Keys to Creating a Highly Effective e-Learning Program

Jun 15, 2023

When Work-Based Learning Consortium (WBLC) first started to build its e-learning program years ago, the purpose behind the initiative was to help companies to train their employees at the worksite and avoid the geographic limitations often associated with classroom training.

To give some context, part of the original CNC Machinist training at the time involved classroom and shop floor instruction in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). This worked well for some companies, but for companies outside of the GTA, it often meant that staff had to be bussed into Toronto for classroom training for several weeks at a time. It wasn’t the ideal situation.

Rod Jones, Managing Director of WBLC says they recognized that a different approach was required and efforts were made to create an e-learning component.

“We knew that the e-learning couldn’t be just a talking head,” says Jones. “It’s not videotaping a classroom instructor. It has to be interactive and engaging for the trainee. But the e-learning also has to be focused on the knowledge and skills that are required in order to perform the job well and successfully.”

Today, WBLC’s e-learning program is part of a comprehensive approach to training and upskilling, which includes interactive e-learning, e-instruction, train the technical trainer workshops, shop floor assignments, on-the-job training, technical language training, monitor coaching and last, but not least, certification of successful trainees.

“Imagine you’re the student, you’ll do some e-learning modules, meet weekly with an e-instructor via a video conferencing program, such as Zoom, and receive practical, hands-on assignments from a technical trainer that reinforces earlier e-learning,” explains Reema Duggal, a lead for the virtual learning initiatives with WBLC. “Mini quizzes help trainees to master each training module. Ultimately, after completing the training, the trainee is assessed by a mentor coach and, presuming they pass, they are certified for the position.”

WBLC’s Work-Based Learning programs consistently achieve success rates above 90%.

Choosing the Best Way to Present Information

Duggal explains that e-learning builds on technical learning outcomes and technical knowledge elements that were initially defined before the learning programs are created. This involves gathering the knowledge and skills that are required for a successful performance on the job from industry experts, and subsequently translating that information into detailed, digestible units of information.

For example, the early portions of the CNC Machinist program involve teaching the trainees about the machines themselves. Parts of this particular module use images and text, animations, and video. The trainee moves slowly around the outside of a CNC machine and then into the inside, showing parts and learning terminology related to the machine. As the trainee progresses through the e-learning modules, they take periodic quizzes and can’t progress to the next stage until they’ve answered the quiz 100% correctly.

“The pace of the video when teaching the terminology of the CNC machine has been carefully set to ensure new machine operators can easily absorb and comprehend all of specific information they need to know,” Duggal explains. “They are quizzed as things move along. A quiz is typically two to five questions … simple questions … but they must achieve 100% on the quiz before moving to the next stage. The key is for them to know the material. We’re all about comprehension.”

Example of Animation from the WBLC Mold Maintenance Technician e-Learning Program

Some of the modules feature considerably more videos as they demonstrate more complex operations, instructions or tasks. For example, the trainee might be shown a static image of a task they’ll be required to complete, followed by a short video that vividly demonstrates how to complete the task. Also, the e-learning program teaches shop math and trade calculations, introduces to work documents, tool set-up sheets, the tools they’ll use, materials that they’ll machine with, shown the different cutting tools and operations, and then they’ll be shown how to mill a part as well as how to turn a part.

“With blended e-learning, we want trainees to learn the material, work on it out on the shop floor, pass the mini quizzes, and then move along to the next level in the training,” says Duggal, who describes blended learning as not just one thing, but many things that come together to reinforce the learning. “Throughout the training, we’re constantly trying to create a discussion and an interaction based on what they’ve learned. We’re trying to give them competency and expertise that will help them succeed.”

“After experiencing our training, people often comment that what we have created is very comprehensive” Duggal adds.

Tailoring to Each Industry

In addition to developing content, WBLC also adapts the style of the training to reflect the industry being trained. For example, the e-learning created for CNC Machinists has a very different tone from the material created for the Graphics Installer Technician in the sign industry.

“With the graphic installer technician program, our approach is a little less industrial and a little more artsy,” explains Duggal. “We’ve delivered a different tone because that reflects how the people carry themselves and interact with one another. Whereas, the CNC Machinists tend to be more structured. Each industry has a different kind of energy and we want that reflected in our training.”

Beyond tone, the sequence in which elements are taught also can vary significantly. For CNC Machinists, the section about materials is introduced in the fifth module, but for the Graphics Installation Technician, the materials section is the second module because it is so crucial that trainees understand vinyl and what surface it can be installed on. Conversely, with CNC Machinists, they are taught about the machines and the parts first, then math and measurement, before turning the trainee’s attention to materials (e.g., milling steel).

“The focus is always on the trainee and what content will work best for them,” Duggal adds. “While it’s subtle, it can really make an important impact.”

Determining the Best e-Learning Approach

“We have an experimental mindset when it comes to developing e-learning and training programs,” says Duggal. “Today, animation may be the most effective way to teach something, but tomorrow some kind of AI transformation may be the best method. We’re always looking for new and effective ways to engage the audience. It’s about opening your eyes and saying ‘what’s the art of the possible’.”

As an example, learning and understanding technical language is one thing, but knowing how to weave it into general conversation on the shop floor is something else. For some of the trainees, it is further complicated by the fact that English may not be their first language. So WBLC decided to turn to artificial intelligence and create short simulations where trainees can practice weaving the terms into conversation.

Working with British Columbia-based artificial intelligence (AI) conversation company, Virtro Technology, WBLC created simulations to teach trainees how to integrate approximately 70 technical terms into regular conversations with managers and co-workers. During the AI simulations, trainees can practice and receive instant feedback. It’s proven to be remarkably successful.

“At the end of the day, what we’re doing is good teaching, good story telling and encouraging good interactions. It’s a fascinating and rewarding part of our industry, and what we do can really make a difference in the everyday lives of our clients,” says Duggal.

Beyond Profit: How Our Non-Profit eLearning Company Is Revolutionizing Upskilling

May 3, 2023

In an environment where many manufacturing companies for years have struggled to find entry level and mid-level skilled workers, a new approach was needed.

When people traditionally think about education and job training, people tend to get their education first and then apply for a job. This is a model followed by the traditional school and university or community college system.

“The traditional approach is what I call the supply-push model where we train as many people as we can and hope that they will then be hired by a company,” says Rod Jones, Managing Director of the Work Based Learning Consortium (WBLC). “The challenge has been that this had led to significant gaps for companies in manufacturing where they can’t find the workers they need. It’s been a problem that has been around for years.”

Jones notes that it often has led to employers trying to poach workers from other employers, which doesn’t solve the supply issue.

Employers can’t find the skilled help they need outside of a limited pool of workers and, in recent years, have faced the additional challenge of an aging workforce and reality of upcoming retirements.

At the same time, job seekers often find that they are unable to acquire the technical skills that makes them attractive to employer for in-demand positions.

Changing the Business Model for Upskilling and Reskilling Workers

WBLC has flipped this traditional education and training model upside down by working with employers to hire the employee first, and then provide the requisite training.

“We recognized that we needed to focus on the demand side and implement a demand-pull approach,” says Jones. “We work with industry associations and companies who are short of skilled workers and make them an active part of the process of building a skilled workforce they require. We also require that employers hire the candidates first and then train them.”

WBLC has placed a heavy emphasis on making sure people who are selected into a program and hired by a company are a good fit for the job that they are being hired for, and for which they will be trained. That means finding potential jobseekers who have the aptitudes and attitudes that will be a good fit for the relevant positions available.

“We’ve developed a demand-driven, employer engaged, competency-based approach that has really proven to make a difference. It’s all based around seven principles that are core to everything we do.”

The seven principles include:

1. Use objective, evidence-based competencies-based processes as the foundation for all selection, hiring, and training decisions and activities
2. Be strongly industry-driven, with active employer engagement in defining competency-based job profiles/standards for each skilled job position and in delivering ‘on-the-job’ technical learning activities to achieve the defined technical learning outcomes
3. Match job seekers with skilled jobs on the basis of the job-specific non-technical competencies required for job success, and provide competency gap coaching for those job seekers who are close to being a good match
4. Be ‘demand-driven’ – build and/or deliver training programs to fill actual current job openings and require that employers hire Trainees as full-time, permanent employees at the start of their learning program (‘earn while they learn’) and/or nominate current employees as Trainees, to meet the company’s skills shortages
5. Use a ‘blended learning’ method for technical training for job-specific technical knowledge and skills, which includes:
   • effective ‘on-boarding’ of Trainees and Company Trainers to the learning program
   • effective use of advanced learning technologies (e-Learning, VR/AI learning, micro-learning):
     • use e-Learning to carry the principal load for training but support as required with instructor-lead coaching on ‘hands-on’ skills e.g., use of hand and power tools;
     • closely align e-Learning ‘knowledge’ content with ‘practical skills’ learning on the shop floor
   • provide Trainees with structured experiential (on-the-job) learning guided by company job experts, who are well supported and guided in their training practices and have access to easy-to-use online tracking of Trainees’ progress
6. Compensate employers for their key role in providing the Trainee with ‘on-the-job’ learning – subject to the Trainee’s successfully achievement of all required job-specific technical learning outcomes
7. Use independent, valid, and reliable certification methods (competencies-based) to confirm Trainees’ successful mastery of all required technical learning outcomes.

“There are two controlling pieces in our approach,” adds Jones. “One is to set the job standard, meaning defining the technical learning outcomes for the position. This will drive the learning activity for our training program. The second factor is at the front end to make sure the people coming into the program are a good fit.”

A Proven Approach

WBLC has been able to demonstrate that this approach to training and reskilling employees is fast. Training is accomplished in less than half the time of traditional methods and it has proven to be reliable, with a 90% success rate. Finally, it also has proven to be very cost efficient, cutting in half the traditional costs of obtaining the skilled employees that companies need.

WBLC has worked with more than 80 different companies, helping them to find more than 800 trainees. More than 90% of the trainees who have completed their training achieved WBLC certification.

“We’re proud of our success rate that 90% of trainees achieved their certification,” says Jones. “Many were young people (18-29), who had a high-school diploma and had not worked in manufacturing before. By having a job standard and a certification process, we’ve developed work-based learning programs that lays out a training process that brings trainees along and provides benchmarks that allow them to demonstrate that they have learned the competencies set out in the job standard. It’s proven to be a winning model for employers, their trainees, the industry itself, and the government in supporting industry to increase productivity and prosperity.”

Contact Rod Jones to learn more!