This began as n outsourced company-wide training in desperate need of an update. When Stanford Health Care approached us, we had many great solutions.

Overview

The current training module for Stanford Health Care employees was in desperate need of an update. The module had originally been published in 2014. They had paid a vendor over $40,000, and used 2 employees to create this module. The module included 150 slides of pictures, text, and voiceover. They emphasized that this module is given to all Stanford Health Care employees annually, therefore, it was important to be engaging and high quality.

Preparation

There were a number of steps that needed to be completed prior to beginning the training development.

• Perform a full audit and analysis of all existing content, media, and resources
• Develop a project outline, task analysis, and design recommendation based on our investigation
• Contact over 10 different departments to align the updates to the training content to current standards and procedures
• Design an efficient and engaging learning experience with interactions, voiceover, and various forms of media
• Reduce the “seat time” duration from over 1 hour to approximately 42 minutes

The Solution

This program began with a thorough review of the existing training module, a glorified PowerPoint file with voiceover. The design was fairly basic, and used the standard next and previous buttons with zero interactive elements.

We took the content and broke it down, organized, and re-assembled into a flow that made sense. In the training world, we call this “batching”. Neither the vendor nor the previous employees had developed a proper objective-based project outline (e.g. task analysis).

The next challenge was determining a method to deliver 12 unrelated topics. We had to to create a narrative to organize them in a way that makes sense. The project outline had to be created from scratch because the previous vendor did not do that.

The decision was to separate the training the module into 12 mini-lessons. By creating those mini-lessons within the larger module, learners were given small rewards and completions towards the larger goal; completing the entire module. Additionally, it provides natural stopping points should employees be called to duty at the hospital.

The final product was like a module nobody had previously experienced. It had lively voiceover, 12 unique interactive lessons, a scoring system for rewards, and everyone’s favorite component… a real challenging assessment!

The Results

The training was a wild success with the employees and Managers at Stanford Health Care.

• Reaction surveys were 87% positive compared to the 63% positive for the previous version of the module
• The course covered 10% additional content over the previous version, including updated regulations, policies, media, and voiceover
• ​Course runtime was reduced from over 60 minutes to approximately 42 minutes. Multiply that savings by the number of employees below.
• Over 8,000 course completionsin 2021.
• The entire 42 minute interactive e-learning module cost about $20,000 (NOTE: This was approximately 1/3 of the 2014 budget)

Are you ready to upgrade your training?