Learning at Work

What is Learning?

Learning is an active, shared process, as opposed to a passive information overload.

Rather than just teaching, employees should be supported in their growth through the way in which they process information into knowledge, skills and values.

Components of learning

• Problem solving
• Questioning
• Sharing ideas
• Continuous coaching
• Mentoring
• Successful habits through repetition

Learning Culture

The learning culture in an organisation has an impact on the overall performance. It increases motivation and employee morale. Staff are constantly learning new things in line with changes in their industry, as well as developing their skills to help them do their job to the highest standard.

The benefits of having a learning culture far outweigh the costs involved in the learning and development of employees. Organisational goals can be achieved, the company can grow, and, if the morale is high, staff are more likely to stay in their position for the long-term and be motivated and happy in their job.

What is Learning at Work week?

Campaign for Learning has run the annual Learning at Work Week since 1999, to raise awareness of the importance and benefits of learning and development.

The theme this year is ‘Connect’.

Opportunity

Thousands of organisations take part each year, running campaigns and activities to engage staff in development and promoting learning. You can run a branded learning campaign in your own workplace- which will be linked to a national event.

Learning at Work week is a perfect opportunity to change or enhance the way an organisation views learning and development. The changes can then be implemented over the whole year. There are a range of activities that you can run as part of the week. You can find out more on the Campaign for Learning Website.

Connect

Some ideas on the website relating to the theme this year ‘Connect’:

• Connect and share
• Connect and make
• Connect and grow
• Connect and address
• Connect and collaborate

You can find more information on each of these points here.

Taking part

The website also states the opportunities and benefits reported from people who have taken part in previous Learning at Work weeks:

• Changing attitudes to learning and work
• Greater awareness of opportunities to learn
• Greater employee engagement
• Informing business & learning and development strategies
• Opportunities to discover and recognise internal talent
• Greater recognition and valuing of different ways to learn in the workplace
• Highlighting business priorities, agendas and addressing change
• Addressing workplace silos and bridging information gaps

It’s free to register and you can access online resources from the Campaign for Learning website.

Ways of Learning at Work

Face-to-face training

This allows the learners to share ideas with one another, benefiting from the groups input. The trainer can focus more on a particular topic depending on the learner needs and questions can be asked and answered in the session.

E-learning

E-learning is increasingly being seen as one of the most powerful tools in any training strategy- especially where a large dispersed workforce is involved. At Embrace-learning, we understand that people learn and absorb information in different ways and at different speeds.

Our online training courses provide a flexible and versatile learning system that enables training to be tailored to fit with specific requirements.

Here are just some of the reasons to choose e-learning:

• Save money
• Flexibility
• Certificated Evidence
• Up-to-date

See more information on the benefits of e-learning here.

Blended Learning

For the best, fully rounded learning experience, we recommend a blended approach to learning at work, combining instructor-led training and e-learning technology, to bring additional dimensions and enhance the learning process.  

E-learning is a great way of providing refresher and mandatory training, whilst face-to-face sessions can aid the development of staff through helping one another.

If you are interested in e-learning for your organisation, we have over 50 courses to choose from. Visit our website www.embrace-learning.com for more information.

View more of our blog posts here.

Embrace-learning is a UK leading provider of quality e-learning resources, with a particular focus on health and social care.

The benefits of e-learning

Are Trainers That Don't Offer E-learning Missing A Trick?

According to CIPD’s annual survey report for Learning and Development 2015 ‘three quarters of organisations use learning technologies – but face-to-face delivery remains dominant.’ The traditional face-to-face approach adds a personal aspect where learners can ask questions and gain insight through storytelling and listening to others, ensuring key learning points are understood by the whole group. But, is this method alone enough to meet all of the needs within an organisation? Is a blend of face-to-face and online learning the answer?

E-Learning

Clients are increasingly choosing e-learning as their preferred method of delivering training, with 29% of CIPD respondents selecting it as their most common form of training. The ability to train a large dispersed workforce is a key factor, as it allows staff in various locations to access the same high quality training course at the same time, whilst saving precious time and money that would be otherwise spent on travel, accommodation and refreshments.

Other reasons for choosing e-learning include:

Ø  Flexibility - access to courses 24/7

Ø  Consistently high quality content

Ø  LMS tracking

Ø  Easy to arrange for high turnover areas such as domiciliary care

Ø  Easy to reach national or international audience

Ø  Large numbers of learners can be trained simultaneously

E-learning can be carried out at a time, place and pace to suit the individual learner

The Learner Management System (LMS) reporting that comes with e-learning is great for both internal and external trainers to monitor and provide reports to client organisations, helping to monitor ROI for training costs. LMS learner tracking provides an audit trail for managers and CQC regarding who has completed the training, allows managers to co-ordinate training, and, monitor in real time, which learner has completed which course/s.

It would be wrong to say that face-to-face training is not effective, it is still the most dominant form of learning, but the cost of implementation is far more than with e-learning. Staff are required to take time out of their day-to-day activities, sometimes travelling across the country to complete a day of training in a classroom which would convert to just 1 hour of e-learning. As a trainer, wouldn’t you want to be able to provide a service to clients in all four corners of the British Isles, at the same time, on the same day?

Of course, there are limitations with e-learning - most notably, the lack of immediate feedback that face-to-face trainers would receive, and the elimination of the group experience of learning in a classroom. However, these are outweighed by the need for flexibility, the cost of training a dispersed workforce and the fact that many individuals prefer to learn at a time, place and pace of their choosing. Our stats at Embrace-learning bear this out consistently - when asked “What did you like most about e-learning?” the overwhelming answer is “I did it at my own pace when it was convenient for me”.

Blended Learning

Blended learning offers a collaborative and holistic approach to learning, delivering the best of both worlds to employees and enhancing the overall learning experience. 40% of CIPD respondents plan to increase the use of blended learning over the next 2 years, making now an ideal time for training companies to increase their product offering to include e-learning courses alongside their face-to-face training.

Offering a range of e-learning courses means that training companies can deliver courses normally considered to be outside of their realm of expertise. For example, as a fire safety trainer, wouldn’t you want to be able to say to your clients – “yes, I can provide you with high quality training in Dementia for your care staff”?

A Health and Safety training company could also offer courses on mental health, safeguarding adults, dementia etc., widening their target audience and providing a service to large clients, with complex training needs.

Here at Embrace-learning, our aim is to further the use of educational technologies in work-related training. We have over 10 years of experience in providing high quality e-learning courses that are up-to-date and relevant to today’s workforce. We believe that through offering e-learning courses alongside face-to-face training, organisations can provide their employees with all of the necessary skills, knowledge and training required to perform to an exceptionally high standard.

Is a blended approach to learning the best way of meeting learning and development needs within an organisation? We think so! What do you think?

To find out more about our e-learning courses and partnership opportunities, visit our website here.

Click here to view the full CIPD Learning and Development Report 2015

Advisory or Mandatory?

When is mandatory training not mandatory?

Apparently when it applies to the social care sector.

There’s something a bit wishy washy about labelling training as mandatory when there is no actual requirement to complete said training. Or worse still, when there is a stated ‘requirement’ to do the training (by the CQC) but there are no real consequences when the training is not completed. Unless you count a slightly lower inspection rating as a real consequence. Is it just me or is it slightly baffling that there is no legal requirement to complete any training in the delivery of social care?

Care providers themselves determine whether a training course is mandatory or not. Some will deem it mandatory while others will consider it optional. While the CQC may require that a service trains their staff to a minimum standard, this is not legally binding. It seems training is a ‘should do?’ rather than a ‘MUST DO!’

The training of care workers in the new Care Certificate is advisory rather than mandatory. The Care Certificate which is promoted as the basic or minimum entry level course is not actually a qualification as we understand the term.  It is not on the National Qualification Framework (NQF) but it is considered a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course. This is a fantastic introduction to the world of care work and is indeed a minimum requirement for care workers. It is not, alas, mandatory unless deemed mandatory by the care provider.

We have a long way to go before we have a professionalised and regulated social care workforce. There are many reasons why it is important to achieve this. First and foremost is the quality it will bring to the care of the growing number of elderly and vulnerable people in our society. Secondly it will attach a greater value to this incredibly important work and allow carers to follow a career path with pay scales that reflect the importance of this work.  Is it the case that the current status of care work is an accurate reflection of how we as a society value care work? That is, not very highly. We are quick to jump on stories of poor care and express horror and outrage when people are abused and otherwise mistreated but when we scratch the surface a little and look at the way workers are trained and what they are paid, it is clear that the explanations for these behaviours cannot be simply dismissed as the actions of ‘rogue carers’.

Better pay will in turn attract and hold on to the right calibre of person needed by this growing social care sector. The resulting lower turnover of staff will add to the stability of the workforce which, again, will benefit the end users.

A better trained workforce with professional status will help care workers achieve something approaching parity with their health sector counterparts. This in itself will go a small way to greasing the wheels on the journey to an integrated health and social care system. The disparity in training, pay and conditions does nothing to facilitate the team spirit needed when workers are required to work across professional and organisational boundaries in the pursuit of an integrated health and social care system.

There’s an old adage that ‘Ignorance is no defence in law but training is’. I’m sure the day will come when training is, itself, a legal requirement. 

E-learning vs. face-to-face training, which is best?

Face-to-face training has been a consistent form of training for many years and as it is not dependent on technology it is understandable why some may be attached to this method and be resistant to the thought of changing to something new like e-learning. What is e-learning and how can sitting in front of a computer screen possibly be more beneficial than being able to interact with a trainer in a classroom setting?

Let’s imagine we are sat in the classroom right now with our colleagues, the trainer walks in, greets us and then begins their journey through a multitude of PowerPoint slides. How likely is your mind to wander elsewhere, perhaps onto how many emails you have waiting to be answered or what we might be having for lunch?  There can be many distractions in a classroom and it can be hard for the trainer to know if all learners are really paying attention and how much information is being retained.

How does e-learning technology compare?

E-learning doesn’t prevent interaction; it encourages it and pushes the learner into taking on an active role rather than passive.  Yes the learner must have the motivation to sit down and go through all of the material, but there is no way of missing out information or becoming distracted. The interactive quizzes and functionality of the e-learning material ensures that learners work through each step, gaining underpinning knowledge and completing competency assessments along the way.

The obvious advantage of using e-learning to train your staff is that it allows them to learn at a time, pace and place which suits you and the learner.  This method of training is ideal for a large dispensed workforce: learners can work through the material in an environment which is best for them, they simply need internet access.  E-learning can be tailored to meet individual requirements and the variety of digital technologies incorporated into the course material (text, imagery, animation, audio, video) allow for different learning styles. The course material is continuously updated with changes to legislation and learners can revisit units if necessary. The Learner Management System provides management information and allows for an audit trail and evidence for CQC requirements.

Overhead costs can be reduced by eliminating the need for travel, accommodation and food expenses as well as external trainer costs, room hire and having to take staff out of their day to day roles and cover shifts. Remove all of these costs and you are only left with the initial cost of implementing the e-learning course. E-learning is the clear winner in terms of cost.

Blended learning is the best possible training method and can enhance the overall learning process, offering a collaborative and holistic approach to learning.  I am by no means claiming that face-to-face training is ineffective but with the advances in technology in the past decade, it is unquestionable not to incorporate e-learning into your training and development programme.

The evidence is there - over 10 years of our learner feedback shows that 85% of learners prefer e-learning over face to face training.

Lack of knowledge is not accepted as a legal stand. Completed training is. Certificates can be printed off after completing the e-learning training and used as evidence of best practice.

If you had the option to reduce all of your training costs yet keep the quality of your staff training at a consistently high standard, would this be of interest to you?