e-Learning Systems

Many companies find the next logical step after producing a written manual is to develop training materials for specific audiences. Training programmes that use appropriate training resources are the critical link between the theory of what target audiences should do, and their actual behaviour.

Many of the skills applied and knowledge gained during the development of manuals by Streamliners staff are fully transferrable to the development of training materials.

Streamliners has traditionally developed training materials for clients in a printed form, however more and more clients are now seeking computer based training (CBT) materials because of their low cost of deployment and high efficacy.

Find out more about e-Learning (CBT and Learning Management Systems) in the sections below:

The Growth of e-Learning

Computer based training (CBT) courses have been around for many years. For example, courses for using MS Office products have been available on CD since the mid 90's. Such courses have been expensive to produce, targeted to high volume/low skill needs, and deployed via CD. Accordingly, in the early years of CBT development it had very little impact on overall training practices in large corporations.

However in recent years, CBT has acquired a vital role in the corporate training mix. It is now being used to meet increasingly high levels of training needs and can be custom-built for the specific requirements of individual corporations at an affordable price. Corporations using computer based training are claiming increased trainee comprehension, vastly reduced training costs, and more effective training management and reporting.

The factors that have enabled these benefits to be achieved in recent years are:

• The implementation of high speed networks (LANs and WANs) within most large companies - enabling centralised deployment of CBT.
• Better and cheaper tools for creating multi-media tutorials
• Better and cheaper tools for creating complete courses that incorporate within them tutorials, comprehension quizzes, tests, and user identification for data collection, certification, and reporting
• Learning Management Systems which maintain the training records of employees and deploy the CBT courses to the trainees over the company LAN or WAN

e-Learning in the Training Mix

CBT is not a replacement for all types of classroom and face to face training, but it does have an increasing role in a corporation's overall training mix.

CBT is particularly cost effective and delivers high comprehension results when helping staff to learn procedure-based tasks. For example, how to:

• Conduct a performance review
• Navigate and use a company intranet or other application software
• Comply with company health and safety requirements including, for example, what to do if there is a fire
• Operate a piece of machinery

A course can be fine-tuned for effective results with large numbers of staff for these kinds of training activities. When CBT courses are integrated with an LMS, we can measure the performance of the course and of individual trainees. As a result, it is possible to report on the number of correct and incorrect answers all trainees have given to a specific question. If many trainees are answering incorrectly, it points to a failing in the tutorial, which can then be improved.

Another benefit of CBT courses is that they are always available on demand. This means:

• Trainees can learn progressively over a period of time – when they have the time, rather than being forced out of the workplace to meet a group training schedule. US studies show that staff increasingly use CBT in their own time (lunch hours, and out of hours) to advance their learning
• As staff within the company are replaced, the new staff can start learning immediately, rather than having to book into a scheduled class

The other very significant advantage is that head-office trainers can spend less time in the classroom and more time making sure the course material for CBT is effective. They also have more time for delivering the high-end training in a face to face environment. Savings in travel and accommodation costs, venues, and staff downtime are very significant.

CBT can be less effective at training staff on soft skills, professional knowledge and skills, and advanced user skills for some software. These are often still best done in a face to face environment where interaction between the trainee, other trainees, and the tutor is a critical component of the training experience.

e-Course Development Services

Streamliners provides a comprehensive service for the development of interactive CBT courses.

Learning Management Systems

Streamliners is the authorised New Zealand reseller for the Outstart range of e-learning products, including Evolution Learning Manager.

ELM is a complete learning management system (LMS) that manages all of the administration that surrounds learning and training processes. ELM quickly and easily connects learners to just the right content to accelerate readiness and increase their overall performance.

Unlike other LMSs, Evolution Learner Manager™ (ELM) is able to:

• Manage all administration for learning and training processes
• Focus on the learner
• Integrate with OutStart's product family, which provides complete learning content and administration applications for large and small companies and any size team

Evolution Learner Manager™ is the most cost effective LMS available.