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BEST LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Police Credit Union adopted our Salt® technology to build, deploy, maintain, and report on their Code of Ethics training

Police Credit Union wanted to differentiate training on policies in areas affecting business culture – ethics, drug and alcohol policy, and the like – from other more procedural policies. They also wanted a different look and feel – in particular, they wanted their training to not come across as “just a piece of paper.”

The Brief

Over the years, the L&D team at Police Credit Union had formed the view that the standard way of disseminating polices – rolling them out annually as documents on an LMS – had become an inefficient way of managing the policies that applied to the lived environment of the workplace, such as the business’ Code of Ethics.

Police Credit Union is a long-standing, significant client of GRC Solutions, and in 2021, their L&D team approached us for assistance in developing a project to realise these goals. “GRC Solutions’ e-learning solutions are sexier.” (We take that to be metaphorical.)

Although they have been a subscriber of our own published e-learning projects, this time they were looking for a solution beyond an off-the-shelf e-learning product on ethics, or bespoke course development. Police Credit Union were looking for our support and expertise in developing a solution that would allow end-to-end management in-house of their own policy training development, distribution, and monitoring, with the scope for rapid – as quick as same-day – policy deployment, should the need arise.

Police credit union logo
PCU Logo

Strategy

GRC Solutions offered our Salt e-learning applications, comprising Salt Adaptive, a simple yet flexible content authoring application, with unparalleled deep data reporting capacities, and the Salt Compliance Learning Management System.

Police Credit Union adopted the solution with the intention of creating an initial course to promulgate the business’ Code of Ethics. The Code is an eight-page policy document, but the L&D team wanted to focus the training on the key concepts and provide real examples to empower staff to live the Code and to develop a powerful ethical culture across the business.

The Salt Adaptive application is simple to use and quick to learn, with additional enhanced features that can be mastered with limited training. GRC Solutions provided Police Credit Union with a number of virtual sessions. The L&D manager was impressed by the way our trainers used the sessions to co-create examples of training, so that the team was able to learn by doing. In the view of the L&D manager, her staff achieved mastery of the system within around two weeks.

“GRC Solutions were exceptional in supporting our learning.”

“If ever we strike challenges, we call the GRC Solutions support staff and they talk us through it.”

Using the application, Police Credit Union was able to create an e-learning solution for the Code of Ethics training that takes learners 15-20 minutes to complete. In writing the training, they focussed on the key features of the ethics policy and used illustrations and case scenarios to suggest ways of approaching decision-making in real life situations. The process of building the course involved the senior members of the Culture Team storyboarding the training and passing it to the design staff to publish. The storyboarding process was enhanced by their understanding of the flexibility and capacity of the Salt Adaptive application – in particular, the ability to quickly incorporate images, scenarios and in-module summative questions.

Using Salt, they were able to quickly apply scenarios and formative and summative assessments to illustrate key concepts and reinforce comprehension.

course image
Code of Ethics Training page

Roll-out

In June 2021, Police Credit Union rolled the training out to around 136 staff members at all levels of the business, from senior management to front-line staff.

The Police Credit Union L&D team reported that staff uptake of the training was excellent. “We got really good feedback.” The training, using Salt Adaptive’s features was “much more palatable and engaging.”

The most important result of the project was that the training “got discussed by staff across the whole business.”

That is precisely the result that is needed to positively transform and influence the culture of the business. Regulators around the world are currently focussing on culture as the driver of effective compliance, and where a training system engenders discussion, it is clear that culture is being enhanced.

In addition, the Police Credit Union L&D team were able to apply the Salt Compliance LMS reporting features to monitor learner engagement. Detailed analytics such as the amount of time learners individually or in general spend on a particular section of the training provides the L&D team with evidence as to whether learners are engaging with the material or simply ticking and flicking; or alternatively, whether certain parts of the training present challenges that may need to be addressed either by re-authoring of the material or by supplemental face-to-face training by line managers.

Learners also benefited from the customisable and graphically appealing user interface with the Salt Compliance LMS, which in 2021 received a ground-up redesign.

course image
Code of Ethics Training page

Into the future

The Police Credit Union reports that the Code of Ethics project was delivered within the required time and budget, thanks to the functionality of the Salt e-learning applications.

Consequently, they have moved ahead to create a similar training piece on the business’ drug and alcohol policy. This training was created over a short timeframe in order to be rolled out in advance of their annual staff awards event in late September. It, too, was well received, and it, too, engendered discussion among staff across the business.

The L&D team are now considering the application of more interactive and visually engaging features which are available when designers are sufficiently trained in the authoring tool. They also plan to continue using the Salt applications in delivering training on business-specific, culture-focussed policies.

It is not their intention to move e-learning design and publication in-house but rather to be able to take ownership of the rapid delivery of short, palatable and effective training on issues specific to their institution.

Microlearning has been a learning and development buzzword for the last few years. What exactly is microlearning, how can it be used in compliance training, how do we differentiate it from other forms of training and how do we reduce push-back from staff who think that it’s just more training to be undertaken in an already time-poor work environment?

This article will answer those questions and outline five things that you need to know to help improve your microlearning content as part of an overall compliance training program.

Definition

Microlearning can be defined as a targeted short-form course, knowledge (or learning) nugget, or task that focuses on a skill or idea based on a single learning objective. A course can be considered micro if it is short and to-the-point; generally, no longer than five to ten minutes in duration.

Examples of microlearning include a short e-learning course based on a single concept or scenario, an infographic or interactive PDF, a short educational or instructional (step-by-step) video or animation, or a short webinar.

1) Design for a single purpose

A “complete” training course generally focuses on several learning outcomes based on an overall topic. For example, an anti-money laundering course could focus on the risks of money laundering, customer identification, identifying red flags, terrorist financing, and monitoring and reporting. A microlearning course, on the other hand, would focus on a single learning outcome, for example placement of laundered money.

Microlearning courses should not simply be sliced and diced parts of existing courses, especially larger e-learning courses. They should be able to completed as standalone units without the need for pre-requisite information. Its goal should be the learning or development of a single skill, idea, or “knowledge nugget”.

Courses should be made available for just-in-time need. An example of this would be a Business Development Manager who is about to talk to a competitor. A simple review of a microlearning object, for instance on a smartphone app, on information sharing can provide them with the knowledge of what is legal, legitimate, or appropriate information to share.

TAKEAWAY TIP: Ensure that each microlearning course is based on one simple fact, idea, or message.

2) Be prepared for staff pushback

Compliance training receives a lot of pushback from staff, especially as the same or similar courses are rolled out every one or two years, annually or biennially. Setting additional training tasks for staff as part of an overall compliance training program may be met with protests of “too much training”. It is important to be prepared for this.

When rolling out microlearning courses, either as stand-alone entities or as a part of an overall training program, be careful not to market it as “training”. The word “training may unintentionally provoke a negative response in some employees, especially if they are already required to complete several other training courses, either online or face-to-face. Instead, consider the “what’s in it for me?” and how it will benefit them, for instance as a just-in-time information retrieval artifact. So, instead of focusing on training, focus on its information value.

The fact that it is called “micro” should alert users to the fact that what is required of them is short. When alerting staff that these courses are required, emphasise that they can be completed in only a few minutes.

TAKEAWAY TIP: Promote the benefit of microlearning as information to seek when needed on demand.

3) Scenarios

Scenarios are a useful way of demonstrating actions and their consequences, especially in relation to compliance. Ensure that some of your microlearning content consists of a scenario that is relevant to its audience and portrays something that could happen in their day-to-day job role.

The scenario could be in a short e-learning format, a simple PDF or interactive PDF, or a video or animation.

Individual scenarios could be placed on a learning management system (LMS) together with a larger e-learning course as part of an overall compliance training program.

TAKEAWAY TIP: When creating a scenario as a microlearning course, ensure it is simple, relevant, and realistic to its unique audience.

4) Use in conjunction with other training

Microlearning can be a good introduction to a broader training session, either face-to-face or online.

When designing a compliance training program, consider introducing a topic or topics as microlearning courses prior to a more in-depth exploration of the area.

Microlearning courses can act as “teasers” for training to come and can be used with the aid of posters, emails, videos, or other promotional material, to entice and arouse curiosity. Using it this way may help to reduce fears or frustration about too much training.

It can be used post-training to help reinforce ideas, or act as just-in-time/on demand help to solve an unexpected issue, to get help or seek advice.

TAKEAWAY TIP: Use microlearning courses pre-and post-more comprehensive training to help arouse curiosity and to reinforce ideas or concepts.

5) Spaced repetition

Spaced repetition of training artifacts allows learners to be presented with a concept then shown similar content, or concepts, again so that over time, the idea can help to form behavioural change or allow an idea to be firmly planted in their brain.

We see spaced repetition in many educational apps, for instance the game-based language learning app Duolingo.

In a compliance training program, schedule reminder microlearning artifacts prior to and after additional forms of training, such as face-to-face or e-learning training sessions, or webinars. The assets could be sent via an LMS, reminder emails and/or be hosted on an intranet or company portal.

TAKEAWAY TIP: Space microlearning courses out over a time to create behavioural change and cementing ideas and concepts.

Microlearning is an important component of a compliance training program. Creating targeted content that is based on a single learning outcome will help to create behavioural change and instil essential knowledge. By having resources available on-the-go, learners can get just-in-time/on-demand information when they need it.