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Bucks Fire 7 Rescue Service
The document discusses the evolution of a learning management system (LMS) through a continual learning process. Feedback from users and processes is continuously evaluated against team and organizational goals to improve products, services, and processes. Both administrators and learners engage in ongoing learning to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the LMS.
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Bucks Fire 7 Rescue Service
- 1. Evolution of anLMS Paul Whidborne
- 4. An ongoing effortto increase the effectiveness and efficiency of our products, services and processes. Feedback from our processes and/or the users are continuously evaluated against our team and organisational goals. Continual learning process both for our admin users and learners
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Editor's Notes
- #4Â So what does this image tell us? Continual Improvement is nothing new â We have naturally been improving ourselves since the beginning and will no doubt continue to do so into the future. It is human nature to want to better yourself and the systems you create. This image also shows us that not every change is for the best and this is why it is important to continually assess performance and functionality, especially when changes are made.
- #5Â With the help from Learning Pool, Bucks Fire and Rescue are continually assessing the usability of our LMS and looking for ways to improve it as a product. We look at the services we provide (adapt, training records, reports) to see if we can improve them and consistently evaluate the processes we put in place. We value feedback and welcome it at every opportunity. User engagement is very important to us and last year we logged 420 individual feedback requests. This feedback came in the form of emails, focus groups, actively talking to our users and providing training at every opportunity. I think it is important that you are always gauging the userâs opinion as they are the ones who are actively using the system, this also adds some ownership for the users, which helps with the buy in of the product.
- #6Â When I first joined our E-Learning team, I fell into the trap of being reactive to some of our userâs feedback and made changes without considering the impact and consequences of those changes. This inevitably led to some wrong decisions being made. As I mentioned in the previous slide, user feedback is extremely important, whatever form it comes in. Iâd be more worried if our users werenât suggesting ideas on how to improve things. However, it is very important to plan any changes you are deciding to make and I always like to ask the question âwhat will it achieve?â. It is important that you look at the impact of any change. How will it affect other users? Is this a change that most users want? Is this change improving the system? Will this change impact on other areas? What I am trying to say is; do your research, plan before you commit to and change and risk assess the outcome of those changes.
- #7Â It is equally important to know when to stop changing things. This could be because the system cannot be improved any further and you are simply changing things for the sake of it, or you may look at the impact on your users who may need some consistency for a while. Donât expect your users to automatically know what to do when you make a change. I know from experience! Even if you are moving an icon from one side of the screen to another, you need to communicate this to your users. I also found that explaining your rationale for these changes really helps with user buy in (especially when the change is for them). User Email following training on our updated training records: âYou were very open to suggestions, it was very informative and you gave some good tips & tricks which shall make it even easier to use. Itâs definitely improved âKeep up the good work.â
- #8Â In Bucks we really have gone for a user led design and the feedback we are now receiving from our users is extremely positive. Some have even thanked us!!!! User led, doesnât mean user demands! I mentioned earlier that any change should be carefully thought out. Donât let your users pressure you into a change. Remember that you are the expert and you are in a better position to make an informed decision based on organisational goals, system capabilities and the impact on other users. This is why it is so important to know your own and the systemâs capabilities. I learnt very quickly that as hard as we try as a team, sometimes itâs simply not possible to give the user what they want.
- #9Â In order to create âawesomenessâ you simply cannot have an ego. I know from experience that it is very easy to become attached to a system you have developed and nurtured: When my colleague Sean first joined our team I found things very hard. Sean was extremely enthusiastic and full of wonderful and new ideas on how to improve our LMS, some of which meant making changes to the things I had implemented. At first I felt fairly threatened by Sean and my ego began to take over, which ultimately led to me becoming defensive and not taking on board what Sean was suggesting. The truth is Seanâs ideas were spot on and once I was able to put my ego aside we began to work really well together and our LMS had come on leaps and bounds. Always remember you are part of a team, not just with those you directly work with, but with everyone in your organisation (The people that use your LMS).
- #10Â Make your LMS fun to use and a simple process for the user. Your LMS must be quick and easy to use and navigate. Users should know exactly what they need to do and get there in minimal clicks If something doesnât add value to your LMS then it probably doesnât need to be there Make learning fun through gamification and interaction â 8/10 of our users said they would probably go back and redo the learning if they enjoyed it the first time around. Donât confuse your users by trying to give them too many options. Keep your LMS simple.
- #12Â Our LMS has gone through various stages of evolution. Image 1: When we first introduced âThe Learning Zoneâ in 2013 we made the mistake of trying to cram in every function all at once and definitely over complicated the design of our LMS site. We also didnât make the best use of what we did have. For example, the scrolling image was just a series of pretty pictures and had no real functionality. Image 2: With Learning Poolâs help we began developing a rebrand for our site called the Hub of Education And Training (HEAT) Online. We wanted to learn from our previous mistakes by simplifying our design and making best use of space. Our first design removed a lot of the unused blocks and we introduced image based icons to help simplify the design. We introduced âMy Pathâ based on user feedback, which allowed our users to access their required learning at a click of a button (activated through Totaraâs programs and certifications). We also added a News option (pretty much a forum), which was due to userâs wanting to be more informed about what was happening on the site. Image 3: Just before we launched in October 2015, we re-evaluated the new design and soon realised we were doubling up on certain areas of the site: My choice = find courses. Upcoming = News. We again combined these areas to simplify the design and removed anything on the homepage that wasnât adding any value to the site, this left us with a really fresh and simple approach. As you can see, we also freshened up the colours of the site (the all blue look wasnât working for us). Image 4: In March 2016 we made a decision to add My Path and My Courses (record of learning) to the menu bar so they are always accessible wherever you are on the site (not just the homepage). We also removed the My News icon and now put our latest updates straight onto the homepage, so they are accessible as soon as our users enter the site. You can also see from this image that we are now using the scrolling image more effectively, and these images are clickable to allow users to go straight to the package.
- #13Â In this video we talk about some of the changes we have brought into our e-learning modules to support our userâs experience when using the LMS.
- #14 In this example I want to highlight that even the smallest changes can have a dramatic impact on your userâs experience and that itâs worth looking at all options before making a decision. In 2015 we were receiving several requests per month to reset passwords. When we reviewed our support requests we soon identified that most of these requests were due to users using their computer username as their login rather than their full email. In most instances this would be resolved by using a single sign solution, however our network currently will not allow this. Therefore we ventured to the drawing board. Our original solution was to change all of our userâs usernames. This would have been a big task to achieve and we were set to make these changes. Just before we began to make these changes we decided to take one last look at the issue we had to see if their was an easier solution. Then BINGO⊠âŠRather than change all the usernames, just get the login page to request the userâs email rather than username. We have not had a single issue related with usernames since!
- #15Â In this Case Study we are going to look at the Training Records we have adopted within our LMS. I am happy to say we are providing a real blended approach to our operational training, not to mention the cost efficiencies of having all our e-learning and training records under one place. We went live with our first set of online training records in April 2015 and received a lot of feedback from our users about what they required from the system. There were 5 items that appeared over and over again so we knew there was a genuine need to make some changes this year.
- #16Â This video shoes how our Training Records work and runs through how we achieved it.