees should get from online courses, as not all content is conducive to online learning. While the tendency is to put up too much content into an online training environment at one time, a better strategy is to do this in phases so as to avoid overwhelming the user.

• Implementation and communication strategy.

  Implementing the new system again asks the franchisor to consider the timing of project rollout and an effective communication strategy to ensure all franchisees understand what is expected of them.

I'm sure you'll agree all of these principles are the same that you would consider in implementing your own eLearning strategy with the exception being whether or not as a franchisor you would saddle up for the costs of bringing eLearning to franchisees.

Lambda recently delivered an on-line training course to Kumon (Reading and math after school learning centers). In order to maximize face-to-face training for franchisees across North America, Kumon needed to replace one of the existing sections of their training currently presented in-person (using PowerPoint), with an interactive, self-paced online course.

Using Lambda ClearView technology, we repurposed an hour and a half session into an online course and will host it so that learners can login via a secure site, complete the course and take all necessary tests. Learners will be able to choose subjects independently from the table of contents (pictured below) in between the two-four day sessions.

This online course represents a first for Kumon, North America and was designed to be a highly interactive hosted course with an ability to easily update course content as needed. According to our Director of Client Relations, Jason McIvor, "Kumon wants to put a solid first step forward and see what they can do with online learning. The fact that they chose Lambda Solutions to guide them through this process is pretty exciting."

As a follow-up to our attendance and sponsorship of the MoodleMoot, held in Edmonton this past month, please enjoy an interview with Scott Tearle, our resident expert and presenter at the conference.

What were Lambda's goals in attending the MoodleMoot?

To make people aware of our expertise, learn about new developments, and to get to know Martin Dougiamas (developer of Moodle) better. Our ulterior motive being to become an accredited partner with Moodle.

What did we bring to the table at the conference and to Moodle in general?

Our expertise lies primarily in successfully implementing Moodle in both corporate and academic environments at a large scale, such as in BC Campus and in building modules for customization. We spoke largely about the administration behind BC Campus.

Part of the beauty in Moodle is the necessity to contribute to the body of programming and its overall functionality to make it a richer and more robust LMS system. In turn, others contribute what they see as necessary enhancements and so the system evolves.

We are excited to report that we will release a course completion module to the Moodle Tracker on May 30th. The course completion module acts on a rubric of programming events that indicates to the system that an individual has completed all requirements of a course and should be presented with a course completion certificate.

Another meaningful contribution is underway, but will have to keep it under wraps for a little while longer.

What are the new developments and how can they potentially impact our clients?

• We can now network more Moodle instances together. For example, if two institutions are running similar course curricula, they may agree to have one institution run the course while the second institution gains access. Alternatively, many colleges/organization could collaborate and draw from a Central Institution and yet still remain independent by reviewing their statistics.
• A repository API is now available. This is huge because it means that Moodle users can access multiple repositories of learning resources. Formerly these repositories resided outside of Moodle, but now we can access them. This has enormous implications for content developers who may not have to reinvent the wheel each time they wish to develop a new concept.
• New refinements to Moodle web services allows other management systems to communicate with one another. Systems such as Integrated Management Systems, Human Resources Management Systems, and Student Information Systems can now be accessed by Moodle. This means not having to create redundant systems in Moodle but rather drawing from one source and visa versa.
• For programmers, Moodle has automated a new event model thus triggering actions without having to monitor batch processes.
• Gradebook in Moodle now allows for broader scope to the way an individual is graded. Formerly Moodle really only allowed an instructor to capture assignments and exams, but now more subjective data entry is allowed, such as participation skills, quality of postings, etc.

In order to give you a more intimate view of our organization, we will continue to feature each individual member of our company so that you may get to know us better. This month Lambda's newletter editor, Cheryl Milner asked Benjamin Young his thoughts about working at Lambda.

How long have you been with Lambda?

In August, I'll have been with the company for a year.

What is your role in the company?

I'm a multimedia developer primarily using Flash and Photoshop as my tools of choice to create interactive eLearning websites. Of course, I use many other more obscure programs as well; however, I'll spare you the details.

What is your interest in technology? What keeps you interested in it?

I like how far reaching the area is, look at the developments in the medical field or how we are able to communicate with people around the world. The scope is tremendous! One thing about this field is that it is always changing and you have to stay on your toes, accept that it is dynamic and just go with it!

There are many places where your skills could be applied, how is the eLearning space of interest to you?

The education/training area exposes you to many other industries through the content that we/they develop. Our job is to blend that content in creative ways so that people can learn. I think this is a unique challenge to me as a technologist, as I need to draw on both my technical and creative skills to be successful.

What are your short and longer-term goals for Lambda?

The thing about a company of our size is that so long as you're flexible there is lots of opportunity to do a variety of interesting things, such as graphic design, programming, planning, and sometimes interfacing with clients. It's all good!

What are your outside interests?

I enjoy digital photography, biking and on occasion you can see me playing basketball on outdoor courts in Coquitlam. See you out there!